AN official delegate from Governor Chris Patten has been granted permission to visit jailed tour guide Paul Au Wing-cheung and factory worker Wong Chuen-ming today.
Mr Patten's deputy private secretary Kim Salkeld requested approval, through the British Consulate, to make the visit after attending a meeting yesterday between the Governor and Philippine President Fidel Ramos.
Government sources said Mr Patten had gauged the tone of the breakfast talks before deciding an official visit would not be viewed as 'interference' in the Philippines' judicial affairs.
'He will be relaying the concerns of the community in Hong Kong, not least the Legislative Council, who have raised the issue a number of times, and he will be undertaking to keep in touch with Mr Au and Mr Wong,' Mr Patten said yesterday.
An appeal date has still not been set for the two men, jailed for life in December 1991 after they were arrested for smuggling 34 kilograms of the drug 'ice' into Manila airport.
The breakfast talks had ranged from the two leaders' work in the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation forum, the economic, trading and investment relationship between the territory and the Philippines, and the future of Filipino domestic workers.
'We also talked about the importance of concluding negotiations on the air services agreement between Hong Kong and the Philippines, and some bilateral issues of that sort,' Mr Patten said.