Pompeo and even the US senators have ‘credible’ information when virtually all their information come from Leila and her group of human rights supporters?

US senators have reportedly taken action in sanctioning Philippine officials, such as now Sen. Ronald “Bato” de la Rosa, former Philippine National Police chief, whom no doubt the detained Sen. Leila de Lima has linked to human rights violations under the Duterte administration and her detention.

These American legislators of course want De Lima released, which is their real reason for sanctioning De la Rosa and those who were merely doing their jobs, as our courts of law had ordered Leila’s arrest and detention.

Do these US legislators really believe that a legitimate Philippine court of law would do as they say and not what our laws say? And do they do the same to US courts of law when they demand a prisoner’s release and believe that the courts, on their say so, will release these detainees and prisoners? They can’t do it, and they know it!

Yet these are the same senators who demand that the rule of law in this country be followed by Philippine officials. However, when the rule of law is respected and followed, these American senators don’t like it, and they, as though they were the masters of the Filipino people and their courts, demand that a detained senator — even when evidence is strong — be freed — and without any credible evidence to support their demand for her freedom!

Is there logic in these interfering American senators by way of their sanctioning these Philippine officials through the imposition of travel restrictions and financial interests against those Leila says are involved in her detention and the EJK seen under Duterte’s war on drugs?

So, what’s the proof that these US senators have to justify their sanctions that detaining De Lima is a violation of her human rights, especially as Leila certainly did the very same acts as the then Justice chief when she detained opposition senators, and far longer than her detention?

Obviously, none at all, since these American senators rely on whatever Leila and her group of so-called human rights activists tell them, tales that moreover are exaggerated, if not downright lies!

But there is also another demand of these foreign senators. They also want the dropping of the libel charges filed by a private citizen against Maria Ressa of Rappler. Frankly, these American senators shouldn’t be interfering with what our laws say, since the Philippines is a sovereign and independent country and they should stop treating the Philippines as though this sovereign country is still their colony.

There are so many Philippine journalists who have been sued for libel and cyber libel, with libel cases surpassing that of Ressa’s. So why demand the dropping of libel charges against her, considering the fact that in this country, libel suits are part of the journalists’ territory?

If these American senators really knew about the case against Ressa and not just rely on what she and De Lima, as well as their supporters, claim, they would have known that it is hardly the libel suits that are the real issues. What was allegedly the crime lodged against Ressa is the fact of the violation of the Philippine Constitution, since the Philippine Charter is clear that Philippine media must be 100 percent Filipino-owned, which is the case of Ressa’s due to her American investor’s big dollar investment in Rappler, over which he has control, as the country’s Securities and Exchange Commission found.

This case is the serious one, as it goes against the Constitution, while the libel suits are hardly serious cases, although Ressa portrays it as though she would forever be in jail, which is far from the truth.

The proposed sanctions were reported as having been included in a resolution adopted by the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations last 11 December and in a separate amendment to the US government’s proposed budget for 2020.

The “Prohibition on Entry” section says that the US Secretary of State “shall apply subsection (c) to foreign government officials about whom the Secretary has credible information have been involved in the wrongful imprisonment of… Senator Leila de Lima who was arrested in the Philippines in 2017.”

Pompeo and even the US senators have “credible” information when virtually all their information come from Leila and her group of human rights supporters that are known to exaggerate their claims?

So certain Filipinos involved in the detention De Lima will be denied entry. That should then include the judges of the municipal courts of Muntinlupa, as well as those officials and officers who were merely following the orders of the judges in arresting and detaining De Lima — oh, and not to forget, even the former Justice chief whom she detests since he filed the drug trading case against her as his job demanded. He also has presumably been included in the sanctions and travel ban.

These American senators are just displaying, by their actions, that they are above Philippine laws and that we, the citizens of the Philippines, must toe their line.

But as we are a sovereign country, our pro-American legislators, if they have the balls to do it, should also impose a travel ban on these US lawmakers, and ensure their denial of entry — which should include the US military entry in the disputed South China Sea.

Tit for tat. Two can play the game. Right?