MANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles, Manila Bureau)  –  The Philippines on Friday barred from entry 2 United States Senators supportive of detained Philippine Senator Leila de Lima amid the possible US ban on Filipino officials behind her arrest.

President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the Bureau of Immigration to deny Philippine entry to Senators Patrick Leahy and Dick Durbin after they sought to ban Filipino officials involved in what they called the “wrongful imprisonment” of De Lima, a staunch administration critic.

”The U.S. can’t bully us.  We’ll bully them instead,” Duterte was overheard saying to confidants in Malacanang.

There are also rumors that Duterte will soon order the revocation of the dual citizenship of Rappler CEO Maria Ressa, deport her to the U.S, and  ban her from re-entering the Philippines.  The Duterte administration considers Ressa an “enemy of the state” for the false, exaggerated statements she and Rappler have been spreading about the Philippines’ war on drugs and the state of press freedom in the country.

(It will be recalled that an online petition asking for the revocation of Ressa’s dual citizenship has garnered more thant 54,000 signatures to date.)

As for de Lima, Duterte told The Adobo Chronicles, “Like Pontius Pilate, I wash my hands.  Her fate is now in the hands of the Philippine courts.”