Manila expels foreign dignitaries for E. Timor conference<\/p>\n
MANILA (Agencies): The Philippines yesterday barred an
\nAmerican professor from entering the country to attend a meeting
\non East Timor a day after expelling Nobel peace laureate Mairead
\nMaguire and an Irish human rights activist.<\/p>\n
Airport immigration officials threw out Susan Castillo, 46,
\nafter she admitted she had come to attend the privately organized
\nconference, which has angered neighboring Indonesia, Reuters
\nreported.<\/p>\n
\"They told me they were sorry but I would not be allowed in
\nbecause the conference is banned,\" she told reporters as
\nofficials prepared to escort her on a plane back to Europe.<\/p>\n
Castillo, who hails from Jackson, Mississippi but has lived
\nfor 23 years in Portugal where she teaches at the University of
\nOporto, said she would file a strong protest with the U.S.
\nembassy in Lisbon against her expulsion.<\/p>\n
Immigration officials confirmed the expulsion order on
\nCastillo, one of 10 foreign delegates expected to arrive on
\nSunday to attend the meeting, which opens on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The government has threatened to bar all if they come.<\/p>\n
Immigration officials kept a watch-list of at least 36
\nprohibited foreign delegates and scrutinized every arriving
\nforeigner, checking the names on their passports against their
\nlist before allowing any of them through.<\/p>\n
\"We have pictures of some of them...every foreigner that's
\ncoming is on the watch,\" said airport travel control chief Mama
\nCasan. \"Provincial airports have also been alerted.\"<\/p>\n
French First Lady Danielle Mitterrand is named on the list
\naccording to AFP. Mitterrand had accepted an invitation to attend
\nthe Asia Pacific Conference on East Timor (APCET) to be held from
\nTuesday to Friday, but later said she would not be coming,
\nalthough no reason was given for the change of plan.<\/p>\n
Maguire and Irish human rights activist Tom Hyland were thrown
\nout when they arrived on Saturday night.<\/p>\n
Maguire, who as Mairead Corrigan shared the 1976 Nobel Peace
\nPrize with Betty Williams for their Northern Ireland peace
\nefforts, said Manila capitulated to pressure from Indonesia.<\/p>\n
\"But we will not let this rest.\"<\/p>\n
The foreign office said the expulsion was \"to prevent non-
\nFilipinos from making use of Philippine soil to seek to undermine
\nthe territorial integrity of a friendly neighboring state.\"<\/p>\n
Also yesterday, University of the Philippines officials banned
\nconference organizers from using the campus and its facilities
\nfor the meeting. The announcement was released through the
\npresidential palace.<\/p>\n
Organizers have invited 150 delegates from 15 nations to the
\nmeeting which would discuss what they alleged to be human rights
\nabuses by the Indonesian government in East Timor.<\/p>\n
Indonesian anger over the meeting prompted President Fidel
\nRamos to ban foreigners from it. A judge ordered the meeting
\ncanceled until he has heard a petition urging a ban on it.<\/p>\n
Filipino organizers said they would not be cowed and would
\nproceed with the conference.<\/p>\n
They said at least six foreign delegates, including visitors
\nfrom the United States, Australia and South Korea, had arrived
\nafter slipping past immigration officials at the airport.<\/p>\n
\"We will proceed with the conference. We do not believe this
\norder is legal,\" said Renato Constantino, head of a group of
\nFilipino human rights activists organizing the meeting.<\/p>\n
In Jakarta, the Antara news agency said East Timorese rebel
\nleader Ramos Horta and several Australians had been denied visas
\nto attend the meeting. It quoted a spokesman for the Philippine
\nambassador in Canberra for the report.<\/p>\n
The Australians denied visas include James Dunn, Australia's
\nformer consul to East Timor's capital Dili; New South Wales
\nUniversity lecturer Garth Nettheim; Pastor Hilton Deakan from the
\nMelbourne diocese; and Shirley Shackleton, wife of an Australian
\njournalist killed while on assignment in East Timor in 1975.<\/p>\n
Political commentator Amando Doronila of the Philippine Daily
\nInquirer newspaper said Manila's ban on the foreigners and the
\ncourt's order for the meeting to be canceled is a triumph for
\nIndonesia but a foreign policy disaster for the Philippines..<\/p>\n
\"(This) has left Philippine diplomacy in a shambles. The
\nPhilippines' handling of the crisis was an absolute disaster,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Analyst Teodoro Benigno said Ramos had himself to blame.
\n\"He has absolutely no knowledge of foreign relations. That's why
\nhe's getting into all these troubles....He fell flat on his face
\non this.\"<\/p>",
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