French Ambassador to the Philippines Thierry Mathou on Monday clarified that Senate President Koko Pimentel and eight others will visit France this week not to repair ties with the European Union but to know more about “climate change and Paris’ amendment of the constitution.”
Mathou confirmed that Pimentel and eight other senators will visit the French capital of Paris on June 27 to 30.
“The idea of this delegations to visit France [is] to know more about our institutions and our constitution and to see to some extent if the Philippines probably [be] inspired by our institution in the course of the amendment of the constitution,” Mathou said.
Recently, Senator JV Ejercito, one of the eight senators flying to Paris next week, said that the parliamentary visit will be an opportunity for the senators to renew ties between the Philippines and the European Union of which France is a member.
“We also want to repair, ayusin natin yung relationship natin,” Ejercito had said.
However, a diplomat-source who refused to be named said in a separate interview that if the senators would like to renew ties with the EU, they should visit Brussels and not France. Brussels, Belgium is considered the de facto capital of the EU.
The President has been throwing rhetorics against the EU after the institution expressed concern over the alleged extrajudicial killing of Duterte’s bloody war against illegal drugs, which had killed at least 12,000 drug users and dealers.
In March, EU also raised the same concern before the United Nations Human Rights Council.
The Philippines recently decided to refuse receiving aids “with conditions” from the EU citing its alleged interference in the country’s internal affairs.
But Mathou said yhat nothing about renewing ties with the EU will be discussed.
“The main schedule of the visit will be climate change and the amendment of constitution,” Mathou said. “I say it’s historical because this delegation will be headed by the President of the Senate with eight members. As you know you have 24 members, so it means that a quarter of the Senate of the Philippines will visit France,” the French envoy added.
He added that during the first State of the Nation Address of President Rodrigo Duterte in June 2016, the president mentioned about his plan to amend the constitution looking at France’s model of amendment under the French Fifth republic.
In France, the 1958 French constitution was revised for several occasions in the parliament’s desire to modernize public institutions in one hand and adapt to the European Union and to international law on the other.
“You may remember last year during the SONA of President Duterte, he mentioned the French model. It is very important to develop our relations and to interact with different sectors,”Mathou said.
Pimentel, whose PDP-Laban party has been pushing for federalism, said that visiting France will give him an overview about the French system of government.
“Also this is a chance for me to study up close and personal the French system of government which is unique, parliamentary with a strong presidential [form],” Pimentel said. Aside from Pimentel and Ejercito, Senators Loren Legarda, Panfilo Lacson, Cynthia Villar, Miguel Zubiri, Sherwin Gatchalian, and Joel Villanueva will also join the delegation.
Mathou said the Senate’s French counterpart in Paris is organizing their visit.
“We support this visit. We have our counterpart in Paris to organize this,” the envoy said. He added that the travel costs will be shouldered by the Philippine embassy in Paris.