Panelo tells US senator Leahy “best” to address issues in his own country than looking on PH

October 3, 2019

President Rodrigo Duterte's spokesman said on Thursday it could be "best" for US Senator Patrick Leahy to address issues in his own country than meddling into the concerns of other independent states, like the Philippines.

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a statement in an answer again to his word war with Leahy, one of the two American senators pushing for the ban of Philippine officials who have been involved in the continuous detention of opposition Senator Leila de Lima from entering the US.

"Mr. Leahy can not be more popish than the Pope. It may be best for him to address the issues his country is facing rather than looking for other concerns which belong to a separate and independent state," said Panelo, who is also the chief presidential legal counsel.

In Leahy's camp earlier statement against Panelo, the senator's spokesman David Carle, as quoted by ABS-CBN News, said human rights are universal and rather than responding to Duterte spokesman's personal attacks, they referred him to the Trump administration's latest human rights report of the US State Department on the Philippines.

Carle, quoting the 2018 Country Reports on Human Rights, said corruption through nepotism, personal connections and sometimes bribery continued to result in relative impunity for wealthy or influential offenders in the Philippines.

He also cited the report mentioning De Lima's arrest where prosecutors allegedly used a variety of legal tactics to delay her arraignment.

The US report said De Lima's case attracted widespread domestic and international attention, with many observers denouncing the charges against her as politically motivated.

De Lima, who has been in detention since 2017 for alleged involvement in the illegal drug trade in the national penitentiary when she was justice secretary in the previous administration, is a staunch critic of Duterte. De Lima denied the allegations, as she claimed that she is being politically persecuted.

Panelo said it was unfortunate that Leay's camp chose to dwell on "negative commentaries" of the US State Department report on Human Rights Practices for 2018 and failed to look at the entire 44 pages.

He said the report also discussed the development in the Duterte administration’s anti-drug campaign.

"Its assessment is respectful of the government’s deeper challenges, e.g. deaths of many law enforcement officers during operations, even as accountability of those from the same ranks is guaranteed through investigations of 'any actions taken outside the rule of law',” Panelo said.

"There may be isolated accounts of abuse on the part of its law enforcers, we, however, continue to address them and hold the transgressors accountable," he said.

Contrary to Leahy's accusation, he reiterated De Lima is getting "fair, public trial, as due process requires." 

"It is Senator Leahy who has been undertaking measures to place the case of Senator De Lima outside our legal process and place it in a hostile environment stacked against the Philippine officials. His actions smack of interference with due process, particularly that of the People of the Philippines, he claims to promote," he said.

Leahy and Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, his co-author in filing an amendment in the 2020 State and Foreign Operations appropriations bill banning Philippine government officials involved in De Lima's detention, has called for the Filipino senator's release. Celerina Monte/DMS