Imee insists RCEP will kill local agri industry despite President's push for ratification

Senator Imee Marcos on Thursday insisted that the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) will kill the local industry, particularly the agriculture sector.

Her statement came a day after the treaty was sponsored by top Senate leaders on the plenary.

She also issued the remark despite the push of her brother, President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., to ratify the mega trade deal.

"[I] am quantifying gains in electronics and garments vs agri damage from RCEP. Really a lot to gain economically, but it will ravage the countryside and kill our farmers," Marcos said when asked why she did not sign the committee report on RCEP.

While she said that there are a lot of interventions that the government can do to the sectors that are seen to be affected by RCEP, Senator Marcos emphasized that previous trade agreements that the Philippines entered into did not deliver on their promises.

"[S]a ilang dekadang nakalipas mula nung WTO 1994 halos wala namang tinupad sa sandamakmak na pangako," she said, referring to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade-World Trade Organization (GATT-WTO).

(Decades have passed since WTO 1994 but almost nothing of its promises were delivered.)

Senator Marcos chairs the Senate foreign relations committee, which is in charge of discussing all treaties and international agreements that the government has entered into.

Amid Senator Marcos' strong reservations on RCEP ratification, the Senate formed a subcommittee that tackled RCEP. It was chaired by Senate President Pro Tempore Loren Legarda with Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri as her co-chairperson.

Meanwhile, Senator Francis Escudero said that he did not sign the committee report because he has not finished reading it along with its annexes.

"The ratification of treaties by the Senate [is] on a 'take-it-or-leave-it' basis because we can't amend or change it. Hence, it must be read and taken in its entirety and holistically before any decision is arrived at," Escudero said.

For his part, Senator Bong Go said he is still making a "thorough" study of the advantages and disadvantages of the treaty.

"My main concern at this time is how the Philippines must strike a careful balance between opening our industries to the demands of the regional economy and protecting our local producers," Go said.

While he supports steps to strengthen the economy and relations with other countries, Go said the government must ensure that the RCEP will benefit ordinary Filipinos and will not neglect small farmers.

"I am looking forward to hearing the opposing arguments and [contributing] some of my thoughts during the plenary deliberation," he said.

Marcos, Escudero, and Go are among the eight senators who did not sign the committee report on RCEP.

The following have affixed their signatures on the committee report: Zubiri, Legarda, Majority Leader Joel Villanueva, Minority Leader Pimentel, Senators Francis Tolentino, Robin Padilla, Mark Villar, Jinggoy Estrada, Lito Lapid, Bong Revilla, Sonny Angara, Win Gatchalian, JV Ejercito, Nancy Binay, Ronald dela Rosa, and Grace Poe.

In his sponsorship on RCEP on Wednesday, Zubiri said that in a globalized economy, the Philippines cannot afford to isolate itself from the rest of the world or even send a signal to that effect.

He claimed that after RCEP took effect on January 1, 2022, countries in the ASEAN have already been reaping the benefits of the trade deal.

The Senate president said the RCEP promises better trading, more jobs, and cheaper commodities.

While he cited many benefits of RCEP in other countries that are signatories to the trade agreement, Zubiri said they understand the issues and concerns of some groups of farmers who oppose its ratification.

He gave an assurance that RCEP will not kill the local agriculture sector, as highly-sensitive agricultural products are not included in the tariff liberalization.

The Department of Trade and Industry has since clarified that highly sensitive agricultural products for the Philippines are excluded from the country’s Schedule of Commitments, which means that these products are still protected by tariffs.

Some of these agricultural products include swine meat, poultry meat, potatoes, onions, garlic, cabbages, sugar, carrots, and rice.

Meanwhile, Legarda, who con-sponsored the RCEP in the plenary, proposed several measures that should be adopted by the government to address the concerns of the agriculture sector while implementing the treaty.

It is the second time that the RCEP was sponsored in the Senate.

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

In the 18th Congress, then-Senate foreign relations committee chairman Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III sponsored the trade deal in the plenary for its ratification. However, the Senate was not able to finish the debates on RCEP.

President Marcos earlier called for the ratification of RCEP in the Senate. Despite some senators' reservations, Zubiri earlier said he expects RCEP's ratification by February.

During one of the hearings of the subcommittee, poultry and agriculture producers asked the government to give a “clear path for development” for their sectors before the ratification of the RCEP.

The RCEP is a free trade agreement first floated in August 2012, covering members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its partners Australia, China, Japan, South Korea, and New Zealand.

Before he assumed office, President Marcos expressed his reservations about the RCEP, saying he wanted to look at how it would impact the country’s agriculture sector.

But in his latest statements, the President said "time will prove that it is to our advantage." —KBK/VBL, GMA Integrated News