Ex-Foreign Secretary Del Rosario held, questioned at Hong Kong airport


 / 08:54 AM June 21, 2019
MANILA, Philippines — Former Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario, who filed a case for crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court against Chinese President Xi Jinping last March, was held and questioned at the Hong Kong International Airport as he arrived there at 7:40 a.m. today.
‘Still here. Been half hour wait…now in a staff lounge after answering a few questions. Asked to wait,’’ Del Rosario told the Inquirer around 8:30 a.m.
He said he was taken to a ‘small lounge’ and asked to wait.
Hong Kong immigration staff asked him questions like ‘’what is purpose of trip? How long? Where is business meet? Return date.’’
Del Rosario was to attend board and shareholders meetings of First Pacific and was travelling alone. He said two members of the Philippine consulate are with him in the airport staff lounge where he was being questioned.
It was a repeat of what happened to former Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales last May 21, when she was barred from entering Hong Kong for being a ‘security threat.’’
Morales was Del Rosario’s co-complainant in the ICC case filed against Xi for depriving Filipino fishermen of their livelihood, aggression and environmental degradation in the West Philippine Sea.
Morales said it was bullying by China and clearly in retaliation for their filing of the ICC case against Xi.
The incident with Del Rosario comes two weeks after a Chinese fishing boat rammed a Filipino fishing vessel in the Recto Bank, leaving 22 fishermen floating in the sea for six hours before they were rescued by a Vietnamese fishing boat.
Philippine officials first strongly denounced the incident, with Foreign Secretary Teddy Locsin Jr. filing a diplomatic protest. But the tone changed after President Duterte said it was just a “little maritime incident.”
Before he left for Hong Kong this morning, Del Rosario issued this statement in reaction to China’s call for a joint investigation of the Recto Bank incident: ‘’The plan for a joint probe by the Ph and China is the worst news yet. It redounds to a potential partnership between one party (Ph who is out to seek the truth) against another party (China, the bully) who is out to suppress it. We should really feel sorry for our poor fishermen as the ultimate product of a joint probe  with Beijing is expected to be no more than a  bowl of fruit salad.
Can we please not insult the intelligence of our people?”  (Editor: Mike U. Frialde)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PCG: China’s bullying in West Philippine Sea undermines international law --- Ghio Ong - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — Letting China sustain its aggression in the West Philippine Sea would make other countries doubt the strength of international law currently being asserted by the Philippines, Commodore Jay Tarriela of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said. “Allowing China to blatantly disregard the established rules-based order threatens the very foundation that we all depend on,” he wrote in a post on X last Tuesday. He added, “If we permit this, countries worldwide may forget why this order was created in the first place. Nations could begin to doubt the significance of adhering to international law if powerful bullies can easily violate it.” Tarriela also said defiance of other countries to a rules-based order would result in the prevalence of cruelty. He wrote, “This could lead us back to a time when might makes right, undermining the global structures that keep human greed, savagery and barbarism in check. Such a scenario would not only invite challenges from aggressive ...
Read more

China ships maintain presence in key West Philippine Sea areas --- Michael Punongbayan - The Philippine Star

STAR / Michael Varcas MANILA, Philippines — While Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) have decreased in number, they have maintained a presence in three key land features where naval and coast guard ships have intensified operations in the past seven days, according to the Philippine Navy. Latest monitoring by the Philippine Navy showed armed ships of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) maintaining a menacing presence around the grounded BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal, Panatag Shoal and Escoda Shoal. According to the Philippine Navy, there are 17 Chinese military vessels and 28 China Coast Guard (CCG) boats spotted inside the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) between Sept. 23 and 30, or one vessel more than in the previous week Sept.17-23. Five of the warships were seen roaming around the vicinity of Escoda Shoal, along with 10 CCG vessels and 12 maritime militia vessels (MMVs). There are also two PLAN ships in Ayungin Shoal as well as 10 CCG boats and 12...
Read more

Social media seen as cause of rising intermarriages --- Helen Flores - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) sees social media as the main reason for the rising number of Filipinos marrying or becoming partners of foreign nationals. In 2022, the CFO recorded 6,854 marriages or partnerships with foreign nationals, a 40.1 percent increase from the 4,891 “intermarriages” recorded in 2021. “First of all, what we see in the increase in the marriage rate of Filipinos or Filipinos with foreign partners is because of social media, (that) is number one; matchings; letters, introduction of their friends,” CFO chairperson Romulo Arugay said at the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon public briefing yesterday. Arugay said the agency has been registering a high number of intermarriages since 2007, but the figures went down during the COVID-19 pandemic. From over 6,500 Filipinos who married foreign nationals, only 600 are men, he said. Most of them are married to Americans, Japanese, Germans, Canadians and Australians, Arugay said. Arugay warned Fi...
Read more