The chair of the Gabriela Network USA, a Philippine-US women’s rights solidarity organization, was prevented from leaving the Philippines last week after allegedly being placed on a watch list. Dr. Annalisa Enrile, also a University of Southern California professor, was barred by the Philippine Bureau of Immigrations on August 5 from boarding a flight from the Philippines back to her home in Los Angeles. She had been in the Philippines as a delegate of the 10th Women’s International Solidarity Affair, sponsored by the Gabriela Network.
Dr. Enrile was instructed to seek clearances from the Philippine Department of Justice, National Intelligence Coordinating Agency, National Security Agency, and the Office of the President. “Securing clearance from these agencies is highly irregular,” Gabriela Network Deputy Secretary General Lana Linaban said. “We cannot think of any reason to hold Annalisa unless these agencies, which happen to be part of the Anti-Terrorism Council, consider her a threat to national security.”
Officers in the Gabriela Network have expressed concern that two other officers currently in the Philippines, novelist Ninotchka Rosca and human rights advocate Judith Mirkinson, could also be barred from leaving.
