Workers, farmers protest AFTA meeting

The opening yesterday of the three-day ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) meeting aimed at finalizing the planned reduction of industrial products was met by protests from various workers and farmer groups that will be directly affected by the plan.

ASEAN senior economic officials are meeting in a Pasig City hotel for the preparatory discussions on the implementation of the Common Effective Preferential Tariffs (CEPT)-AFTA agreements.

The Philippines is scheduled to implement the reduction of tariffs to a uniform five percent for a wide range of industrial products starting Jan. 1, 2003 as part of its commitment with AFTA. It was approved through Executive Order (EO) 234 on April 27, 2000 as endorsed by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).

But workers and farmers, joined by industry leaders are opposed to the plan saying that industrial and agricultural sectors will be at the losing end since only the Philippines is opening up is market while other AFTA countries have higher tariffs and put up non-tariff barriers.

Also, they said that the Philippines AFTA commitments were made without consultation with affected sectors and without viable safety nets. They asked the Philippine government to renegotiate the tariff reductions and declare a moratorium on all lowering of tariffs.

Oscar Talag Sr., spokesperson of the petrochemical industry’s labor force, said most ASEAN competitors are decades ahead and have imposed tariffs as high as 40 percent to protect their own industries. But Talag said that while the Philippine petrochemical industry is only four years old, tariffs on imported petrochemical products are only at 15 percent. Worse, a serious tariff distortion has occurred since the Philippines has reduced tariffs for finished plastic products to five percent.

If the tariffs for petrochemical and plastics are not increased, he said the petrochemical and plastic industries will collapse totally resulting in losses not only in about $1 billion petrochemical investments but also in hundreds of thousands of jobs.

Manuel Quiambao, chairman of the agricultural group PEACE Foundation, meanwhile, said that Philippine agricultural products are already being grossly discriminated upon by developed countries.

He said Philippines tuna has been virtually shut off in the American market following the recent grant of duty-free entry to Andean tuna. Philippine pineapple, mango and banana exports to Australia have also been blocked with all imaginable and unimaginable barriers.

If the Philippines accedes to the reduction of tariffs under the CEPT-AFTA and the NEDA-imposed unilateral tariff reduction program, the agricultural sector will also totally collapse, they said.

The protesters called on government to impose a moratorium on tariff reductions on imported products competing directly with Philippine products, and for a review of all agreements entered into with the AFTA, World Trade Organization and other similar groups.

They also called for the scrapping of the NEDA-imposed tariff reform program that calls for the unilateral reduction of tariffs for non-AFTA countries without reciprocal action from other countries.