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US senator to Duterte admin: Stop with the threats, release De Lima


The Duterte administration should release Senator de Lima instead of threatening its longtime allies by restricting entry of American citizens to the Philippines, US Senator Richard Durbin said Tuesday (PHL time).

"The Duterte administration should stop threatening the travel of these Filipino Americans and so many others who travel between our nations and instead release Senator de Lima or assure a quick and credible trial," Durbin said in a statement.

Durbin was referring to President Rodrigo Duterte's order to require visa from visiting American citizens to the Philippines, supposedly in response to the US budget provision banning Philippine officials involved in De Lima's detention from visiting the US.

In his statement, Durbin described Duterte's order as a "strong arm tactic" that "is an insult to the Filipino American community and the country's democracy."

Durbin, along with fellow Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy, introduced a provision in the US' 2020 fiscal federal budget bill stating that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo shall apply subsection (prohibition on entry) to foreign government officials about whom he “has credible information have been involved in the wrongful imprisonment” of De Lima.

US President Donald Trump approved the budget earlier this month.

Durbin described De Lima, a staunch critic of the Duterte administration especially its bloody drug war, as a human rights champion who has been detained "on highly questionable charges."

"Her release, which has been championed by groups such as Amnesty International and now the US Congress is unfortunately the symbolic of the larger price one increasingly pays for peaceful dissent and honest journalism under President Duterte in the Philippines," he said.

"These voices, like De Lima's and Rappler journalist Maria Ressa's, face harassment and imprisonment for fostering honest coverage regarding the country's sweeping extra judicial killings which is an affront to the cherished democratic norms we share with our long standing Filipino allies."

The government has accused De Lima, who has been detained in Camp Crame since February 2017, of benefiting financially from the illegal drug trade inside the New Bilibid Prison during her term as secretary of the Department of Justice.

De Lima has denied the charges, claiming she is a victim of political persecution for being a very vocal member of the opposition. —KBK/BM, GMA News

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