U.S. senators told to stop "meddling" in Philippine affairs

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's aides on Friday told some members of the United States Senate to stop "meddling" in Philippine affairs, reminding the U.S. that the Philippines is an independent state.

Philippine Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles and Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo expressed disappointment anew over a U.S. Senate resolution calling on U.S. President Donald Trump to impose sanctions on Philippine officials purportedly behind the arrest and detention of a critic of Duterte as well as the supposed extrajudicial killings in the country.

"These statements and resolutions we deemed it to be interference, it is like dictating us on how to run our affairs, our justice system. We are an independent and sovereign state. Don't meddle in our sovereignty because our system works," Nograles told reporters on Friday.

Panelo, for his part, said these latest actions of the U.S. Senate "are a form of bullying on the part of a particular institution of a foreign country."

"We will not be bullied by any foreign country or by its officials, especially by misinformed and gullible politicians who grandstand at our expense," he added.

Panelo said the actions of some of the members of the U.S. Senate are "misguided" and "anchored on an erroneous premise culled from bogus narratives of Duterte's usual antagonists."

"Such actions are brazen and intrusive to the dignity of an independent, democratic and sovereign state such as ours," Panelo said in a statement.