Just a day after Miss Grand International 2019 contestant Samantha Ashley Lo posted her side on the passport issue, the Binibining Pilipinas Charities Inc (BPCI) shared their side of the story.
In an official statement that was published on the BPCI Facebook page, they denied that they did not give the beauty queen the proper transit visa and that they did not help her when she was detained in Paris.
Yesterday, Lo shared a lengthy post on Instagram sharing what happened. According to her, “my local organizer, who handled my travel preparations, failed to equip me with the proper transit visa that may have enabled me to complete my earlier trip to this host country.”
Lo added, “Moreso, it wasn’t them who got me out of detention and put me safely on that plane to come back home. It was my family and other well-meaning Filipinos who did – and they are still not resting until this is over.”
In BPCI’s statement, they countered, “During a meeting last week with Samantha, her parents and officials from the DFA and BPCI, it was admitted by Ms. Lo’s parents, that she secured her passport through a ‘fixer.’”
This followed a statement from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), which stated that “Ms. Lo’s Philippine passport had been ‘tampered with and altered.”
Upon hearing what happened, the organization “immediately called upon DFA to assist her, and they did. We are grateful for the intervention of Undersecretary Dulay, which otherwise would have resulted in very serious consequences for Samantha.”
They also mentioned that they were not supposed to release a statement but were “forced to make a statement to ensure that only facts are presented, nothing else.”
Read their full statement below:
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