MANILA – The United States and the Philippines still have amicable ties despite the possible travel ban on Filipino officials and a US Senate resolution condemning the government over the detention of Sen. Leila de Lima.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin, Jr. on Wednesday categorized as “perfect” the relationship between the two countries and the controversial US Senate resolution will not change it.
“(It’s) perfect… that’s the legislative branch. The same in Europe, sometimes the legislative branch in the European Parliament says something against us,” Locsin said in an interview.
He added that any country has the right to ban foreign nationals from its borders, but insisted that the opposition senator’s detention over illegal drug trade is legal as said by the Supreme Court.
“Read the (US) resolution, the resolution says we are giving authority to the executive branch to look into these people who may have been responsible for the illegal detention of de Lima. My answer is, illegal? Who said it’s illegal? The Supreme Court said no, it’s legal, so who would you believe?” he said.
Trump has signed into law the 2020 national budget, which includes the Department of State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs Appropriations Bill 2020 where a clause banning Philippine officials who detained De Lima is included.
US Democrat Senators Dick Durbin and Patrick Leahy were behind the inclusion of the provision on banning De Lima’s jailers in the US government’s spending package.
De Lima has been detained since February 2017 at the Philippine National Police Custodial Center in Camp Crame, Quezon City over allegations that she let the illegal drug trade to proliferate inside the New Bilibid Prison. She has repeatedly denied the charges./PN
