Immigration blacklists EU Socialist Party official Filibeck

Giacomo Filibeck, deputy secretary-general of the Party of European Socialists, talks to someone on his cellular phone while he was held by immigration officers at the Mactan Cebu International Airport on Sunday. He was subsequently deported for participating in illegal political activities./CONTRIBUTED PHOTO/AKBAYAN

Party of European Socialists (PES) official Giocomo Filibeck has been blacklisted in the Philippines for violating the condition of his stay in the country during his visit last year.

BI Commissioner Jaime Morente on Monday said Filibeck violated the conditions of his stay as a tourist when he came to the Philippines last year.

“He 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.

READ: DOJ on barring EU pol: Foreign political meddlers not welcome

Filibeck, the deputy secretary-general of PES, was barred from entering the country at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport on Sunday.

He was initially held at the immigration counter because of his inclusion in the BI’s blacklist, and was immediately deported that same day.

Filibeck was an invited guest of the Akbayan Partylist Congress which was held in Cebu City on Monday.

In October 2017, he was part of an international solidarity mission to the Philippines, which investigated and denounced the spate of human rights violations.

The BI chief also cited BI Operations Order No. SBM-2015-025 dated 03 July 2015, which prohibits foreign tourists from engaging in political activities in the country, “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 added that “we cannot allow the entry of foreigners who have shown disrespect to our duly-constituted authorities by meddling and interfering in our internal affairs as a sovereign nation.”

Atty. Ma. Antonette Mangrobang, BI spokesperson, explained that Filibeck engaged in partisan political activity “by having joined and participated in assemblies organized against the government.”

She added that it was not the first time that an alien was expelled for engaging in political activities.

Mangrobang said 20-year-old Dutch activist Thomas Van Beersum was deported in August 2013 after he made a police officer cry during a rally against former President Benigno Aquino III’s state of the nation address.

Beersum was photographed yelling at a weeping riot police officer during the protest outside the Congress building in Quezon City.

“He (Beersum) not only took part in a protest rally but he also berated and used foul words against the police officer,” Mangrobang said. “He was later deported for violating the conditions of his tourist visa and was put on our blacklist.” /je