Press Release
August 6, 2007

JPEPA WILL HAVE A ROUGH SAILING IN THE SENATE - ESCUDERO

Contrary to what palace officials are claiming, the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) will face a rough sailing in the Senate if neophyte Senator Chiz Escudero will have his way.

Escudero countered Sec. Gabriel Claudio's pronouncement that the JPEPA "has a very good chance of ratification by the Senate for its relevance and urgency". JPEPA is identified as among the priority bills that will be tackled in the first Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council of the 14 th Congress tomorrow.

"JPEPA cannot breeze through Senate principally because of the manner by which this treaty was conceived. The entire deal was shrouded in secrecy."

According to Escudero, the government did not do its homework in consulting the various sectors affected and stakeholders before entering into the treaty. The process of negotiation, he added, was not at all transparent.

"A treaty is of public interest and concern. Therefore it should be open to public scrutiny. However, there was little information available on how JPEPA was conceived, hiding the fundamental problems that are now getting critical contradictions from various sectors."

When JPEPA was launched in 2004 until it was signed in Helsinki in 2006, the release of its final documents and other related information were not readily available to the public. This even prompted the petition of Akbayan to the Supreme Court for public disclosure on JPEPA.

"JPEPA is being hounded by controversy for its maze of unfair and undemocratic agreements and negotiations that run counter to our economic, political and social policies."

In a study conducted by the Asian development Bank, bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) with Japan are not beneficial for most Asian economies. Japan, as with South Korea, is more selective with its FTA. It seeks external opportunities while responding to domestic interests. One glaring example of this is the clause that allows the Philippine government to exclude only two commodities from tariff reduction while Japan protected 239 of its commodities.

With objections for its ratification coming from various sectors, Escudero said, it is his job and function in the Senate to bring forth and make known this position.

"I don't think they can blame the Senate for taking this opposition against the JPEPA because if only they did their job of consulting and explaining then it would be a positive and favorable voice and vote that we, as representatives of the people, would be putting forth."

Escudero vowed to scrutinize each provision and ask the basic questions of how this treaty will benefit our people in terms of jobs, income and prices.

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