Senator Alan Peter Cayetano. | PHOTO: Senator’s office
MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano expressed on Thursday his full support to the country’s participation in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), saying it is a “very good” and “very important” agreement.
“Every time there is something like this, definitely may benefit, pero definitely may naiiwan [na mga usapin]. So ‘yung naiiwan, naghahabol later on,” Cayetano said in a statement.
(Every time there is something like this, definitely, there are benefits. But, definitely, some issues will be left behind. Those that were put behind will be tackled later on.)
“So let’s take advantage na ang Senate President [Juan Miguel Zubiri] and the Senate Pro-Tempore [Loren Legarda] mismo ang nagpu-push nito (RCEP), nandito ang buong Executive Department, na ‘yung sinasabi nating safety net at capacity-building, isabay na rin nating ipasa,” he added.
(So, let’s take advantage that the Senate President and the Senate Pro-Tempore themselves are pushing for this. The whole executive department is here. The safety net and capacity-building that we are talking about, let us also pass it.)
The Senate held its hearing on the ratification of the RCEP on Wednesday.
The RCEP “authorizes the loosening of trade restrictions and mandates the signatory countries to lower or remove their taxes on traded goods, services, investments, and e-commerce.”
RCEP is a free trade pact among the Association of Southeast Asian Nations member states, Australia, China, Japan, South Korea, and New Zealand.
The Asian Development Bank projects that in 2030, the Philippines will earn $2 billion from the agreement.
The Philippines and Myanmar are the only countries yet to ratify the RCEP. —MJ Soriano, INQUIRER.net trainee