Cancellation of ex-officials' diplomatic passports unnecessary – analyst

The Philippine government should have warned former government officials against using their diplomatic passports when traveling for personal business, rather than cancelling these passports altogether, as the action's consequences would likely affect government officials in the future when they were no longer in power, GMA Resident Analyst Richard Heydarian said on Monday.

Last week, Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario, a staunch China critic who successfully steered the country's successful international arbitration case that invalidated massive China's claim over the South China Sea, was barred from entering Hong Kong despite his use of a diplomatic passport.

Del Rosario argued that this was a violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, an international treaty signed in 1961 that defines the framework for diplomatic relations between independent countries and specifies the privileges of a diplomatic mission that enables diplomats to perform their function without fear of coercion or harassment by the host country.

However, China Foreign Ministry insisted that it was entirely within China's sovereignty to allow or deny any foreigner's entry.

“It is not just the denial of entry. It is the manner how it was handled," Heydarian argued on GMA News TV program Dobol B sa News TV. "Hong Kong is supposed to be different (autonomous) from China. But clearly, what happened showed that Hong Kong is a political extension of China. The Philippine government should have asked for clarification [from Hong Kong] and issue guidelines on use of diplomatic passports; that they should not use it for private purpose.”

The analyst added, “Bakit mo ika-cancel agad ang diplomatic passport when you can just issue a reminder. Kapag kababayan natin, mali agad. Pero kapag China, ‘calibrated’ ang response ng Pangulo.

“'Yung mga senior government officials natin, ngayon, anti-US o anti-Europe sila. Pag hindi na sila nakaupo sa pwesto at pupunta sila sa mga lugar na 'yan, gusto ba nilang bastusin lang sila katulad ng nangyari kay former Secretary del Rosario?” — DVM, GMA News