Rody ire due to US visa denial?

BEIJING – For want of a US visa, was a century-old alliance lost?

This question cropped up yesterday after President Duterte said he would not visit the US during his term because he would not be issued a visa, and hinted he might require Americans to secure a visa for travel to the Philippines.

“I will not go to America
anymore. We will just be insulted there,” he said. “America? I cannot go there because they won’t give me a visa.”

Duterte said a provincial mayor was humiliated when he was denied a visa even if he was invited for a month-long study by the US Agency for International Development.

He did not identify the mayor or specify when it happened, but there are unconfirmed reports in diplomatic circles that he was once denied a US visa over human rights issues raised against him.

“The problem is you go to America, you aren’t issued a visa,” he told the Philippines-China Trade and Investment Forum in this city. “But they can enter the Philippines any time visa-free. Why don’t we get even?”

His audience laughed.

The US normally bars the entry of foreigners who have been convicted of or are facing criminal charges and accusations of human rights violations.

Duterte was investigated by the Commission on Human Rights when Leila de Lima, now senator, was its chair in connection with up to 1,000 killings attributed to death squads in Davao City when he was mayor. The probe failed to establish his involvement.