Militant groups ask senators to scrap RP-Japan accord
Inquirer | 10/08/2007
Militant groups ask senators to scrap RP-Japan accord
By Jerome Aning
Inquirer
MANILA, Philippines — Leftwing workers and farmers opposed to the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) on Monday told the senators to do the right thing by junking the trade pact which they said was unfair and disadvantageous to the country.
Workers fear “job massacres” and the collapse of small and medium enterprises with the expected influx of big Japanese companies doing business in the Philippine and dumping their cheap goods.
Farmers, on the other hand, are apprehensive Japanese toxic waste that would pollute Philippine land while fisherfolk expect Japanese tuna fleets rushing here to exploit Philippine waters.
Partido ng Manggagawa chair Renato Magtubo called JPEPA “a virtual Japanese naval invasion for it will allow unrestricted entry of their big and modern fishing vessels to the detriment of poor and marginal Filipino fishers.”
The group said Japan was again “attempting to invade” the Philippines but this time with the use of commodities and capital to dominate our economy, warning that the Philippines would be left a barren country in terms of ecology and economy, once JPEPA takes its course.
For Kilusang Mayo Uno national chair Elmer Labog, the ratification of JPEPA means the Philippines committing hara-kiri (Japanese ritual suicide) but without the accompanying honor it brings.
“Our economy will be disemboweled, jobs will be massacred and local businesses shutting down to promote the economic interest of Japanese big business,”
Labog said the dumping of goods covered by the JPEPA will mean jobs loss for Filipino workers. He cited the Philippines entry to the World Trade Organization that led to the flooding of cheap imported goods which our local workers and businesses were already creating.
Since the imported goods were cheaper, thousands of workers were laid-off in the process of small companies’ failure to compete.
“JPEPA presents a clear and present danger to the automotive and iron and steel workers in the country,” said Frank Mero, national president of the Philippine Metalworkers’ Alliance and of the Automotive Industry Workers’ Alliance.
In its present form, the jobs of at least 77,000 as well as tens of thousands of iron and steel workers whose livelihoods depend, directly or indirectly, on the automotive industry are imperiled as JPEPA threatens to destroy the country’s automotive industry, he added.
During Monday’s Senate hearing, Mero pointed out that Article 27 of the accord would pave the way for the legalization of used four-wheeled motor vehicles
This violated Executive Order No. 156, issued in 2002, that prohibits the importation of second-hand vehicles, not only to protect the country’s fledgling automotive industry but also to protect the public from unsafe vehicles that fails to meet the country’s environmental standards.
Willy Marbella, internal deputy secretary general of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, said that with JPEPA, Filipino farmers would not be able to compete with their Japanese counterparts in selling agricultural produce.
Marbella pointed out that there are 11.8 million Filipino farmers tilling 4.8 million hectares of land, in contrast with 2.4 million Japanese farmers working on 2.4 million hectares.
Moreover, Japan is fully mechanized. An example of this is that there is one grain thresher for every four hectares of land in Japan, while in the Philippines, the ration is one thresher for every 5,536 hectares.
The KMP also feared that the ongoing Philippine land reform program would be affected because some landowners may turn over their land to Japanese agri-business firms.
Labog and Magtubo also belittled what they called the “much-hyped” employment of nurses into Japan that was provided under JPEPA. They said the requirements for health workers entering Japan are so “steep” and “discriminatory.”
“Filipino nurses deployed to Japan will be considered mere trainees and will have to undergo several years of training before being able to practice their profession,” Magtubo said.
