The
Philippines has refused entry to two members of the US Senate and plans to
tighten restrictions on the entry of US citizens in the event Washington
imposes sanctions. This was stated the the press secretary of the Philippine President Salvador Ponelo.
It is noted that already adopted bans were
imposed on the entry of Senators Richard Durbin (Democrat from Illinois) and
Patrick Leahy (Democrat from Vermont).
According to the head of the presidential press service, measures
against all American citizens will be taken if the United States imposes
restrictions on any Filipino official for arresting the opposition
administration of President Rodrigo Duterte, deputy Leila de Lima. "We will not sit back if they [the US]
continue to interfere in our affairs as a sovereign state," Ponelo added.
It is noted that this step is a response to
the adoption by the US Congress of the provisions for the budget for 2020,
providing for the imposition of sanctions against Filipinos involved in the
arrest and imprisonment of de Lima.
Philippine Senator Leila de Lima is in prison for violating drug
law. She was one of the most active
critics of current President Rodrigo Duterte’s tough policies regarding the war
on drugs.
Under the current agreement between Washington
and Manila, American citizens can stay in the island state without a visa for
30 days. According to the Philippine
government, in the first nine months of 2019, more than 792 thousand Americans
visited the country, which amounted to about 13% of the total number of foreign
visitors.
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