AFTER spurning aid from the European Union, the Philippines hopes the regional bloc will revive an offer to provide development grants—but this time without conditions linked to the country’s human rights record, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said late Saturday.
“We believe that to help a friend and provide aid it must be without conditions,” Lopez said in an interview late Saturday at a meeting of Asia-Pacific trade ministers in Hanoi, Vietnam. “We would appreciate all aid but we would just request that there be no conditions,” he said. “We would simply not want to be questioned and we follow the principle of non-interference and independence in foreign policy.”
The Philippines has told the EU it will no longer accept new development grants, which could mean foregoing around 250 million euros ($280 million) in assistance, unless they come with no strings attached. The EU has criticized President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs, which has led to the deaths of thousands of suspected dealers, and his planned reintroduction of capital punishment.
In a televised speech on Friday, Duterte said his government refused the aid because it was given with the condition “to promote human rights.” Accepting it would give the EU the right to interfere in domestic affairs, he said.
Still, Lopez said he didn’t think ties with the EU were deteriorating. He also said existing projects wouldn’t be affected.
But there are questions over what is known as the Generalized Scheme of Preferences (GSP), which provides the Philippines and other developing countries with tariff-free access to the EU for some exports as long as they comply with international agreements, including a commitment against the death penalty.
“We hope it would still be insulated, would still be maintained, because that is more a transactional, that is a commercial arrangement,” Lopez said. “It benefits us but we believe this also benefits the EU in return as our exports get to enter the EU market duty-free and it offers definitely a cheaper source of products for consumers as well as cheaper inputs for manufacturers in the EU.”
Lopez said Duterte’s war on drugs retained strong backing at home.
“This fight against drugs, we all believe it’s a program that will try to bring back order in the Philippine society, that will save many lives of children, of victims of heinous crimes because of drugs,” he said. “We are seeing for the first time that there’s a leader who is really trying to address this big problem that the Philippines has.”
On Saturday, EU Ambassador to the Philippines Franz Jessen said Duterte’s decision to reject more than €250 million in development assistance would mostly affect the EU support for the Mindanao peace process.
“A major part of the new spending will be reserved for Mindanao to support the peace process,” Jessen reiterated.
On Friday, President Rodrigo Duterte admitted that it was the suggestion of Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III for him to forgo more than 250 million euros ($278.7 million) in funds for development projects in the country to avoid possible “interference” by the European Union.
“The EU, they sent us $200 million. They said, we will grant you. But it needs to be consensual. They told us, we’re giving you to promote human rights, law and order,” Duterte said in his speech before members of the Philippine Coast Guard in Davao.
“But for not receiving it, it was not my idea initially. It was a decision of Carlos Dominguez III, Finance secretary,” the President said.