Duterte rejects EU aid again: “We do not bargain dignity by accepting money with conditionalities”

President Rodrigo Duterte and EU logo, photo from Manila Bulletin News

President Rodrigo Duterte stayed firm on his belief that the Philippines does not need help from the European Union.

Duterte was asked if he had a meeting with European Council President Donald Tusk to discuss donations from the EU, Duterte said that Filipinos can survive on rice and dried fish.



The President has repeatedly rejected aid from the Union.

"Forget it. We will survive, even if we have to eat dried fish and rice, we will survive,” Duterte said Tuesday night in a press conference after the country’s hosting of the 31st Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit and Related Summits.

Finance Sec. Sonny Dominguez III  allegedly repeatedly asked him if he wanted to accept the offer, but Duterte's answer remained the same.



“The EU is offering us, I don’t know what, how much this time. So the secretary of finance asked me if I’m willing to accept them. Give it to the persons you believe who will tell you the truth,” the president said.

Duterte made it equivocal that he does not want aid that comes with conditions.

“We are not rich, we are poor. But we do not bargain dignity by accepting money (with) conditionalities that are not really acceptable to us,” he added.

The EU has since 2016, expressed its disagreement with Duterte's methods in his drug war and threatened to withdraw financial support to the country, which prompted Duterte to be hostile towards it.

Source: kickerdaily.com

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