UPDATE 1-Philippines bans 2 U.S. senators, mulls new visa rules for Americans

(Adds comment from spokesman of U.S. senator)
MANILA, Dec 27 (Reuters) - The Philippines has banned two
U.S. lawmakers from visiting and will introduce tighter entry
restrictions for U.S. citizens should Washington enforce
sanctions over the detention of a top government critic, the
president's spokesman said on Friday.
President Rodrigo Duterte will impose visa requirements on
U.S. nationals should any Philippine officials involved in the
incarceration of Senator Leila de Lima be denied entry to the
United States, as sought by U.S. senators Richard Durbin and
Patrick Leahy.
Duterte's move comes after the U.S. Congress approved a 2020
budget that contains a provision introduced by the senators
against anyone involved in holding de Lima, who was charged with
drug offences in 2017 after she led an investigation into mass
killings during Duterte's war on drugs.
"We will not sit idly if they continue to interfere with our
processes as a sovereign state," Philippine presidential
spokesman Salvador Panelo told a news conference.
The Philippines grants visa-free entry for up to 30 days to
Americans, 792,000 of whom visited in the first nine months of
2019, nearly 13% of foreign arrivals.
The U.S. embassy in Manila and the State Department did not
immediately respond to requests for comment, but Leahy's
spokesman David Carle called the charges against de Lima
politically motivated, and added:
"This is about the right of Filipino citizens - and people
everywhere - to freely express their opinions, including
opinions that may be critical of government policies that
involve the use of excessive force and the denial of due
process."
Panelo said travel restrictions over de Lima's detention
were nonsense because she was not wrongfully imprisoned but
detained pending trial for crimes.
"The case of Senator de Lima is not one of persecution but
of prosecution," he said.
Duterte makes no secret of his disdain for the United States
and what he considers its hypocrisy and interference, though he
admits that most Filipinos and his military have high regard for
their country's former colonial ruler.
The United States is the Philippines biggest defence ally
and millions of Filipinos have relatives who are U.S. citizens.
De Lima, a justice minister in a former administration, has
won numerous awards from human rights groups, who consider her a
prisoner of conscience.
She has called for an international investigation into
Duterte's war on drugs, in which thousands of people have been
killed.
Police say those killed were drug dealers who resisted
arrest, but activists say many of the killings were murders.