MANILA: The Philippines will review its entry ban on nine Hong Kong journalists who shouted questions at President Benigno Aquino during a summit in Indonesia last year, Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario said yesterday.
The move came after journalists’ groups expressed concern over the blacklisting, which threatens to sour ties that the two nations have been trying to repair after eight Hong Kong tourists were killed in Manila in 2010.
“The journalists’ issue will be reviewed,” del Rosario said, when asked if Manila would reconsider the ban on the journalists.
The reporters had their credentials withdrawn after they shouted questions at the Philippine leader during an Apec summit in Indonesia last year, and are currently unable to enter the Philippines for any reason.
They were blacklisted over “acts committed against the president during a summit in Bali, Indonesia”, Bureau of Immigration spokeswoman Elaine Tan said on Saturday without naming the nine.
Quoting intelligence officials, Tan said the journalists were a “threat to public safety”.
The Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines said the blacklisting sent a “chilling message”. “If the government’s intelligence agency does not like the way you ask questions, you may be labelled a public safety threat and blacklisted from the Philippines,” the group said.
AFP
