Metro Manila, Philippines – The Philippine embassy in the United States is working to secure more foreign funding waivers, particularly in health and education, Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel Romualdez said.
Washington had initially exempted around $336 million (roughly P19.4 billion) in security assistance for the Philippines from its foreign aid freeze, which is set to expire next month.
“Tuloy-tuloy pa rin ang pag-ugnayan natin sa mga ibang government agencies sa Amerika, especially when it comes to some of the things that we want to be accepted, yung USAID nga, tungkol sa health at education,” Romualdez said.
[Translation: We are continuously coordinating with various government agencies in the US, especially regarding the programs we seek to secure, such as USAID assistance for health and education]
A Reuters report noted that US President Donald Trump had initially frozen – and later terminated – 90% of foreign aid programs, including funding for HIV treatment and transmission prevention services in low-income countries, raising concerns among LGBTQ+ organizations and advocates.
The Department of Education also reported that around ₱4 billion ($94 million) worth of literacy and special education programs have been suspended due to the US government’s broader freeze on foreign aid.
Romualdez said the funding pause also impacted climate resiliency projects.
“We’re working towards getting some of these waivers dahil marami tayong some of these funds that have been already programmed for us and some of our agencies are of course independent of some of these funds. Especially yung ating resiliency, climate resiliency. Marami tayong mga projects dyan na medyo nakabiting ngayon. Pero malapit ng malalaman natin,” he said.
[Translation: We’re working to secure some of these waivers because many of the funds have already been allocated for us, and some of our agencies rely on them. Especially our climate resiliency projects – many of them are currently on hold. But we should have clarity on this soon.]
Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo welcomed the US government’s decision to exempt a portion of its foreign military funding for the Philippines.
In an interview with NewsWatch Plus, Manalo said the aid exemption would benefit the country.
“Certainly, this is something that we welcome since we benefit from that,” he said.
Manalo noted that the exemption was briefly discussed in “broader terms” during his recent meeting with US State Secretary Marco Rubio in Germany.
“We talked more on general terms, but he did mention to me regarding some of the pronouncements that the US is discontinuing. He said there’s always a possibility of exception, so we leave it at that,” he added.
When asked if he hoped more aid would be covered by the exemption, he responded: “Definitely. During my meeting with Secretary Rubio, we discussed that we will expand cooperation not just [government-to-government] but also economic cooperation.”
