‘US well within its rights to bar PH gov’t officials’

MANILA, Philippines — The United States would be well within its rights to deny entry to Philippine officials involved in the detention of Sen. Leila de Lima, opposition Rep. Edcel Lagman said on Sunday, refuting administration allies who assailed the proposal as American interference in domestic affairs.

Lagman said the action taken by the US Senate appropriations panel, at the prodding of two US senators, “is an enforcement of American immigration laws and does not intrude into Philippine sovereignty.”

On the contrary, according to Lagman, “it is the Philippine officials who are assailing as meddling the US Senate panel’s action who are the ones interfering in the exercise of American sovereign right.”

“The freedom of public discourse allows officials of one country to criticize or even condemn the acts of officials of another country for genuinely perceived or actual violations of civil, political and human rights of the latter’s own citizens,” he said in a statement.

Lagman is a Liberal Party colleague of De Lima, who has been incarcerated since February 2017 on charges of conspiracy to commit illegal drug trade.

Amendment

On Thursday, the US Senate panel approved an amendment proposed by Democratic Senators Richard Durbin and Patrick Leahy to bar the entry on American soil by any Philippine official who had a hand in De Lima’s “politically motivated” imprisonment on President Duterte’s watch.

The amendment forms part of an appropriations bill on state and foreign operations, which will be tackled further by the entire US Senate and the US Congress.

The US senators’ move angered Philippine lawmakers allied with Mr. Duterte.

On Saturday, former Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez reminded the US senators that the Philippines was “no longer an American colony.”

“Let us not forget the awful consequences of US interventionism in other countries throughout history veiled under the guise of simply being a ‘good Samaritan,’” he said.

But Lagman argued that the Philippine government could not stop the United States from barring entry to any Filipino on any grounds.

In a statement on Saturday, the detained opposition senator said the congressional initiative by Durbin and Leahy was “a clear message that impunity, while remaining unchecked in our country, may find an end in the ‘home of the brave and the land of the free.’”

Ban based on US law

The Philippines would not be the first case of the United States sanctioning officials by refusing them entry on American soil, assuming the Senate panel amendment was approved by the entire US Congress, Muntinlupa City Rep. Ruffy Biazon said.

In his Twitter posts, Biazon said based on his research, the Durbin-Leahy amendment proposing a ban on officials involved in De Lima’s detention was based on a US law that had been used by the US government against officials from countries like Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic.