Duterte tops De Lima list of people she wants banned in US
MANILA, Philippines — President Duterte leads the personalities detained Sen. Leila de Lima wanted banned in the US for her detention over the past three years.
Ferdie Maglalang, the senator’s media officer, confirmed to
The embassy would then have sent the document to the US State Department, which will be responsible to implement a US budget provision that prohibits entry to US shores of people responsible for De Lima’s “wrongful imprisonment.” The embassy has yet to respond to our inquiries as of this posting.
While he declined to provide the complete list, Maglalang responded “yes” to
READ: 2020 US budget includes
The initial list of individuals, contained in Dispatch from Crame 612 last October 17, named Duterte and his spokesperson, Salvador Panelo, as people who orchestrated her “persecution.” “My persecution started with a daily public media demolition by none other than Duterte, using all his powers as President,” she said then.
These people, the senator said then, were responsible for the “public circus” that is the Lower House investigation into her supposed illegal drug links. Testimonies in the House probe later on served as
De Lima, who marked her third year in detention at Camp
Mocha Uson, deputy executive director at the Overseas Workers’ Welfare Administration, and Sandra Cam of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office were also part of De Lima’s initial list,
Slammed
In a message to reporters on Tuesday, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said: “I trust that the US State Department will exercise its own independent evaluation and exercise prudence and circumspection.”
De Lima’s list will serve as
Rising tensions
If implemented, a US travel ban on government officials would only increase tensions between the Philippines and its oldest ally.
When the US budget law
READ: 'Why blame me?': Bato 'bothered' that canceled
Duterte then retaliated by ordering the abrogation of the Visiting Forces Agreement with the US. The cancellation of military alliance will take effect within 180 days from the receipt of notice by the US earlier this month.
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.
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.
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