‘No politics,’ Abella says of European barred from seeing De Lima

Critics should not paint “political color” to the Philippine National Police’s (PNP) barring of a head of an international group from visiting detained Senator Leila de Lima, a Palace spokesperson said on Sunday.

Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella said the police was “strictly following protocols” in the PNP National Custodial Center in Camp Crame.

“The [PNP] has sufficiently explained its side on the issue. 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 (LI), was not included in the list of approved visitors scheduled to see Senator Leila de Lima on that day,” Abella said.

“There is no need to add political color to an issue which has none,” he added.

On Saturday morning, Minoves was prevented from seeing de Lima because his name was not on the list of visitors. He claimed the police lost his formal letter requesting to see the detained senator.

His companions, however, were allowed to enter because they were on the manifest.

Minoves, who flew all the way from Europe to talk to de Lima, expressed disappointment over the incident.

“This doesn’t happen normally in democracy, this only happens in regimes that are not democratic,” Minoves told reporters.

READ: Foreign visitor barred from seeing De Lima