Duterte Administration Informs EU That the Philippines Will Stop Accepting Aid

The Philippine government under the Dutere admin did not elaborate further why they will stop
accepting grants from EU, but it comes a couple of months after the EU Parliament, adopted a
resolution calling for the immediate release of Sen. De Lima and a probe into EJK in light of Pres.
Duterte's war on drugs.

The EU trade commission also warned the Philippines that the country could lose its preferential
status if measures reinstating the death penalty and lowering the age of criminal liability are
passed.

For the past years, EU granted the Philippines 130 million euros in development assistance
between 2007-2013. In 2015 during the admin of Pres. Aquino, it pleged 325 million euros over four
years to finance projects in Muslim Mindanao after Manila signed a peace deal with rebels in
March 2014.

Duterte Administration informs the European Union (EU) that the Philippines will
no longer accept development aid from the powerful bloc of nations in Europe. The Philippines
decision is in response to the alleged pressure of EU to investigate the EJK in the country.

President Duterte previously dared the EU to pull out their assistance o the Philippines for allegedly
interfering the decisions of the current government as they called for the release of Sen. De Lima
and warning the Philippines not to impose the death penalty and lower the age of criminal
liability.

The statement of the Philippines not to accept financial aid from the European Union might lose
billions of dollars of aid to the country. The Duterte admin's decision not to accept aid from EU also
came a few days after Pres. Duterte managed to secure billions of dollars of investments and
pledges from China.

Thelma Gecolea, EU delegation to the Philippine Public Affairs Officer confirmed to the media that "The PH government has informedus that it will no longer accept new EU grants," she said.
Ambassador Franz Jessen on his part stated that the decision to cut aid from the EU, would mean
the loss of about 250 million Euros ($278.73 million) worth of grants mostly allocated to Muslim
communities.

The move of the Duterte admin comes days after Pres. Duterte won billions of dollars in pledges
from China after attending the Belt and Road Summit in Beijing.