Hope springs eternal for jailed Pinay in Nepal

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) is now working for the release of a Filipina jailed in Katmandu since February for violating an obscure Nepalese law, former ambassador Raul Goco said yesterday.

Goco said Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas Ople has "mobilized" a team that will seek extrajudicial process for the release of Donna Marie Imson.

Imson, 36, was jailed after giving a seminar on personality development. She is the director for training and development of GoldQuest International Ltd., a Hong Kong-based multi-level marketing firm that sells special edition gold coins, watches and pendants.

Goco, a former solicitor-general and jurist at the United Nations International Law Commission from 1997 to 2001, said he feared Imson would stay in jail longer if Nepal’s judicial process is applied in her case.

In a letter dated March 25, Goco asked Ople to intervene in Imson’s case and invoke diplomatic protection for her.

"Diplomatic protection is well-entrenched in international law. It was what we exercised and availed of in the cases of (overseas Filipino workers) Sarah Balabagan and John Aquino," Goco said.

He explained that diplomatic protection provides that a "government is bound to extend assistance to its national who is being ‘injured’ in another state."

Goco said Ople has already instructed Ambassador to India Jose del Rosario and former ambassador Jose Brillantes to look into Imson’s case.

Imson was invited by her company’s Nepalese members, who organized a seminar last February.

After the seminar, Imson and other Nepalese members were arrested by the Katmandu police.

Goco, in his letter, said local authorities alleged that Imson and her colleagues have been "recruiting members or subscribers for fees with rewards to be given to them of gold ornaments in violation of Nepal’s Law on Cheating."

In a phone interview, Goco told The STAR Imson never recruited anybody during the seminar.

"Nobody was prejudiced by her. She was there only to explain how to be a good marketing (person)," he said.

Moreover, Goco said, Katmandu authorities failed to clearly state what the charges against Imson involved.

"We cannot understand exactly what law she violated. Her lawyers in Nepal have a strong belief that Donna’s arrest was the result of a misunderstanding. They said they could not see how the Law on Cheating could be applied in Donna’s case," he said.

Goco added that while Imson’s Nepalese colleagues have been released, the district court judge denied her bail.

He said that Imson, a mother of three, is locked up in a cell with common criminals.

"We’re anxious to get her out because her situation in jail is intolerable," Goco said.

In 1999, the Department of Trade and Industry conducted an inquiry into GoldQuest’s operations to determine if it had violated the Philippines’ consumer protection law.

Goco admitted that he knew little about Imson’s company, but added that he had met and interviewed GoldQuest’s clients while studying Imson’s case and they all expressed satisfaction with the company’s products and services.