Job loss for 100,000 workers feared if JPEPA passed

Close to 100, 000 Filipino workers are likely to lose their jobs with the impending entry of cheaper but unsafe imported vehicles, said the Philippine Metalworkers Alliance (PMA), whose members trooped to the Senate to warn against the passage of the proposed Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA).

“JPEPA presents a clear and present danger to the automotive, iron and steel workers in the country,” said Frank Mero, national president of the PMA and the Automotive Industry Workers’ Alliance (AIWA).

Mero said the implementation of JPEPA could trigger the mass layoff of about 77,000 workers from the automotive industry, aside from iron and steel workers whose livelihood depend directly or indirectly on the automotive industry.

He pointed out that Article 27 of the JPEPA agreement would pave the way for the legalization of used four-wheeled motor vehicles, which violates an existing policy prohibiting the importation of second-hand vehicles.

He also claimed that Article 27 was not in the original text of the agreement but was inserted by negotiators.