Senator Ronald "Bato" Dela Rosa on Wednesday confirmed his United States visa has been canceled.
Dela Rosa said the US government informed him about it on January 20, in response to his official query.
READ: U.S. Senate panel OKs ban on Pinoy Politicians tagged in De Lima’s imprisonment
It was not clear when exactly his visa was revoked, but Dela Rosa said he was told he can apply for a new one.
"No date given basta mag apply lang daw ako uli kung gusto ko kasi the present visa was cancelled," Dela Rosa said in a text message sent to reporters.
[Translation: No date was given but I was told I should just reapply because the present visa was canceled.]
In December 2019, Dela Rosa admitted to CNN Philippines that he had been avoiding to visit the US for fear of being denied entry. This was amid reports his visa had been canceled over alleged extrajudicial killings under his watch as chief of the Philippine National Police from 2016 to 2018.
The reports said it was in line with the Asia Reassurance Initiative Act, an American law passed in 2018 that imposes financial penalties and visa ban sanctions on foreign individuals and entities involved in violations of human rights or religious freedoms, and censorship activities.
This measure specifically states that no fund should be given as counternarcotics assistance for the Philippine National Police unless the Secretary of State reports to the US Congress that the Philippine government has adopted an anti-drug campaig that is consistent with international human rights standards, including prosecuting individuals involved in alleged extrajudicial killings.
President Rodrigo Duterte appointed Dela Rosa as top cop in 2016, entrusting him to lead the bloody war on drugs. From July 2016 to Dela Rosa's retirement from the police force in April 2018, more than 4,000 suspects were killed in anti-drug operations, government data show. The official death toll is now at around 6,000, but local and international human rights groups said there could be thousands more.
The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the International Criminal Court are looking into the country's human rights situation. The ICC targets to complete by next year a preliminary examination to determine if it would investigate the drug war.
Meanwhile, an amendment to ban Philippine government officials involved in the highly contested detention of Senator Leila de Lima was passed along with the US' 2020 budget last year. The US has not released a list of banned Filipino officials but Dela Rosa was PNP chief when De Lima was arrested and detained in 2017 over drug charges, which the opposition insists were all fabricated.
Malacañang has repeatedly said there are no state-sanctioned killings, and that De Lima's cases are being tried by the country's independent courts.
CNN Philippines' Joyce Ilas contributed to this report.
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This article first appeared on CNN Philippines.
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