AN AMERICAN senator has criticized President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s “strongman tactics,” saying he won’t end his campaign against alleged human rights violations despite being barred from coming to the Philippines.

“President Duterte is sorely mistaken if he thinks he can silence my voice and that of my colleagues,” US Senator Edward J. Markey said in a statement on his website on Jan. 2.

Mr. Markey is one of the sponsors of Senate Resolution 142, which urged the Philippine government to release Senator Leila M. de Lima from her “wrongful imprisonment.” The resolution also asked prosecutors to drop the criminal charges against Rappler founder Maria A. Ressa, who is also a staunch Duterte critic.

“He has already failed to silence Senator de Lima, Maria Ressa, and others in his country who have spoken truth to power,” the American lawmaker said. “I stand with the people of the Philippines and with my state’s vibrant Filipino-American community in fighting for the highest democratic ideals and against the strongman tactics of the Duterte government.”

The Philippine has banned Senators Senator Richard Joseph Durbin and Patrick Leahy, co-sponsors of the resolution. Mr. Durbin also introduced an amendment in the 2020 US budget bill that barred Philippine officials behind the detention of Ms. de Lima from entering the US. — Charmaine A. Tadalan

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