PHL summons consul general in Vancouver over 'rude' behavior

A Filipino diplomat in Vancouver, Canada, is in hot water for allegedy displaying inappropriate behavior during a consular outreach mission there this month. Consul General Jose Ampeso has been ordered to return to Manila to face an investigation after a video of him berating a Filipino during the outreach mission was posted on popular video-sharing site YouTube. “We are asking him to come home to Manila to explain his side,” Foreign Affairs spokesman Raul Hernandez told a press briefing Wednesday. GMA News Online sought Ampeso’s comment through email but has yet to receive a reply as of posting time. The video, posted by one greatauror28, apparently the one who experienced Ampeso's ire, shows the diplomat raising his voice at a passport applicant in Red Deer, Alberta. The Philippine technology blog Technograph identified the video uploader as Proceso Jr. Flordeliz by crosschecking his YouTube account with his account on the car enthusiast forum Tsikot. GMA News Online, however, could not immediately confirm this as of posting time. Hernandez, meanwhile, refused to divulge details of the alleged incident. “Until we are able to listen and to find out his side of the story, I can not comment on what really transpired in that incident in Red Deer,” he said. In a post on Tsikot, username greatauror28 described Ampeso as “arrogant, rude, and drunk.” He recalled the conversation he allegedly had with the diplomat: EM (Elderly Man): Now are you going to donate? (Serious look on face) Kahit magkano Ok lang. Me: (getting my coin purse and jokingly) Okay lang ba one dollar? Eto lang nakayanan ko eh (with a smile on my face) EM: (shouting) ONE DOLLAR? PARA SA PILIPINAS YAN TAPOS ONE DOLLAR LANG IBIBIGAY MO? ANG CHEAP MO NAMAN, PARA SA PINAS YAN! Me: Wait, I am only joking. You are right? EM: MUKHA BAKONG NAGJOJOKE? SERYOSO AKO!! ONE DOLLAR LANG IBIBIGAY MO? GUSTO MO BANG KUNIN KO NA LANG PAPEL MO? WAG KA NA PAG RENEW-HIN?? Me: (still calm) Is this some kind of a joke? What’s happening? The writer, greatauror28, then said a man and woman came up to him and apologized for Ampeso's behavior, saying the diplomat was just tired from working all day. Come home ASAP Hernandez said Ampeso “will be asked to come home immediately.” “I am not sure of the particular date but he will be asked to come home immediately for consultations and for him to explain his side,” he said. Asked if there was a formal complaint filed against Ampeso, Hernandez said: “I am not sure if we have already received a formal complaint, but we thought that maybe because this has been going around already we could hear his side of the story.” As a practice, Philippine diplomats and staff are asked to report to the Home Office in Manila for “consultations” if there are complaints or allegations against them, Hernandez said. First controversy Ampeso, who is due to retire in 2014, first figured in a controversy in 1996 when Evangeline “Luli” Arroyo, daughter of then-President President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, filed a sexual harassment case against him. The younger Arroyo, who was a volunteer during the Philippine hosting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit, said Ampeso, whom she claimed was under the influence of alcohol, made “inappropriate” remarks towards her. Arroyo filed an administrative case against Ampeso with the DFA but it was dismissed in 1998 after the diplomat wrote a letter of apology in the presence of her parents. — with Gian Geronimo/KBK, GMA News