Palace official: Cutting aid from EU disables the bloc from interfering in PHL affairs

Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea on Thursday confirmed that the Philippine government is no longer accepting aid from the European Union as a way of asserting the country's independent stance.

"To enable them not to interfere with our internal affairs. We're supposed to be an independent nation," he told reporters in a text message.

The European Parliament has been critical of President Rodrigo Duterte's administration, voicing its opposition to the campaign against illegal drugs and the supposedly extrajudicial killings related to the campaign, as well as the reinstatement of the death penalty.

It sympathized with Senator Leila de Lima, a staunch critic of the Duterte administration, and urged that she be released from detention.

De Lima was imprisoned supposedly because of her anti-Duterte stand, according to the European Parliament. She is accused by the Duterte administration of supposedly benefitting from the drug trade in prisons.

EU Ambassador to the Philippines Franz Jessen said the Philippines would likely lose about €250 million ($278.73 million) in grants, mostly allocated to Muslim communities. — VDS, GMA News