{"id":103194,"date":"2017-05-19T04:14:59","date_gmt":"2017-05-19T08:14:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=103194"},"modified":"2017-05-19T04:14:59","modified_gmt":"2017-05-19T08:14:59","slug":"rejection-of-eu-aid-shows-significant-shift-in-phls-foreign-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/05\/19\/rejection-of-eu-aid-shows-significant-shift-in-phls-foreign-policy\/","title":{"rendered":"Rejection of EU aid shows ‘significant shift in PHL’s foreign policy’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Senators<\/a>
Senators have mixed feelings on the decision of the Duterte administration to reject the PHP13 billion aid offered by the European Union (EU). (Photo: Senate of the Philippines\/ Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA\u2014Senators have mixed feelings on the decision of the Duterte administration to reject the PHP13 billion aid offered by the European Union (EU).<\/p>\n

Sen. Panfilo Lacson, in a statement, said that it showed \u201ca significant shift in the country’s foreign policy under the Duterte administration.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lacson interpreted it as \u201ca declaration of independence from the influence of the west.\u201d<\/p>\n

He further said that it spoke volumes about the determined position of Pres. Rodrigo Duterte to stand up against the traditional patrons of former colonies like the Philippines.<\/p>\n

The senator, however, admitted that he is not ready to say this early if it was the right direction for the Philippine\u2019s foreign policy.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnly time can tell if it will do our country right or not, or if it is all worth giving a chance to be tested,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

He pointed out that it would have been easier to concede that it is \u201cworth the gamble\u201d if it were not for the territorial dispute with China.<\/p>\n

Neophyte Sen. Risa Hontiveros said that she would \u201cstrongly suggest\u201d that the government think their decision over carefully describing their move as an \u201cunprecedented foreign policy decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

She urged the need to verify first what loan agreements the Philippines has entered into with unjust terms and conditions and to enact measures to ensure the prudent and proper use of foreign aid.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe principle of rejecting foreign aid with unfair conditionalities should apply not only to the EU but to all loans the country has entered into with other nation-states and international financial institutions. These include the billions of dollars in loans recently acquired from China,\u201d Hontiveros said in a statement.<\/p>\n

She also reminded the government of the longstanding relationship between the Philippines and EU and the impact it will have on the country\u2019s anti-poverty programs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt could also needlessly strain our relationship with our biggest trading partner and send the wrong message to the global community that we are abandoning the principle of multilateralism as part of Philippine development policy,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is the prerogative of any state to refuse to accept help from its friends abroad, the international community. The administration must then provide these ongoing projects with sufficient government funding,\u201d Sen. Francis Pangilinan said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Pangilinan further said that the government should also ensure that all existing and ongoing EU aid programs benefiting Filipinos in the local communities do not suffer when the aid is pulled out.<\/p>\n

Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea earlier said that the decision to reject the aid is to prevent EU from meddling with the internal affairs of the Philippine government.<\/p>\n

EU has repeatedly criticized the administration under Pres. Rodrigo Duterte for its aggressive campaign against illegal drugs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u2014Senators have mixed feelings on the decision of the Duterte administration to reject the PHP13 billion aid offered by the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":100592,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1482,16,95],"tags":[11223,3103,2990],"class_list":["post-103194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking","category-news","category-news-ph","tag-duterte-administration","tag-european-union","tag-panfilo-lacson","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103194\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}