MANILA, Philippines — Speaker Martin Romualdez has expressed full support for the immediate ratification by Congress of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement.
Romualdez spearheaded the move by filing House Resolution 728, which expresses the lower chamber’s “full support” for immediate ratification of the RCEP.
“The RCEP agreement will encourage foreign investments in the Philippines and allow greater participation in the areas of digital services, business process outsourcing industry, financial services, aerospace, shipbuilding, research and development and many others,” the resolution stated.
The Speaker, who represents Leyte’s first district and is a cousin of President Marcos, was joined by the latter’s son Sandro, who represents Ilocos Norte’s first district, and House Majority Leader Manuel Jose Dalipe and Batangas’ 5th District Rep. Mario Vittorio Marino.
They said the RCEP “integrates and optimizes the economic and trade rules, including the changing digital landscape that affects intellectual property rights, trade facilitation measures, electronic commerce and cross-border trade.”
As espoused by the Department of Trade and Industry, the benefits in joining the RCEP may be summarized by 4Cs: cheaper cost for sourcing key inputs for the manufacturing sector, convenience for businesses in trading with key free trade agreement (FTA) partners; competitiveness for Philippine industries and complementation of existing government programs.
An alliance of employers earlier urged the Senate to ratify the RCEP, saying the country cannot afford to be left behind.
The Philippines is the only one among the 10 member-states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its five FTA agreement partners – Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea – that has not ratified the agreement.
In a statement, Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) president Sergio Ortiz-Luis said a Senate ratification of the RCEP “will (make) us competitive with others, at least to a certain degree.”
“Among our ASEAN neighbors, we are at the tail end,” Ortiz-Luiz added.
The American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (AmCham) earlier made the same appeal.
The Senate is expected to make its decision on the trade deal soon.
“We cannot afford not to have trade agreements and, at the same time, to not be part of it,” Ortiz-Luis said. “Everyone has joined already.”
The ECOP leader stressed that doubts about the country’s competitiveness to enter a free trade deal are misplaced.
“We have lessons in the past; we entered into negotiations without involving the private sector. And by the time we are allowed to take part, there are already promised safeguards, especially in the agriculture sector, that have disappeared, so there are bad lessons,” he said.
“Fortunately, in the case of the RCEP, this is widely debated on and for a long time, so we are already familiar. And if there are vacuums, these have been filled up; there are safeguards already,” he added.
“Today, we strongly urge the honorable members of the Philippine Senate to immediately ratify the RCEP,” AmCham said in a statement.
“The Philippines cannot afford to leave itself out of the bloc since being a member will harness economic benefits that will hasten recovery from the scars, higher debt and economic damage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic,” it added.
Missed opportunities
The Foundation for Economic Freedom (FEF) is also pushing for the immediate ratification of the RCEP, as it warned that the country would miss out on trade and investment opportunities if it further delays participation.
“We, the FEF, strongly support the immediate ratification of the RCEP by the Philippine Senate. We believe that the objective of the RCEP to achieve a modern, comprehensive, high-quality and mutually beneficial economic partnership agreement will facilitate the expansion of regional trade and investment,” the group said in a statement yesterday. – Louella Desiderio, Danessa Rivera