THE European Union said Friday it will provide the government €3.8 million (about P241.6 million) to finance the drug rehabilitation centers in the Philippines.
The money will be given to tthe Department of Health despite the Duterte administration’s decision to decline aid from the EU, said Stefano Maservisi, the European Commission’s director general for International Cooperation and Development.
The €3.8 million is part of the €260-million development assistance intended for the Philippines, and is primarily for the Mindanao peace process, job creation and renewable energy projects.
“This is the last important component of this program that we will disburse in the next days,” Maservisi told reporters.
In other developments:
* The Philippine National Police’s campaign against illegal drugs has so far pinned down 102 drug suspects in various operations months after the relaunch of project “Tokhang,” which triggered the surrender of 3,173 suspected drug dependents nationwide.
Records from the Directorate For Operations showed that 102 drug suspects died in 6,477 drug- enforcement operations while 10,088 drug suspects were arrested.
PNP spokesman John Bulalacao said the 102 drug suspects were killed after allegedly putting up a fight against the arresting officers.
* Two senators said Friday the Interior Department should ensure there will be no drug money to bankroll the candidacy of candidates running in the coming barangay elections in October.
“Intelligence, intelligence, intelligence. As early as today, let us nip the potential problem in the bud,” Senator Panfilo Lacson said.
Senator Win Gatchalian expressed hope that the DILG had already neutralized the alleged 40 percent of the narco-barangays two years after the first postponement of the village elections.
• The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency on Friday called on other government agencies to help clear the 24,424 villages of illegal drugs by 2022.
“PDEA cannot do it alone. We need these agencies to step up,” PDEA head Aaron Aquino said.
“PDEA’s goal to clear the remaining 24,424 drug affected barangays or 58.10 percent out of 42,036 barangays in the country by 2022 can be achieved with the combined efforts of all concerned agencies,” he said.
• Body cameras for anti-illegal drug operations by the Philippine National Police will arrive by June or July, PNP spokesman John Bulalacao said Friday.
Bulalacao made the announcement after revealing the latest figures from anti-illegal drug operations and the relaunched Project Tokhang.
A staunch critic of his government’s bloody war on drugs, the EU has been accused by President Rodrigo Duterte of interfering in the country’s domestic affairs, prompting him to reject the bloc’s €6-million aid last year.
Duterte has repeatedly lambasted the EU for attaching conditions to its assistance, such as imposing human rights regulations in exchange for money.
The EU is one of the country’s top donors and is a major trading partner.
Maservisi, who is on official visit to the Philippines, denied imposing “unilateral conditionalities” in its aid, saying their action was governed by the framework of the Partnership Cooperation Agreement (PCA) that promotes human rights.
It was signed between Manila and the EU in 2012 and was ratified by the Philippine Senate in January this year.
“Our assistance is subject to no unilateral condition or whatsoever nature,” Maservisi said.
He said EU development projects would continue but could be subject to discussions with Philippine government officials if they had objections.
In his meetings with Philippine government officials, Maservisi said the issue of human rights never came up and that the discussions focused instead on “energy, Mindanao, the mutual interest we have in the region and what are the common interests in doing cooperation in the Philippines.”
“We didn’t discuss human rights,” Maservisi said.
The PCA, the first-ever bilateral and comprehensive pact by Manila and the EU, provides the legal basis for the two parties to cooperate on areas such as human rights, anti-corruption, education, money laundering, drugs, organized crime, the Mindanao peace process, and trade and investment, among others.
“In this context, when each side has a problem, we raise it and we have mechanism to discuss and address. Therefore, there is no unilateral kind of condition,” Maservisi said.
Maservisi said the drug killings and human rights violations remained a concern, but added that these issues should not prevent the Philippines and the EU from working together.
“Very often, drugs are often linked to killing. This is another story. What we are talking about is the importance of action and program of the government in order to eradicate drugs, to fight the traffickers,” Maservisi said.