End US interference in PH econ affairs, gov’t urged
End US interference in PH econ affairs, gov’t urged
On the eve of the Duterte administration’s 100th day, research group IBON said that the government should not just be open to United States (US) withdrawal of its assistance to the Philippines. The Philippines can unilaterally end so-called programs which interfere in the country’s economic policy-making. This includes the US’s so-called Partnership for Growth (PFG) which is pushing to change the 1987 Constitution to fit with American foreign policy interests at the expense of sovereign Philippine development, IBON said.
The Aquino administration joined the US’s PFG in 2011. IBON pointed out that the program, costing US$739 million (Php33 billion), is the most comprehensive US intervention in economic policy-making today. The PFG is designing Philippine trade and investment, intellectual property rights, fiscal and other policies to make these compliant with the requirements of the US’s Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). It is even targeting the legal and courts system, the group added.
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