Europe’s ambassador and a critic of the Philippine president says Manila’s decision would end millions of dollars of grants to Muslim communities impacted by conflict
The Philippine government has told the European Union it will no longer accept development aid from the bloc, putting at risk programs to assist poor and
conflict-hit regions in the country’s south, Europe’s ambassador said on Wednesday.
Ambassador Franz Jessen said the decision to cut aid from the EU, a strong critic of President Rodrigo Duterte’s drugs war, would mean the loss of about 250 million Euros ($278.73 million) worth of grants mostly allocated to Muslim communities.
Manila’s move comes days after Duterte won billions of dollars in pledges from China after attending the Belt and Road summit in Beijing.
«The Philippine government has informed us they no longer accept new EU grants, » Jessen said without elaborating.
