It’s Leila’s loss

What comes off from the move is that, for Filipinos, it was another instance of meddling into domestic affairs from a former colonial master.

In her daily litany, detained Sen. Leila de Lima called for Filipinos to “demand from our leaders and our government” to give the Filipino nation their due “to put an end to the brutal killings that are blatantly happening in our midst, to uphold our national dignity and sovereignty, to stop its vindictiveness and political persecution against its critics, and to address the long-time problems that they promised to resolve.”

The missive was in response to the United States President Donald Trump’s approval of the 2020 US budget that contained a ridiculous Democrat rider to bar Philippine officials from entering the US for the “wrongful imprisonment” of the opposition senator.

De Lima has been too emboldened by the maneuver of her allies in the Senate that she expressed the possibility of being freed soon through a shortcut using the US legislative ban.

It is even possible that Trump had not fully reviewed the provision in the US Fiscal Year 2020 State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill since the American Chief Executive is busy mapping out his strategy for the elections next year.

Otherwise, the US President would have clearly seen through the interference with the Philippines’ judicial system of the provision that has been undertaken obviously without even investigating the legal process which is ongoing.

The proponents of the insert were Senators Richard Durbin and Patrick Leahy who swallow hook, line and sinker all the yellow opponents of President Rodrigo Duterte in pushing this “when they do not know about De Lima’s case.”

De Lima has been in detention since February 2017 for drug trafficking charges over her alleged involvement in the illegal drug trade at the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City during her stint as Justice secretary.

In its response, the Palace said the Philippine government “cannot interfere on the US process” the same way that it declined to comment on the impeachment of Trump by his Democrat opponents at the US House of Representatives.

“It’s their process; we cannot intrude, in the same way that we react when they intrude into our processes,” presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said.

The government did better in making itself known that it does not interfere in another foreign administration’s business and in respecting the sovereignty of another nation.

“In the same way that we react on any intrusion into the processes of our government, we’d rather not make any comment on that,” Panelo issued the statement after being prodded for a position on the move against Trump.

The De Lima issue even goes the police state role that the Americans have assumed in supposedly democratic principles since her case is being adjudicated in Philippine courts.

Lamentable was the apparent ruse in including the ban on Philippine officials in the law that involved the dispensation of the US budget that has an urgent value to Trump who can’t afford to delay on the pain of being blamed by his political opponents for initiating another fiscal complication.

De Lima’s allies in the United States legislature are also hoping to capitalize on the ban as part of their offensive against Trump in the runup to the elections in November next year.

By projecting an image of battling a strong man in the mold of Trump and President Duterte, the Democrats are hoping to win over Americans who maintain the ideals of a global world order in line with the liberal principles.

What comes off from the move is that, for Filipinos, it was another instance of meddling into domestic affairs from a former colonial master.

De Lima hoping for salvation from the act of a foreign government only further eroded public confidence on her as an independent Filipino senator.