US bill has no significant impact on local exporters

CEBU, Philippines - The Philippine-proposed “Save Our Industries Act of 2010” bill filed in the lower and upper houses of the US Congress does not have “much” benefit on some of the Cebu-based garment manufacturers.

Edgar Godinez, managing director of Marcia Garments Co., said most of the local garment manufacturers have successfully carved their niches in other markets when the industry was confronted with various issues since 2002.

He said his garment-exporting company decided to shift to serving the Japanese market when the US lifted its restrictions in 2005 for the entry of foreign-made garments to its market.

US buyers then were freely sourcing garments from any country-suppliers, which made the competition tougher for Philippine garment exporters.

“I am now successfully exporting my products exclusively to Japan,” he told The Freeman.

Meanwhile, Cebuana Headway general manager Erik Sendrijas said the passage of the bill into law may benefit his company in the sense that it is exporting caps, made from US clothes, to the US market.

“But we manufacture mainly in volume uniforms for a ready market,” he said.

The bill, which was introduced by US lawmakers Jim McDermott and Brian Bilbray in June 2009, is deemed as a win-win trade program aimed at revitalizing the Philippine apparel industry as well as the US textile industry. The measure is seen to help augment the trading activity in both countries at the same time open more job opportunities.

During her visit in Washington last week, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo met with the proponents of the bill, a report from the Philippine Star earlier said.

One of the provisions of the program contained that fabrics and yarns that were manufactured in the US but were cut and wholly assembled in the Philippines are allowed to reenter the US without any taxes. Also, garments made in the Philippines that were made of US spun yarn or extruded yarn may be exported to the US with only 50 percent of the most favored nation (MFN) duty.

The Philippine garments export industry, during its peak, employed around 600,000 workers. The number has declined to 150,000, as cheaper garments are now being manufactured and exported by neighboring countries like China.