DFA Sec. Locsin calls US Senate resolution siding with De Lima, Ressa, ‘idiotic’

Idiotic!.

Department of Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Boy Locsin, Jr. has called the United States Senate Panel Resolution urging the Philippine government to release from detention opposition senator Leila De Lima and the dropping of all charges against Rappler CEO Maria Ressa, both of whom are critical to the policies of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte.

“Idiotic. Even a Philippine Senate resolution is not one of the ways of ending a criminal trial; there’s only acquittal or conviction or dismissal by a demurrer to evidence,”Locsin posted in is Twitter account.

DFA Sec. Locsin, Sen. De Lima, and Rappler CEO Maria Ressa
(photo credit to owner)

“But a US Senate resolution? Aside from separation of powers there’s the independence of nations,” he pointed out.

The Senate Resolution No. 142 passed by by the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations condemned the arrest of opposition senator Leila De Lima and called for her release.



The Senate Resolution No. 142 also slammed the Philippine government “harassment, arrest, and unjustified judicial proceedings against the media and journalists, in particular, the proceeding against Rappler and Maria Ressa.”

(screengrabbed from PDI)

The said resolution also calls for US President Donald Trump to The Senate Resolution No. 142 to impose sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act against Philippine government officials responsible for “orchestrating” De Lima’s arrest and those responsible for extrajudicial killings in the Philippines.




Under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, allows the US President to block or revoke US visas and to freeze US-based property and interests in property of foreign persons who have engaged in extrajudicial killings or other rights abuses, as well as government officials who are engaged in or responsible for significant acts of corruption.

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Report from PDI