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Phl ex-foreign secretary back in Manila after being held at HK airport

Posted on 21 June 2019 No comments

By The SUN

Del Rosario shows his diplomatic passport on arrival in Manila (ABS-CBN photo)

Former Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario has returned to Manila after being barred entry to Hong Kong, and detained at the airport for about six hours before being allowed to leave.

The country’s former top diplomat arrived at Ninoy Aquino International Airport shortly after 4pm today, Jun 21, aboard a Cathay Pacific Airways flight.

Del Rosario, who is 79, called his detention in Hong Kong as “harassment.” He said that despite repeated questioning, Hong Kong immigration authorities merely said he was barred for “an immigration reason.”

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Del Rosario’s ordeal came just a month after the Philippines’ former Ombudswoman, Conchita Carpio-Morales, was also barred entry to Hong Kong.

The two jointly filed a case against Chinese President Xi Jinping at the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity, stemming from China’s incursions in the West Philippine Sea.

The elder statesman also led the team that successfully won the Philippines’ arbitration case against

China

over the resource-rich waters.

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Observers say these were clearly the reasons why Del Rosario was denied entry to Hong Kong, which is a special administrative region of China.

Del Rosario, who flew to Hong Kong to attend a board and shareholders meeting of the First Pacific group, also showed to reporters in Manila his diplomatic passport that failed to stop him being barred.

He decried this as a violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.

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But Philippine government officials showed little sympathy for what the elderly former cabinet secretary was made to go through in Hong Kong.

Senate President Tito Sotto even questioned Del Rosario’s used of a diplomatic passport when he was no longer in government.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, who is acting as government caretaker while President Rodrigo Duterte is in

Thailand

, said Del Rosario should have seen clearly what could happen to him, given Morales’ earlier experience.

Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo echoed the sentiment.

Nevertheless, Guevarra said he would ask the Department of Foreign Affairs to ask Hong Kong why Del Rosario was barred.

Like Morales, Del Rosario said he was held in isolation for nearly six hours, before Consulate officials led by Consul General Antonio Morales were allowed to see him.

But unlike Morales who was subsequently offered to enter Hong Kong along with her family members, Del Rosario was told to leave on the next available flight to Manila.

According to Corominas, the incident underlined the growing influence of China in Hong Kong, the reason why some two million people took to the streets here last week to protest a bill that could see arrested suspects being sent to the mainland for trial.

“This raises the question of where Hong Kong is getting instructions from.”

Asked how Del Rosario coped with the detention, Corominas said he was patient at first, but as the hours passed, it was only his strong faith in God that helped him bear the diplomatic snub.

“God is more powerful than

China

,” he reportedly said.

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Ex-Phil Foreign Secretary Del Rosario on way home after being held at HK airport

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Ex-Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario at the U.N. (AP file photo)

By The SUN

Former Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario is on his way back to Manila after being held for about six hours at Hong Kong International Airport for reasons that were not made clear.

The country’s former top diplomat arrived in Hong Kong from Manila on board a Cathay Pacific flight at about 7:30 am today, Jun 21, to attend a Board meeting of the First Pacific Group of Companies.

He flew back to Manila aboard another Cathay flight that was scheduled to land at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport at 4:25pm.

His lawyer, Anne Marie Corominas, said Del Rosario was holding a diplomatic passport and Hong Kong authorities were informed about his visit but did not give any indication that he would be barred entry.

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She said all that the Secretary was told was that he was being held because of “immigration reasons.”

Corominas said, “That raises the question of where Hong Kong is getting instructions from.”

Del Rosario’s ordeal came just a month after the Philippines’ former Ombudswoman, Conchita Carpio-Morales, was also barred entry to Hong Kong.

The two jointly filed a case against Chinese President Xi Jinping at the International Criminal Court over China’s incursions in the West Philippine Sea, which many observers say could have triggered the decision to bar them both from Hong Kong.

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As in Carpio-Morales’ case, Del Rosario was reportedly held in isolation for a few hours before Philippine Consulate officers were allowed to join them.

But Corominas said there was a difference in the two cases. Carpio-Morales visited Hong Kong as a tourist, holding a regular passport, while Del Rosario was here on official visit.

“He (Del Rosario) was traveling on a diplomatic passport and got permission to use it,” she said.

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After a few hours of being kept in a private room along with his protocol officer, Consul General Antonio Morales and Consul Paul Saret were allowed to join him.

Asked for his mood during the detention, Corominas said the elder statesman was patient at first, but as the hours passed, she said it was just his strong faith in God that helped him bear the diplomatic snub.

“God is more powerful than China,” he reportedly said.

===

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PCG warns anew against use of passports as loan collateral amid record haul from lending company

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By Daisy CL Mandap

The Consulate has issued a new warning against anyone using the Philippine passport as collateral for securing a loan.

The warning, posted late tonight, Jun 20, came in the wake of reports that a record haul of more than 1,400 Philippine passports had been seized by police from a lending company in Sheung Wan called OFC, during a raid on Jun 5.

The passports were collected and kept by the company as collateral from Filipino borrowers.

The Consulate advisory states: “We remind all Filipinos in Hong Kong that all Philippine passports are property of the Government of the Republic of the

Philippines

and shall not be used as collateral for any loans or debts”.

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It added that in accordance with the Foreign Service Circular No 214-99 issued on Aug 19, 1999, all passports used as guarantee for loans or debts are “automatically cancelled” upon notice by the passport holder that the document had been lost.

This means that once cancelled, the passport holder will have to apply for a new one, which under current practice, will require him or her to go to the main passport office of the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila.

The Consulate will not issue a replacement once it proves that the passport was lost to a money lender.

Consul Saret says no replacement for the hocked passports will be made in Hong Kong

Consul Paul Saret, head of the Consulate’s assistance to nationals section, has told The SUN they will stick to this policy, even if it will mean long hours of processing requests to replace all the passports that had been seized from OFC.

Once a lost passport is found to have been among those seized from the money lender, the Consulate will issue a one-way travel document to the holder so she can go home and get the replacement in Manila.

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In no way will the new passport be replaced in Hong Kong, said Saret, to deter Filipinos from engaging in the practice they have been warned against for years.

“We will just have to find a way to speed up the process,” he said.

More than 200 of the seized passports were initially turned over to the Consulate by officers from the District Crime Squad of the Wan Chai Police Station on Jun 14, and more are expected to be returned after documentation.

The record haul means the ATN section will be kept busy for a long time. Up until now, some of the more than 400 Filipinos whose passports were seized from an unlicensed money lender in North Point late last year are still seeking the Consulate’s help in getting replacements.

Filipino borrowers besieged CFC on Jun 9 on learning about the police raid

During the raid on the office of OFC Holding Limited in Ngan House on 206-210 Des Voeux Road Central, police said a 35-year-old local man was arrested for “breach of money lenders licence conditions”.

According to the police statement, an initial investigation revealed that the arrested man had offered loans totaling more than $4 million to more than 1,400 victims, who were asked to surrender their passports and employment contracts as collateral.

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Initially, the police had started returning some of the passports to OFC’s borrowers but stopped after the Consulate complained, saying this deviated from the agreed protocol.

Consul Saret said the police had apologized and promised to turn over the remaining passports.

“We already talked to the police that if they don’t want to keep the passports as evidence, they should not be returning the passports directly to the debtors but to the Consulate. They apologized and agreed to stop what they are doing and turn over all the passports to the Consulate tomorrow,” Saret told The SUN.

OFC appears to have convince the police to return the passports despite the raid

By then, at least 30 of the documents had been returned by Wanchai police officers, at the intercession of OFC’s owners.

The suspect, who insiders say is a man surnamed Wong, is listed as part owner of OFC Holding Limited and Cheers Holding Company Limited, which is the one with a money lender's licence. He was reportedly released on police bail and required to report back in mid-July.

The arrest was apparently over the failure of Wong to register the Sheung Wan address in the money lending license issued to Cheers Holding, but not to OFC . Its license shows addresses in Shamshuipo and Wanchai.

Cheer Holding also operates Cheers Employment Limited, with which it shares the Wanchai address. A check with the Philippine Overseas Labor Office showed its accreditation to hire Filipino domestic workers was suspended earlier this year.

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Macau and its relevance to Philippine history

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The St. Michael the Archangel Cemetery (left) where Rizal's friend is buried.

By George Manalansan

Filipino migrant workers based in Hong Kong, led by cultural group, Lakbay Dangal, went on a one-day historical trip to Macau on Jun 7, a statutory holiday.

The group took the trip to unwind, but also to know more about the ancient city transformed by Portugal into a commercial outpost between the east and west in mid-16th century, but is now known as the Las Vegas of Asia for its many casinos that now drive its economy.

Despite the heat, the group managed to pack in several historical sites during their day-long visit, including the ruins of St Paul’s Church which was built in the 17th century, but was wrecked by an earthquake that left only its façade standing. The site is included in the list of Unesco world heritage sites.

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Along the way they took in samples of traditional food like meat jerkies and almond cookies offered by various shops that dot the paved streets leading to the ruins.

They also visited the famous paved streets of Largo de Senado (Senado Square), seat of the old Macanese government, and on which an old church also stands. The square used to be a popular meeting place between Portuguese and Chinese residents of the city. Today, most of the old buildings on the square have been preserved, and house commercial establishments.

The group's trip also took them to Museo de Macau, which was built in 1617- 1626 as a fortress, but was later used as a residence of governors and as military barracks. It was turned into a museum in 1998.

Some of the Lakbay Dangal travellers stop over at the Largo de Senado.

Another site they visited was the St. Michael the Archangel Cemetery ( Cemeterio de S. Miguel Arcanjo) where Dr. Jose Rizal’ s Portuguese friend, Dr. Lorenzo P. Marquez ( Dr. Lourenco Pereira Marques) is buried.

Lakbay Dangal members know from their research that Dr Marques lived in Hong Kong at the same time as Dr. Rizal, and during their time together, helped the Philippine national hero boost his clientele. At that time Dr Marques was a physician in Victoria Prison, which was just a stone’s throw from Rednaxela Terrace where Rizal lived during his stay in Hong Kong in 1891-1892.

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The group that conducts free guided tours of the places where Rizal lived and practiced as an optometrist in Hong Kong, timed their visit ahead of the 121st anniversary of the declaration of Philippine independence on Jun 12 and Rizal’s 150th birthday on Jun19.

At the cemetery, the group was so awed at seeing the little-known grave of a close friend of Rizal that one of them said she got goose bumps.

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Macau remains a blend of old-world charm from its colonial past, and of glittering, modern-day buildings that house casinos and ritzy shops. It has so many attractions that a day’s visit will not be enough to take in all its attractions.

With proper planning and good budgeting, $500 should be enough for a day tour, food and snacks included.

Rowena Arandia, who was with the group, said she considers Macau as her second home, as she frequently goes there, sometimes staying overnight with friends. She enjoys the convenience of having free shuttle buses that take visitors to the casinos on Macau’s three islands.

Her friend Imee Payoyo, a first timer in Macau, had a fun time playing slot machines, but was quick to say one must have discipline to make sure she does not gamble too much. She said she was happy enough capping her losses at $100.

Going there has become easier on the budget with the opening of the HK-Macau-Zhuhai bridge late last year. One can get to Macau by taking the air bus – A11 from North Point and Central, A41 from Shatin, and all others that go past the airport, and stop at the border checkpoint. After clearing Hong Kong immigration, one can take the cross-border buses at just $65 each way, $70 for the night buses.

The trip from Central to Macau will take an hour and a half each way, providing there are no huge crowds at the border crossing.

Another option is to take the Tung Chung- bound MTR. Get off at Sunny Bay station, and take Bus B5 to the border. From Tung Chung, take Bus B6.

Finally, one can still take the faster but pricier sea crossing by taking a jetfoil from the HK-Macau ferry terminal in Sheung Wan. The ferry ride costs at least $300 round-trip,

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