Business group urges Senate to ratify RCEP

The Management Association of the Philippines (MAP), an organization of top management and business leaders, is urging the Senate to ratify the mega trade deal, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
 
The RCEP is a free trade agreement that involves the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) along with China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand.

It was approved by the previous administration in September last year and brought to the Senate for concurrence.

Treaties or international agreements entered into by the government require Senate concurrence.

“We, in the MAP, would like to urge the Senate to ratify without further delay the RCEP agreement, which has already been signed by President Rodrigo Roa Duterte along with the leaders of the other member economies in the grouping,” the business group said in a statement.
 
“The Philippines cannot afford not to be in the 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. We strongly urge our honorable senators to ratify RCEP now,” MAP said.
 
Last week, Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri said that the economic managers of the Marcos administration had yet to formally endorse the RCEP for the Senate's concurrence. 

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) expects the RCEP to generate a 10.47% increase in the country’s exports and a 2.02% increase in real gross domestic product.

The RCEP represents 50% of the global manufacturing output; 50% of the global automotive output; 70% of electronics; 26% of the global value chain (GVC) trade volume; 60% GVC for electrical/machinery, petroleum/chemicals, textiles/apparel, metal, and transport equipment, 35% of the contribution to global exports of electronics and machineries; and the main GVC hubs of big economies such as South Korea, Japan, and China. 

“We have already lost 10 months of [our] ability to compete on [an] equal footing with our ASEAN and Asian partners already in RCEP in attracting foreign investments as they capitalize on the shift by a number of MNCs (multinational companies) to seek alternative locations for their manufacturing sites,” MAP said.
 
The group also said that there were misplaced fears of some agricultural sector critics “as our government negotiators in RCEP have repeatedly explained that sensitive agricultural products remain protected under our commitments to the agreement.”

The DTI earlier said that rice and other agricultural products are protected from tariff reductions and eliminations under the RCEP.
 
“Indeed, both the DTI and the Department of Agriculture (DA) have explained that membership in the agreement opens up further export opportunities for our agricultural products without exposing ourselves to an imagined flood of farm imports feared by opponents,” MAP said.
 
“The delay in ratification deprives the country’s producers of various exportable products of easier access to the markets of the RCEP countries due to the improved provisions on market access and easier rules of origin,” it added.
 
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has previously aired his concerns about the trade agreement, saying that he did not know if the nation's agriculture industry was strong enough to withstand the competition that opening markets would bring about.

MAP, however, said that foreign investors will favor locating in other RCEP countries, including those already in the country, “who are likely to move their businesses out of the country the longer we delay ratification.”

“All told, we risk not only failing to attract new investments and trade opportunities; we are also likely to lose those we now have to those already in [the] RCEP,” the group said. — VBL, GMA Integrated News