MANILA, Philippines — Two Philippine senators assailed on Thursday what they call as a high-handed move of the United States Senate as it passed a resolution calling for the immediate release of incarcerated Senator Leila de Lima and to go soft on Rappler’s CEO Maria Ressa Robles.

The same resolution also condemned the Philippine government for De Lima’s continued detention of more than 1000 days.

It was no other than Senate President Vicente Sotto III and Senator Imee Marcos who slammed the US Senate on its passage of the “misguided” resolution saying the US has no legal ground to issue such a decree to a sovereign nation.

Sovereign nation

“We are a sovereign nation. We have our own judicial processes. What will they say if we pass a resolution asking the US to put in jail all abortionists in their country considering abortion is illegal in ours?” the Philippine Senate President said in a message Thursday.

Sotto added that criminal laws “are territorial and are different in every country.”

“Sovereign states have exclusive jurisdiction to hear and decide the violation of their own laws. We are not a colony anymore,” Sotto added.

It was the US’s Senate foreign relations committee that approved the resolution that was filed by five American senators last April.

The strongly-worded resolution urges the Duterte Administration “to drop the charges against De Lima as well as those against journalist and Rappler CEO Maria Ressa.”

Outright intrusion

The same resolution also condemned the “harassment, arrest, and unjustified judicial proceedings against the media and journalists, in particular, the proceeding against Rappler and Maria Ressa.”

For Marcos, however, the said resolution is nothing but an outright intrusion.

“Sa palagay ko, talagang garapal na pakikialam yon. Kaya tigilan na nila. Hindi na tayo little brown brother,” Marcos told reporters in an interview.

(I think that’s an outright intrusion. They should stop. We’re no longer their little brown brother).

“Hindi na tayo colony ng Amerika. Kaya dapat, konting respeto rin,” the lady senator added.

(We’re no longer a colony of the US, show a bit of respect). (IAMIGO/CNS)