Palace ‘not bothered’ by US entry ban on de Lima jailers

MANILA — Malacañang is “not bothered” by an American law that contains a provision banning Philippine government officials involved in the imprisonment of Senator Leila de Lima from entering the United States.

On Dec. 20, US President Donald Trump signed into law the 2020 State and Foreign Operations (SFOPs) appropriations bill which included an amendment to ban the entry to the US of Philippine government officials involved in jailing Dde Lima.

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said the Philippine government “cannot interfere on [sic] the process of US legislature.”

“It’s their process; we cannot intrude, in the same way that we react when they intrude into our processes,” Panelo said in a Palace briefing.

Panelo, also Chief Presidential Legal Counsel, emphasized that despite this provision, the US Secretary of State must be presented with “credible information” on de Lima’s supposed wrongful imprisonment.

“It (the law) cannot just be imposed, because there is a colatilla there, there must be a credible information; if the information is not credible, then the US Secretary of State will not impose such sanction,” Panelo said.

He insisted that de Lima was not wrongfully detained because she was accorded due process and that there is “probable cause” to issue a warrant of arrest against her.

De Lima, one of Duterte’s staunchest critics, has been in detention since February 2017 for her alleged involvement in the illegal drug trade. However, she denied these charges.

The Palace official said that if the charges filed against De Lima were trumped up, then the prosecutor could have noticed it.

He also shrugged of de Lima’s claim that he and the President are among those behind her political persecution saying that she and other critics and detractors were “not credible.”

Citing survey results showing Duterte’s high trust and approval ratings, Panelo said these were enough to disprove de Lima’s allegations.

“The statements of De Lima has [sic] been completely repudiated by surveys after surveys conducted by credible organizations,” Panelo said.

Meanwhile, he said he will leave it to Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. to communicate with the US government to clarify the circumstances of de Lima’s arrest.

Reports showed that a provision in the US’ 2020 budget on “Prohibition on Entry” allows US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to “apply sub-section (c) to foreign government officials about whom the Secretary has credible information have been involved in the wrongful imprisonment of…Senator Leila de Lima who was arrested in the Philippines in 2017.”

The provision in the US budget classifies unjust or wrongful detention as part of “gross violation of human rights.”

Democrat Senators Dick Durbin and Patrick Leahy authored the amendment which the US Senate Appropriations Committee passed in September.