President Rodrigo Duterte. PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO
DAVAO CITY – President Duterte on Saturday said he was willing to lose than accept money from the European Union that comes with condition.
“I will not allow the government to be beholden to anyone except to the people,” he said when asked about his government’s rejection of the P383 million EU aid.
He said the EU was imposing its “own values” to the Philippines.
“You impose your own values, you want countries to follow certain conducts,” he said.
“These countries, EU, you never have ceased to be imperialist,” he said.
On Wednesday, EU Ambassador Franz Jessen confirmed that the Philippines had rejected the EU-Philippine Trade Related Technical Assistance (TRTA) by not signing the document.
“It was formalized in the sense that we had, for example, the TRTA, a document that actually had to be signed by the end of the year. And that has been returned to us unsigned,” he told reporters in Manila.
Jessen said the Duterte government did not like the words “rule of law,” “human rights” on the TRTA document.
He said aside from the TRTA, the Duterte government was also poised to reject some P2.4 billion in additional aid for sustainable energy projects.