|
PRESIDENT Arroyo has created an interagency task force
focused on having the controversial Japan-Philippines
Economic Partnership Agreement (Jpepa) ratified, as the
first free-trade pact signed by the Philippines
foundered in myriad unsatisfactorily answered questions
in the Senate.
She said
the Jpepa Task Force she put up through Administrative
Order 198 dated September 28, “will be tasked to put
forward to the Senate the benefits, advantages and
opportunities to the Philippine economy of the bilateral
agreement with Japan.”
The task
force, to be cochaired by Foreign Affairs Secretary
Alberto Romulo and Trade Secretary Peter Favila, has as
members one representative each from 16 other government
agencies, including the Department of Agriculture,
Department of Budget and Management, Department of
Education, Department of Energy, Department of
Environment and Natural Resources, and Department of
Finance.
“Other
government offices, including the Bangko Sentral,
private groups or resource persons may be invited to
join the Task Force as necessary and appropriate,”
according to AO 198.
The task
force is supposed to collate and organize all the
necessary information required for Senate ratification
from the resource documents of the different government
agencies.
The
order also organizes a Special Experts Panel on Jpepa to
assist the task force and to be composed of public and
private sector experts on law, international trade and
economic cooperation.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said he had
personally assured new Japanese Ambassador Makoto
Katsura, when the latter called him on Tuesday, that
government is “doing everything to get Senate
ratification” of the Jpepa.
On the
industry front, meanwhile, the Cebu Furniture Industries
Foundation, the primary industry support organization of
furniture and exporters in the Philippines, stated the
Jpepa would be a fair deal in opening a huge market for
local furniture industry in Japan.
At a
roundtable discussion on the implications of the Jpepa
organized by the Universal Access for Competitiveness
and Trade recently, Marlene Gatpatan-Bedia, advocacy
officer of the CFIF, said that while others perceive
Jpepa as detrimental, the local furniture industry
welcomed the pact since the industry suffers from a
steady decline in terms of furniture exports due to the
softening of the US market, which accounts for 60
percent to 70 percent of their exports.
There is
also the factor of the emergence of new competitive
players like Vietnam, Thailand, and China and the
emergence of fierce competition with
China
in terms of volume.
“I think
the Jpepa can help in terms of opening new markets for
the furniture industry aside from our existing US and
European markets. The Japanese have a different way of
doing business. They have a way of looking at the
products compared to the Americans and the Europeans. It
will be a challenging market. In terms of design, we can
easily adjust in designing for Japan,” said
Gatpatan-Bedia.
Bedia
also attributed the weakening of the industry to the
strengthening of peso versus the dollar. As a result,
she said, people have slowed down in buying furniture.
Established in 1974, CFIF is composed of 162
manufacturers and exporters and 12 subcontractors. |
