Exporters lament government order banning use of young abaca

After the log ban, the Philippine government has slapped another directive which is seen to "once again' rock the furniture export industry in Cebu.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo recently released Executive Order (EO) 502 banning the harvesting, gathering, buying, selling, and mutilating of matured and young leaf sheaths of Abaca plants for commercial purposes.

"Furniture exporters are again facing another challenge, this directive can negatively affect the furniture exports in Cebu," said PhilExport-Cebu advocacy officer Jun Abines.

Abines said PhilExport will be coordinating with the Department of Agriculture (DA) regarding this problem, as it poses another problem to the "already" struggling furniture export sector.

Arroyo's EO 502 stated that there's an unabated harvesting, gathering, buying, selling, and mutilating of Abaca's matured and young leaf sheaths known locally as "bakbak" or "umbak", thus slowly decimating its existence and threatening the source of fibers.

According to the newly released EO 502, these activities will and in numerous cases aggravate further the spread of abaca viral diseases particularly the abaca bunchy-top, abaca mosaic, and the abaca bract, and other microorganisms mostly by mechanical means and the transporting of these abaca "umbak" or "bakbak."

Abaca is one of the raw materials widely used by furniture makers for manufacture of the world-sought high-end furniture and home furnishing products for export.

The abaca plant, which is indigenous to the Philippines, is producing the natural fiber known worldwide as Manila Hemp.

It is considered one of the high value commercial crops contributing an average of P4.58 billion revenue for the country and providing direct and indirect employment to an estimated 1.5 million Filipinos.

It is an industrial crop that provides fibers for use in industrial production of pulp and paper, fibercraft, and cordage applications both for local and foreign markets.

Already, the furniture exporters in Cebu expressed disappointments over the government's inability to help this dollar-earner industry.

"The government made furniture export industry uncompetitive. It [government] has become more obstructive, than supportive," said Cebu Furniture Industry Foundation Inc., (CFIF) vice president Eric Cass referring to the worsening bureaucracy in the government, among other hurdles in exporting the furniture products to other countries.

The declining trend in the Philippine furniture export performance can be attributed to several factors such as fierce competition from China, Vietnam, and other Asian neighbors, lack of government support to the industry in terms of unfriendly trade policies and inconsistent implementation of government regulations.

For the last six years from 2000 to 2005, the Philippines had a negative growth rate of five percent while the rest of its Asian neighbors are experiencing positive growth rates.

In the past, the Philippine furniture export was ranked top 11 out of all furniture exporting countries in the world. Today, Philippine furniture exports which 70 percent comes from Cebu, fell down to 36th place.

Despite its huge potential, the Philippines has only captured .35 percent of the total furniture market in the world.