IN various interviews with media, President Marcos Jr. said that he is not lobbying for the Senate ratification of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement, just “waiting for it to be ratified,” and then went on to cite the various advantages the Philippines will get in time if it joins this region-wide trade accord.
RCEP is a free-trade pact among Asia-Pacific nations that covers 50.4 percent and 67.3 percent of the Philippines’ export and import markets, respectively, and 58 percent of the country’s sources of foreign investments.
The Philippines was one of 15 signatories to RCEP in November 2020, following almost a decade of deliberations on its merits and provisions. While former President Rodrigo Duterte gave his executive approval in 2021, the Senate deferred its ratification after concerns were raised about its impact on the agriculture sector.
Countries in the region first considered the RCEP idea in August 2012, inviting under its umbrella the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), along with China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand. As of today, only the Philippines has not completed its membership for lack of a Senate ratification.
‘As Marcos indicated, time will tell if RCEP will really be good for us, but in the meantime let us give it a try, for fear of being left behind.’
The accord has been opposed by the agriculture sector for a couple of years now. Lately, a broad coalition of farmers, workers and trade advocates decried the “rush to ratify RCEP” and vowed to continue to “fight against liberalization policies that have decimated Philippine agriculture.”
The Federation of Free Farmers representing 131 farmer-fisher groups urged the senators to adopt “ironclad commitments,” stating that many in the proposed “guidelines” are just a “copy paste” of ongoing severely underfunded and often poorly executed programs.
The oppositors wanted concrete government programs with assured funds and time-bound programs, “not very loose terms like guidelines which are more in the nature of suggestions.”
To appease the farmers, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the National Economic and Development Authority clarified that only 15 agricultural commodities will see lower tariff rates, accounting for just 1.9 percent of total agricultural tariff lines or categories and only $132 million or 0.8 percent of total agricultural imports.
The DTI also said that highly sensitive agricultural products for the Philippines are excluded from the country’s Schedule of Commitments, which means that these products are still protected by tariffs. Some of these agricultural products include swine meat, poultry meat, potatoes, onions, garlic, cabbages, sugar, carrots, and rice.
Membership in the RCEP will also mean import tariffs for key Philippine exports will go down. According to the DTI, this is particularly important since a number of local products will gain enhanced market access in terms of tariffs given the wider area covered by RCEP.
Among these products are canned tuna, coconut water, coffee, fruit cocktail, fresh papaya and durian, ignition wiring sets, leather goods, and bicycles.
Meanwhile, the Employers Confederation of the Philippines and the American Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines, in separate statements, called on the Senate to ratify RCEP, noting that the agreement is already in force in Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
So far, 16 senators already signed the RCEP committee report and a sponsorship by Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri along with the President’s endorsement should send the signal to the Senate to finally ratify the mega free-trade deal.
As Marcos indicated, time will tell if RCEP will really be good for us, but in the meantime let us give it a try, for fear of being left behind.
