Panelo: US Senator Leahy ‘cannot be more popish than the Pope’

Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo on Thursday fired back at United States Senator Patrick Leahy who brought up the human rights situation in the Philippines amid his opposition to the continued detention of Senator Leila De Lima.

Leahy’s spokesman David Carle earlier pointed to the alleged human rights abuses in the country recorded by the US last year instead of responding to Panelo’s claim that the American legislator was “ignorant” for calling the incarceration of De Lima “wrongful.”

The American senator’s camp also called for a fair trial for De Lima who is facing drug-related charges before Muntinlupa City courts.

“Leahy simply does not get it. The good senator from Vermont, through his spokesperson David Carle, is showing more ignorance and uttering amusing nonsense on a subject matter based on bogus narratives coming from President Rodrigo Roa Duterte's vocal and noisy critics and detractors, which constitute a pathetic minority in the country,” Panelo said.

The Palace spokesman maintained that the investigating prosecutors and the judge have found basis to pursue charges and issue the warrant of arrest, respectively, against De Lima.

Panelo added that the actions of Leahy, one of the sponsors of the proposed measure to ban Philippine government officials linked to De Lima’s imprisonment from entering the US, “smack of interference with due process, particularly that of the People of the Philippines, he claims to promote.”

As for the US report on the Philippines’ human rights situation under Duterte, Panelo said the assessment pointed to the challenges in the implementation of the war on drugs.

Panelo said the government is addressing the issue of accountability of policemen who abused their positions.

“The Filipino people, we believe, are the most reliable source of information on the human rights situation in the Philippines. Independent surveys in the country show our countrymen universally believe in the President’s drug war and approve of it as well as satisfied with the result,” Panelo said.

“Mr. Leahy cannot 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.” — RSJ, GMA News