Senate urged to ratify JPEPA before ASEAN summit in November
By Veronica Uy
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 16:15:00 07/21/2008
MANILA, Philippines -- The Senate needs to concur with the ratification of the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement before the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations)-Japan Free Trade Agreement could be finalized at the regional summit in November, Senator Manuel Roxas said Monday.
Without the JPEPA, the Philippines' participation in the ASEAN-Japan FTA might be jeopardized, Roxas warned during a press conference.
"What will be the situation without JPEPA if the other ASEAN member-countries will push through with their EPAs?" he asked.
Roxas said that without JPEPA, Philippine exports to Japan like copra, coconut oil, tuna, and other agricultural products would lose out to similar exports from other ASEAN countries in the Japanese market.
"How can we compete with them if they have lower or no tariffs?" he asked.
"Tayo ang mawawalan ng market sa benta ng ating mga produkto [We will lose this market for our products]," he said.
Roxas had just come from Tokyo and met with Japanese leaders to get their assurance for a mechanism that would ensure no violation of the Philippine Constitution with the treaty's ratification.
The mechanism he is referring to is the side agreement which he said was still being worked out by the Philippines’ Department of Foreign Affairs and the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
"I just met them to fortify the need for a mechanism that will clearly state that the Philippine Constitution will prevail over the JPEPA," he said.
Roxas said Japanese members of parliament he had met could not understand the delay in JPEPA's ratification from the Philippine side.
"They said they have ratified almost unanimously JPEPA a long time ago. They could not understand why we needed clarifications when we negotiated for it," he said.
ASEAN, which groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, seeks FTAs with various dialogue partners like China, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, and the European Union.
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