Del Rosario: HK in violation of Vienna Convention

MANILA (2ND UPDATE)- Hong Kong on Friday denied entry to former Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario, among staunch advocates of Philippine rights in the disputed South China Sea.

Del Rosario, who led the country's winning arbitration case against China over the resource-rich waters, was not allowed to stay at the Chinese administrative region after nearly 6 hours of questioning by immigration officials.

• Ex-DFA chief and China nemesis Del Rosario held at HK airport

Manila's former top diplomat is set to return home via a Cathay Pacific flight at 2:05 p.m.

"He's been excluded and will be deported," Del Rosario's lawyer Anne Marie Corominas told ABS-CBN News.

Del Rosario, a non-executive director of Hong Kong's First Pacific, was traveling to the Chinese special administrative region for a shareholders meeting.

In a text message, Del Rosario decried the Hong Kong government's act as a violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. As a former diplomat, Del Rosario is a bearer of a diplomatic passport.

Article 40 of the convention provides that a diplomatic agent is entitled to "inviolability and such other immunities as may be required to ensure his transit or return" through a territory of a third state.

"Denied entry after being held for 6 hours. Diplo(matic) passport ignored in violation of Vienna Convention," said Del Rosario.

Last month, former Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales experienced the same ordeal when she flew to Hong Kong for a family vacation.

Morales, who along with Del Rosario and a group of Filipino fishermen hauled Chinese President Xi Jinping to the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity, was also held for questioning at Hong Kong Airport.

The former Philippine officials sought an investigation into Beijing's "systematic plan to control the South China Sea."

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, caretaker of the Philippine government while the President is in Thailand, said he would request the DFA to find out why Del Rosario was excluded.

"As OIC, I will request the DFA to find out the reason for (but not to question) former SFA's (secretary of Foreign Affairs) exclusion and to extend whatever courtesies could be given to him as a former foreign minister of our country," he said in a text message.

"But personally, I think that the lesson derived from former Ombudsman Morales' similar experience should have been clear to him."

Del Rosario led Manila's winning arbitration case against Beijing over the latter's sweeping claims in the South China Sea during his stint as top diplomat of former President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III.

The ruling was handed down in July 2016, the start of the term of President Rodrigo Duterte.

Del Rosario has been critical of the Duterte administration's handling of the country's dispute with China and for shelving the landmark ruling.