THE Board of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), an independent United States Government foreign aid agency, clarified the status of the Philippines in the release of its grants this year.
MCC Press Secretary Laura Allen, in a statement sent to VoxPop Bacolod over the weekend, said the Board deferred its vote on the eligibility of the Philippines, stressing that "a decision has not been made at this time."
She said the MCC Board of Directors did not vote on whether to reselect the Philippines as eligible to continue developing a second compact at the December 2016 meeting.
"Rather, it decided to revisit the discussion on the Philippines' eligibility at a future date," the statement said. "The Board's deferral of a vote on reselection is not a suspension or termination of the Philippines' eligibility for an MCC compact."
MCC was reacting to the statement of Local Government Secretary Ismael Sueno that the $434-million grant for the Philippines was not renewed this year.
Sueno, who made the statement at the sidelines of the 15th Meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Senior Officials/Ministers Responsible for Information at SMX Convention Center in Bacolod City last Wednesday, said that the US government did not continue its grant to the country due to alleged cases of human rights violations.
Sueno also said that the country may lose 27 trade agreements with the European Union (EU), which also threatened to suspend the country's tariff-free products.
He added that the allegations of state-sponsored extrajudicial killings and human rights violations have affected the country's international trade agreements.
These are the consequences of the move propagated by many sectors in the government and Vice President Maria Leonor Robredo, Sueno said.