Daily Tribune 11/09/2006

DFA official: JPEPA not well-negotiated

Michaela P. del Callar

A senior Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) official yesterday admitted that the Philippines may not have considered its national interest during the negotiations of the controversial free trade agreement with Japan signed last September.

Edsel Custodio, DFA undersecretary for international economic relations said Manila was unable to clarify its concerns during the negotiations of the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (Jpepa).

“We will try to engage in negotiation and dialogue on the basis of defined national interest but the Philippines was not able to clarify national interest and concern and the Jpepa is a case in point,” Custodio said in his closing remarks during the Asia-Europe Meeting assessment forum in Manila.

Under the Jpepa, Japan has the freedom to dump its toxic wastes and hazardous materials into the Philippines.

But Japan maintained that they will only export wastes to the country if the Philippine government would allow it.

Despite the provision, Japan stressed that they remain strongly committed to the strict enforcement of the 1989 Basel Convention on the Transboundary Movement of Toxic and Hazardous Wastes, to which Japan and the Philippines are both signatories. The convention prevents any illegal export of toxic and hazardous wastes to the Philippines.

“The government of Japan has an established legal framework based on the Basel Convention and has been enforcing strict export/import control, which does not allow any export of toxic and hazardous wastes to another country, including the Philippines, unless the government of such country approves such export,” the Japanese Embassy in Manila said in a statement.

It also cited the meeting between Philippine Trade Secretary Peter Favila and Japanese counterpart Minister Akira Amari where both officials reaffirmed the commitment of the two governments to enforce the Basel Convention.

Meanwhile, Japan expressed hope that the Jpepa, which was signed in Helsinki, Finland, in Sept.9, will come into force at the earliest possible date.

A copy of the agreement has been transmitted to the Senate for approval.

Earlier, DFA Secretary Alberto Romulo defended the pact, saying the Jpepa was “very well-negotiated.”

The Department of Trade and Industry is the lead negotiating agency on the Jpepa.

“It took so long. In fact I thought really that will be finalized when we were in Laos three years ago. But (the delay was) precisely because it was subjected to a ‘fine-tooth comb’ including the legal provisions and everything,” he said.


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House resolution filed urging Senate to junk JPEPA

A resolution has been filed by the progressive party-list block in Congress urging the Senate to junk the controversial Japan-Philippine Economic Partnership Agreement for being "one-sided, onerous and inimical to national interest."

House Resolution 1435, which was filed today by representatives of Bayan Muna, Anakpawis and Gabriela, said it was apparent in the JPEPA that Japan used its undue advantage as the world’s second biggest economy to get a better concessions out of the bilateral treaty.

"The toxic waste scandal is only the tip of the iceberg. With JPEPA, Japan will dump not only toxic waste but also second hand vehicles, spare parts, household appliances and many other products to the detriment of our local manufacturers," warned Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño, principal author of the resolution.

"The so-called liberalization of trade specifically in the industrial manufactures sector which would purportedly be a boon to Filipinos is not true," he said

"With Japanese firms dominating the Philippine industrial-manufactures sector and whose exports are basically re-exports of Japanese parts anyway, its like the Japanese made an agreement with themselves. At least six of the top 20 exporters in the said sector are Japanese-owned," he revealed.

"Hence, the supposed growth of said industry bought about by the reduction/elimination of Japan’s tariffs will not impact substantially on Filipino industries, specifically Filipino SME’s that are into exporting," he continued.

The activist-solon also bared that the Department of Trade and Industry’s statements that the agreement fosters well for Philippine agricultural exports is inaccurate.

"Bananas, the Philippine’s primary agricultural export to Japan, did not receive immediate reduction/ removal of tariffs. The Japanese pegged the tariff on Philippine bananas at 10%-20% (depending on the classification) and only agreed to removal of tariffs after 11 years," Casiño bared.

"Even worse is the fate of Philippine pineapples, with Japan refusing to remove quantitative restrictions which is the worst form of trade barrier," he continued.

Philippine bananas constitutes about 58% of total Japanese imported bananas while Philippine pineapples occupy 7% of Japanese imported pineapples. For the Philippines, 79% of our exported bananas and 98% of our exported pineapples are bound for Japan.

"In contrast," Casiño explained, "Most Japanese export to the Philippines receive immediate tariff reductions/removals. Japanese electronicappliances receive immediate tariff reductions/removals as well as vehicle parts including knocked down engines and other ’chop-chop’ vspare parts reinforcing the argument that the JPEPA will eventually make the Philippines a dumping ground for Japanese rejects."


Source: bilaterals.org

RP-JAPAN PACT WILL DISPLACE FILIPINO FARMERS WORSEN HUNGER AND POVERTY

A Critique of the Asian Peasant Coalition against JPEPA

26 November 2006

The Philippines and Japan government has signed the bilateral free trade agreement, officially called the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) on September 9, 2006 in Helsinki, Finland. This is the Philippines’ first bilateral free trade pact. Now, the Philippine Senate is mandated to decide whether this agreement will be recognizes as a treaty on the part of the Philippines.

The JPEPA follows to the letter the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994, GATS and TRIPS-World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements. This bilateral agreement can also be seen in the light of the recent failure of the Doha rounds of WTO talks seeking to reduce tariffs of its member nations.

Meanwhile, Japan expects to expand its export and investment opportunities in the Philippines. The JPEPA also has political value for Japan, with its free trade ambitions assuming new urgency after China seen as an economic rival in Asia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) agreed to remove all trade barriers by 2010. Japan has been speeding up its campaign to liberalize trade in the Asian region through bilateral agreements and pursuing talks with the ASEAN.

Biases towards Japanese exports

The promised benefits to Philippine exports of the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) may not materialize because the pact is biased towards Japanese imports.

The Philippines is Japan’s largest source of bananas (58% of Japan’s total fruit imports), pineapple (7%), mango (1%), avocado (1%) and papaya (1%). This is equivalent to 79% of the total bananas exported by the Philippines; 98% of Philippine pineapples’ 61% of Philippine mangoes; and, 48% of Philippine papayas goes to Japan as of 2002. This is apart from semi-conductors (33% from 1998-2002) which is essentially the Philippines main export or re-export as the case may be) to Japan.

There is also a substantial Philippine export to Japan of marine products which stood at 3% of total Japanese imports of marine commodities. Philippine marine products exports to Japan are mostly shrimps and prawns. As a potential market which the Philippines could have negotiated for Japan to open are tuna, cods and herrings. Japan is a heavy importer of such commodities. In 2000, 58% of Japan’s tuna supply is imported. The Philippine archipelago being nearer to the Japanese islands could exploit these potential export markets.

However, the Philippine negotiators failed to negotiate appropriate deals for tariff reduction in these sectors. For example, Japan refused to give immediate zero-tariffs to Philippine bananas and pegged the tariff rate at 10% to 20% (depending on the kind and form of the exported material). Japan offers a removal of tariffs 11 years after the agreement is in force and promising to lower tariffs every year until the 11th year. In contrast, the Philippines agreed to immediate elimination of tariffs on key Japanese products.

In addition, while the Philippines only exempted two products from tariff reduction namely rice and salt, Japan has exempted 239 products ranging from mushrooms and even wooden sandals. It is very evident that it is a very onerous deal and that developed countries like Japan are using bilateral trade agreements to go around the stalled DOHA rounds of the WTO, in fact these free trade deals are worse than the impositions by the WTO itself. Countries entering such deals must junk them immediately for they will regret it as early as they signed the deal.

Farmers hardest hit

The JPEPA is such an onerous deal in favor of Japan and would further sink the Philippines into being a beggar state, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) with the concurrence of the Department of Natural Resources (DENR) essentially made our whole country a dumpsite of Japanese waste. If this agreement is enforced, then it would mean massive displacement of farmers and other rural folks from their land in Ternate, Cavite (in Southern Tagalog region), as well as other areas in the Philippines because their lands would be converted into dumpsites. Even the seas may be made repositories of these wastes if we go by the JPEPA. The Macapagal-Arroyo administration basically sold the Filipino to the Japanese for a pittance, 200 Filipino nurses a year to be allowed to work in Japan to be exact. Aside from that these nurses would not have ensured work in Japan because they still have to know the Japanese language and to pass the Japanese nursing examination.

Improving RP-Japan “partnership”

The Philippines, like many other underdeveloped nations, has a vital role in the prevailing global economic system that serves the interests of industrial countries such as Japan. Thus, Japan cultivates a “partnership” with the Philippines to ensure that it remains useful to Japanese economic agenda. Relations are preserved through trade and investment linkages and the so-called official development assistance (ODA).

In 2003, Japan exported to the Philippines 1.0419 trillion yen (US$9.47 billion) worth of goods, mainly machinery and electronics parts. The Philippines’ exports to Japan, on the other hand, totaled 815.5 billion yen ($7.41 billion), led by bananas, mangoes and other fruits and farm products. Practically all Japanese exports to the Philippines are industrial goods. Agricultural, forestry and fishery products occupy only 0.31% of the entire export figure from Japan.

Japan is also the Philippine’s biggest investor. In 2002, the Philippine Board of Investments (BOI) reported that investment from Japan amounted to over P17 million pesos, or 37% of the total foreign investment in the Philippines.

Of the 416 transnational corporations (TNCs) in the top 1,000 corporations in the Philippines, 142 are Japanese companies.

In December 2003, as a sweetener for the JPEPA negotiations, Arroyo was rewarded with the signing of four loan agreements with the Japan Bank for International Cooperation worth $435.3 million. The loan would be used for power projects in the country and the establishment of a social fund for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. Of the amount, $208.5 million is earmarked for three power projects, among them the creation of the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market.

But according to IBON Foundation, the Philippines already has a trade deficit with Japan because it exports cheaper products and imports more expensive Japanese commodities, which has reached $441.79 million as of 2005. The JPEPA would most likely exacerbate the deficit as the country failed to negotiate key tariff reductions for strategic Philippine exports or open up potential Japanese markets for exports while readily giving in to immediate reduction or removal of tariffs on strategic Japanese sectors.

Farmers’ resistance

The Filipino farmers, led by the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), launched several protest actions at Japan embassy since October 2006. Raising awareness among the farmers and the general public is quite important in order to mobilize them against JPEPA.

During the 12th ASEAN Meeting on December 11-13, 2006 in Cebu City, Philippines, the Asian Peasant Coalition (APC) will register its biggest protest actions against JPEPA. Members of APC will join the Filipino farmers to mark its resistance against JPEPA.

The best thing to do is to junk the JPEPA, because the Philippine agreement blatantly shows that Filipinos will just be getting crumbs for all the trouble and hardship that this agreement would entail. We are asking the Philippine Senate and the House of Representatives to immediately trash this agreement. We urge the rural people to oppose JPEPA, launch campaign, education and action against the one-sided agreement. We call on our fellow farmers in Asia, especially in Japan, to help us campaign against this pact.

Junk JPEPA!
No to Liberalization of Philippine Agriculture!
Resist Imperialist Globalization!

References:


IBON Facts & Figures, Vol 27, No. 18, September 20, 2004


IBON Features Vol X No. 47


KMP Press Releases, November 2006


Bayan Muna Briefing Paper on JPEPA, November 13, 2006


IBON Media Release, November 15, 2006

Source: bilaterals.org website

Senators in no rush to OK RP-Japan pact

By TJ Burgonio
Inquirer
12/05/2006

THE SENATE isn’t keen on convening the committee of the whole to tackle the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) this month, further setting back the ratification of the economic deal touted as giving the country unparalleled access to the Japanese market.

The agreement has stirred a furor because of a provision seeking zero tariff on recyclable goods, which environmentalists fear could lead to the entry of hazardous wastes into the country.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who signed the JPEPA with former Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizume last September, submitted the agreement for Senate ratification last November 20.

Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago, chair of the foreign relations committee, called off her committee’s inquiry into the JPEPA that was to start tomorrow, proposing instead that the committee of the whole, that is, the entire Senate, be convened to tackle the ratification.

The trade committee, chaired by Senator Manuel “Mar” Roxas II, earlier wrapped up its inquiry into the trade impact of the agreement.

However, the rules committee under Senate Majority Leader Francis Pangilinan would rather the committee of the whole be constituted in January to allow the Senate to wrap up deliberations on priority legislation before Congress goes into its holiday break on December 22.

Though he said he has yet to decide on the issue, Senate President Manuel Villar said there was no need to rush to ratify the JPEPA.


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Japan Parliament OKs Philippines Free-Trade Pact -Kyodo

NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Japan’s parliament approved a free trade agreement with the Philippines on Wednesday, paving the way for the pact to take effect next spring, Kyodo News Service reports.

The Philippines will be the fourth country to realize an FTA with Japan, following Singapore, Mexico and Malaysia.

The agreement calls on Japan to accept Philippine nurses and care workers as far as they have relevant Japanese qualifications, Kyodo said.

The government plans to accept 400 nurses and 600 care workers from the Philippines within two years after the pact takes effect.


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Dow Jones Newswire | 6 December 2006