The EU Parliament in February had obliged the Philippines to ensure its adherence to the 27 international conventions on human and labour rights, the environment and good governance. It had expressed concern over the extrajudicial killings and other serious human rights violations in the country.

Philippine President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr., who is on a visit to Belgium to attend the ASEAN-EU Summit, recently said he will ask the European Union (EU) to retain the Philippines from enjoying the benefits of the Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+), which include zero tariff on thousands of Philippine exports to the West.

Marcos told reporters human rights and GSP+ status “should be related to the other but we’ll see,” Philippine media outlets reported. “We’ll bring it up with the EU,” he added.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)