Oversight committee on RCEP to be created

The Senate will form an oversight committee on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Cooperation (RCEP) to monitor and assess the government’s implementation of programs and safety nets aimed at protecting and strengthening certain sectors from possible adverse effects of one of the world’s biggest free trade pacts.

Senators agreed last week to form an oversight committee on RCEP as well as come up with guidelines for the executive branch to implement, which will be attached to the free trade agreement that the chamber is expected to ratify next week.

Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri and Senate President Pro Tempore Loren Legarda sponsored the committee report on the RCEP signed by 16 senators.

Legarda called for stringent implementation of the guidelines included in the resolution concurring with the ratification of the RCEP.

The rules were based on previous dialogues with affected industries, specifically the agriculture sector.

Legarda said her support for the treaty requires the commitment of concerned government agencies, as what defines a good treaty for each participating country are its principles and goals in acceding to the accord.

Under the guidelines, the Departments of Agriculture, Trade and Industry, Science and Technology, Budget and Management, Agrarian Reform and the National Economic and Development Authority; as well as the Tariff Commission and Intellectual Property Office must put up a mechanism to listen to and address the concerns of farmers and fisherfolk.

To optimize the benefits of global trading systems, there must be transparency among the cornerstones of transactions in government and with trading partners, as well as information sharing that would keep various sectors informed of the many opportunities in the domestic, regional and global marketplace.

She also underscored the importance of reforms and improvement of programs suited for the sector that RCEP is targeting to advance.

“Set targets and timeframes for our programs that are responsive to the needs of our farmers, small businesses and other production sectors,” Legarda said as she cited the need to create comparative advantages for the country’s economic sectors.

“Trade in services is a growing key interest of the Philippines, evident in its fast-paced growth recorded from 2012 to 2020,” she added.

Legarda also stressed that “governance must be strengthened and improved, thus the creation of a Special Oversight Committee on RCEP implementation is included in the resolution to monitor that all concerned government agencies will provide the needed support to the farmers and other sectors, including the allotment of budget and technical and financial support.”

“We cannot stand in isolation as we face this huge wave of global and regional economic integration. We need to build capacities and efficiencies to achieve competitiveness,” she pointed out.

“My decision to lend support to the ratification of RCEP is premised on my conviction that an open, transparent and predictable trade and investment environment generates new opportunities for everyone.”

The Senate is expected to start plenary deliberations next week prior to its concurrence with the executive branch’s ratification.

“I don’t want us to be left behind. I don’t want other countries to see us as isolationist. But it would be wrong to simply argue that we must join it because others did. Rather, we should join out of the belief that it will create a snowball effect on jobs for our people and market for our produce,” Zubiri said.

Covering all the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) plus Japan, South Korea, China, Australia and New Zealand, the RCEP is the largest regional free trade agreement in the world, he said.

To date, the Philippines remains the sole RCEP signatory in the ASEAN that has yet to concur with the ratification of the agreement.

Zubiri pointed out the growth of ASEAN countries like Vietnam, which exported $108.48 billion to RCEP countries in 2022, up 16.4 percent from the previous year.

“In just one month, Vietnam earned nearly $50 million from exporting durian to China. This is one product where the Philippines should have a competitive advantage, which is not being utilized as we continue to withhold participation in the RCEP bloc,” he said.