Ban on De Lima jailers to US
Sen. Leila de Lima's media officer confirms all names previously mentioned in the senator's earlier dispatch are in the list of "prosecutors" submitted to the US Embassy.
The list includes President Rodrigo Duterte, presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo and Solicitor General Jose Calida.
De Lima sent a list of names "longer and more detailed than the initial list" to the US State Department via the US Embassy in the second week of January. The 2020 US budget bill includes a provision banning the senator's jailers from entering the US. @
— Franco Luna (@FrancoOvrboard) February 25, 2020PhilstarNews
President Duterte says no Cabinet member will be allowed to go to the US indefinitely.
Duterte: Para sa akin lahat na lang. I don't know with the Senate or Congress they are not under my jurisdiction but yung cabinet members, I will ask them not to go to the US in the meantime. Parang boycott @PhilippineStar @PhilstarNews
— Alexis B. Romero (@alexisbromero) January 29, 2020
President Duterte threatens to end the Visiting Forces Agreement between the Philippines and the US unless the cancellation of Sen. Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa's visa is reversed within one month.
Massachusetts Sen. Edward Markey has reacted on the Philippine government's move to ban the US senator from entering the country after voicing support for a US travel ban on Philippine officials involved in the detention of Sen. Leila de Lima.
“President Duterte is sorely mistaken if he thinks he can silence my voice and that of my colleagues,” says Markey in a press release.
Markey, the third US senator barred from the Philippines, says Duterte has already failed to silence De Lima, Rappler CEO Maria Ressa and many others "who have spoken truth to power."
"I stand with the people of the Philippines and with my state’s vibrant Filipino-American community in fighting for the highest democratic ideals and against the strongman tactics of the Duterte government,” he adds.
Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo says the government will require all Americans to secure a visa before they enter the Philippines if the US government enforce the ban from entry into US territory against officials involved in Sen. Leila de Lima's "lawful imprisonment."
"The Philippines is immediately ordering the Bureau of Immigration to deny US Sens. Dick Durbin and Patrick Leahy the imperious, uninformed and gullible American legislators who introduced the subject provision in the US 2020 budget, entry to the Philippines," says Panelo in a press briefing.
US President Donald Trump has signed into law banning the US entry of those behind Sen. Leila de Lima’s detention. Follow this page for updates.
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