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Palace denies suspension of aid, loans from 18 countries supporting UN probe

UPDATED: Malacañang has refuted the alleged suspension of all financial assistance from 18 countries that backed the Iceland resolution to probe on the administration’s war on drugs.

President Rodrigo Duterte’s spokesman and chief legal counsel Salvador Panelo told reporters in a text message, “The President has not issued any memorandum suspending loans and negotiations involving 18 countries that voted in favor of the Iceland resolution.”

These are the nations who voted to approve a United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHCR) probe on the administration’s war on drugs.

The countries include Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Fiji, Iceland, Italy, Mexico, Peru, Slovakia, Spain, Ukraine, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and Uruguay.
 
A copy of a memo, which circulated in the digital and social media, shows that it was signed on August 27, ordering the “suspension of all negotiations or signing of all loan and grant agreements from the 18 countries”. It was signed by Executive Secretary Salvador C. Medialdea “by order of the President”.
 
The memo means that all new talks and negotiations from these 18 countries will no longer proceed.
 
It says that the action was in “in light of the administration’s strong rejection of the resolution of the UN Human Rights Council.”
 
Panelo has denied seeing a copy of such memo. 

Staff Report

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