American declared “persona non grata” after criticising tourism chiefs

The Sangguniang Panglalawigan of Sorsogon declared blogger Nathan Allen, a citizen of United States, persona non grata to protest his derogatory remarks against the Donsol tourism office that was published in his “I dream of this” weblog last month.

Board member Frank Eric Ravanilla of Sorsogon filed a resolution declaring Allen persona non grata that was approved by the council during its regular session this week.

Part of Allen’s article read: “Is the DOT [Department of Tourism] just hiring members of their families who need jobs? I hope not . . . these people need to actually be qualified!” Allen got mad when he was not readily accommodated by Donsol tourism personnel upon his arrival at the place.