RP-Australia trade talks bog down

Attempts to prevent an inevitable trade war between the Philippines and Australia failed after the latter said there is still no assurance that Philippine bananas and pineapples will be accepted into Australia.

While Australia has strongly hinted that it is willing to open its market to fresh mangoes from Guimaras Island very soon, it has imposed new quarantine requirements for the entry of Philippine bananas and pineapples.

As this developed, Agriculture Secretary Edgardo Angara revealed that the government has adopted a stronger trade policy of reciprocity against countries with whom the Philippines has a huge agricultural trade imbalance.

"From now on, we are going to protect our agricultural products. We will buy from those countries that buy from us and not buy from countries that do not buy from us," he said.

The agriculture department earlier imposed a ban on the entry of Australian beef and live cattle by not issuing import permits in retaliation for Australia's continued refusal to allow the entry of Philippine mangoes, bananas, and pineapples. Australia also banned the export of Philippine fish sauce after discovering that benzoic acid, which Australia has banned except for those in New Zealand products, is used as a preservative.

The government has also filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO) against Belgium after the latter ordered the pull-out of all Philippine canned tuna exports. Belgium said the tin cans contain a cancer-causing substance.

And just this week, the DA ordered a ban on imports of chicken leg quarters and other chicken parts from the United States, saying that the dark meat which has no market in the US is being dumped here.

To pacify the Philippine government, the Australian government agreed to speed up the process of approving the entry of Philippine mangoes. For many years now, the Australians have employed delaying tactics to prevent the export of Philippine mangoes by imposing one quarantine regulation after the other.

For starters, the Australian Quarantine Inspection Service (AQIS) sent a draft specific commodity understanding for Philippine mangoes already signed by the Australians. However, Angara ordered Bureau of Plant Industry director Bloe Umpar Adiong not to sign the SCU since he wants bananas and pineapples included.

Last week, Tom Parnell, manager of the AQIS multilateral plant quarantine policy branch, together with Australian Embassy First Secretary Karen Gilmour and Adiong visited the vapor heat treatment (VHT) facilities in Taguig. VHT has already been accepted by the Australians as a treatment for Philippine mango fruit flies.

Parnell audited the security systems to see how the mangoes will be coming from Guimaras Island to the VHT facilities, the sorting, treatment process, packing and storing and how Guimaras mangoes destined for Australia will be isolated from those destined for Japan and Korea.

The SCU is now being revised by the AQIS and will be sent to the Philippines for Adiong's signature.

But Estrella Tuazon, chief of the BPI plant quarantine service, said in an interview that they are still not sure whether the SCU that was originally shown to them and the revised one will be the same. "Who knows, the Australians might include other items there which we may not agree upon," she said.

She also said that in case the SCU for mangoes is indeed signed, it is still up to the secretary to determine whether he will lift the ban on imports of Australian products.

In a letter to Angara, Adiong revealed that aside from the list of pests and export procedures sent by the BPI to the AQIS in 1996, the Australians have imposed additional requirements in the case of bananas.

Adiong noted that Parnell could not give any time frame for the acceptance of Philippine bananas since the pest risk analysis which the AQIS is requiring involves many processes prior to a final decision.

The BPI chief also reported that the Australians have also imposed other requirements in the case of pineapples in addition to those already submitted in 1997 for them to do the pest risk analysis.