Mind your own business, Palace tells US senators critical of Duterte
Credit to Author: Tempo Desk| Date: Mon, 08 Apr 2019 06:46:24 +0000
PANELO
Five United States senators critical of the Duterte administration should “mind their own business” instead of recklessly meddling in the country’s affairs, Malacañang said yesterday.
After the American senators issued a resolution denouncing the alleged human rights abuses in the country, presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo has accused them of “outrageous interference” in the country’s sovereignty and reminded them that the Philippines is not under the control of the United States.
“The five US senators who called for the release of Sen. Leila M. de Lima and the dropping of charges against Rappler and Miss Maria Ressa should mind their own business – their country has enough problems and they should focus on them,” Panelo said.
“Their resolution is an unwelcome intrusion to the country’s domestic legal processes and an outrageous interference with our nation’s sovereignty as the subject cases are now being heard by our local courts,” he added.
He maintained that no foreign government official has the authority or right to dictate on how the country addresses the commission of crimes.
“The Republic of the Philippines is not under the dominion of the United States of America or any of its high-ranking officials,” he pointed out.
In a resolution issued last week, five US senators called on the Philippine government to release De Lima from her two-year detention and drop charges against Rappler and its chief Maria Ressa.
The resolution, filed by US Senators Marco Rubio, Edward Markey, Richard Durbin, Marsha Blackburn, and Chris Coons, also condemned the arrest of human right defenders and political leaders as well as denounced the Duterte administration’s supposed role in extrajudicial killings under the drug war.
Panelo, however, criticized the US senators for resorting to “a reckless and unstudied political exercise.” He said it only showed the legislators’ “unfamiliarity” with domestic matters as well as their “disrespect” to the clamor of the Filipino people for law and order.
He also hit back at the senators for believing “hook, line, and sinker” the supposed false narratives given by “biased news agencies and paid anti-Duterte trolls” on the matters related to De Lima, Ressa, and the alleged extrajudicial killings in the country.
In an attempt to enlighten the lawmakers, Panelo said the cases of De Lima and Ressa passed through administrative and judicial processes before their respective warrants of arrest were issued by the courts.
He also argued that President Duterte enforces the law equally without any regard to any relationship or closeness to it. “Holders of political positions, of influence, or of wealth are not exempted from the vigorous application and operation of our laws,” he said. (Genalyn Kabiling)