Banned by Duterte, US Sen. Leahy says he’s not planning to visit PH

Sen. Patrick Leahy brushed off President Duterte’s ban on his entry to the Philippines. SENATE.GOV

WASHINGTON D.C. — One of the US senators banned by the government in Manila is apparently amused by the news.

“I chuckle that they want to keep me out,” Sen. Patrick Leahy told local reporters after arriving in Vermont for the holidays. The website VTDigger.com quotes the veteran lawmaker and human rights advocate as saying he didn’t have plans to take a 25-hour plane ride to Manila.

“Right now, I’m at my home in Middlesex, Vermont. The thought of being on an airplane for 25 hours to go to the Philippines? That’s alright, I’ll stay here.”

Sen. Leahy was banned in the Philippines after earning Pres. Rodrigo Duterte’s ire for his role in inserting provisions in the 2020 federal budget that aims to deny entry into the US of officials  involved in the imprisonment of prominent Duterte critic, Sen. Leila de Lima.

Mr. Duterte has also banned Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois and Sen. Edward Markey of Massachusetts.

Sen. Leahy, a long-time champion of human rights across the world, is the principal author of a law bearing his name that gives the State Department the power to bar foreign nationals from entering the country if there is credible information they or a family member have been involved in significant corruption or gross violations of human rights.

With the language in the appropriations bills, Leahy and Durbin are directing Pompeo to apply this statute to the Philippines and the case of Ms. De Lima.

“Here you have a president who has summarily bragged about having people executed,” Sen. Leahy said. “Here Sen. De Lima has been imprisoned for two years, has never been shown the evidence against her.”

“Our own State Department, the United Nations, and human rights organizations have all said this is unjust,” he added.

He has also criticized the alleged persecution of Rappler’s Maria Ressa. “When you have a dictatorship like that, normally you call him on it,” Sen. Leahy said. “This is not about visas, this about justice, the freedom of the press.”

“Sen. Markey also struck a defiant tone after being the third US lawmaker banned in the country by Pres. Rodrigo Duterte.

“President Duterte is sorely mistaken if he thinks he can silence my voice and that of my colleagues,” Markey said in a statement carried by the Boston press.

“He has already failed to silence Senator (Leila) de Lima, Maria Ressa and others in his country who have spoken truth to power,” he added.

“I stand with the people of the Philippines and with my state’s vibrant Filipino-American community in fighting for the highest democratic ideals and against the strongman tactics of the Duterte government.”