The Philippines was not blacklisted by France due to supposedly lack of transparency in foreign aid, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) clarified Wednesday.
In a text message, Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario said the information that the Philippines was included by France on the list of “non-cooperative states” in its fight against foreign aid fraud was “totally inaccurate.”
“We have, in fact, been informed that there is a new list and this list does not include the Philippines,” Del Rosario said.
He added that the “mistake” on the Philippines’ blacklisting only arose from a French civil servant’s statements published on a French newspaper.
On Tuesday, news reports quoted French minister for aids to development Pascal Canfin as saying that the 14 states and territories, including the Philippines, have been blacklisted by France due to lack of transparency in dealing with foreign aid.
