European socialists' party condemns Philippines' deportation of official

MANILA, Philippines — The Party of European Socialists denounced what it called the “unjustified” detention and deportation of its official who has criticized President Rodrigo Duterte’s anti-drug campaign.

PES Deputy Secretary General Giacomo Filibeck—who was invited by PES' sister party, Akbayan, as guest of honor for one of its events—was denied access to the country upon his arrival at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport.

Of the 20 foreign guests invited to join Akbayan party-list Congress in Cebu City, only Filibeck was not allowed to enter the country.

READ: EU leader Barred from PH?

PES president Sergei Stanishev condemned the manner in which Filibeck was “treated as a criminal on the orders of the government and forcible deported from the country.”

Filibeck is one of the critics of government’s anti-narcotics campaign. He was part of the delegation who called for an investigation into the brutal drug war in October 2017.

“Clearly, the president intends to silence criticism of his deadly policies both at home and abroad,” Stanishev said.

He added: “As a united political family, we refuse to be silenced. We will continue to express our solidarity with the democratic opposition to Mr. Duterte’s increasingly authoritarian rule in the Philippines.”

In a statement, Akbayan called the deportation of the PES official a “deplorable act of silencing the strong voices for human rights.”

The party also urged the House of Representatives to probe Immigration's deportation of Filibeck.  

But according to the Bureau of Immigration, the Italian politician was denied entry into the country for engaging in partisan political activity, which tourists are forbidden to do under the the country’s immigration law.

In 2013, Immigration officials prevented Dutch activist Thomas van Beersum who joined a rally during President Benigno Aquino III's State of the Nation Address from leaving the country. He was held for around 30 hours before being presented a deportation order. He was told that he was blacklisted as an "undesirable alien."

Van Beersum was in the news after being photographed in a confrontation with a policeman during the rally. The policeman was seen getting emotional and breaking down during the incident.