Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — While President Rodrigo Duterte has denounced “meddling” by the United States and Europe in the country’s affairs — with the threat of foreign aid cuts — he has managed to raise billions of dollars from trips to China and Japan as the Finance Department proudly announced.
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said Duterte raised $33 billion, or around P1.66 trillion from his negotiations with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
“We have been very closely negotiating with our Chinese counterparts regarding the grants … committed by (Jinping) … of $9 billion (P452 billion) in Official Development Assistance (ODA), as well as commercial loans,” Dominguez said in a press briefing Tuesday.
Dominguez added the private sector also secured $15 billion, or P753.5 billion, worth of investments and joint ventures with Chinese companies.
Duterte went to Beijing for a four-day state visit October of 2016, where he announced the Philippines’ supposed separation from the United States during the Philippine-China Trade and Investment Forum.
The two chief executives, however, have agreed to hold off discussions on the disputed West Philippine Sea.
Dominguez said they have also begun discussions with Japan’s $9 billion ODA and commercial loans.
Duterte went to Japan, still in October, after he visited China.
Abe also visited the Philippines January this year.
“The President has raised a total of $33 billion in all these trips. We understand that his total expenses have only been around $5.5 million or around P270 million,” Dominguez said, referring to all his foreign trips.
Duterte also visited Southeast Asian countries Brunei, Lao, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia and Singapore, as well as Peru and New Zealand.
Duterte holds the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) chairmanship for 2017.
The chairmanship in on rotational basis, based on the alphabetical order of the 10 countries.
But for the Finance secretary, the President managed to get more than just money.
“Sometimes when we talk of millions and billions, we forget the relationship … This, of course, does not include the other benefits that he brought back which are better job opportunities, better transportation, better social services in the future, Dominguez said.
There have been discussions on railway, sports and roads development all over the country with various proponents from China, he said.
Both the United States and the European Union criticized Duterte’s anti-drug campaign for reported human rights violations. Duterte responded with curses and denounced both for supposedly threatening to cut their foreign aid to the country.
