Change is constant

The ban is contained in a provision in the $1.4-trillion US budget for 2020 signed by US President Donald Trump

Recent political maneuvers in the United States to bar entry to Philippine officials who are supposedly responsible for the jailing of Senator Leila de Lima will not result to changes in the policies of President Rodrigo Duterte since he is not affected by it.

The President merely brushed aside the travel ban imposed against those who have a hand in de Lima’s arrest, since he has no interest to go to the US, presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said.

He noted that the President has no intention of visiting the United States if not for a standing invitation from US President Donald Trump for a visit.

“If he doesn’t want to go there, how can he be worried?” the Palace official said, when asked about the President’s reaction to the latest US move.

Panelo stressed that the US travel ban seemed to contradict an invitation for President Duterte to visit Washington.

“Exactly, that is a contradiction. There is a standing invitation,” he said.

The ban is contained in a provision in the $1.4-trillion US budget for 2020 signed by US President Donald Trump.

It was part of the amendments to the State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Section of the budget program included by US Senators Richard Durbin and Patrick Leahy days prior to the signing of the document last week.

The section titled “Prohibition on Entry” provides that the US Secretary of State “shall apply sub-section (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 are arrested in the Philippines in 2017.”

De Lima has been in detention at the Philippine National Police (PNP) Custodial Center at Camp Crame in Quezon City since February 2017 due to her supposed involvement in the illicit drug trade inside the national penitentiary during her stint as justice secretary.

Panelo, nevertheless, noted that the Philippine government would not contest the US’ decision.

“In the first place we are not asking for reconsideration. My statement is very clear. We cannot intrude into the process of a sovereign state, in the same way that they cannot intrude into ours,” Panelo said.

On Christmas Day, De Lima expressed hopes that she will be freed soon, following the move to ban her accusers from setting foot in the US.

Panelo, however, said De Lima’s fate would be up to the local court hearing her case.

He added that contrary to the US’ claim, De Lima’s arrest was “not a wrongful detention.”

“As we have already explained, it’s not a wrongful detention,” the Palace official said. “That’s for the court to decide, not for us… You must remember that it’s the court that will determine whether or not a person can be released whether on bail or one can be released because he or she has been acquitted. It’s always the courts.”

Despite the ongoing US maneuvers, President Rodrigo Duterte has kept his promise to protect his fellow Filipinos by continuing his “relentless” campaign against illegal drugs, corruption in government and criminality.

Next year, Americans troop to the polls to elect a President which is believed to be a factor for the attacks against President Duterte who is considered a duplicate of Trump in terms of character in the Far East.

Panelo said the President’s resolve to rid the country of drug offenders, corrupt government workers and criminals remains “constant.”

“Everything that he has started is still constant. It’s still the same. Nothing has changed. It continues. There are no changes in all that he does. That’s what the President is repeatedly saying,” Panelo said in a radio interview.

The anti-narcotics campaign, which tops the President’s agenda, has so far come to fruition following the seizure of a total of P40.39 billion worth of illegal drugs since the start of the drug war on 1 July 2016 to 31 November 2019, according to the government’s latest data released on 12 December.

A total of 151,601 legitimate anti-drug operations conducted since Duterte assumed office until 30 November this year have also led to the arrest of 220,728 drug personalities and the deaths of 5,552 drug suspects.

Around 726 of 220,728 arrested individuals due to supposed links to rampant narcotics trade are government workers. Eighty-two of them are uniformed personnel, 297 are elected officials and 347 are public employees.

About 485,295 drug offenders, meantime, have voluntarily surrendered to authorities and are now benefitting from the recovery and wellness program initiated by the PNP and other supportive community reformation centers.

The Duterte administration has also cleared 16,706 drug-affected villages nationwide. However, there are still 17,175 villages that need to be cleared of illegal drugs.

In a recent speech, the President said he needs to wage a war on drug offenders, whose goal is to “destroy the country.”

“My country is being flooded with drugs and I have to protect the next generation,” Duterte said. “I told you do not destroy my country because I will kill you. Nothing can be clearer than that.”

On 31 October, the President tapped Vice President Leni Robredo, leader of the opposition, as co-chairman of the Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs, following the latter’s claim that the drug war is “obviously not working.”