MANILA – Former Department of Foreign Affairs secretary Albert del Rosario remained puzzled as to why he was barred from entering Hong Kong for a business meeting on Friday.
Del Rosario on Friday said there was no reason for him to be prevented from entering Hong Kong as he was not a security threat to anybody.
“I don’t think I can be a security threat to anybody. There was no explanation given, even to the last minute,” he said.
Del Rosario was held at the Hong Kong International Airport upon his arrival at 7:40 a.m. on Friday. He was held for almost six hours before being ordered to return to the Philippines for unknown reason.
Former Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales also suffered the same fate last month when she joined her family in a supposed vacation in Hong Kong.
Del Rosario and Carpio-Morales filed a complaint against Chinese President Xi Jinping and two other top Chinese officials before the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) for China’s infractions in the West Philippine Sea, a portion of the South China Sea claimed by the Philippines.
However, del Rosario made it clear that Hong Kong authorities were civil with him after he said he felt harassed by their way of questioning.
“They gave us food and water to drink. I think they (Hong Kong authorities) were just implementing the instruction upstairs,” said del Rosario./PN
