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Wednesday, March 23, 2005
Senator held, questioned in US on Erap's case
MANILA -- Senator Luisa "Loi" Ejercito-Estrada was detained inside the US Immigration Office in San Francisco for an hour and a half last Sunday, Senate President Franklin Drilon said Tuesday.
Drilon said he got a long-distance call from Estrada Tuesday morning complaining of alleged harassment by US immigration officials led by a certain Mr. Pangan, a Filipino-American.
According to Estrada, she and her group that included daughter Jackie Estrada-Lopez were met by a team of US Homeland Security personnel while at the airport arrival tube and were segregated from the rest of the passengers.
She added that Pangan asked about graft charges against her husband, detained former President Joseph Estrada, filed before the Sandiganbayan and whether she thought her husband would be convicted.
Drilon denounced the alleged maltreatment and said the charges against the former President have nothing to do with US immigration laws.
"As Senate President, I denounce this shabby treatment of a duly-elected Filipino senator in the hands of US immigration officials. These unnecessary and uncalled for cases of harassment of Filipino officials at US airports should stop," he said.
Later Tuesday afternoon, Drilon called US Ambassador Francis Ricciardone to inform him about the bad treatment Senator Estrada experienced in the US.
Riciciardone expressed his regret over the incident and vowed to contact the US State Department in Washington to get the details of what actually happened.
"The ambassador was apologetic and promised to get to the bottom of the case," Drilon added. (JPM)
(March 23, 2005 issue)
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