De Lima’s human rights not violated by VACC’s filing charges against her — PACC’s Jimenez

Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) Chairman Dante Jimenez denied that Senator Leila De Lima's human rights were violated when he filed charges against her in 2016 on behalf of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC).

He made the statement amid the possible US entry ban on officials involved in the legislator's detention.

"It is lamentable that she is seeking international sympathy for her alleged wrongful detention, despite the fact that even the Supreme Court itself upheld the legality of her arrest," Jimenez said in a statement forwarded by his office to GMA News Online on Thursday.

He said that the drug-related charges that the VACC lodged at the Department of Justice against De Lima followed procedural due process.

In December US President Donald Trump signed the 2020 federal budget, which includes a provision banning the entry of Philippine government officials involved in De Lima's detention.

It was stated that the ban shall apply on an official if US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo finds "credible information" about his or her involvement in the "wrongful imprisonment" of De Lima, who was arrested on drug charges in February 2017.

De Lima, a staunch critic of President Rodrigo Duterte, has denied the allegations.

Jimenez, who was among those whom De Lima included in the initial list, decried the development.

"Most of the members in the VACC are victims of illegal drug-related crimes. It is unfortunate that those who are merely in pursuit of justice are the one being harassed and persecuted for it," he said.

Jimenez has said he became an anti-crime advocate after his brother Jaime was killed in 1990, supposedly by a drug syndicate.

Amid the issue, the PACC chair said that it is high time for the government to continue to put traffickers of illegal drugs to justice.

"This is the perfect opportunity for the government to exercise its political will to its fullest extent, and show its seriousness in curbing the illegal drug problem in the country," Jimenez said.

In response to the provision on the entry ban to the US for alleged persecutors of De Lima, Duterte has barred its proponents, US Democratic Senators Richard Durbin and Patrick Leahy, from setting foot in the Philippines.

Duterte later barred another Democratic lawmaker, Senator Edward Markey of Massachusetts, who called for De Lima's release.

Malacañang also said that visas will be required from American citizens if the US entry ban would be imposed against Philippine government officials.

“Should a ban from entry into US territory be enforced against Philippine officials involved in—or by reason of—Senator De Lima's lawful imprisonment, this government will require all Americans intending to come to the Philippines to apply and secure a visa before they can enter Philippine territory,” presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said. — BM, GMA News