Taiwan leaves to PHL court next move to address deportation row

After failing to get an apology, Taiwan has left the next move to the Philippine court to address the deportation row that might have a negative impact on some 90,000 Filipino workers in Taiwan. "The ball is now back in the Philippines' court," Taiwan Foreign Minister Timothy Yang said, according to a report on Taiwan's Central News Agency (CNA). President Benigno Aquino III had sent former Senator Manuel Roxas II as a special envoy to Taiwan to iron out the PHL-Taiwan row stemming from the deportation of 14 Taiwanese to Mainland China last Feb. 2. Meanwhile, Yang said progress had been made "in certain areas" although Roxas' explanation of the Philippines' decisions on the matter "did not fully meet Taiwan's expectations." In a meeting with Roxas on Tuesday, Taiwanese President Ma Ying-Jeou demanded an apology from Manila for what he called PHL's "wrongful deportation." But Roxas refused to do so on behalf of the Philippines, saying his mission was only to seek for understanding. "Future relations between our two countries will hinge on your government's follow-up measures," Ma told Roxas, CNA's Tuesday afternoon report said. "I ask you to convey my opinions to President Aquino," Ma told Roxas. Ma said the Philippine government committed at least three mistakes in the deportation issue:

* The 14 Taiwanese fraud suspects were expelled by the Philippine government, but Filipino officials claimed that they were deported to China. Ma said that by failing to repatriate the 14 Taiwanese back to their home country after expelling them, the Philippines had violated international law and time-honored international practices in addressing such cases. * While the 14 Taiwanese had entered the Philippines legally with valid Taiwan passports, Filipino officials claimed that they were "undocumented" people with no legal travel documents. "Your officials' claim was a sheer lie," Ma told Roxas. * Since the lawyer for the Taiwanese suspects had already obtained a writ of habeas corpus issued by the Philippines' Court of Appeals on Jan 31, the Philippine government had violated its own country's law in deporting them to China on Feb. 2. "Ignoring your own country's law was not what a democratic government should have done," Ma said.

The CNA reported that at the beginning of their meeting, Ma stressed the same message that Taiwan's government and people were very angry over the Philippines' move. But Ma said "I was willing to meet with you [Roxas] mainly because of the longstanding friendship and cooperation between our two countries." Ma said he was happy to see progress achieved in talks on Monday between Roxas and Taiwanese officials on dealing with future cross-border crimes through the possible establishment of a mutual assistance mechanism and on the possibility of starting talks on an economic partnership accord. Manila's decision to ignore Taipei's requests for apology prompted Taipei to implement a string of retaliatory measures, including tightening the screening of applications by Filipino citizens who seek to work in Taiwan and canceling a visa-waiver for certain categories of Filipinos. Earlier, a separate CNA report quoted Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) Chairman Wang Ju-shuan as saying, "If the negotiations on the deportation row are not going as well as expected, then the CLA will take the most severe measures." Wang mentioned that the measures will include an across-the-board freeze on the hiring of Filipino worker, the report said. Concessions for 5K OFWs Should Taiwan push through with a plan to freeze the hiring of workers from the Philippines, it should at least spare a batch of 5,000 Taipei-bound Filipinos who had just completed their requirements for employment. This was Roxas' last-minute appeal to Taiwanese officials before he boarded a flight back to Manila Tuesday, Manila Economic and Cultural Office head Amadeo Perez Jr. disclosed Wednesday. “Should you push through with your plan to freeze the hiring of Filipino workers, please spare the batch of 5,000 Filipinos who had just completed their requirements. They spent so much just to get a job in Taiwan. Many of them even had to borrow money just to pay placement fees," Perez quoted Roxas as telling Taiwanese officials he had met. Also, Perez said in same interview on dwIZ radio Wednesday morning that Taiwanese officials agreed to at least study the request. “Yan pina-follow up ko sa MOFA, mabigay nila ang concession na yan kung minsan intindihin natin masakit sa kanila ang pag-deport ng Taiwanese (I will follow this up with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to see if they can give us concessions. We also understand their hurt feelings due to the deportation)," he said. A form of apology Saying sending a special envoy is a form of apology, a Taiwanese lawmaker called for a more flexible stand on the Philippines over the deportation row. Kuomintang (KMT) lawmaker Lin Yu-fang advised the Taiwanese government it risks the Philippines cutting even informal ties with Taipei. "The fact that the Philippines sent an emissary to Taiwan is already a gesture of an apology. Flexibility is a must in all diplomatic negotiations," said Lin, a member of the legislative's Foreign and National Defense Committee, according to a report on CNA. He was referring to Aquino III's sending of Roxas to Taiwan to explain the Philippines' move. Lin argued that because of the Philippines' economic reliance on China, it can cut even informal ties with Taipei if Taipei were too harsh on Manila. He added such a scenario would mean Taiwan had bowed down to China, a bad move that could further hurt Taiwan on the diplomatic front. "What should be considered is how a total breakdown in Taiwan-Philippines relations would affect Taiwan's diplomacy," he said. But Lin's KMT colleague Hsieh Kuo-liang said the Taiwanese government should not back down from its insistence on a formal apology. He also said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs needed to act more aggressively if Manila did not demonstrate further good will in the future, the CNA report added. — LBG/RSJ, GMA News