In a telephone interview with pulitzer.de, Mario Rivera, leader of the
600 strong group from the Philippines said he still could not
understand why the German embassy had denied visas to the group as a
whole. He said that his applicants for visa had been carfully screened
by his organisation, AKAP, in cooperation with the German embassy in
Manila, thereby in two steps condensing the original 7,000 to 8,000
people who wanted to travel, down to 3,000 and then to 600. Other group
represantatives from Manila also expressed their disbelief in fair visa
procedures by the German authorities. Meanwhile, Friday 12th, the group
has withdrawn the passports from the embassy because a reconsideration
would come to late for flying to Cologne.
In einem Telefoninterview mit pulitzer.de hat der Geschäftsführer der
philippinischen Organisation AKAP, die 600 Pilger zum nach Köln
bringen wollten, sein Unverständnis ausgedrückt, dass die
deutsche Botschaft in Manila seiner Gruppe als Ganzes die Visa
verweigert hat. Von den ursprünglich 7.000 bis 8.000 Menschen, die mit
seiner Organisation AKAP nach Deutschland reisen wollten, seien nach
einem sorgfältigen Auswahlprozess in zwei Stufen in Zusammenarbeit mit
der Botschaft nur die 600 übrig geblieben. Die letzte Teilgruppe hat
inzwischen, am Freitag, 12., ihre Bemühungen aufgegeben, die Botschaft
zu überzeugen und die Pässe zurück gefordert. Spiegel-Online hat am
Donnerstag fälschlicherweise gemeldet, von den 600 dürften nur 9 nicht
nach Deutschland - die Fehlint erpretation einer
Pressemeldung der phlippinischen Kirche, die offensichtlich eine
andere Gruppe betraf.
Rivera said there were priests and nuns registered in the group who
were also denied the visa even after appealing again to the embassy.
On the other hand, even if there were non-catholics in the group, their
wish to visit World Youth Day was legitimate. Mario Rivera quoted Pope
Benedikt XVI as saying that non-believers and non-catholics were all
alike invited to World Youth Day. Therefore, non-church organisations were needed to organize the travels.
Other groups which wanted to come to Colgne were :
-
The "Agabe International Youth Mission" which wanted to come with 42, but ony one visa was granted
-
LinkAP, with only 47 visa for 166 who wanted to travel.
-
The NSYA group of the Philippine bishop conference has reportedly over 200 travelers - no difficulties reported so far.
-
A group of "Youth Arise International" was reportedly already on its way to Germany.
When talking group representatives, there is talk
about "intrigues" against the own group and "blacklists" by the
Philippine government.
LinkAP
representative Willy Urbino said there was no logic to be seen in who got a visa and
who not. Among those denied in his group by the embassy were doctors of medicine and government
employees, and many had visited other World Youth Days already. „My only question
in my mind is, were these people given a fair evaluation of their
papers?“ Urbino said. When the news about the rejected visa came last Friday, August 4th, „the people around
you they were so frustrated, they were all crying here. "
Urbino said: "There is nothing
you can do about it, we have to abide German law and Philippino Law. But then, there is a
higher law than this, the law of God. ... they'll be answerable (to it)".
Mario Rivera from AKAP admitted that his organisation had distributed
an e-mail in January which was meant to recruite travellers to Germany
with his group.
Quotes from this E-Mail:
"Join
& Attend the many events, activities & festivities in the
Biggest Youth gathering of the World where millions of youth from
around the globe participate;
Travel to other countries & Tour
EUROPE;
Get a SHENGEN VISA for FREE & EASY (the hardest
visa to get in the world; a visa that allows you entry in almost all
the countries of Europe; NO NEED TO APPLY IN THE EMBASSY)
AND
experience this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity by grabbing the
chances & options of Joining without spending your money ...
Again,
this is OPEN TO ALL, 16-50 yrs old.. ANY RELIGION is
WELCOME...
INVITE ALL your Friends, Relatives, Members, Etc..
WHO MIGHT BE INTERESTED TO JOIN..."
Some of the claims in the E-mail were wrong, e.g. that the visa was
valid for travelling in the Schengen countries after the event. But
Rivera stressed the fact that the expectations raised by this
advertisements were later corrected in the application process.
Some observers in Manila suspected in April 2005 that bringing pigrims
to World Youth Day in Germany was possibly "big business".
According to members of the AKAP group a fee of 35 Euro was raised from
the members of the travel party. The visa for WYD are given free of
charge according to the contract between WYD and the German foreign
ministry.
Meanwhile, there is confusion in the German press about the number of
rejected visa applications in the Philippines. "Spiegel Online" for
example misinterpreted a press release by the Philippine catholic
church that only nine would-be pilgrims were rejected. This obviously
concerns only the "official" group compiled by the church's own youth
organisation.
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