The Malacanang and the Department of Foreign Affairs blasted the European Parliament for interfering in the internal affairs of the Philippines after its lawyers called for the scrapping off the Philippines’ trade perks if Manila does not stop extrajudicial killings of drug suspects, The Manila Times Online reported.
Palace spokesman Harry Roque Jr said on Friday (April 20) it was unfortunate that the European Parliament again decided to meddle in the affairs of the Philippines while Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano decried the EU move as unwarranted and uncalled for and “crossing the red line.”
On Thursday, the European Parliament adopted a resolution which called for, among others, the immediate end to the drug war killings, the release of Senator Leila de Lima and guarantee her for a fair trial as well as dropping of all politically motivated charges against her.
The European lawmakers also asked Manila to delist United Nations special rapporteur on indigenous peoples Victoria Tauli-Corpuz in its petition seeking to declare over 600 individuals as terrorists.
They reminded the Philippines of its obligations under international law, the Generalized System of Preferences plus, and other agreements.
Roque denied there were state-sanctioned killings of suspected drug offenders.
On Corpuz case, he said intelligence information linked her to communist rebels.
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