On Saturday, The Daily Beast reported that Rodrigo Duterte, the autocratic strongman president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, plans to ban U.S. Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) from entering his country — and is threatening to place further restrictions on American entry.
This comes as Leahy and Durbin added a provision into the 2020 budget bill that would ban entry of Philippine nationals involved in the imprisonment of Leila de Lima, a dissident of the Duterte government who was imprisoned.
Under current Philippine law, Americans are allowed to enter the country without a visa and may stay for up to 30 days.
"We will not sit idly if they continue to interfere with our processes as a sovereign state," said Salvador Panelo, a spokesman for Duterte.