US, Philippine ties headed from bad to worse

Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte may soon be banned from entering the US over his abysmal rights record

By RICHARD JAVAD HEYDARIAN

MANILA – US-Philippine bilateral relations, already strained after Manila’s recent abrogation of a key defense pact, are careening towards a full-blown crisis as Washington readies more rights related measures targeting top Filipino officials, including possibly President Rodrigo Duterte.  

Earlier this month Duterte unilaterally nixed the country’s decades-old Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) with the US, a defense deal that provided a legal framework for the entry and temporary stationing of American troops on Philippine soil.

The VFA also provides the legal basis for the two long-time allies to conduct annual joint military activities and war games that often send a muscular message to China, including joint exercises involving mock island invasions in the South China Sea.

Duterte moved to scrap the VFA after the US issued travel bans on certain of Duterte’s top allies in punitive response to their involvement in his lethal drug war. Rights groups estimate thousands have been gunned down in extrajudicial fashion during the campaign.

The US government has received a finalized list of top Filipino officials, including reportedly top allies of Duterte, who could soon face travel bans and other sanctions for their alleged roles in gross human rights violations.

The list was submitted by leading opposition Senator and ex-Justice Secretary Leila De Lima, who is currently being detained on what many view as trumped up drug charges.

She was among the campaign’s most vocal critics before her jailing and has from prison encouraged the US and other major Western nations to impose sanctions against her “persecutors.”….more here

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