Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 22) — A top official of Liberal International (LI) was barred on Saturday from entering the Philippine National Police (PNP) Custodial Center inside Camp Crame where Sen. Leila de lima is currently detained for drug charges.
LI president Juli Minoves said he’s been told that the PNP Custodial Center could not find his letter to visit the senator, but pointed out his request was sent as early as Monday.
According to its website, Liberal International is “the world federation of liberal political parties.” The Liberal Party, which de Lima ran under during her 2016 senatorial campaign, is a member of LI.
Minoves explained his visit was to check on de Lima’s condition and how she is treated in the detention facility.
However, Minoves said the decision to prohibit him from visiting de Lima may have something to do with the group’s letter to the United Nations discussing the deterioration of democracy in the Philippines.
“I think this shows exactly what the regime is doing which is basically detaining Senator de Lima without the presumption of innocence. They’re preventing international people from visiting her,” Minoves said.
LI Human Rights Committee chair Markus Löning said the senator should have been able to vote on extending martial law in Mindanao until the end of 2017. The joint session of the Senate and House of Representatives approved the measure on Saturday.
Löning added the charges against de Lima are dubious and they should be cleared swiftly.
“She should be released immediately,” he said.
Only Löning and a representative from Friedrich Naumann Foundation were allowed to visit de Lima because they had separate requests.
On Wednesday, a 12-member delegation from the European Union, headed by four members of the EU parliament and part of the subcommittee on human rights, visited de Lima in her detention facility.
