US lawmakers meet detained Philippine opposition leader

By JIM GOMEZ
Associated Press

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — U.S. Sen. Edward Markey, who was once banned from the Philippines by former President Rodrigo Duterte, has met a long-detained Filipino opposition leader, whom he says was wrongfully imprisoned under Duterte and should be freed. Markey, a Democrat from Massachusetts, and a group of U.S. legislators met former Sen. Leila de Lima for more than an hour Friday in her high-security detention cell in the main police camp in Metropolitan Manila. Duterte had banned Markey and two other American legislators from traveling to the Philippines after they called for de Lima’s release and raised alarm over human rights violations under his presidency. Duterte was succeeded by Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who met Markey and his group in Manila on Thursday.