Duterte spokesman scoffs at 5 US senators

PRESIDENTIAL Spokesperson Salvador S. Panelo on Monday scoffed at five US senators who called for the release of Senator Leila M. de Lima and the dropping of charges against online media group rappler.com’s chief executive officer, Maria A. Ressa, saying they should “mind their own business.”

“(T)heir country has enough problems and they should focus on them,” Mr. Panelo said.

The spokesman also clarified President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s threat to declare a revolutionary war, saying it was just “an expression of frustration.”

“The threat, if it is a threat, is not against the people but precisely against their enemies, the criminals, the people manning the illegal drug industry, the corrupt bureaucrats, the greedy politicians, the communist rebels, foreign and local terrorists, and other enemies of the state,” he said. — Arjay L. Balinbin