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FTA urges gov’t to review trade tack amid slowdown

By Ayen Infante

03/31/2009

The multisectoral Fair Trade Alliance (FTA) wants the government to look at the current global financial crisis as an opportunity to take stock of its trade policy.

FTA made the statement in response to Trade and Industry Secretary Peter Favila’s move to get the support of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in which the country is a member to postpone the full implementation of commitments to the Asean Free Trade Agreement-Common Effective Preferential Tariffs (Afta--Cept) in the light of the global economic recession.

Under the Afta-Cept, the tariffs of goods traded among Asean countries will be brought down to zero to five percent by the beginning of 2010.

“Finally, the Secretary of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), tasked to oversee the development of industries, is talking some economic sense,” FTA said.

Although it comes rather late, Favila’s move is still welcomed as it departs from the usual stance taken by key DTI officials that the wholesale and unqualified economic liberalization is good for the country and that all liberalization commitments should be complied with, no matter how debilitating for the local industries, it added.

Moreover, since the start of the global financial crisis last year, the DTI has been relatively silent on how the country can survive the crisis.

By seeking a postponement of the full implementation of the Afta-Cept, the Trade department in a way is seeing the gravity of the threat posed by rising imports on a very open Philippine economy.

FTA, however, believes that if the government is serious in helping local industries survive and nurture the economy, the government can do much more other than asking for a postponement of the Afta-Cept.

FTA said the government should look at the country’s trade policy in the last 30 years.

“Has economic liberalization been good or bad to the country? Good or bad, what are the explanations for the continuing massive poverty, massive unemployment and massive outmigration in the Philippines,” the group said.