Robin wants Aussie solon declared persona non grata

Senator Robin Padilla has filed a resolution seeking to condemn the “disrespectful” act of Australian Senator Janet Rice as President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. was addressing the Australian Parliament last week.

In Senate Resolution 944, which he filed on Monday, Padilla urged the Department of Foreign Affairs to declare Rice persona non grata for her “unparliamentary behavior.”

As Marcos was delivering his speech last week, Rice, along with her fellow Greens senators, protested alleged human rights abuses in the Philippines.

Rice, in particular, held up a placard that read “STOP HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES.” Immediately after, she was told to leave the chamber for “disorderly behavior.”

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Rice said corruption in the Philippines under the Marcos administration was “getting worse.”

“There are hundreds of political prisoners, and anti-terrorism laws are used as legal cover for extrajudicial killings,” she said.

“Yet the Australian government invited him to address the Parliament today. Shame,” she added.