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Manila, Philippines
The current rice crisis facing the country should convince the Senate not to ratify the Japan – Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (Jpepa) because the deal threatens to aggravate the country’s food insecurity, the NO DEAL! coalition said today.
NO DEAL! spokesperson Arnold Padilla noted that under the Jpepa, the Philippines is expected to export larger volumes of agricultural and marine products to Japan. “At a time of serious concerns over our rice supply security, the country could ill-afford to enter into a treaty that will facilitate increased foreign plunder of our agricultural resources at the expense of our own food security. Wala na ngang kanin, wala pang ulam”, Padilla said.
Padilla pointed out that according to government negotiators one of the supposed major benefits that will accrue from the Jpepa is an expanded Japanese market for Philippine fish and marine products as well as fruits and vegetables. Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) data show that Japan is the second largest market of the country’s agricultural exports, next to the US.
“Increased exports of food products to Japan may put undue pressure on local supply and prices. Instead of aggressive promotion of exports, the government should encourage local production for local consumption especially of food. Filipino direct food producers should also be supported to promote greater productivity”, argued Padilla.
However, the anti-unequal trade coalition pointed out that these are the same principles of sustainable food production and security that will be directly undermined by the Jpepa. “A case in point is our marine and fish resources. Under the Jpepa, large Japanese fishing vessels and factory ships shall be allowed to fish in Philippine waters, which is feared to further deplete the country’s already dwindling fish resources”, Padilla said.
Articles 89 and 90 of the treaty on “national treatment” and “most-favored nation”, respectively, give Japanese investors the same rights and privileges reserved to Filipino enterprises, including the exploitation of the country’s marine wealth. The Constitution only allows a maximum of 40 percent foreign participation in such activity but the Jpepa allows 100% Japanese participation.
Padilla said that this will surely lead to a more aggressive plunder of the country’s marine resources by giant Japanese fishing vessels and factory ships since Japan is among the biggest consumers of Philippine marine and fish resources. “Nothing may be left for our small fishers to catch and for our families to eat”, said Padilla.
To illustrate, Japan accounts for the largest portion of the country’s exports of yellow fin tunas, comprising 41 percent of the total, or around 1.09 million kilograms, in 2006. With increased presence of Japanese fishing vessels and factory ships under the Jpepa, the said figures are expected to significantly increase. The problem, however, is that there is already a tuna scarcity in the country. In General Santos City, considered the “Tuna Capital of the Philippines”, tuna canneries were forced to cut production time by 16 hours last year due to tight supply of stocks.
“We urge our senators to reject the Jpepa and protect the country’s long-term food supply security. The projected huge investments, including the promise of more loans, from Japan if Jpepa is ratified are meaningless if our people have nothing more to eat”, Padilla said.
The Senate is set to vote on the Jpepa on April 28. It needs 16 votes to be ratified and 8 votes to be rejected. So far, only Senators Jamby Madrigal and Pia Cayetano have categorically said in public that they will vote against the treaty’s ratification. #
NO DEAL! Member-organizations and convenors: Former Vice President Teofisto Guingona; Anakpawis party-list representative Crispin Beltran; Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) chairperson Rafael Mariano; Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) women’s department secretary Nitz Gonzaga; Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) national chairperson Fernando Hicap; Toyota Workers Union president Ed Cubelo; Alliance of Health Workers (AHW) secretary general Jossel Ebesate; Migrante chairperson Connie Bragas-Regalado; Lila Filipina chairperson Rechielda Extramadura; UP Professor Roland Simbulan; Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) chairperson Dr. Carol Pagaduan-Araullo; Bayan-Southern Tagalog secretary general Arman Albarillo; Bayan-National Capital Region chairperson Roy Velez; Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment (KPNE) national coordinator Clemente Bautista; IBON Foundation research head Jose Enrique Africa
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April 16th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
it should always be considerd that, in our lives today, we are not away from issues that confronts other sectors or groups. because, the current political and economic order is dominated by elite’s interests and being involve in popular alliance, it must be looked that soon, the victory of the masses must not be robbed from them by the oligarchs again.
viva!
May 6th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
In fightingFTA’s website, its observations are quite enlightening for us non-experts in international trade agreements, which reads:
“Under North-South FTAs, the market access for the South is generally very small. For the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA), Japan got improved access to the Philippines automobile market, new fishing opportunities in the Philippine seas (to replace imports), stronger investment guarantees and even the green light to export toxic wastes, while the Philippines got reduced tariff rates on a few exported fruits and a quota to be able to send 100 nurses a year to Japan, In the Japan-Thailand deal, Japan got major investment opportunities in the automobile and health sectors, while Thailand goat a measly quota to send chefs and masseuses to Japan.” (Today’s FTA Frenzy)
On government’s claim that Philippines will lose investment opportunities worth P 4 billion, well fightingFTA’s wrote, in the same article, that:
“Several World Bank and UNCTAD studies show that there is no direct relationship between signing an investment agreement and receiving increased foreign investment. China, South Africa and Brazil are prime examples of countries that have captured big investment inflows in recent years without such agreements. Indeed, signing such an agreement can get you into costly legal disputes for failing to deliver the right investment conditions, resulting in net financial losses.” (Today’s FTA Frenzy)
Lest we be mislead again, JPEPA is not intended to benefit the poor and underemployed of the Philippines but to further exploit them in tandem with the Philippine natural resources for to maximize and protect the profits of large Japanese corporations. Note that large Japanese corporations together with their government are the ones pushing the Economic Partnership Agreement unlike in the Philippines where it is the government that pushed it with negligible consultations with local industries. To ensure this objective for Japanese investors, JPEPA includes the following provisions: (1) to be treated no less favorably than domestic companies (national treatment); (2) get any better treatment that is offered to TNC under other trade deals (most favored nation); (3) enjoy secure ownership of all assets: no expropriation (whether direct or indirect), no nationalization and fewer possibilities for the state to issue compulsory licenses in the public interest; (4) protection and insurance to realize any anticipated profits – and to sue the state if any public policy measure or decision gets in the way of that (similar to NAFTA); (5) conduct business with minimal hassle from the government – no requirements to hire local workers, no obligations to transfer technology, full freedom to send money out of the country and generally few restrictions on moving capital around; (6) have direct access to local policy-making process; and expand their commercial monopolies through a longer menu of intellectual property rights.
The future consequences of those provisions are far-reaching. Just some of the situations – local fishing companies (tuna etc) or fishermen that will not survive the competition with Japanese fishing investors cannot be compensated (not covered by safeguard measure, dumping or countervailing since these laws applies only to goods sold in the Philippines and not to simply cornered the supply source and not the market in the Philippines) unlike their Japanese counterparts; whatever petroleum, gas or minerals that Japanese investors extracted from the Philippines, they are not required to process or sell it here even if local industries or consumers will need it (oil crisis) also the same in the case of agricultural products produced in land (food crisis); local government cannot impose additional real property taxes and business tax other than those already existing at the time of entry of JPEPA.