Foreign affairs investigated

More and more Canada-based Filipinos are coming out with complaints against the Vancouver-based Philippine Consul Jose Ampeso, the most recent of which is a case of sexual harassment filed by a Filipina, reports Bulalat.com.

Although an investigation has been proposed following the filing of formal complaints, Filipinos in Canada, who have complained are one in saying that they deserve more than the beleaguered government official as a representative, the website said.

In a letter to Foreign Affairs Sec. Albert del Rosario dated April 29, Carlyn Montero Guerrero, a resident of Calgary, Alberta, said Consul General Ampeso allegedly made sexual advances to her between July 2011 to January 2012.

The latest allegation follows an incident where the career diplomat was caught on video in an irate mood during a consular outreach program last month.

Ampeso is back in Manila on orders of his home office to air his side on the incident which occurred at a consular mission in Alberta, Canada, when Filipinos based there lined up to renew their travel documents.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario said that Ampeso had some explaining to do for his behavior recorded on video and posted on online video-sharing site YouTube.

Del Rosario said Ampeso’s behavior appeared “errant” if one viewed the video without hearing his explanation.

Canada-based Filipino Proceso Flordeliz Jr. had complained against Ampeso for raising his voice when he offered to donate a dollar to the consulate fund-raising drive during their outreach.

Then applying to renew his passport, Flordeliz posted his narration on a Filipino online forum and later uploaded a video showing a still irate Ampeso apparently confronting other Filipinos after his brush with Flordeliz.

But Ampeso said the video did not tell the whole story and that “it is unfair and unjust to use it to malign my character.”

Defending his actions, Ampeso said he felt insulted when the applicant offered to give a measly dollar to the mission’s fund-raising efforts for the Philippine National Red Cross, which was supposedly for typhoon victims.

Now as the seuxual harassment case gets traction, Bulalat.com reported that Carlyn Montero Guerrero, a resident of Calgary saying that from the time they met in July 2011 when she joined the Ambassadors, Consul General and Tourism Directors Tour, Ampeso showed “obvious liking” toward her. The Ambassadors tour is being held in tourist spots in the Philippines every year for envoys residing in Canada.

“From the time we met, he took an obvious liking toward me. However, I chose to ignore his advances because of my high regard for the other ambassadors and consul generals in the party,” Guerrero stated in the letter.

“From September 2011 to December 2011, upon his insistence, every time he would come to Calgary, I would pick him up from the airport and chauffeur him around the city. Soon after September 2011, he started making sexual advances toward me by, first, holding my thighs while I was driving while I always tried to fend him off,” alleged Guerrero.

She added that it got worse during the party of the Masons in Calgary on Dec. 19, 2011 when Ampeso, whom she described as “very drunk then,” allegedly tried to kiss her while they were dancing. “When he was back in Vancouver there were numerous times when he would call me during unholy hours of the night and send me text messages,” she added.

As the sexual advances were “getting worse,” Guerrero said, she tried to distance herself from Ampeso. “Around that time (early 2012), there was a consular mission in Red Deer, Alberta and although I knew Consul General Ampeso was expecting me to be there, I chose not to involve myself in that mission and declined his invitation to go there,” she said. “I received some phone calls (some obscene), from so-called friends persuading me to see him, which I also declined to do. Albeit to say, this angered Mr. Ampeso.”

In 1996, Ampeso was charged by Evangeline (Luli) Arroyo, daughter of former Philippine president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo who was a senator then, for sexual harassment. Arroyo charged that Ampeso was under the influence of alcohol and made “inappropriate” remarks at her. Ampeso denied the charges but later apologized in writing. He was ordered “to attend clinical sessions including those on gender sensitivity and alcoholism” and the charges were dismissed in 1998.

Aside from the sexual advances, Guerrero also recounted other instances that she described as “abuse of his (Ampeso) position.”

Ampeso would request her assistance in organizing consular missions in Calgary, said Guerrero. During the consular missions, she said, Ampeso would contact her to look for sponsors for his airline tickets to fly to Calgary and for meals for members of the consular mission. “Ampeso would even ask me to write a letter and have it signed by an organization, thus giving him the excuse to come to Calgary on official business,” she said.

Guerrero also said Ampeso had bragged about his connections “like the President of the Philippines, because he had helped his father the late Sen. Benigno Aquino Sr. in acquiring his passport, and that he also belongs to an elite fraternal group that is very powerful and can influence government appointments.”

In his media interviews in the Philippines, consul general Ampeso had labeled as “cyber-mugging” the way Flordeliz had come out with the video using social media. In his statement on April 24, he said “The video alone is not sufficient to draw any reasonable conclusions from, one way or the other; hence, it is unfair and unjust to use it to malign my character.” Ampeso had also denied being drunk during the outreach mission.

Migrante Canada, an alliance of Filipino migrant and immigrant organisations in Canada, welcomed the move by the government to conduct an investigation regarding allegations of the envoy’s misconduct. “We expect that Philippine diplomats adhere to a certain standard: that they display conduct becoming of their important role as representatives of the Philippine government and servants of the Filipino people,” said Tess Agustin, Migrante Canada chairperson. “We also expect Philippine diplomats to set the example for their own staff as they do their regular duties of serving our kababayan.”

The migrant group encouraged the Department of Foreign Affairs to elicit feedback from the members of the Filipino community without fear of retaliation. “[Filipinos] may feel vulnerable the next time they need the services of the consular office and may fear filing formal complaints,” said Agustin.

 - Bulalat.com