Government optimistic not all is lost in US aid freeze

President Duterte said im­posing sanctions can work both ways as he threatened last Saturday to abrogate an agreement that allows Unit­ed States troops to visit the Philippines after the US gov­ernment-backed Millenni­um Challenge Corp. (MCC) deferred a decision on a new round of aid package citing concerns over the rule of law in the Philippines.

Despite the President’s tough talk, however, the De­partment of Foreign Affairs ap­peared hopeful that not all was lost in the US aid issue. Assis­tant Foreign Secretary Charles Jose said the MCC decision was “not final,” as the Duterte administration has yet to ex­plain to the MCC Board that the Philippines has high re­spect for human rights, which the foreign media have failed to report.

“Bye-bye America, and work on the protocols that would eventually move you out from the Philippines,” Mr. Duterte said in Davao City after returning from a trip to Cambodia and Singapore.

“You know, America, you might also be put on notice. Prepare to leave the Philip­pines. Prepare for the eventu­al repeal or the abrogation of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA),” he added.

The MCC board released a statement last Thursday say ing that a vote on the latest grant of aid to the Philippines was deferred “subject to a fur­ther review of concerns around rule of law and civil liberties.”

The move came at a time when rights groups, the Unit­ed Nations and the US have expressed concern over alleged extrajudicial killings under Mr. Duterte’s campaign against il­legal drugs, which has seen the death of thousands of suspects since July.

Since winning the May 9 election, the President has de­clared that his administration would pursue an independent foreign policy and repeated­ly called for US troops to be withdrawn from the country.

The VFA allows the US to station around a hundred troops in the southern region of Mindanao to help fight mil­itants, and to retain custody of accused personnel during ju­dicial proceedings.

Mr. Duterte declared Sat­urday that he was putting the US “on notice” that he would “decide any day soon” on what to do with the VFA.

He added that he would base his decision on the in­coming administration of US President-elect Donald Trump, who expressed support for Mr. Duterte’s anti-drug drive during a phone conversation earlier this month.

The government, howev­er, remains hopeful that the aid issue could still be resolved in the best interests of both coun­tries.

“The deferment allows us the opportunity to continue to dialogue with the MCC. The development of the Second Compact continues until the next board meeting in March 2017,” said Jose, who is also spokesman of the foreign of­fice.

Jose said the government remains committed to “foster­ing good governance and the rule of law in the country.”

He added that the admin­istration will continue to en­gage the MCC Board to make sure that accurate and updated information on government policies and programs are pro­vided to its members.

The MCC had a $434-mil­lion anti-poverty aid package to the Philippines that was completed last May.

A new aid program would be based on the MCC Board’s decision, which deferred the vote on the Philippines as ben­eficiary for a Second MCC Compact.

The MCC Board had a wide discussion on its engage­ment with the Philippines, in­cluding the very positive per­formance in the First MCC Compact and the FY 2017 Scorecard, as well as on the current developments in the country, according to the DFA.

“The Board deferred a vote on the reselection of the Philippines for compact de­velopment, subject to a further review of concerns around the rule of law and civil liberties,” the MCC said in a statement posted on its website.

During the quarterly meet­ing on December 13, 2016, the MCC board selected Burkina Faso, Sri Lanka and Tunisia for new MCC Compacts that are five-year grants to encourage economic growth and to re­duce poverty.

The MCC said its rules state that for a country to be selected as eligible for MCC as­sistance, “it must demonstrate a commitment to just and democratic governance, invest­ments in its people, and eco­nomic freedom, as measured by third-party policy indicators on MCC’s annual scorecard.”

“By partnering with de­veloping countries that meet rigorous standards for good governance, from fighting cor­ruption to respecting the rights of women and the rule of law, we are maximizing our ability to fight poverty and transform people’s lives,” MCC Chief Ex­ecutive Officer Dana J. Hyde said.

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said the govern­ment under Mr. Duterte has a strong commitment to the rule of law to realize the administra­tion’s goal of attacking poverty and promoting a law-abiding society among Filipinos.

Dominguez pointed out that the Philippines had passed 13 out of the 20 country indi­cators in the latest MCC score­card report published just last month, including the control of corruption, the rule of law and civil liberties.

“We have received the news about the MCC’s deci­sion. We thank them for the grant that the Philippines re­ceived under the First Com­pact as we reassure them and the rest of our development partners that the government continues to vigorously imple­ment initiatives that reinforce the Duterte presidency’s com­mitment to good governance, peace and order and the rule of law,” Dominguez said.

Dominguez also noted that the MCC scorecard re­leased in November 2016, in which the Philippines passed 13 out of the 20 indicators, was a slight improvement of last year’s performance report, where the Philippines passed 12 out of the 20.

The MCC Board is due to reconvene in March 2017 un­der a new US administration.

Dominguez said that in the first six months of the Duterte administration, the Philippines continued to be the economic “outperform­er” in the region, with inter­national institutions like the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank project­ing growth above 6 percent and credit raters maintaining their investment grade rating for the country.

Other institutions that have remained bullish on the Philippines include the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corp., Nomura, Citibank, Fitch Ratings, International Monetary Fund, and the UN Economic and Social Com­mission for Asia and the Pa­cific.

Dominguez acknowl­edged that the Duterte ad­ministration’s three priority goals of reducing poverty, developing a society that is law-abiding and a country at peace with itself and its neighbors, would only suc­ceed with the assistance of the country’s development partners in the international community.

“In realizing these three priority goals, the government has to make tough decisions that will not please every­body,” Dominguez said.

He said that as far as the Filipino people were con­cerned, an overwhelming majority of them believe the Duterte administration has been doing a very good job in restoring peace and order—as borne out by the results of the quarterly tracking polls by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) that gave the new ad­ministration a record “very good” rating of 77 percent in the last quarter. Mr. Duter­te’s net satisfaction rating was at a high +63, which is “very good” based on SWS stan­dards.

Its war against illegal drugs also obtained an “excel­lent” rating in the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) sur­vey released last Nov. 17.

A separate SWS poll con­ducted in September said that 86 percent of Filipinos were also satisfied with the way democracy works, which, said Dominguez, virtually re­flected the people’s vote of confidence in the Duterte administration’s adherence to the rule of law and other democratic processes.

Dominguez added when Mr. Duterte recalled his re­cent phone conversation with US President-elect Donald Trump, the American lead­er wished Mr. Duterte well on his campaign against drugs and said he understood the way that the Filipino lead­er was handling it.

A statement from Trump’s team said Mr. Dute­rte congratulated the US president-elect and that the two men “noted the long his­tory of friendship and coop­eration between the two na­tions, and agreed that the two governments would continue to work together closely on matters of shared interest and concern”.

Dominguez also said that in his meetings with foreign government officials, a num­ber of them said they under­stood the gravity of the prob­lem that Mr. Duterte faces in his war against illegal drugs.

Officials from the Unit­ed Kingdom, Spain, Japan and China have focused on the rehabilitation aspect of the Duterte administration’s campaign against illegal drugs, he said. LUIS LEONCIO