Immigration bars EU Socialist Party official from entering Philippines

April 16, 2018

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) said European Union (EU) Socialist Party official Giacomo Filibeck was denied entry into the Philippines for allegedly engaging in partisan political activity which tourists are forbidden to do under the  law.

In a press statement Monday, BI Commissioner Jaime Morente said Filibeck was blacklisted because he 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.

Ma. Antonette Mangrobang, BI spokesperson, said it was not the first time a foreigner was expelled for engaging in political activities.

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