QUEZON CITY (PIA) --The Senate voted to adopt a resolution concurring in the ratification of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Agreement on February 21, 2023.
Resolution No. 485 was concurred in by the upper chamber with 20 affirmative votes, one negative vote, and one abstention.
RCEP is dubbed as the world’s largest regional free trade agreement (FTA) and accounts for 29 percent of global trade.
“The RCEP is essentially a step towards ensuring that a rules-based, transparent, and conducive business environment is promoted to ensure sustainable and inclusive economic growth, " Senate President Pro Tempore Loren Legarda said.
Senator Legarda believes that RCEP could help improve the country’s agricultural sector and the nation’s economy to adapt to the fast-changing global trade.
The Resolution, meanwhile, is calling for ways to (1) build competitive and comparative advantages for local sectors; (2) interventions to stimulate and support innovation; (3) good governance mechanisms for transparency, accountability, and learning; (4) strategies for human capital development; (5) inclusiveness, sustainability, and green growth initiatives; (6) and RCEP agreement optimization program.
It also creates the Senate Special Oversight Committee on the RCEP Agreement which is tasked to look into the government's strategies and plans to harness competitiveness in various sectors.
Senator Legarda assures that there will be government support programs in favor of farmers and fisherfolks, and also a representation of indigenous peoples, women, and other marginalized sectors. She said the recommendations from the opposition are part of the resolutory clauses of the Resolution.
According to Senate President Juan Miguel F. Zubiri, the Philippines would be able to source raw materials and intermediate goods from fellow RCEP countries, process products locally, and then export the products to RCEP countries at a preferential agreement.
Moreover, Senator Legarda also explains that all the ASEAN nations have already ratified RCEP and it is to our disadvantage if we do not join RCEP.
“RCEP countries who are our trading partners outside of ASEAN will put down their tariffs for other ASEAN nations, who will be exporting the same produced to those countries like China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand, while products from the Philippines will enter those countries with high tariffs, ” Senator Legarda said.
Only 15 agricultural commodity groups corresponding to 33 tariff lines would have lower tariff rates than some ASEAN+1 FTAs under RCEP. This is equivalent to only 1.9 percent of the 1,718 agricultural lines and 0.8 percent of the total agricultural imports.
Out of these 33 tariff lines, 17 are raw materials, 8 are intermediate products, and only 8 are final goods. The remaining agricultural tariff lines will have equal, or higher rates than other ASEAN+1 FTAs, or are excluded from import tariff concessions under the RCEP.
Meanwhile, National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary Arsenio Balisacan believes non-participation or delayed RCEP ratification may result in foregone opportunities. He also emphasizes that the country needs “to promote greater openness, create a business-friendly environment, and provide a more stable and predictable system of trade.”
The country first signed the RCEP in September 2021, and then on November 28, 2022. Led by the Department of Foreign Affairs, Department of Trade and Industry, and Department of Agriculture, there were a total of 15 government agencies that endorsed the concurrence to its ratification.
Senate President Pro Tempore Loren Legarda sponsored the resolution together with Senate President Juan Miguel "Migz" F. Zubiri. (ARB, PIA-CPSD)
Photo credit: The ASEAN Secretariat
