Palace’s retort to EU the wrong reaction, says Robredo

Instead of telling European lawmakers to “go ahead” in slapping economic sanctions on the Philippines, the government should prove that the country is committed to international conventions on human rights, Vice President Leni Robredo said Sunday.

In her weekly radio show, Robredo said presidential spokesman Harry Roque had the wrong reaction to the European Parliament’s push to revoke the Philippines’ exports tariff exemption due to the “deteriorating” human rights situation in the country. 

“Gawin nila ang gusto nilang gawin. Sa mga panahong ito, if they want to implement it, go ahead. They will be the biggest contributor to the violation of [the] right to life of the Filipinos,” Roque said on Friday. 

“Tingin ko, maling reaksyon iyon kasi ang dapat na reaksyon, sabihin mo na—ipakita mo na sinusundan natin iyong ating commitments,” Robredo said.

The EU's Generalized Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+) bestows the privilege of exporting zero-duty merchandise to EU-member states on developing countries  that implement 27 international conventions on human rights, labor, good governance and environmental protection.

Over 6,000 Philippine exports to Europe enjoy tariff breaks thanks to the GSP+.

Last year, around P113 billion worth of Philippine goods entered the EU through the GSP+ mechanism.

The European Parliament, however, has sought to revoke the Philippines’ privileges over the drug war and “deteriorating level of press freedom” in the country, citing the cyberlibel conviction of Rappler chief Maria Ressa and the shutdown of broadcast network ABS-CBN. 

Robredo stressed that the Philippines should prove that it is committed to upholding its commitments.

“Kasi para sa akin, karapatan iyon ng EU kasi privilege iyon, eh… Wala silang obligasyon na ibigay sa atin iyon pero binigyan tayo bilang privilege dahil mayroon tayong commitment na mga susundin,” she said.

“So papaano natin sasalungatin? I-prove natin na committed pa rin tayo. Pero hindi iyong sasabihin mo na, ‘E ‘di tanggalan!’ Kasi kapag sinabi mong [‘yun] sa panahon na ang daming nawalan ng trabaho sa atin, dadagdagan mo pa, about 200,000 jobs iyon,” Robredo added. — Julia Mari Ornedo/BM, GMA News