EU realigning 15 million financing for COVID-19

MANILA, Philippines  — The European Union (EU) plans to realign 15 million euros or approximately P844 million of its financing assistance to the Philippines for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) response efforts.

Thomas Wiersing, chargé d’affaires of the EU delegation in the Philippines, said the organization is ready to assist the Philippines in its fight against COVID-19 by reorienting some of its funds.

“Subject to further discussions with the government, we estimate that in total up to 15 million euros could be reoriented to address the impact of COVID-19 in the Philippines,” Wiersing said in a speech during the ceremonial exchange of two grant agreements for Mindanao yesterday.

He said this will be done under the Team Europe approach, which aims to combine resources from the EU, its member states and financial institutions.

Wiersing said the fund could be sourced from the two grants recently extended by the EU to the Philippines, as well as other financing agreements on the pipeline.

He said the amount could be realigned specifically toward initiatives to mitigate the impact of the pandemic and to jumpstart economic recovery.

“Today’s context changed. Things that may have looked urgent some time ago maybe today are a bit less urgent than addressing the pandemic. So this is why we simply need to see where the government, the implementor, stakeholders, where the money could be reoriented to,” he said.

Yesterday, the Philippines, through the Department of Finance (DOF) and EU formalized the P2-billion financing agreement for the the Mindanao Peace and Development Program (RISE Mindanao) and the P1.4-billion grant for the Support to Bangsamoro Transition Program (SUBATRA).

Finance Undersecretary Mark Dennis Joven said the government currently has 150 million euros in ongoing grants from the EU. Excluding these two agreements, another 20 to 30 million euros in grants are still in the pipeline.

Aside from this proposed funding, the EU said it has so far provided roughly P50.21 million in assistance to poor families affected by COVID-19 and community lockdowns in the form of cash, food, hygiene kits, face masks, hand washing facilities, and transportation for locally stranded individuals.