PHILIPPINE Senator Leila de Lima has been acquitted in one of three drug charges she is currently facing. Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court Branch 205 Judge Leizel Aquiatan on Wednesday, February 17, granted De Lima’s demurrer to evidence in Case Number 17-166. A demurrer is a motion to dismiss a case due to insufficient evidence presented…
SEVERAL Philippine government officials have been recommended to be banned from the United States for reportedly being involved in Senator Leila de Lima’s detention, according to the senator’s office. The senator sent the United States embassy a list of Philippine government officials in question, her chief media officer Ferdie Maglalang confirmed Tuesday, February 25. Earlier…
Malacañang calls resolution ‘misguided’ THE United States Senate on Wednesday, January 8 passed a resolution officially condemning the administration of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte for its detention of outspoken Philippine Senator Leila De Lima. U.S. Senate Resolution 142 argued that De Lima’s detainment was an infringement on the “legitimate exercise of her freedom of speech”…
OPPOSITION Senator Leila De Lima should be included in the list of individuals to be banned from the United States, Malacañang argued. “She (De Lima) should put herself on the top list plus (former senator and administration critic Antonio) Trillanes (IV) and others who have been peddling lies to the outside world,” said presidential spokesman…
A third American senator has been subjected to a travel ban to the Philippines for his reported support of denying Philippine government officials entry into the U.S. if they were involved in Senator Leila De Lima’s arrest and detention. Massachusetts Senator Edward Markey on Thursday said that Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration had confirmed he…
The Philippines has ordered an entry ban on two United States senators who have been calling for the release of Senator Leila De Lima, and is considering tighter restrictions for U.S. citizens visiting the country, according to President Rodrigo Duterte’s spokesman on Friday, December 27. Duterte has instructed the Philippine Bureau of Immigration “immediately” to…
Palace claims senators were ‘misled’ THE United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee this week passed a resolution calling on the Philippine government to release Sen. Leila de Lima from prison and drop the charges against Rappler founder Maria Ressa. Senate Resolution 142 declared De Lima a “prisoner of conscience, detained solely on account of her…
PHILIPPINE Ambassador to the United States Jose Manuel Romualdez on Wednesday, November 13, met with two U.S. lawmakers who sought for the release of Senator Leila De Lima to discuss the case of the detained senator. Romualdez met with Sen. Edward Markey (D-MA) and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), two of the five U.S. senators that…
SENATOR Leila De Lima on Thursday, October 17, listed the names of the people behind her detention in 2017 at the Philippine National Police (PNP) Custodial Center after two American senators proposed to deny U.S. visas to those supposedly responsible for her imprisonment. De Lima, who is a staunch critic of President Rodrigo Duterte’s war…
Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo on Monday, September 30, pointed out that the proposal of two United States senators to bar the entry on American soil of Philippine officials involved in Sen. Leila De Lima’s detention came from the minority of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee. “That ban is just a proposal in a Senate committee…
UNITED States Senator Dick Durbin on Friday, September 27, lauded the US Senate Appropriations Committee for passing an amendment that seeks to ban the entry into the U.S. of Philippine government officials involved in the “politically-motivated” detention of Philippine senator Leila De Lima. Durbin, who was among the U.S. senators that called for the release…
“Trojan Horse.” That’s what opposition senator Leila De Lima on Friday, September 20, called the signed agreement between the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and China-led Mislatel Consortium, now called Dito Telecommunity. “Any time now, this Trojan Horse will be knocking on the gates of different facilities and expose our other vulnerabilities,” she said…
United States Senator Marco Rubio (R-Florida) over the weekend called on the Philippine government to release Senator Leila De Lima who has been imprisoned for the past two years on drug-related charges. In a tweet, Rubio claimed the Philippine senator has been in prison on “bogus charges.” “Philippine Senator Leila de Lima, a critic of…
Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo on Monday, August 12, said Malacañang will not meddle in the request of detained Sen. Leila de Lima for the court to allow her to visit her ailing 86-year-old mother in Camarines Sur. “Well ever since, the president has not interfered with any case involving anybody. He never interfered. So the…
THREE Philippine senators this week filed a resolution seeking to rebuke American lawmakers for their supposed meddling in the Philippines’ affairs by condemning Sen. Leila de Lima’s detention and Rappler chief executive Maria Ressa’s arrest. The resolution was filed on Wednesday, April 10 by Senate President Vicente Sotto III, along with Senators Panfilo Lacson and…
SENATOR Leila de Lima on Wednesday, September 26, urged the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to accede to the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (OP-ICESCR) in order to show their commitment to human rights. “The Senate urges the DFA to seriously consider the possible adherence to, and adoption…
