RCEP takes priority in Marcos admin – DTI

MANILA, Philippines — The Marcos administration will prioritize the participation of the country in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP), according to Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual.

“RCEP is a priority of the administration.We have clarified this in one of our cabinet meetings,” Pascual said during the general membership meeting of the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) yesterday.

Pascual said the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) would push for the immediate ratification of the RCEP and other free trade agreements (FTAs), saying the country has the least number of FTAs in the ASEAN region with only 10 FTAs.

This is in contrast to Singapore which signed 27 FTAs, Malaysia with 17, and Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam with 15 each.

“These will diversify the country’s exports in terms of products and services and country destinations and enhance the country’s attractiveness to foreign investments,” Pascual said.

“Most foreign investments in China, for instance, are export-oriented industries. They are from big multinationals having transferred their production facilities to China and using China as a production place,”he said.

Pascual said that without FTAs and the RCEP, the Philippines would not be an attractive location for such types of export-oriented enterprises.

He said the push to ratify the RCEP is aligned with the DTI’s strategic priority to create an enabling environment for attracting investments and expanding exports.

The RCEP is a multilateral trade agreement between and among ASEAN countries, including the Philippines, and China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

It provides for an open, inclusive and rules-based trading system to promote deeper economic integration in the region.

The RCEP is expected to boost Philippine exports through enhanced market access in the region.

It would provide cheaper goods for production and manufacturing, as well as ensure transparent rules and clear mechanism for resolving trade issues and concerns, and also allow micro, small and medium enterprises to participate in the global value chain.

The proposed Senate resolution to confirm RCEP was not voted upon during the last session day of the 18th Congress, indicating that the RCEP was not ratified.

As part of its recommendations to the Marcos administration, the MAP earlier urged the government to immediately ratify and actively participate in the RCEP Agreement and other trade agreements to tap wider market opportunities that will diversify the country’s exports in terms of products/services and destinations, and enhance the country’s attractiveness to foreign investments.

While business community expressed support for the RCEP, agriculture stakeholders earlier opposed the country’s participation in the agreement.

Over 101 agriculture groups earlier said the sector continues to be ill-prepared for free trade in the global market.

“Production costs are high. Basic support services and infrastructure are inadequate. Inputs, logistics and utilities are expensive. Marketing costs are prohibitive. Given these constraints, it will be difficult for us to compete with other RCEP members. Plus, we will be vulnerable to their cheaper exports, which are sometimes subsidized,” they said in an earlier joint position paper.