By Richmond Mercurio and Pia Lee Brago
MANILA, Philippines - Change has come to the Philippines, but not necessarily in a good way, according to the top British diplomat in the country.
British Ambassador Asif Ahmad said that while alleged extrajudicial killings arising from the administration’s war on drugs have not hindered British investments in the country, they have left investors wondering “where all of these are going.”
“What I’m saying is the distraction that we see now, the noises, is almost ‘un-Filipino.’ It’s something we are not used to,” Ahmad told reporters Monday night in his Forbes Park residence.
“When I first arrived here, nobody was talking about the things we’re talking about today. We talked about PPP (public private partnerships) and if it’s going to happen. We talked about Charter change, and how close are we to the Bangsamoro peace process. Things were really moving forward,” he pointed out.
“It’s unfortunate that in our assessment of the Philippines, these were not areas of concern before. This is something that is relatively new. I hope that in many respects the government would have turned its corner now, having realized that plan A was not as successful as it might be,” he said referring to killings of suspected drug offenders. “That we might go back to treating the health issue and the drug issue (and) to treat law and order something as evidence based, something that you have intelligence, you intercept people,” he said.
Aside from peace and order concerns, Ahmad also expressed alarm over the planned revival of the death penalty in the Philippines which he said would be a “severe blow” to the country as far as British investments are concerned.
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