Marcos to raise EU concern on human rights abuses in PH amid threat to cut trade perks

BRUSSELS — President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. will raise the issue on human rights abuses in the Philippines during a three-day summit here after European lawmakers threatened to cut trade perks for Manila due to abuses linked to the previous administration.

“We’ll bring it up with the EU,” Marcos told reporters onboard PR001 on Sunday night.

But Marcos believed human rights and trade relations should not be related to each other.

“I don’t think one thing should be related to the other but we’ll see. We’ll see,” he said.

The Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP) granted to the Philippines in 2014 allows the duty-free entry of more than 6,000 exports from Manila, but the country should comply with its obligations under 27 conventions on human and labor rights.

The European Union has condemned the human rights abuses in the Philippines, particularly the drug war under former President Rodrigo Duterte, which had claimed more than 6,000 mostly poor Filipinos.

In September 2020, the European Parliament expressed “deep concern over the rapidly deteriorating human rights situation in the Philippines” under Duterte.