Sen. Leila de Lima insisted on Saturday that the provision in the US national budget denying her jailers entry into the United States remained in force even if it was not mentioned in the final text of the US appropriations act for 2020.
She issued the statement in response to the newspaper column of RJ Nieto—an avid President Rodrigo Duterte supporter—who branded as fake news the reports about the US ban on Philippine officials behind the senator’s detention on drug charges.Nieto said the provision on De Lima, which was included by US Senators Richard Durbin and Patrick Leahy in the appropriations measure, was not in the final version of the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020, or HR 1865.
De Lima noted that the operations of the US federal government were broad and complex, and its budget process was expected to be more complicated than the one in the Philippines.She said the appropriations measure was a “large, single” omnibus bill, where the language of the State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill was deemed included.
“The omnibus bill includes by reference, as an intrinsic part thereof, the final explanatory statement, which makes reference to accompanying guiding reports,” she said.
According to De Lima, the explanatory statement says that unless specifically negated, the report language included in the House and Senate versions of the State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill remains in force.
The Senate version of the bill banning her jailers from the United States was not negated by the explanatory statement, she said.
The explanatory statement reads: “This explanatory statement, while repeating some House and Senate report language for emphasis or clarification, does not negate language in such reports unless expressly provided herein.”
Durbin, who introduced the provision on De Lima, also said in a Dec. 18 tweet that he was “glad to see the amendment I passed with @SenatorLeahy restricting US visas to all those involved in the troubling detention of Filipino Senator Leila de Lima included in the final FY20 appropriations bill.”
“It’s time for her politically motivated imprisonment to come to an end,” Durbin added.
Senate President Vicente Sotto III had described Durbin and Leahy as “KSP” or attention seekers, and said that as far as he was concerned, the US appropriations measure was clear.“Except for the two KSP Democratic senators, it appears the US government does not really care to meddle in our justice system especially as it involves the Supreme Court of the Philippines,” he said in a message to reporters.
President Duterte has since issued an order barring Durbin and Leahy from setting foot in the Philippines.
Malacañang also said that the President would issue an executive order requiring visas for American citizens traveling to the Philippines should the United States enforce the ban on Filipino officials.