Malacañang said it is up to US President Joe Biden if he will condemn President Rodrigo Duterte over alleged “pattern of abuses” under his administration.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque made the statement after 11 US Democrat senators urged Biden to condemn “at the highest levels” the alleged “continuing pattern of human rights violations” under Duterte.
‘The matter should be left for Biden to handle. We leave that decision to President Joe Biden,” Roque said in a press briefing.
“He’s (Biden) an American. In the same way that we do not want anybody interfering with the Philippine Congress, we will not interfere with theirs,” Roque said.
“They can do whatever they want to do.”
The senators, led by Senator Ed Markey, who chairs the US Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asia and the Pacific, said that maintaining a bilateral relationship with a long-standing ally like the Philippines “requires upholding shared values” such as the protection of human rights, including freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and vibrant democratic governance.
The senators claimed that President Duterte has waged a multi-year extrajudicial, violent, and inhumane drug war “that has devastated communities, and has been used as justification to target the independent press, political opponents, human rights advocates, and compromise judicial due process.”
While Duterte said he held no grudge against the United States, he has repeatedly slammed America for its supposed interference in local affairs.
Duterte earlier threatened to scrap the visiting forces agreement but eventually decided to withdraw his order.