MANILA, Philippines — United States senators who passed a resolution supporting embattled critics of the Duterte administration could have been misled by the situation in the Philippines, Palace officials said yesterday.
Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo and Presidential Communications Operations Office chief Martin Andanar lashed out at the US lawmakers over their resolution.
“Well, that’s the decision of the committee. Apparently they have been misled by the reports coming from the opposition, as well as media outlets who had been biased against the administration,” Panelo said.
The US Senate foreign relations committee passed on Wednesday the bipartisan (both Republican and Democratic) resolution, urging the Philippine government to immediatey release Sen. Leila De Lima, who it described as a “prisoner of conscience, detained solely on account of her political views and the legitimate exercise of her freedom of expression.”
The panel also called on the government to stop the alleged harassment of journalist Maria Ressa.
Panelo explained that De Lima’s arrest was a result of the country’s judicial processes.
“You know, they should know, because the judicial system of that country and ours are almost the same… So, I cannot understand why this committee is oblivious of that processes that went through in relation to the former senator or for Senator De Lima,” he said.
“To try to strong-arm the government into freeing Senator De Lima and dropping charges against Maria Ressa is infringing on our country’s legal process and system, to which they have no say whatsoever,” Andanar added.
Andanar stressed that the cases against De Lima and Ressa went through due process of the courts.
“We find no room and no right for Senators Markey and Durbin to question the government’s actions at all,” he said.
“The pattern that we see here is that both have made out their cases before the international media and have lobbied through US legislative body because they know that here, there is no merit to their claims,” Andanar added.
The Philippines continues to have good relations with the United States while the government pursues an independent foreign policy.
“But the government sees no point to give attention to an ostensible move by people who have little knowledge of the real matter at hand,” the PCOO chief said.
Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go, meanwhile, strongly denounced what he said was foreign interference in Philippine domestic affairs even as he maintained President Duterte was not harassing any of his critics.
Go told reporters that Duterte was focused on the welfare of the Filipino people and is too old to waste his time on his critics.
“He does not meddle. He does not harass. He is already 74 years old and he has no other interest but for us to work for the welfare of each Filipino,” the senator said.
Asserting that they have no business in the domestic affairs of the country, Go said that the US lawmakers are ignorant about the country’s issues.
“The US Senate? What business do they have here in the Philippines? Why are they meddling in our affairs here in the Philippines? Are they senators here? You foreign senators, find out first if this is really political harassment,” he said.
“Don’t interfere in things you have no knowledge of,” he added.
Go, who was a long-time aide of Duterte before he became senator, said that he could vouch for the President’s brand of leadership, adding harassing his critics is not his style.
Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel Romualdez described the US Foreign Affairs panel’s resolution as “unhelpful” and poses undue interference in the country’s internal affairs. – With Paolo Romero, Helen Flores