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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Imee: My conscience is not clear to defend the RCEP Agreement

Imee: My conscience is not clear to defend the RCEP Agreement

Published Feb 7, 2023 04:26 pm

Senator Imee Marcos on Tuesday, February 7 said she cannot defend the Regional Comprehensive Economic Cooperation (RCEP) that Malacañang is pushing as this contradicts her stand on the matter.

"My conscience is not clear to defend the controversial RCEP on the Senate floor as chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee," Marcos said.

Marcos stressed this in her communication to the Senate leadership whose sub-committee resumed deliberations on the RCEP Agreement today.

The senator said she stands by her position not as a sister of the one in power but as a daughter of her father, the late President Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr., who opted to address the concerns of the majority and the poor.

President Ferdinand ‘’Bongbong’’ R. Marcos Jr. Is her younger brother.

The hearing on the RCEP was headed by the sub-committee of the foreign relations committee headed by Senate President Pro Tempore Loren Legarda.

The Marcos administration has been pushing for the Senate's ratification of the RCEP.

As chairman of the foreign relations committee, Marcos said she has done inquiries, hearings and consultations for the agriculture sector and small businesses.

But key departments in the Execute branch failed to satisfy her inquisitive mind.

These are the Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Bureau of Customs.

She said these agencies failed to answer the fears of the agriculture sector and small businesses that there would be no help to be extended to them on International trade.

Marcos said the sectors could not breath due to widespread smuggling, hoarding and outright ‘’panloloko’’ (duping) because they are not given the tools to fight mass importation.

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