‘Concerned’ Hong Kong to contact PHL over reporters' blacklisting

Published November 22, 2014 3:47pm

Hong Kong authorities will contact their Philippine counterparts over the supposed blacklisting of nine Hong Kong journalists from covering the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit that the Philippines will host in 2015.

The nine supposedly blacklisted journalists had shouted questions at President Benigno Aquino III during the APEC summit in Bali, Indonesia a year ago. They had yelled questions at Aquino regarding the 2010 hostage crisis in Manila in which eight Hong Kong residents were killed.

"The HKSAR Government will contact the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Hong Kong and the Consulate General of the Philippines in Hong Kong to follow up on the matter," the Hong Kong government said in a statement.

It also expressed "concern" on the case of the Hong Kong journalist being refused entry into the Philippines.

Earlier Friday, RTHK said a NOW TV cameraman was refused entry to the Philippines Thursday, and told that he and eight other Hong Kong journalists had been blacklisted.

The RTHK report said the Office of the President barred the nine from entering the Philippines to cover the APEC summit.

It added the nine journalists were described by the Office of the President as "undesirable."

Palace denies blacklisting

In a statement on Friday, a Palace spokesman said the government has not even started accrediting journalists for the APEC summit.

"Therefore, no journalist has been given or denied accreditation, and there is no factual basis for the existence of a so-called ‘blacklist’," Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said.

The Palace official cited information from Immigration Commissioner Siegred Mison that the Hong Kong journalists' actions last year are "not one of the grounds for denial of entry into the country." — Joel Locsin/JDS, GMA News

Tags: hongkong, apec2015