MAP URGES SENATE ANEW TO RATIFY RCEP
THE Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) has again urged the Senate to ratify the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement “without further delay.”
The Philippines and Myanmar are the only signatories yet to confirm the 15-member trade deal which took effect at the start of 2022. Thenpresident Rodrigo Duterte ratified the agreement last year but the Senate failed to add its approval as required by law.
Duterte’s successor, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., has said he wants assurances that the deal would ensure protections for farmers. Earlier this month, Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual claimed that the President was committed to ratification.
“We have already lost 10 months of ability to compete on equal footing with our Asean and Asian partners already in RCEP in attracting foreign investments...,” the MAP said in a statement on Tuesday.
The RCEP is composed of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and dialogue partners China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea. The deal is said to account for a third of the global
economy and global trade, and comprises a market of 2.3 billion people.
The MAP noted that RCEP members also account for 51 percent of the Philippines’ export market, 68 percent of imports and 58 percent of foreign direct investment inflows.
While the agriculture sector has opposed the RCEP’s ratification, the MAP claimed that this was “misplaced” as
sensitive agricultural goods such as rice, pork and sugar, among others, would remain protected.
“The delay in the ratification deprives the country’s producers ... of easier access to the markets of the RCEP countries...,” the business group said. “The threat of likely diversion by their buyers ... to other members already in RCEP is very real.”
Also, foreign investors could favor
other RCEP countries, and by not ratifying the deal, the Philippines could fail to attract new investments but also likely “lost those we now have.”
“The Philippines cannot afford not to be in RCEP, as part of what promises to be the most important economic grouping in the world. It is
time that we got on board and proactively exploit the wealth of opportunities it offers the Filipinos in terms of expanded jobs, increased incomes and better lives,” the MAP said.
“We strongly urge our honorable senators to ratify RCEP now.”