Teddy Locsin wants foreign donations to NGOs cleared with DFA

MANILA, Philippines — Donations to foreign non-government organizations in the Philippines will now have to be cleared with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said Saturday.

On Twitter, Locsin said he sent a memo to all European embassies to inform their host governments of the policy.

“Over a month ago I fired off a memo to all our European embassies to tell their host governments to clear any and all donations to their NGOs in the Philippines with the Department of Foreign Affairs,” he wrote.

He warned that failure to do so could cost erring organizations their registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Locsin did not provide additional details about the requirement for clearance with the DFA.

His announcement, however, came amid the Duterte administration’s claims that foreign governments have been providing support to organizations that are allegedly communist fronts.

Earlier, the European Union (EU) has committed to review Manila’s allegations that some organizations are being used by the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) to receive funding from foreign governments.

In a statement last March, the EU delegation in the Philippines said it has received a set of documents concerning the more specific allegations made by the government against some non-government organizations in the country.

“The EU now will verify and evaluate these documents. A financial audit by an external company is due to be conducted in April,” it said.

The EU maintained that it considers the CPP and its armed wing New People’s Army as terrorist groups, which means that these organizations cannot hold assets in its member-states.

It said it has not been able to verify a previous allegation by the Philippines that a non-government organization was being used to funnel funds to the NPA or CPP.

“It should be noted that so far the NGO is fully registered and continues to operate legally in the Philippines,” read the EU statement.

EU Ambassador Franz Jessen said the EU has “constructive and very regular dialog with the government on this issue.”

“The EU received a Philippine delegation in Brussels in February to better understand the precise content on the allegations. During the meeting the EU declared that it stands ready to receive precise information that would enable it to further evaluate and verify the allegations,” it added.

The EU said it would take full legal action should the allegations be established.

The Philippine government, through the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, has submitted to the EU and the Belgian embassy in the Philippines documents supporting claims that NGOs are being used to funnel funds to the communist movement.

Belgian ambassador Michel Goffin had also committed to review the documents.

“We are aware of the claim made by the Philippine government. We take this claim seriously and have started immediately investigating the matter, together with the European authorities,” he said in a statement quoted by the Philippine News Agency.

“The funding of non-governmental organizations is subject to strong legal requirements under Belgian law. Should these abuses be established, the Belgian government will not hesitate to stop its support and to seek to recover the amounts already disbursed,” he added.