Who Are The Biggest Foreign Aid Donors To The Philippines?

2 min read By eCompareMo on October 14, 2016

The country would not beg for foreign aid to compromise the dignity of the Filipino people, President Rodrigo Duterte said amid criticisms on his extensive campaign against illegal drugs.

Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella clarified this, saying that while the country appreciates help given by foreign countries, financial aid should not be used as a tool.

“But these are the things that we don’t depend on,” he told CNN Philippines. He said the President would not change his policies just because of the possibility of losing foreign aid.

Just how big are the financial contributions we’re getting from other countries and foreign bodies? Here’s a summary of pledges and actual amounts received.

Top of the pops

Shortly after Duterte made his fiery speech about foreign aid before policemen in Butuan City, British Ambassador to the Philippines Asif Ahmad posted a reminder about countries that pledged help to the Philippines since the onslaught of Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda.

In a tweet, which the ambassador said was “a window to the world,” Ahmad released figures showing the top 10 foreign donors to the Philippines as the following:

Among the countries blasted by Duterte for criticizing his initiative to eliminate drugs, the US and the European Nation were among the top donors since they started putting in foreign cash in our country.

The two countries contributed a total of $131,056,247, more than the funding provided by the United Kingdom, which is the top foreign donor in the country.

Read: How Duterte’s ‘First 100 Days’ Net Satisfaction Rating Compares To His Predecessors

Accounted up to last peso

In 2013, numerous countries from all around the world have pledged help to the Philippines.

To create a sense of transparency and accountability, the government created the Foreign Aid Transparency Hub (FAiTH) that aims to account every peso pledged and received by the country.

It shows that the country got a total of P73,307,438,834.36. Out of the 73.30 billion foreign pledges, around P17.23 billion of those pledges already reached the Philippine government.

The rest of the pledged money have yet to be handed over to the administration. This translates to roughly below 25% of the total donations.

With the current stance of the government against the US and EU, former Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario is afraid of losing billions of pledges from other governments.

According to a report by CNN Philippines, del Rosario is afraid of losing follow-up to the $4-billion development financing, as well as the upcoming $140-million military assistance.

The FAiTH report reveals the following are the top 10 countries that pledged money to help the Philippines, along with the amount that reached the government:

In addition, some countries have pledged both monetary and in-kind assistance to the country.

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