President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is poised to make a formal request to the Senate for the ratification of the Regional Economic Comprehensive Partnership (RCEP), according to Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual.
Pascual told reporters the Cabinet last month made a decision to endorse the RCEP for ratification through a communication to be sent by the Office of the President to the Senate.
“We prepared a communication to the President so he could submit (it) to the Senate…asking Senate to give its concurrence (to RCEP),” Pascual said, adding that informal talks between the executive and the legislative have also been conducted to stress the importance of joining RCEP.
“It was just a matter of sequencing the activities of the Senate. They needed to finish the deliberations for the 2023 budget first,” he said.
According to Pascual, Marcos had reviewed the RCEP following his comment in June that the agriculture sector was not ready for the deal.
Pascual said he also met with representatives of farmer groups which have indicated they are prepared to cooperate.
“Every time I meet prospective investors, the initial question is when the Philippines will ratify RCEP because if they put up a factory here, they want to be able to export to all the RCEP member countries competitively which can be best helped by reduced or no tariff at all,” Pascual said.
Early into his appointment as trade secretary, Pascual said RCEP is a priority of the Marcos administration, acknowledging that the country’s participation in the deal will benefit Filipino consumers.
RCEP, dubbed the world’s largest free trade agreement (FTA) as it accounts for 30 percent of global trade, came into force in January 1.
Pascual had said the Philippines has only 10 FTAs, the least number among those Asean economies.
he RCEP is a free-trade agreement among the ten members of the Asean along with China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand. This covers roughly 50.4 percent of the Philippines’ export markets, 67.3 percent of the country’s import sources, and a source of 58 percent of foreign direct Investments.
The Management Association of the Philippines last month called on the Senate to ratify the trade deal, saying the country “cannot afford” not being part of the deal.
