PH envoy urged to explain country’s situation to US gov’t

FILE: H.E. JOSE MANUEL G. ROMUALDEZ Ambassador of the Republic of the Philippines to the United States of America (Photo: Embassy of the Philippines, Washington D.C./Website)

MANILA — A party-list lawmaker on Friday urged Philippine Ambassador to the United States (US) Jose Manuel Romualdez to work double-time to prevent a potential diplomatic crisis with the US.

Anakalusugan Party-List Rep. Mike Defensor said it is the role of the country’s ambassador to reach out to the US government, including the US Senate, to explain the circumstances that led to the detention of Senator Leila de Lima and shed light on other human rights issues that were raised.

Government officials in the Philippines who are involved in the imprisonment of de Lima are now banned from entering Washington, according to a provision in the USD1.

4-trillion US budget for 2020 signed by US President Donald Trump.

“While we deplore the interference of the US government on the internal affairs of the nation, which at this stage involves not only the executive but the judiciary, it is also incumbent upon us to explain the situation in the Philippines,” Defensor said.

“The issues hounding the President and the Philippine government can easily be explained and clarified. Foreign governments and their nationals have seen what the country has accomplished and the ‘true’ human rights situation,” Defensor added.

He expressed confidence that if the situation is explained properly, President Rodrigo Duterte will enjoy the high global trust ratings that he is enjoying in the country.

Presidential Spokesperson on Friday said the Philippines would require Americans to secure visas before entering the country after the US travel ban.

The US ban was part of the amendments to the State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Section of the budget program included by US Senators Richard Durbin and Patrick Leahy days prior to the signing of the document last week.

The section titled “Prohibition on Entry” provides that the US Secretary of State “shall 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 is arrested in the Philippines in 2017.”

De Lima has been in detention at the Philippine National Police Custodial Center at Camp Crame in Quezon City since February 2017 due to her supposed involvement in illicit drug trade inside the national penitentiary during her stint as justice secretary.