Junk JPEPA

Written on Monday, April 21st, 2008 at 6:33 pm | by Lester Cavestany

Filipino patriots went for a swim this morning to cool down and relax in the crystal clear waters of Manila Bay.  Well, not exactly! They dived into the swim-at-your-own-risk waters of Manila Bay to protest against the ratification of the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA). Pro-JPEPA senators will be feeling the heat from Filipinos who believe that the government has once again outdone themselves when it comes to pimping our Motherland to other countries, in exchange for economic aid. According to the swimmers who braved the waters of Manila Bay, the treaty will allow large and high-tech Japanese fishing vessels to sweep our waters and get all the fish they want.  But the government says that we don’t have to worry about any shortage in fish supply. Keep in mind that this is the same government who’s also telling us not to worry about the shortage in rice supply. So I guess it’s okay for Japan to catch all the fish they want because our government says it’s okay.

Greenpeace has also protested against JPEPA saying that it will allow Japan to ship toxic wastes to the Philippines. It’s okay, the Philippine government says, we don’t have to revise the treaty because “notes” have already been exchanged between Phil Foreign Sec Alberto Romulo and Japan Foreign Minister Taro Aso. They now have a “gentleman’s agreement” that toxic waste will not be dumped in our country. I would like to believe the foreign ministers and I am sure they are men of their words. But the thing is, I can’t forget what happened in August 1999 when toxic wastes from Japan were found in 92 (yes, 92!) 40-foot container vans. They were marked as recyclables but they contained used diapers, used syringes, incinerator ash, radioactive waste, and other revulting things we should never speak of again.

If you still insist that it’s okay to be the trash can of a rich country because they will help our economy by providing jobs and by allowing our exports to enter their country with no tax, then you may join the ranks of our Politicos In My Philippines, PIMPs  for short!  Join them as they try to convince the nation that JPEPA is definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity. Join them as they say, “Let’s take in all of Japan’s toxic wastes and let’s give all our fish to Japan so that they will give us jobs and economic aid.”

O Inang Bayan, patawarin mo po kami.

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About The Author: Lester Cavestany is a teacher at the United Nations International School of Hanoi. He has been an OFW since 2002 and he hopes that someday he can be back in the Philippines for good to continue the programs of Education Volunteers Educating Filipinos Inc., a non-profit organization he started with his friends in 2001.

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5 Responses to “Junk JPEPA”

  1. Nick on April 22nd, 2008 5:43 pm

    People just don’t get it when they want to support JPEPA, an “agreement” that was almost pushed down our throat by declaring it an “executive agreement”, an agreement that was almost passed under the radar, were it not for the vigilance of activist groups.

    When we try to get a short term boost in exchange for the future of our country. JPEPA is just that. throwing garbage to the youth of tomorrow for the supposed gain of today, and yet can we really be assured of Japan’s willingness to really help our nation?

    Arroyo has been unmasked, the sellout of our nation does not stop with China..

  2. Lester Cavestany on April 23rd, 2008 2:42 am

    Huwag naman sana Nick. I hope that by complaining about JPEPA, our senators will come to their senses and junk JPEPA.

  3. joe pids on April 23rd, 2008 9:48 am

    its akin to a daughter (gma) selling her mother (phils) to japs for a penny. the pidals will be again in brokering business in the sell out of our country to japs. everything in the phils (natural resources, human, marine, minerals, etc.) are for sale!

  4. boyboy on May 2nd, 2008 11:28 am

    Free trade agreements, like JPEPA, is a modern day war for economic supremacy and subjugation. The weak and corrupt countries being targeted as resource (human, food, minerals, petroleum) with the latter (Phil) integrated to serve the highly industrialized country (Japan). China and Japan are both racing in capturing these Phil resources with China under Asean China FTA while Japan employed two pronged approach, which is through an EPA (economic partnership agreement) with individual Asean country and also through Asean Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership. If you think that Phils will become an industrialized country in the next 20 years, as peddled by gma, forget about it. The truth is that most of Phil manufacturing sectors are slowly dying due to global trade. Our local producers cant compete with other countries because of high power costs (second highest in Asia), poor infrastructure, corruption costs (from barangay to malacanang), etc.

    Going back to EPA with Japan, our neighboring countries has properly protected their local economy with Malaysia reserving their Bhumiputra policy (local Malay first) in all business areas that Japan is interested to invest; Indonesia imposed also so many performance requirements (compliance with local laws); etc. Because our local negotiators when they went to Japan during jpepa negotiations were doing sightseeing and shopping (courtesy of Japanese) and left the drafting of jpepa to Japanese; they failed to include the limitations under the Phil 1987 Constitution, fishery laws, mining laws, labor laws, etc.

    I’m sure the next big business will be brokering for Japanese investors in these sensitive areas, the last and remaining resources of the Phils. These faggots will certainly make a lot of money from jpepa and other trade or cooperation agreements with other countries.

    The next five years will be extremely rough and bumpy ride for all Pinoys (and other countries as well) – food crisis, fuel crisis (? US$300/barrel), higher prices of commodities (grains, cement, steel, etc.). Our govt do have a long-term foresight and preparation for these events? God bless us and our country.

  5. mabini on May 6th, 2008 3:04 pm

    In fightingFTA’s website, its observations are quite enlightening for us non-experts in international trade agreements, which reads:
    “Under North-South FTAs, the market access for the South is generally very small. For the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA), Japan got improved access to the Philippines automobile market, new fishing opportunities in the Philippine seas (to replace imports), stronger investment guarantees and even the green light to export toxic wastes, while the Philippines got reduced tariff rates on a few exported fruits and a quota to be able to send 100 nurses a year to Japan, In the Japan-Thailand deal, Japan got major investment opportunities in the automobile and health sectors, while Thailand goat a measly quota to send chefs and masseuses to Japan.” (Today’s FTA Frenzy)
    On government’s claim that Philippines will lose investment opportunities worth P 4 billion, well fightingFTA’s wrote, in the same article, that:
    “Several World Bank and UNCTAD studies show that there is no direct relationship between signing an investment agreement and receiving increased foreign investment. China, South Africa and Brazil are prime examples of countries that have captured big investment inflows in recent years without such agreements. Indeed, signing such an agreement can get you into costly legal disputes for failing to deliver the right investment conditions, resulting in net financial losses.” (Today’s FTA Frenzy)
    Lest we be mislead again, JPEPA is not intended to benefit the poor and under/unemployed of the Philippines but to further exploit them in tandem with the Philippine natural resources for to maximize and protect the profits of large Japanese corporations. Note that large Japanese corporations together with their government are the ones pushing the Economic Partnership Agreement unlike in the Philippines where it is the government that pushed it with negligible consultations with local industries. To ensure this objective for Japanese investors, JPEPA includes the following provisions: (1) to be treated no less favorably than domestic companies (national treatment); (2) get any better treatment that is offered to TNC under other trade deals (most favored nation); (3) enjoy secure ownership of all assets: no expropriation (whether direct or indirect), no nationalization and fewer possibilities for the state to issue compulsory licenses in the public interest; (4) protection and insurance to realize any anticipated profits – and to sue the state if any public policy measure or decision gets in the way of that (similar to NAFTA); (5) conduct business with minimal hassle from the government – no requirements to hire local workers, no obligations to transfer technology, full freedom to send money out of the country and generally few restrictions on moving capital around; (6) have direct access to local policy-making process; and expand their commercial monopolies through a longer menu of intellectual property rights.
    The future consequences of those provisions are far-reaching. Just some of the situations – local fishing companies (tuna etc) or fishermen that will not survive the competition with Japanese fishing investors cannot be compensated (not covered by safeguard measure, dumping or countervailing since these laws applies only to goods sold in the Philippines and not to simply cornered the supply source and not the market in the Philippines) unlike their Japanese counterparts; whatever petroleum, gas or minerals that Japanese investors extracted from the Philippines, they are not required to process or sell it here even if local industries or consumers will need it (oil crisis) also the same in the case of agricultural products produced in land (food crisis); local government cannot impose additional real property taxes and business tax other than those already existing at the time of entry of JPEPA.

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