No politics in barring De Lima visitor – Palace

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang yesterday defended the Philippine National Police (PNP)’s decision to bar Liberal International president Juli Minoves from visiting Sen. Leila de Lima, a critic of President Duterte who is jailed on drug-related charges.

Minoves, along with his group, went to the PNP Custodial Center at Camp Crame last Saturday to ask De Lima about her detention but he was not allowed to go to the senator’s cell.

He said he was denied entry because the police could not find his letter informing authorities about his plan to visit the opposition senator. The rest of his companions, however, were allowed to see the senator.

Minoves accused the Duterte administration of detaining De Lima without the presumption of innocence and preventing people from international bodies from visiting her.  

Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said there is nothing political about the PNP’s decision to bar Minoves from visiting De Lima. 

“Our authorities are strictly following protocols in the PNP Custodial Center. It is unfortunate that the name of Mr. Juli Minoves, president of Liberal International, was not included in the list of approved visitors scheduled to see Sen. Leila de Lima on that day,” Abella said in a statement.

He said Minoves’ companions were allowed to enter the detention facility because their names were on the list. 

“There is no need to add political color to an issue which has none,” the spokesman said.

De Lima was arrested and imprisoned in February for allegedly receiving bribes from jailed drug lords. The senator, a vocal critic of Duterte’s bloody campaign against illegal drugs, has denied the allegations against her.