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Enrile warns gov't vs protest over deportation of 6 Pinoys from Korea


Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile warned Malacañang against filing a diplomatic protest against South Korea for deporting six Filipino militants who were detained at the Incheon International Airport in Seoul over the weekend. "I'll be very, very careful to do that if I were the President or the secretary of Foreign Affairs. There's a national interest involved," Enrile told reporters in an interview on Monday. He issued the statement after Presidential Communications Operations Office head Herminio Coloma Jr. said the Palace might file a diplomatic protest if they find "concrete basis" for it. Enrile, however, said the Philippines cannot question the deportation move because it was the function of a government. "We cannot question the prerogative of the sovereign state unless we have battle ships and squadron of planes to make good our assertions," he said. He likewise said the Philippine government should consider the possible strain the protest might cause between the two nations. "In the game of nations, reciprocity is the name of the game," he said. Enrile said if the protesters really think they were injured by the Korean government, they should make the "proper" protest and address their concerns to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA). "Let them demand (but) we cannot just act at the say so of anybody," he said. Coloma said the DFA has yet to relay to the Palace an official status report on the incident. The six Filipinos barred from entering South Korea and supposedly “blacklisted" by the South Korean government, included:

  • Maria Lorena Macabuag, Migrant Forum Asia
  • Josua Mata, Alliance of Progressive Labor
  • Joseph Purugganan, Focus on the Global South-Philippines (FGSP)
  • Jesus Manuel Santiago, activist poet-musician
  • Roger Soluta, Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), and
  • Paul Quintos, IBON Foundation The deportation occurred as South Korea tightens security measures for the semiannual G-20 summit. According to a statement issued by KMU on Saturday, the six were supposed to participate in planned demonstrations and attend a “people’s summit" organized by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions. The people's summit is a parallel meeting of NGOs and civil society organizations coinciding with the G-20 summit. Soluta and Qunitos were also scheduled to speak at international forums, including a conference of the Southern Initiative on Globalization and Trade Union Rights, the press release stated. All six of them carried visas and other documents necessary to enter South Korea. - VVP, GMANews.TV
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