MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang will not prevent Filipino officials from traveling to the United States despite a proposal by two American senators to deny those involved in the detention of Sen. Leila de Lima entry to their country.
Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said the ban, if approved, would apply to officials whom the US secretary of state has “credible information” on involvement in the “wrongful imprisonment” of De Lima.
“Look at the word ‘credible information’ – that these officials have something to do with the wrongful (imprisonment of De Lima)... First, can it be credible when you say that this official has something to do (with the imprisonment)? Second, wrongful. It wasn’t a wrongful imprisonment. It’s legal,” he added.
Panelo also claimed that the ban only drew minority support in the US Senate.
“Otherwise, some senators would have supported that. In other words, that ban will be only effective upon the approval of both houses of Congress of the United States,” he said.
Earlier, Sens. Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Dick Durbin of Illinois pushed for an amendment in the 2020 State and Foreign Operations appropriations bill to bar Philippine officials involved in De Lima’s imprisonment from entering the US.
The US Senate’s appropriations committee approved the amendment last Friday, a move that Panelo described as “a brazen attempt to intrude into our country’s domestic legal processes.”
Leahy responded by accusing Panelo of defending what he described as the “wrongful” imprisonment of De Lima, who was arrested and jailed two years ago for allegedly asking money from drug convicts and for supposedly permitting the drug trade to proliferate in the national penitentiary while she was justice secretary.
Leahy told ABS-CBN News that American aid is “not a blank check” and the US Senate has the responsibility to respond when Philippine officials “abuse the justice system.”
‘Ignorant of Philippine procedures’
Leahy’s statement did not sit well with Panelo, who claimed that Leahy was “speaking not only of blissful ignorance but unscented abuse” when he talked about the “abuse” of Philippine officials without proof. He said Leahy’s statement assumed that the senator has sufficient knowledge of the Philippines’ substantive and procedural laws and has personally examined the record folder of De Lima’s case.
“Both assumptions do not exist as the good US senator is ignorant of our procedural rules subjecting a person charged with the commission of a crime. Neither has he set foot in the country for the sole purpose of personally examining the case of De Lima, that he may have a reasonable basis to buttress his proposal,” Panelo said in a statement issued last Sunday.
Panelo said there would have been abuse in the case of De Lima if she was formally charged without probable cause, if she was arrested without a warrant of arrest, if a warrant of arrest was issued by a judge without finding probable or if during the preliminary investigation, she was not given the opportunity to submit countervailing evidence.
Panelo also maintained that there was no wrongful imprisonment in the case of De Lima.
“What I am defending is the independence of the official actions of the institutions of this republic. What I am defending is the sovereignty of this nation from outside interference. What I am defending is the country’s presidency, which commands the occupant to serve and protect the people from the enemies of the state that are bent on destroying the nation and the republic,” Panelo said.
He chided Leahy for mentioning American aid in his statement, saying grants or aids with attached conditions are “anathema to the very purpose of such generosity.”