Despite Duterte tirades, European Council head to attend ASEAN summit

MANILA, Philippines — European Council President Donald Tusk will go to Manila in November for the Association of Southeast Asian Nation summit despite the tirades of President Rodrigo Duterte over its criticism of the administration's war on drugs.

Tusk's visit was announced on Tuesday by the Department of Foreign Affairs which said that the council's president would attend the 40th Anniversary of the ASEAN-EU Commemorative Summit.

Tusk will also be invited as a "guest of the chair" to the Luncheon in Honor of the East Asia Summit Leaders and Guests of the Chair, according to DFA spokesman Robespierre Bolivar.

"It's European Council President Donald Tusk who will be attending the ASEAN-EU Commemorative Summit (40th anniversary) and was invited as 'Guest of the Chair' for the Luncheon in Honor of the East Asia Summit Leaders and Guests of the Chair," Bolivar said.

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Tusk's visit comes at a tense moment in Philippine-EU relations after Duterte rejected European Union aid with conditions. Duterte takes criticisms of his policy personally, especially when it comes to the government's drug war.

According to Duterte and senior government officials, aids with strings attached are being used by foreign governments to interfere in the internal affairs of the country and step on its sovereignty.

The government said that it was also turning down EU aid to war-torn Marawi City despite estimates that the Philippines would need at least P50 billion for the lakeside town's rehabilitation and recovery.

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Officials admit that sourcing this money solely from the yearly national appropriation would be difficult as the government was also eying an ambitious infrastructure program spread over the next five years.

This rejection came after Duterte, in a speech at the presidential palace more than a week ago, lashed at the EU and told their envoys to leave in 24 hours for supposedly warning the Philippines that it could be ousted from the United Nations and lose its preferential trade agreement with the bloc if extrajudicial killings in the conduct of the drug war would continue.

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It later turned out that Duterte's vitriol was based on inaccurate information as the group that criticized drug-related deaths and political persecution in the country was composed of members of a progressive alliance and not an official EU delegation.

The president's spokesmen, who regularly clarifies such statements of the chief executive, scrambled to contain the fallout, said that there was no order for the ambassadors to leave and emphasized that the comments should be taken within the context that the group tried to present itself as an EU delegation, something that the alliance did not do.

Months ago, the Filipino envoy to the bloc was summoned following what Brussels officials considered as unacceptable expletive-lade remarks by the irascible Philippine leader.

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