EDITORIAL - Global concerns

The ambassador of the United Kingdom, Asif Ahmad, said change has come to the Philippines under President Duterte, although not necessarily in a good way. Meanwhile, the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines said the President’s “unsettling” rhetoric was driving European investors away from the Philippines, resulting in the loss of thousands of job opportunities.

Responding to Ahmad, who has been assigned in the Philippines for a few years, Malacañang riposted that his sentiment was not shared by the majority of Filipinos. Palace officials cited surveys showing over 80 percent of Filipinos expressing satisfaction in the way Duterte is running the government.

This, however, does not directly address the concerns raised by Ahmad, which others share, particularly those in the world community. Amnesty International, in its annual report on the state of human rights around the globe, included Duterte among anti-establishment politicians who are contributing to a pushback on human rights worldwide. Named by AI together with Duterte were US President Donald Trump, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The kidnapping and grisly murder of South Korean businessman Jee Ick-joo prompted President Duterte to ban the Philippine National Police from undertaking anti-drug operations. But drug-related executions, this time attributed to vigilantes, continue, with Amnesty counting an average of eight to 10 killings daily.

The bad news about the Philippines has been unrelenting overseas, and the government cannot afford to shrug this off forever. As the European Chamber reported, two potential investors from the European Union recently canceled expansion plans in the country. The investors, one in manufacturing and the other in information technology, would have created a total of about 9,000 jobs. More economic opportunities will be lost if the Europeans drop the country from the EU’s expanded Generalized System of Preferences over human rights concerns.

The impact of such concerns may be felt in small increments from individual countries. But taken together, the negative impact on the country can be significant and cannot be ignored.