PROFESSIONAL AND PERSONAL CIRCUMSTANCES TO BE CONSIDERED
(August 22-25, 2009)
The following are the present professional and personal circumstances of Atty. Dominador D. Buhain (ADB):
1. That he is the President of REX Book Store, Inc.;
2. That he is the President Emeritus of the Philippine Educational Publishers Association (PEPA);
3. That he is the President of the Philippine Book Publishing Development Federation (Philbook);
4. That he is the Chairman of the Philippine Reproduction Rights Organization (PRRO);
5. That he is the Vice-President of the Asean Book Publishers Association (ABPA);
6. That he is the Vice-Chairman of the Board of Trustees of La Consolacion College, Mendiola, Manila;
7. That he is likewise the Vice-Chairman of the Board of Trustees of La Consolation College, Biñan, Laguna;
8. That he is the Chairman of the Freedom to Publish Committee of the International Publishers Association (IPA);
9. That his health condition would not be exactly in perfect shape having been operated on due to colon cancer in 2007;
10. That he is required to continue to receive medications coupled with the advice not to engage in stressful activities.
That the following developments took place when ADB together with a lady travel assistant sought to gain entry in the immigration office in Sophia (Bulgaria) at around 01:40 AM of August 22, 2009:
1. That they were rejected entry as the accompanying documents to the passport which include letter of application to grant visa to us from the General Consulate Office of the Republic of Bulgaria in Beijing, China including a hotel voucher and itinerary aggravated by the absence of Schengen visa would not suffice;
2. That the above-cited documentations were given one day prior to our departure on August 15, 2009 leaving no opportunity to give scrutiny to ascertain the effectiveness of the documentations;
3. That the above-cited documentations were immediately held in custody by the immigration officers as the airport police accompanied ADB and companion to a place in the departure area to await on what would be their decision after the lapse of three to four hours such as the possibility of allowing them to go to Athens on the way back to the Philippines via Dubai;
4. That when the lady travel assistant approached the immigration officer to follow up on their decision, she was told that the air route to Athens could not be availed of because of the absence of authority of Bulgaria to endorse the release to another country considering that ADB and companion did not have the right to enter Bulgaria and that the logical step therefore was to send them back via Budapest to Podgorica (Montenegro) and Belgrade (Serbia) which were the countries where they earlier came from;
5. That during this particular discussion, a Malev (the Budapest air carrier) ground staff volunteered herself that she could secure for them tickets at a total price of five hundred plus euros (£500+ ) to avail of the suggested route leaving Bulgaria for Budapest at 1630;
5.1 That they yielded notwithstanding that it would be a longer route with the aforethought that their being treated as criminal offenders would end by leaving Sophia;
6. That they were accompanied by airport police to negotiate the purchase of tickets and thereafter brought to a lounge to virtually serve as a confinement area;
7. That thereafter, the Tradewings’ staff started communicating with them through cellular phones and that they were convinced that the best route to go back to Manila would be via Athens to Dubai and then to Manila;
8. That through the supervisor and staff of the lounge, they tried to communicate with the Immigration Office that they were opting for the route via Athens (to end this virtual detention notwithstanding that they had purchased already a costly ticket for Budapest);
9. That we got a negative response and that we could not do otherwise as all our travel documentations were with them;
10. That few minutes before departure the airport police arrived and brought them to the gate wherein the travel documentations were surrendered to them amidst the presence of several spectators;
11. That upon arrival at the Budapest Airport, they were called at the Malev transfer desk and were required to submit their passports in exchange for a flight to Podgorica leaving at 1250 the following day (August 24, 2009);
12. That out of continuing mental anguish, serious anxiety, weariness prevailed upon them prompting them to recline at the chairs of the dining table within the sight once more of spectators;
13. That due to the noise and other disturbances, they failed to sleep until one o’clock in the morning when all the supposed outgoing passengers had left the area;
14. That at around two o’clock in the morning, a lady security guard woke them up as she demanded for their passports.
14.1 ADB shouted at her stating that their passports were withheld from them;
15. That few minutes before their departure at 1250, the airport police brought them to the bus leading to their assigned seats in the plane amidst the spectators once again and that thereafter endorsed their documentations to the captain of the crew;
16. That when they arrived at Podgorica, at least six airport police received them and told them that they have no right to enter the Montenegro territory as the single entry visa was already used up and that the authority had no alternative but to send them back to Budapest;
17. That they fell on bended knees as salvation was nowhere in sight and executed prayerful gestures to allow them to stay as they were not terrorists and that their only aspiration was to go back to Manila;
18. That they were not even allowed to step on the place leading to the passport control claiming that they have no right to step on their territory;
19. That subsequently, the lady travel assistant was invited by at least three burly airport police for questioning and that ADB was told that he could not join them prompting him to adopt a suspicion that they would take advantage of her;
20. That ADB shouted to high heavens and cursed everybody around as he got hold of his cellular phone to communicate with his Executive Assistant Lee Ulangca in the Philippines and instructed her to call the First Gentleman Mike Arroyo who was ADB’s classmate at Ateneo Law School and even the Department of Foreign Affairs for their possible intervention;
21. That to his relief, he found out after awhile that the lady travel assistant was able to convince the authority that they be allowed to take the flight to Belgrade for them to be able to proceed to their flight back to Manila via Athens;
22. That when they were purchasing their tickets to Belgrade and then to Athens, the JAT Airlines would not want to accept payments through credit card or even US dollars claiming that they would only accept payment in euros as the banks and money changer shops were already closed;
23. That they pleaded once more to accept their payment in US dollars which would add up to $2000.00 to which the airline office yielded after the lapse of one hour.
24. That they stayed overnight at the arrival area beside the carousels where their pitiful and disheveled appearance could be witnessed by the arriving passengers.
25. That at around 0545 on August 25, 2009 which was exactly one hour before the departure time, they approached the airport police and requested for their passports but the authority did not respond prompting them to develop once more anxiety that they might not be able to take the scheduled flight again.
26. That at barely five minutes before the departure time, the airport police finally provided them their travel documentations allowing them to take the scheduled flight.
