DAVAO CITY – A former partylist lawmaker was barred from boarding her flight to the US last Thursday without informing her of the reasons why she was not allowed to travel.
On July 9, former Gabriela Women’s Partylist Representative Liza Maza was barred to board her 12:20 p.m. flight to the US via Korean Air 622.
Airline staff and immigration officials told Maza they received an email from the Customs Border Protection of the US Homeland Security saying she cannot board the plane.
Maza has a valid 10-year US visa (2008-2018) and had traveled to the US before and after 2008. Her last trip in the US was in 2013.
“The curtailment of the right to travel and liberty of movement of (Maza) shows how the US government transgresses on the basic rights and freedoms of individuals and groups, even those outside its territory,” said Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay in a press conference with Maza.
Palabay said “Maza was not even informed of the reasons why she was not allowed to travel. That,by itself violates her right to due process—violating fundamental rights enshrined in the Philippine Constitution, the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.”
Palabay said Maza was invited by Gabriela chapters in the US to meet with Filipina migrants and immigrants, and women’s groups. She was also slated to attend the International People’s Tribunal on the Crimes of the Obama-Aquino regimes in Washington DC.
Maza was among the 30-women delegation of known women peace activists who crossed the demilitarized zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea last May 24, 2015 as a symbolic action to call for the reunification of the two Koreas and the reunion of families, and women’s participation in the peace process.
Among the women in the delegation were Nobel Peace Prize laureates Mairead Maguire and Leymah Gbowee, Gloria Steinem, and other feminist activists and artists.
“Whether Maza was barred from travelling to the US because of her role in the IPT or her participation in the women peace delegation in the two Koreas, it is clear that the US government considers her a ‘person of interest,’ one who is targeted because of her activism for peace and human rights and her vocal opposition to US imperialist designs that infringe on the sovereignty of peoples,” Palabay said.
The IPT 2015 will be convened on July 16-18, 2015 by the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines, International Association of Democratic Lawyers, US-based National Lawyers’ Guild and Ibon International.(davaotoday.com)
