The Management Association of the Philippines (MAP), a group of business leaders committed to promote excellence for nation building, has strongly urged the Senate to ratify without further delay the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) deal saying the country has lost 10 months against ASEAN neighbors in competing for foreign investments and expanded trade flows.
“We strongly urge our honorable Senators to ratify RCEP now,” said MAP in a statement Tuesday, Nov. 15.
The mega trade deal was already ratified by then President Rodrigo Duterte, but the Senate failed to concur the ratification by the executive branch amid strong opposition from various organizations, particularly farmer groups.
“We have already lost 10 months of ability to compete on equal footing with our ASEAN and Asian partners already in RCEP in attracting foreign investments as they capitalize on the shift by a number of multinational corporations (MNCs) to seek alternative locations for their manufacturing sites,” said MAP
According to MAP, the delay in ratification deprives the country’s producers of various exportable products of easier access to the markets of the RCEP countries due to the improved provisions on market access and easier rules of origin.
“The threat of likely diversion by their buyers of their business to other members already in RCEP is very real,” MAP said.
Similarly, foreign investors will favor locating in other RCEP countries, including those already in the country, who are likely to move their business out of the country the longer we delay ratification. “All told, we risk not only failing to attract new investments and trade opportunities; we are also likely to lose those we now have to those already in RCEP,” MAP said.
MAP further called “misplaced, unfounded and illusory” the fears of some agricultural sector critics of RCEP based on pronouncements by experts and negotiators from the Department of Trade and Industry and the Department of Agriculture.
The group cited government negotiators in RCEP who have repeatedly explained that sensitive agricultural products remain protected under our commitments to the agreement. These products include rice, swine meat, poultry meat, potatoes, onions, garlic, cabbages, sugar, and carrots. All these farm products will retain the restrictions they currently enjoy.
The DTI and the Department of Agriculture (DA) have explained that membership in the Agreement opens up further export opportunities for our agricultural products “without exposing ourselves to an imagined flood of farm imports feared by opponents.”
As the most important economic grouping in the world so far, MAP stressed the “Philippines cannot afford not to be in RCEP.”
“It is time that we got on board and proactively exploit the wealth of opportunities it offers the Filipinos in terms of expanded jobs, increased incomes, and better lives,” MAP added.
RCEP is a 15-member free trade deal that accounts for one-third of the world’s economy, one-third of the global trade, and a market of 2.3 billion people. RCEP also covers 50 percent of the global manufacturing output, 50 percent of the global automotive products, and 70 percent of electronics products.
RCEP member economies also account for 51 percent of the Philippines’ export market, 68 percent of the country’s imports and, most importantly, 58 percent of the country’s foreign direct investment inflows, according to DTI.
MAP even likened it to the European Union, a powerful economic bloc that will benefit enormously from the interchange of business among them, and with the world at large.