{"id":232158,"date":"2019-09-24T00:50:18","date_gmt":"2019-09-24T04:50:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=232158"},"modified":"2019-09-24T00:50:18","modified_gmt":"2019-09-24T04:50:18","slug":"palace-allays-fears-over-order-blocking-loans-from-18-countries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/09\/24\/palace-allays-fears-over-order-blocking-loans-from-18-countries\/","title":{"rendered":"Palace allays fears over order blocking loans from 18 countries"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
“We assure the nation and its citizenry that this directive will not have a negative and significant impact on the country,” Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a statement on Monday (File photo:<\/a> Office of the Presidential Spokesperson\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0— Malaca\u00f1ang allayed fears that President Rodrigo Duterte\u2019s order to suspend negotiations for and signing of all loan and grant agreements from the 18 countries that voted to approve an Iceland-sponsored United Nations Rights Council (UNHRC) resolution calling for an investigation on the country’s anti-drug campaign will have a negative impact on the Philippine economy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe assure the nation and its citizenry that this directive will not have a negative and significant impact on the country,\u201d Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a statement on Monday.<\/p>\n

Citing Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez II, Panelo said there will be no negative impact because it will not affect existing loans or grants which are already being implemented.<\/p>\n

Panelo said all proposed engagements with the 18 countries, except for one small project loan in the amount of EUR21 million, are technical assistance grants and will not greatly affect the government\u2019s Build, Build, Build infrastructure program.<\/p>\n

He explained that multilateral development financial institutions and other bilateral partners have already signified their intention to finance the EUR21 million.<\/p>\n

The Palace official said the rates offered by said countries are no better than the rates already offered by multilateral development financial institutions and bilateral development partners.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, he rejected claims made by critics that the President\u2019s decision to shun financial assistance is \u201cill-advised\u201d noting that the Chief Executive would never put the nation\u2019s dignity over monetary aid.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe position of PRRD has always been clear and consistent: He will not compromise the nation\u2019s dignity over any amount of foreign loan, or even aid or grant,\u201d Panelo said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn fact, the President has rejected in previous occasions offers of assistance with any condition that would interfere with our domestic policies. This policy remains unchanged. And it will not waver,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Earlier, Dominguez bared that the total pipeline that will be affected by Duterte\u2019s ban will include the USD109.41-million Metro Manila Bus Rapid Transit Project.<\/p>\n

Clarification<\/strong><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Panelo clarified why he initially denied that Duterte issued the order explaining that the President \u201cmomentarily forgot\u201d about it.<\/p>\n

He said Duterte himself called for it \u201cat the height of the Iceland resolution\u201d but somehow had a \u201clapse in memory.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was not I who is denying. When I asked him he said, \u2018no, I did not.\u2019 Apparently, as I said, he might have forgotten momentarily. So, when I asked him again he said, \u2018yes I remember calling the Secretary about it,\u2019\u201d Panelo said in an interview over ANC.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is more on lapse in memory a few minutes, because when I asked him again, he said, \u2018yes I did.\u2019 But what is important is that memo exists and it is maintained,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Panelo pointed out that Duterte initially denied it because despite having made the order, it was issued by Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea.<\/p>\n

He stressed that Duterte issued the order because he felt \u201cinsulted\u201d by the resolution which called for a probe into the drug war.<\/p>\n

\u201cI asked him, \u2018why did you issue that memo, Mr. President?\u2019 He said, \u2018this country is insulted of that kind of Iceland resolution and we cannot allow this country to be insulting us. A country who condemns allegedly our slaying of certain victims and yet it allows abortion of unborn children up to less than 6 months old,\u2019\u201d Panelo said.<\/p>\n

In a Palace briefing, Panelo explained that the Iceland resolution \u201cpresupposes\u201d that Philippine courts are not doing anything about the complaints and abuses.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been prosecuting. In fact, every death arising from police operations on drugs is automatically subject to administrative and criminal prosecution,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Panelo also reiterated Duterte\u2019s earlier remark slamming Iceland for being concerned about the alleged slaying of suspected criminals when the country legalized abortion.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe cannot comprehend what Iceland is so concerned about the alleged brutal slaying of suspected criminals which occur because the lives of those people who are enforcing the law are endangered and yet it has a law that allows killing, murdering unborn children,\u201d Panelo said.<\/p>\n

Not a knee-jerk reaction<\/strong><\/p>\n

Panelo, meanwhile, rejected the remark made by Cagayan de Oro 2nd District Rep. Rufus Rodriguez who described Duterte\u2019s order to shun all financial assistance from the 18 countries as a \u201cknee-jerk reaction.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Yun na ang<\/em>\u00a0response\u00a0namin na hindi totoo \u2018yun; ang nag-knee-kneejerk siya, sila<\/em>\u00a0(That\u2019s our response, that it\u2019s no true; that it was a knee-jerk reaction) They don\u2019t know the facts, they don\u2019t even know\u00a0kung mayroong<\/em>\u00a0(if there are) existing loans,\u201d Panelo said.<\/p>\n

The Palace official denied that Duterte would also shun other countries that would also support any probe into the drug war in the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cKapag nangyari iyon<\/em>\u00a0(When it happens), I\u2019ll respond to you.\u00a0Puro ispekulasyon lang iyon eh<\/em>\u00a0(Right now, they\u2019re all speculation),\u201d Panelo said.<\/p>\n

For the meantime, Palace will focus on countries that voted in favor of the Iceland-sponsored resolution.<\/p>\n

The 18 countries that voted in support of the drug war probe were Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Fiji, Iceland, Italy, Mexico, Peru, Slovakia, Spain, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and Uruguay.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0— Malaca\u00f1ang allayed fears that President Rodrigo Duterte\u2019s order to suspend negotiations for and signing of all loan and grant …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":222653,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-232158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-azer-parrocha","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232158","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=232158"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232158\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":232159,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232158\/revisions\/232159"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/222653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}