A video on Facebook has claimed that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. managed to secure financial assistance as well as a defense agreement with the European Union during the visit of the European Commission(EC) president last month. This needs context.
On July 31, an FB page published the video with this headline:
“60 MILLION EUROS PARA SA PINAS NAILAKAD NI PBBM! PATI DEFENSE AGREEMENT SA WEST PHILIPPINE SEA KASAMA PA! EU COMMISSION TODO ANG SUPORTA SA MARCOS ADMIN! PERA, TRABAHO, AT DEPENSA SA WEST PHILIPPINE SEA IN-OFFER NG EU COMMISSION SA PINAS!”
(President Ferdinand Marcos managed to obtain 60 million Euros for the Philippines! Defense agreement on the West Philippine Sea also included! The EU Commission heavily supports the Marcos administration! Money, jobs and defense of the West Philippine Sea offered by the EU Commission to the Philippines!)
During the two-day visit of EC President Ursula von der Leyen, EC and the Philippine officials signed an agreement for a €60 million grant to fund the country’s transition to a greener economy.
But no defense agreement to support the country’s territorial dispute in the West Philippine Sea was formalized, contrary to the claim in the 12-minute video’s headline.
However, in her July 31 press statement, EC President von der Leyen declared support for the Philippines’ maritime forces and said the EU will not tolerate aggression in the Indo-Pacific region. She added that the EU supports the 2016 award of the Arbitral Tribunal on the South China Sea, which upheld the Philippines’ sovereign rights and jurisdiction in its exclusive economic zone.
“We are ready to strengthen the cooperation with the Philippines on maritime security in the region by sharing information, conducting threat assessment, and building the capacity of your National Coast Watch Center and your Coast Guard,” she said.
This video emerged on the same day the EC official met with Marcos in the presidential palace, which also marked the first visit of an EU Commission president to the country.
FB Page Coach Jarret (created on May 22, 2019) published the misleading video, garnering over 4,000 reactions, 300 comments, 400 shares and 50,000 views.
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