EU, UN won’t stop Philippines aid

MANILA, Philippines - Despite being told by President Duterte to “go to purgatory” because hell is already full, the European Union (EU) is extending P9 billion in assistance to the Philippines for energy-related measures, especially for renewable energy development and energy efficiency promotion.

The United Nations, for its part, said it has no plans to stop its assistance to the Philippines despite constant drubbing from President Duterte, who said the other day that the country would survive without foreign aid.

The EU and the Department of Energy (DOE) yesterday launched the Access to Sustainable Energy Program (ASEP), aimed at providing electricity to 90 percent of Philippine households through maximized use of renewable energy.

“We see that the Philippines and the EU are sharing many objectives looking forward on issues such as climate change, sustainable energy, pro-poor agenda, trying to lift people out of poverty,” EU Ambassador Franz Jessen said in a briefing.

The P9-billion financing agreement will run for three to four years, Jessen said, depending on “how fast the money is being spent and being used by the communities.”

ASEP seeks to provide clean energy solutions to 100,000 households or roughly 500,000 people, add 20 megawatts in additional renewable energy projects and improve energy efficiency and generate savings equivalent to a 50-megawatt power plant.

With the challenge of ever-changing technologies, the EU is working closely with the DOE in identifying projects that would be covered by the grant, such as clean energy and other low carbon development, ASEP consultant Christoph Menke said in the same briefing.

“More than technology, we need business models and the right policies administration. This is exactly where the project can work with the government and a lot of people committed in different agencies to work on,” he said.

The DOE, for its part, is pitching for greater use of information technology in the wires-related business of the energy sector, DOE undersecretary Felix William Fuentebella said.

“What the Department of Energy is looking at in the future is how to be more flexible and how to gather more information at the right time. We are all looking at the smart grid technology and, as I have emphasized, we are looking at how to further develop wires and have convergence on ICT,” he said.

The DOE is also looking at using the grant for paying Feed-in Tariff (FIT) – a set of incentives given to power developers for investing in the more expensive renewables sector – instead of passing the burden to consumers.

“So we brought up FIT, how we can remove the pass-on charge to consumers,” Fuentebella said.

UN commitment stays

Meanwhile, UN resident coordinator and UN Development Program resident representative in the Philippines Ola Almgren said relations between the world body and Manila remain undamaged.

“We need to look at the broader aspect of the Philippines’ role in the UN and the work that we do here to judge that. I remain firm in my belief that that relationship will continue in as good a level as it has been in the past,” Almgren told The STAR.

He stressed there is no way the UN would stop giving aid to the Philippines.

As this developed, Duterte asked US President Barack Obama to let the US ambassador to the UN file a complaint against him for human rights violations.

“When the European Union and the US reprimand it was as if I was their (house) boy. I am not your servant,” Duterte said yesterday in his speech at the National Banana Congress in Lanang, Davao City.

Almgren expressed confidence “the partnership between the UN and the Philippines will remain strong as it has been as we go forward.”   

He cited a memorandum of understanding signed by the UNDP, the Board of Investments and local business groups for the conduct of a nationwide baseline survey on inclusive business among Philippine firms.

“The Philippines is a member-state of the UN since the very beginning. It’s a question of what has been the contribution of the Philippines to the UN and that contribution has been fantastic ever since the beginning of the UN and even in recent years,” Almgren pointed out.

Duterte has been unleashing harsh remarks against the UN, the EU and the US for their calling his attention to the rising death toll and human rights abuses in the conduct of his intensified campaign against illegal drugs and criminality.

The President in August threatened to withdraw the Philippines from the UN – a statement he later clarified was only a joke.

On Duterte’s latest tirade against the US and the EU, Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said the President is merely saying “we have a reform policy, we have our own problems, internal problems in the country, so instead of criticizing us, help us. If you are really our friend, help us.” 

He stressed the President “knows what he is saying and the President is standing for the right of every Filipino, independent foreign policy and about opening our doors to other countries also if they want to – who may want to work with the Philippines in mutually beneficial ways.” – Christina Mendez, Giovanni Nilles