Former Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs Secretary and China critic Albert del Rosario was barred from entering Hong Kong today after being detained for several hours at the city’s airport.
Del Rosario arrived in Hong Kong at 7:40am to attend a shareholders’ meeting at the Hong Kong company First Pacific, where he is a non-executive director. After being barred by immigration officials, he was scheduled to leave Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) today at 2:o5pm, reported ABS-CBN News. He is now on board a Cathay Pacific flight bound for Manila.
Before leaving Hong Kong, Del Rosario told the news television show News Ngayon that immigration officials did not explain to him why he had to be detained at the airport. He was detained at HKIA for more than five hours, reported the Philippine Star.
His lawyer Anne Marie Corominas said immigration officials also did not explain to del Rosario why he was barred from entering Hong Kong.
“We weren’t able to get specific reasons, only vague immigration reason,” she said.
As a vocal critic of China, Del Rosario led the Philippine government’s team in winning its arbitration case against the Asian superpower at the United Nations-backed Permanent Court of Arbitration in 2016. The court ruled in favor of the Philippines and invalidated China’s claim over the West Philippine Sea.
Along with a group of Filipino fishermen and former ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales, he also filed a complaint against Chinese President Xi Jinping and other high-ranking Chinese government officials at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in March.
In the complaint, officially called a “communication,” they said that President Xi and the other officials, in their plan to take over the contested West Philippine Sea, had caused “permanent and devastating environmental damage” to the area. The complaint asserted that China has committed destructive fishing activities in the area and built military infrastructures on the islands.
Morales herself was detained for questioning at HKIA when she arrived there in May. Unlike del Rosario, however, immigration officials eventually gave her permission to enter the Chinese special administrative region, but Morales chose to go home to Manila instead.
Corominas said that unlike Morales, del Rosario traveled to Hong Kong using his diplomatic passport. Corominas alleged that Hong Kong officials violated the Vienna convention in barring del Rosario from entering. The Vienna convention is a 1961 international treaty that protects diplomats from being arrested or detained.
Del Rosario is reportedly mulling the possibility of taking legal action against the HKIA officials, reported Manila Bulletin.
Meanwhile, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said today that del Rosario should have learned a lesson from Morales’ experience. Guevarra is currently the Philippine government’s officer-in-charge while President Rodrigo Duterte is in Thailand for the ASEAN Summit.
“Personally, I believe that the lesson derived from former Ombudsman Morales’ similar experience should have been clear to him,” Guevarra said in a text message sent to the media.
Before flying to Hong Kong, del Rosario released a statement to the media today slamming the planned joint probe between China and the Philippines of the West Philippine Sea boat sinking incident. On June 9, a Chinese-owned vessel hit and sank a Filipino-owned fishing boat. Instead of helping, the Chinese crew left the Filipinos to fend for themselves until a group of Vietnamese fishermen came to their rescue.
In his statement, he called China a “bully.”
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