JPEPA ratified

BY DENNIS GADIL

THE Senate, by a vote of 16-4, ratified before midnight Wednesday the controversial Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) that will, among others, allow Filipino nurses and caregivers to work in Japan.

Those who voted "yes" were Miriam Santiago, the treaty sponsor; Edgardo Angara, Rodolfo Biazon, Alan Peter Cayetano, Jinggoy Estrada, Juan Ponce Enrile, Gregorio Honasan, Panfilo Lacson, Loren Legarda, Ramon Revilla Jr, Manuel Roxas II, Juan Miguel Zubiri, Manny Villar Jr., Francis Pangilinan, Richard Gordon and Lito Lapid.

Those opposed to the ratification were Aquilino Pimentel Jr., Jamby Madrigal, Francis Escudero, and Benigno Aquino III. There was no abstention.

The treaty was signed by President Arroyo and then Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in Helsinki in September 2006.

Santiago admitted the treaty was flawed.

Santiago said one such flaw is that government failed to secure all the exemptions that the country sought in the supplemental agreement to ensure that the country’s interests are protected.

She said only one exemption was secured by government negotiators and accepted by Japan when the two parties made an exchange of notes to facilitate passage of JPEPA.

Santiago said the only proposed exemption that was accepted by Japan was JPEPA will observe all existing Philippine constitutional provisions, laws, and rules and regulations concerning investment activities.

"After months of locking horns, our negotiators were able to get only one of the three exemptions that are necessary to make the JPEPA airtight in protecting Philippine interests. For now, the exemption obtained will enable JPEPA to pass Supreme Court scrutiny," she said in a media briefing.

Santiago said the Japanese panel rejected her other proposals, which are: JPEPA should observe any future laws, including those passed by Congress, local governments, and administrative agencies; and that JPEPA will observe any act of Congress or any Supreme Court decision limiting the President’s delegated power to set tariffs applicable to RP-Japan trade.

"My second proposal was temporarily shelved, with a commitment by Japan that in the near future, it shall accept negotiations to amend JPEPA’s," she said.

She added: "This third proposal was also shelved, with the Japanese commitment that it will be considered during future negotiations for amendment."

The supplemental agreement was made by an exchange of notes between Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo and his Japanese counterpart Masahiko Koumura.

But Santiago said she is confident that if questioned in the Supreme Court, the JPEPA will pass the test of constitutionality because it has been modified by the August exchange of notes between the two governments.

She said there were actually two exchanges.

The first exchange of notes was on the Japanese commitment not to export hazardous wastes to the Philippines.

The second was on the observance by JPEPA of all Philippine constitutional provisions that require Philippine citizenship in certain investment activities.

Santiago also said the much-vaunted access of Filipino nurses to the Japanese labor market would still take time to materialize.

"The Japanese ambassador told me that they expect the trained nurses to enter the country when the examinations in Japan are given. So you don’t immediately expect an influx of Filipino nurses in Tokyo, that will be scheduled when the Japanese examinations are given," she said.

Santiago had warned that if the Supreme Court declares JPEPA unconstitutional, under international law, Japan would have the right to seek damages before an international tribunal.

Pangilinan said although he voted for ratification he would file a resolution by next year requesting the Office of the President to renegotiate JPEPA in order to amend it, by incorporating the three Santiago proposals.

Aquino said the country is giving away too much just to hammer out an economic deal with Japan.

"The disadvantages far outweigh the treaty’s projected hoped-for benefits. In fact, we gave away practically everything and instead settled for maintaining the status quo as our sole benefit," Aquino said in his speech rejecting the JPEPA.

Aquino said one glaring unequal benefit is that Japan has reserved 197 tariff lines while the Philippines excluded only two, leaving the rest of our agricultural products open to competition from Japan.

"It is clear that with this treaty, Japan gains, whereas the most that we can hope for, after sacrificing a lot more, we will merely maintain that which we already have," he said.

Aquino noted that benefits to be reaped by the country are already in place as provided under the country’s existing trade deals with Japan.

Escudero said the JPEPA was another example of a badly negotiated treaty.

Escudero said by entering into the treaty, rarely can there be justice or equity in a free trade or low tariff agreement between a well-developed and industrialized country like Japan and a poor and developing country like the Philippines.

He said this was apparent in the last bilateral trade agreement the Philippines entered into involving the 1946 Parity Agreement and is, 62 years after, even more glaring with JPEPA.

Escudero said being a poorly and badly negotiated treaty, the government gave up almost everything and got almost nothing and absolutely failed to pursue the best interests of the country as well as the aspirations of the people.

President Arroyo said the ratification of JPEPA would open a bigger market for the agriculture, food and aquaculture industry and at the same time help the country face up to the global economic crisis.

Arroyo, during the opening ceremony of the Agrilink-Foodlink-Aqualink at the World Trade Center, thanked the Senate through Angara for ratifying the JPEPA.

She said the ratification came at a time when the country is strengthening its trade and exports to other country following the financial turmoil in the US.

Arroyo said the US is "no longer the top export market" for Philippine products but China.

She said that with ratification "Japan will open up" while the Philippine government also strengthens its trade relations with European countries like France.

But the National Statistics Office showed that for the first semester of the year, the US remains the top market for Philippine exports accounting for $7.971 billion followed by Japan with $7.341 billion and China with $5.117 billion, followed by Singapore with $4.749 billion.

In July 2008 alone, $4.866 million worth of products had been exported to the US followed by Japan ($4.677 million), China ($3.475 million) and Hong Kong with ($2.971 million).

Trade officials and business leaders said the ratification puts the Philippines back in the game of free trade agreements.

Thomas Aquino, senior undersecretary of the Trade department told reporters, that JPEPA will double the growth rate of RP exports to Japan to 20 percent annually and will open an estimated P300 billion worth of pipeline investments, ranging from automotive parts to garments that have been pre-identified before the deal was finally sealed. – With Jocelyn Montemayor and Irma Isip