HK AUTHORITIES ACTED WITH DISRESPECT, EXHIBITED LACK OF GOOD JUDGMENT IN THE MANNER THEY TREATED ANOTHER RP OFFICIAL - GORDON

Senator Richard J. Gordon yesterday said Hong Kong authorities acted with disrespect and exhibited lack of good judgment in the manner they treated former Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario, who was detained for hours at the Hong Kong airport for undisclosed reasons.

Gordon pointed out that with Del Rosario's pronouncements, too, on the abandonment of our fishermen by Chinese crewmen, such action cannot be interpreted as no less than intimidation if not outright harassment of a law abiding and internationally respected personality as the former DFA chief.

"Hong Kong authorities acted with disrespect and exhibited lack of good judgment. The maintenance of good and friendly relations, bilateral or multilateral, state to state, people to people, is a main objective of every government," he said.

The senator pointed out that this is the second time in one month that a Filipino official had been detained for hours at the Hong Kong airport. Last May 21, former Ombudsman Morales experienced the same when she and her family visited Hong Kong. Although Morales was eventually allowed to enter Hong Kong, she decided not to push through with the trip.

Del Rosario and Morales sued Xi before the ICC for crimes against humanity over Beijing's activities in the South China Sea.

"The relevant ranking Chinese officials should take heed that we cannot change geography, that the Philippines and China are close neighbors. And have had a long history of friendly relations that should not be imperiled by mindless action such as in the del Rosario and Carpio-Morales treatment by HK authorities and the West Philippine Sea," Gordon said.