Philippines bars EU official

MANILA: The Philippines has barred entry to an EU party official critical of President Rodrigo Duterte’s brutal drugs crackdown, in a move denounced by critics yesterday as a gag on dissent. Italian Giacomo Filibeck was detained by border police upon his arrival at Cebu airport Sunday and deported for engaging in “partisan political activity”, Philippine immigration authorities and his party said. Filibeck, the deputy secretary general of the Party of European Socialists, flew to the Philippines at the invitation of opposition party Akbayan to attend a congress. — AFP