Palace clarifies: ‘No directive’ for EU envoys to leave PHL

Despite President Rodrigo Duterte’s fiery statements against the European Union, his spokesman clarified that there was no need for EU diplomats to leave the Philippines "in 24 hours."

Asked if ambassadors from EU nations should leave the Philippines following the President's remarks, presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella responded: “There is no directive to do that.”

Abella maintained that Duterte’s rants stemmed not from the actions and remarks of the EU, but from the statements of the seven-member delegation Progressive Alliance and Party of European Socialists that asked to stop the killings amid the government's controversial war on drugs.

The EU Delegation to the Philippines had already clarified that the group, , was not an official mission of the union.

Duterte on Thursday berated the EU for supposedly calling for the Philippines’ ouster from the United Nations (UN). He then told the EU envoys to leave the country in 24 hours. 

The delegation and the EU, however, made no such remarks. It was the New York-based Human Rights Watch that made the warning of a possible expulsion from the UN Human Rights Council—not the UN.

Asked if Duterte was misinformed about the situation or at least misled, Abella said that the President was only reacting to what he had read.

“So basically, it’s a lesson for us also to... for the need for critical reporting and reading of the news,” he said.

“So, the President reacted as any leader would when national sovereignty is violated. So, we call upon... the media to heed his request too for correct reportage,” he added. — MDM, GMA News