Fair trade alliance backs DTI action on safeguard duty

Former Sen. Bobby Tañada, lead convenor of the Fair Trade Alliance (FTA), a broad coalition of labor, industry, agricultural, non-governmental organizations, informal labor and youth expressed strong support yesterday for Trade and Industry (DTI) Secretary Cesar Purisima’s decision to file a motion for reconsideration of the decision of the second division of the Supreme Court setting aside the safeguard tariff on imported cement.

Tañada said that the decision struck down the safeguard measure on the ground, among others, that the Philippines is bound under its WTO commitments to make it more difficult for local industries and workers to obtain safeguards. This finding conflicts with the Supreme Court’s earlier declaration in the Tañada vs. Angara case (GR No. 118295, 2 May 1997) where it stated that safeguards will be readily accessible to Philippine industries and agricultural sectors jeopardized by unfair competition.

"In an earlier case decided by the Supreme Court in 1997. In upholding our accession to the WTO, the Supreme Court en banc held that safeguards would be available to local industries. This new decision, however, now states that the WTO requires us to make it difficult for Philippine industries to obtain safeguards," said Tañada.

"This has been the problem with our trade policy from the very beginning. The Philippines has been more WTO than the WTO. The WTO does not bind us to make it more difficult to obtain safeguards. On the contrary, it allows countries to use safeguards to protect its national interests. Thus you see rich countries like the United States easily imposing safeguard tariffs on steel and shrimps to defend their industries, and developing countries like India, Argentina and Ecuador using it against import surges so their industries can survive the onslaught of imports and unfair trade practices. There is no reason why we should make it harder for ourselves to impose safeguards to protect jeopardized industry and agriculture," Tañada expressed.

"The issue of safeguards is an issue important to all sectors. Safeguards is a safety net that has become essential for the survival of Philippine industries, the agricultural sector and local jobs, especially since Philippine tariffs on imported goods have been unilaterally reduced to zero to five percent. Ironically, this has less to do with our WTO commitment but are instead self-inflicted, unilateral tariff cuts. A regime of very low tariffs even for locally produced goods coupled with impeded access to safeguards will be the death knell for Philippine industries, agriculture and Filipino workers and farmers," said Tañada.