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Cayetano hits pressure on JPEPA, tells GMA to blame her negotiators


SEN. Pia Cayetano on Wednesday said President Arroyo should not pressure the Senate into ratifying the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) once Congress resumes sessions this month.

"Instead she should be castigating her own government panel for doing a lousy job in securing the best possible agreement for our people," Cayetano said.

Arroyo early this week appealed to the Senate to ratify the JPEPA, saying that otherwise, Japan will take its investments to other countries with whom it has existing trade agreements.

Cayetano, chairperson of the Senate committee on environment, disagreed.

"Anyone attending the hearings on JPEPA would have concluded that this agreement has so many loopholes and that the government panel miserably failed to secure terms favorable to Filipinos," she said.

"I appreciate the efforts of Japan's representatives to explain and assure us of their good intentions. But it is not Japan's job to look out for our interest; that is the job of our negotiating panel. And as I have said, they have failed to do that."

She said her rejection of JPEPA would send a strong message to future trade negotiators that ratification by the Senate is not a mere formality. "We cannot be forced to accept a substandard agreement. It is our constitutional duty to scrutinize these agreements and if necessary, reject any agreement that does not meet the highest standards," she said.

Arroyo said JPEPA will bring in from P6.5 billion to P110 billion, with projected direct investments from Japan amounting to P365 billion, and more than 200,000 jobs. She said the agreement would reduce poverty because tariffs on Philippine agricultural products would fall to zero. She also allayed fears that the Philippines would be a dumping ground of Japan's toxic wastes, pointing out that Japan has signed a side agreement assuring the Philippines that it would not export toxic wastes.

Several environmental groups have lauded the stand of Cayetano and Sen. Jamby Madrigal against the ratification of JPEPA. They also challenged the other senators, particularly those who included environment protection in their election platform, to make the same stand.

"We find the recent statements on JPEPA by Sen. Cayetano and Sen. Madrigal very reassuring as we consider them as voices of Mother Nature in the Senate," Dr. Angelina Galang of the Green Convergence for Safe Food, Healthy Environment and Sustainable Economy, said. "The voting on JPEPA will be a grand revelation of who among the senators are true patriots who have the well-being of the people and country at heart and others whose mindsets contribute to the continued destruction of the environment." - JP Lopez

 


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