By Mario Casayuran
Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. lambasted Thursday United States senators who disrespected their own justice system by demanding the release of Philippine senator Leila de Lima from her detention cell.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. (FACEBOOK / MANILA BULLETIN)
Locsin gave this observation when he expounded before the Senate foreign relations committee, chaired by Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III, on the pros and cons of the Philippines maintaining or abrogating the 21-year-old RP-U.S. Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA).
Locsin said he felt bad that the U.S. senators meddled in the Philippine justice system by demanding De Lima’s release, because the model of the Philippine justice system is the U.S. justice system.
He said the accusations against the Philippine senator were based on two rulings of the Supreme Court, and that the demands for her release demeaned the Philippine justice system.
It was this U.S. senators’ action and the cancellation by the U.S. of Sen. Ronald dela Rosa’s travel visa that prompted President Duterte to threaten the abrogation of the VFA.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. (FACEBOOK / MANILA BULLETIN)
Locsin gave this observation when he expounded before the Senate foreign relations committee, chaired by Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III, on the pros and cons of the Philippines maintaining or abrogating the 21-year-old RP-U.S. Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA).
Locsin said he felt bad that the U.S. senators meddled in the Philippine justice system by demanding De Lima’s release, because the model of the Philippine justice system is the U.S. justice system.
He said the accusations against the Philippine senator were based on two rulings of the Supreme Court, and that the demands for her release demeaned the Philippine justice system.
It was this U.S. senators’ action and the cancellation by the U.S. of Sen. Ronald dela Rosa’s travel visa that prompted President Duterte to threaten the abrogation of the VFA.