WE have to ask because our newly confirmed Secretary of Foreign Affairs Alan Peter Cayetano is barely settled in his seat, and here we are already on the brink of cutting off an important link to an entire continent, with which we have close cultural and political ties dating back centuries.

How did Philippine-EU relations deteriorate so badly under the 10-month-old administration of President Rodrigo Duterte that the Philippines has now formally decided to refuse aid from the community? What happened to Filipino and European diplomacy that relations could decline so quickly to this abysmal point? What were the specific EU actions that necessitated this extreme response from our government?

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