Intrusion by any other name

US legislators’ move also failed to reflect the true aspirations of Filipinos who consider the war on drugs, on criminality, on corruption and on terrorism as an achievement of Rody.

A new tack is now being taken by the usual foreign detractors of President Rody Duterte who are now aiming the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act to pressure the government in releasing detained Sen. Leila de Lima.

The process using the provision of the United States law seeks to sanction officials linked to the detention of the opposition senator and their supposed involvement in alleged extrajudicial killings (EJK).

The initiative has been employed recently against 17 Saudi Arabian individuals for “serious human rights abuse” resulting from their roles in the killing of Jamal Khashoggi at the Consulate of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in Istanbul, Turkey.

As a result, all the individuals’ assets within US jurisdiction were blocked, and Americans are prohibited from transacting with them. At the time of Khashoggi’s killing, the sanctioned persons occupied positions in the Royal Court and several ministries and offices of the Government of Saudi Arabia.

The law is named after Russian lawyer and auditor Sergei Magnitsky, who exposed the massive $230 million tax fraud that implicated Russian officials. Magnitsky was jailed in 2008 and later died in 2009, days before his release after supposedly being beaten and denied medical treatment while in custody.

The first sanctions imposed through the law were on Russian officials responsible for rights violations.

Now, the targets are Rody and his men who are being tagged for the plight of De Lima, which is ludicrous since she is facing drug trafficking charges that are not related to her being a constant critic of the administration.

The US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, nonetheless, passed a resolution condemning De Lima’s detention while criticizing the government for its “role in state-sanctioned extrajudicial killing by police and other armed individuals as part of the war on drugs.”

The political hue of the supposed legislative resolution was very evident since it likewise declared its opposition to the arrest and detention of human rights defenders and political leaders who have “exercised their right to freedom of expression.” It also denounced the “harassment, arrest, and unjustified judicial proceedings” against media, particularly Rappler and its chief executive officer Maria Ressa.

The Act would require approval from US President Donald Trump before sanctions on the cited officials take effect. The sanctions include travel restrictions to the US, aside from freezing of the bank accounts and assets of the said officials in America.

The resolution was authored by US Democrat Senator Edward Markey (Massachusetts) and filed with Senators Marco Rubio (Florida), Richard Durbin (Illinois), Marsha Blackburn (Tennessee) and Chris Coons (Delaware).

The propaganda value of the measure, however, appears to be the primary goal, since for sanctions under the Act to take effect, the entire US Senate must pass it, which in turn will task the US president to determine if the identified individuals violated the human rights of De Lima and EJK victims.

The resolution, thus, will constitute extreme meddling into domestic affairs as it seeks to become the judge and jury De Lima, disregarding the situation in the country which US politicians have little knowledge about.

The US legislators’ move also failed to reflect the true aspirations of Filipinos who consider the war on drugs, on criminality, on corruption and on terrorism as an achievement of Rody, instead of aberrations as what his detractors wanted to project.

The whole pursuit is apparently part of the political drumbeating of the hapless US Democrats for next year’s polls in which Trump remains a runaway favorite.