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U.S. legislators use visa sanction as a tool to promote human rights

Published by Ellen on September 30, 2019

Sen. Bong Go should go ahead and tell President Duterte to ban American legislators who they think are “meddling” in the way they are running the country.

Speaking during the 118th Balangiga Day Commemoration in Balangiga, Eastern Samar September 28, Go said “I will suggest to President Duterte to ban American legislators from entering our country for interfering in our internal affairs. These senators think they know better than us in governing ourselves.”

Go’s tirade against the American legislators was a reaction to the amendment Senators Richard Durbin and Patrick Leahy proposed, and was approved, in the Fiscal Year 2020 State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill which is to prohibit entry to the U.S. Philippine government officials involved in the imprisonment of Sen. Leila de Lima which they see as “politically motivated.”

U.S. senators Patrick Leahy and Richard Durbin

The budget amendment followed the fiing of a resolution in the U.S House of Representatives condemning the Philippine government of for its continued detention of De Lima and called for her immediate release.

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US Congress finds ‘unacceptable’ human rights developments in PH

Published by Ellen on February 14, 2019
US Pres. Donald Trump and Philippine Pres. Rodrigo Duterte meet in Manila during the 2017 Asean Summit. Malacañang file photo.

Next month, March 17, the withdrawal of the Philippines from the Rome Statute, the founding treaty for the International Criminal Court, will take effect- one year after the Duterte government deposited its official notification with the United Nations Secretary-General in New York.

The ICC, in its statement, said last year that while they regret the Philippine government’s withdrawal from the Rome Statute, “A withdrawal has no impact on on-going proceedings or any matter which was already under consideration by the Court prior to the date on which the withdrawal became effective; nor on the status of any judge already serving at the Court.”

At least three separate communications have been filed with the ICC accusing President Duterte and officials of his government of committing crimes against humanity citing extra judicial killings in the war against drugs as well as killings by the so-called Davao Death Squad when Duterte was Davao City mayor.

Those who filed the cases against Duterte in the ICC that include Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, Repair Alejano, lawyer Jude Sabio and relatives of the victims of the drug war, hope that the case will move up to the investigation stage before March 17. Right now, ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda is in the preliminary examination stage, monitoring developments in the country.

Speaking of reports, the Asia Reassurance Initiative Act (ARIA) that U.S. President Donald Trump signed last Dec. 31 contained several observations damning to the Philippines in the area of human rights.

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