



Malacañang defended on Monday the decision of immigration officials to block and deport a Socialist Party official from the European Union, who is known to be a critic of President Rodrigo Duterte.

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Giacomo Filibeck, a leader of the Party of European Socialist (PES), was denied entry at the Mactan- Cebu International Airport on Sunday.

“In international law, it is always a sovereign decision whom they wish to allow into their territory. So we are not obliged to allow anyone into our territory if we do not want them in our territory,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a Palace briefing on Monday.

“Unfortunately, the socialist leader was one of those that we determine as a person we don’t want to be in our territory,” he added.

Roque also asserted, “There is no rule under international law that would “compel us to admit anyone whom we do not want to admit in our territory.”

“That’s the exercise of sovereignty,” he also said.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra also justified on Monday the blocking of Filibeck, saying “it is unlawful for aliens staying in our country to engage in partisan political activities.”

Filibeck, secretary general of the PES, already visited the country in October 2017 together with other officials from his party.

On Sunday, he was supposed to attend an Akbayan event but was denied entry at the airport. /kga’

RELATED STORY: Immigration blacklists EU Socialist Party official Filibeck

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