US President Donald Trump’s executive order imposing a 90-day suspension on all foreign assistance programs should not cause anxieties to Filipinos, Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel “Babe” Romualdez assured.
On Sunday, he sought to allay fears over the development, saying he believes that the suspension of the aid allocation would only be “temporary.”
“There is nothing to worry about… the way we see it, they just need time to review the foreign aid they are handing out to different countries,” the diplomat told Super Radyo dzBB in a mixture of Filipino and English.
“The aid that is being given to us [Philippines] is not even considered aid, the way I see it, this is for military operations that they are undertaking… like at EDCA sites, that is an agreement that we have with the United States,” the Romualdez pointed out.
“That is mutually beneficial for both our countries because it is important for them to maintain presence in the Indo-Pacific Region, as for us, we want them to be present because we have a problem there in the West Philippine Sea,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) would coordinate with the US government to assess the potential impact of President Donald Trump’s temporary suspension of foreign assistance, the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) said on Saturday.
“The DFA is closely monitoring reports on the possible freeze of US foreign assistance,” the PCO said in a statement.
“[It] will work with partners in the US Department of State and the US government to determine how this will affect the Philippines,” it added.
In line with Trump’s directive, the US State Department issued a “stop-work” order for all existing foreign assistance and paused new aid, according to a Reuters’ report.
The American leader said the purpose of the review is to determine if the assistance being extended to foreign countries was in line with his administration’s foreign policy.
The US is the largest single donor of aid globally, having disbursed $72 billion in assistance in fiscal year 2023.