Filipino solons to probe 35 unratified bilateral agreements
FILIPINO SOLONS TO PROBE 35 UNRATIFIED BILATERAL AGREEMENTS
Monday October 17, 2005
MANILA, Oct 17 Asia Pulse - Philippine House Committees on globalization and trade will study 35 bilateral agreements the Philippines forged over the past decades with some countries.
"This move aims to determine the relevance to current conditions of provisions under such accords," said Quezon province Representative Lorenzo Tanada III during a press conference Monday.
He also said the probe aims to identify violations of related international agreements which the accords might have.
Tanada made known such plan as he noted government is implementing the 35 agreements which the Senate has not ratified yet.
"During one of our committee meetings, Supreme Court justice Florentino Feliciano pointed out the 1987 Constitution requires ratification of such accords before implementation," he said.
The lawmaker admitted he can’t explain how this happened but pointed out such could have been a practice carried out since the time of ex-president Ferdinand Marcos.
"Another possibility is our Senate was not aware about existence of such trade negotiations so it never ratified resulting agreements," he continued.
In contrast, Tanada and AKBAYAN Party list Representative Mario Aguja said parliaments of countries which are parties to these agreements ratified such.
Both lawmakers did not confirm if the House will call for suspension in implementation of such accords.
"This move will have far-reaching effects since stakeholders already established required mechanisms and structures," Tanada explained.
They clarified, however, legislators will urge their Senate counterparts to look into the matter.
"We liberalized too fast and too much," Tanada observed.
Aguja agreed as he noted negotiations for bilateral trade agreements were always conducted without consulting sectors concerned like agriculture and the environment.
"So these agreements remain cloaked in mystery," he said.
The AKBAYAN legislator explained such veiled negotiations worked against the interest of Filipino because Philippine trade negotiators lacked information from sectors which could have otherwise helped them forge better deals for the country.
During the press conference, Fair Trade Alliance (FTA) executive director Dr. Rene Ofreneo said sufficient and adequate information is important particularly in this era of globalization because trade negotiations are always assumed to be for a country’s best interest.
"This is why in the United States, there are some 250 industry committees coordinating with the American government on these matters," he said.
Ofreneo also noted this is done even in Asian countries like Thailand.
To help strengthen the Philippines’ bargaining position, FTA, Tanada, Aguja and other House solons are seeking legislations of House Bill 4798 creating the Philippine Trade Representative office.
Tanada said this bill aims to consolidate into a single body under the office of the president representatives of public agencies involved in trade negotiations.
He reasoned this will give coherence, predictability, accountability and transparency to trade and policy-making in the Philippines.
Both solons expect more trade and employment as well as lower poverty levels nationwide from such move particularly since the proposed office will source inputs for its negotiation strategies from various sectors.
Citing trade of Philippine agricultural produce, Aguja noted the Department of Foreign Affairs Secretary currently attends final discussions on proposed bilateral agricultural agreements.
(PNA)
