Philippines urged to reevaluate trade, investment policies  

Honolulu – An Asia-Pacific-focused educational institution reports that despite the Philippines’ active promotion of trade and investments through the implementation of various supportive measures, the country has not yet assessed the outcomes of these policies.

“There have been a lot of announcements about opening up opportunities for investment and trade.  We have to look at those statistics  in a few months’ time and see how those policies have resulted in,” East-West Center vice president Satu Limaye said in a briefing under the Foreign Press Centers’ International Reporting tour.

“But overall, as far as I can see, the economy seems to be doing well. And there’s a lot of focus on that element of it by your new administration,” he said.

During the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)’s recent three-week investment roadshow in Europe, Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual emphasized that the Philippines is open for business,  highlighting the country’s recent game-changing economic reforms such as the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises or CREATE, amended Public Service Act, amended Foreign Investments Act and the amended Retail Trade Liberalization Act.

He said the reforms are testament to the country’s goal of attracting global players who can modernize the domestic industry and service sectors while diversifying and expanding exports.

As the East-West Center is set to hold its International Media Conference in the Philippines next year, Limaye said this would be a good time to take stock of the country’s policies regarding investments and trade.

“It makes great sense for the Philippines to look for opportunities to trade in a fast growing region with multiple partners,” Limaye said.

He said  that the Philippines has joined agreements such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) as the Indo-Pacific Economic Partnership (IPEF).

“The Philippines has not joined the CPTPP (Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership) , which is the successor agreement to the Trans Pacific Partnership. And I don’t see any real desire to do so,” Limaye said.

Limaye, however, emphasized that it would be difficult for the country to pursue a free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States due to the latter’s sentiments on FTAs.

“I think it’ll be difficult to have a US Philippine free trade agreement right now because of the current US sentiments about free trade agreements in general,” Limaye said.

“But also because there are a number of issues in US- Philippines bilateral issues, which would make a negotiated Philippine and US free trade agreement difficult right now,” he said.

In April, United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai was quoted in news reports saying the US is not currently negotiating any traditional FTAs as it does not view it appropriate for the types of challenges and opportunities that it currently faces.