Del Rosario: Behavior of Phl consul in Canada ‘questionable’

MANILA, Philippines - Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario said yesterday that he finds “questionable” the behavior of a Canada-based Filipino diplomat seen in a video berating a passport applicant.

Del Rosario made the comment following the release on the Internet of a video showing Consul General to Vancouver Jose Ampeso talking in a loud voice to passport applicant Proceso Flordeliz Jr., who also wanted to donate to the Philippine National Red Cross.

“We should be exacting the highest professional standards. I viewed the tape on his behavior, which I found questionable. We asked him to come back, and he’s on his way back to explain,” del Rosario said.

Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) spokesman Raul Hernandez said Ampeso was ordered to explain his behavior shown on the video that went viral after it was posted by Flordeliz in popular video sharing site YouTube.

Hernandez also clarified that Ampeso is not relieved from his post and was only instructed to come home to answer the allegations against him.

The DFA, he added, also wants Ampeso to answer allegations that he was drunk and soliciting money.

Ampeso: I’m sorry, but...

Ampeso said yesterday the video is not sufficient to malign his character and he apologizes if his action offended anyone.

“The 27-second video showing me talking in a loud voice to a passport applicant, which made some people conclude that I was rude and arrogant, does not tell the whole story,” Ampeso said in a statement.

“In fact, the video alone is not sufficient to draw any unreasonable conclusions, one way or the other; hence, it is unfair and unjust to use it to malign my character,” he added.

Ampeso explained he raised his voice against Flordeliz because “he insulted me and poked fun at being requested to make a donation to the Philippine National Red Cross by offering to give a measly one dollar for this charitable cause.”

He said he became so agitated while explaining to Flordeliz during an outreach in Alberta last April 19 that if he had to give anything at all to typhoon victims, it had to come from his heart.

“Be that as it may, I apologize to anyone who I may have offended. I assure you that I had only the best intentions in reacting in that manner,” Ampeso said.

The consul general also denied he was intoxicated and noted that the incident took place at about 4 p.m.

“I was visibly tired after continuously assisting hundreds of passport applicants in the front line that afternoon, ending in fact at 10:30 p.m. on that day,” Ampeso said, adding that he instructed a volunteer to assist Flordeliz, who was with his spouse.

As to the perception that he was soliciting money, Ampeso said he does not require anyone to donate to the Philippine National Red Cross in exchange for consular services.

“It was purely voluntary. And definitely, it was not a requirement for passport application or rendition of any other consular services, contrary to what some allege,” Ampeso stressed. “Thus, any allegation or insinuation that we were forcing people to give is entirely untrue.”

He also said that the funds collected for the Philippine National Red Cross are recorded because donors are requested to write their names and the amount of their contributions and that the funds collected are accounted for.

Sexual harassment?

Ampeso was reportedly slapped with a sexual harassment case in 1996 filed by Luli Arroyo, daughter of former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

The younger Arroyo, who passed the foreign service officers’ exams but did not push through with plans to enter the foreign service, was reportedly a volunteer in 1996 when Manila hosted the Association of Southeast Asian Nations meetings in Subic. The case was dismissed in 1998 after Arroyo accepted Ampeso’s apology.

– With Delon Porcalla