BUREAU of Immigration (BI) Commissioner Jaime Morente said the Party of European Socialists (PES) official who was denied entry at the Mactan Cebu International Airport has been blacklisted since he "joined a partisan political activity in the Philippines last year."
"He (Filibeck) was not supposed to do that because being a tourist he does not enjoy the rights and privileges of a Philippine citizen, particularly the exercise of political rights which are exclusively reserved to Filipinos," Morente said in a statement Monday, April 16.
Morente said the Philippines could not allow the entry of any foreigner who disrespects the country's officials by intervening in the Philippines' internal affairs.
He cited BI Operations Order No. SBM-2015-025 dated July 3, 2015, which states that "foreign tourists in the Philippines are enjoined to observe the limitation on the exercise of their political rights during their stay in the Philippines."
Morente issued the statement a day after immigration officers at the Mactan Cebu International Airport denied entry to Giacomo Filibeck, deputy secretary-general of the Party of European Socialists (PES), which is composed of socialist, social democratic, labor and democratic parties from all over Europe and Norway.
Filibeck was handed a blacklist order upon arrival in Cebu and was deported on the same day. He had traveled to Cebu to attend the Akbayan Party-list Congress.
According to Akbayan, a sister party of PES, Filibeck was part of the international human rights mission that visited the Philippines in October 2017. Together with representatives of members of progressive European parties, he denounced the killings linked to the administration's drug war and publicly called for an investigation into the crackdown.
MalacaƱang has defended the deportation of Filibeck, saying it was an "exercise of sovereignty."
Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, in a statement, joined the Palace in justifying the move to block Filibeck's entry to the Philippines.
In a statement, Guevarra said the country has the right to bar Filibeck because he had violated the immigration law in the past.
"Our government has the right to refuse entry to foreigners who have violated our immigration laws in the past, such as participating in political activities during their stay in the country, which stay is a mere privilege," said Guevarra.
According to Akbayan Party-list Representative Tom Villarin, the other foreign delegates were allowed entry.
Villarin said he will file a resolution to investigate what he described as a "shameful incident." (SunStar Philippines)