THE Finance department said that it is only the European Union (EU) that attaches conditions requiring the government to observe a standard of human rights in financing agreements with the Philippine government.

“The EU is the only development partner of the Philippines whose financing agreements explicitly contain provisions that are linked to the national government conduct on human rights and rule of law,” Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III told reporters late Friday.

Quoting the general terms and conditions of EU financing agreements, Mr. Dominguez said: “‘Article 26.1: the commission may suspend this financing agreement if the partner country breaches an obligation relating to respect on human rights, democratic principles, and the rule of law, and in serious cases of corruption.’”

“Based on the financing grant agreements previously executed by the national government through the Department of Finance (DoF), none of our other development partners around the world have such provisions in their respective financing grant agreements, it’s only the EU, not the European countries,” he added.

Mr. Dominguez said that the DoF continues to deal with European countries individually including Austria, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and also countries such as Australia, Canada, China, Japan.

South Korea, New Zealand, and the US, whose standard financing agreements do not contain such a provision.

However Mr. Dominguez said that the European bloc may direct its aid to nongovernment organizations (NGOs) if the Philippine government does not qualify under its terms.

“If the EU wishes to be relevant in development cooperation in the Philippines, it may opt to deal directly to the beneficiaries by channeling its grants through third party or NGOs such as the Red Cross, provided it does not deal with NGOs or groups linked to terrorism or those whose aim is to destabilize the state,” he said.

“Since July 2017 the government, with the DoF, has been in discussions and negotiations with the EU regarding the amendment of the financing agreement particularly the provision consistent with the policy of the President. During the negotiations, the DoF pushed for parity and respect for our sovereignty;  however the EU has stubbornly refused to see our point choosing to maintain the provision that is unacceptable to President Rodrigo R. Duterte,” he added.

Mr. Dominguez noted that the Philippine government and the Dutch government signed a memorandum of understanding covering a €1-million aid package to jointly draft a master plan for the sustainable development of Manila bay.

The EU has confirmed that the Philippines opted not to avail of a P382-million (€6.1-million) aid package under the EU-Philippine Trade Related Technical Assistance in 2017.

In the first half of 2017, Philippine goods trade  external trade with EU member countries totaled $7.78 billion, equivalent to 10.3% of total trade, Philippine Statistics Authority data show.

Exports to the EU amounted to $4.623 billion or 14.8% of total export receipts, while imports were valued at $3.157 billion, equivalent to 7.1% of the total. — Elijah Joseph C. Tubayan

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