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Philippines


Fair Trade Statement on JPEPA, October 2006
The Japan-Philippine Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA), signed on the sidelines of the Helsinki’s ASEAN-Europe Meeting (ASEM) held in September this year, sidelines the development needs of the Philippines and further enhances the imbalances in the economic relations between the two countries.
FairTrade-Philippines’ Statement on RP-US Agreement
After concluding the Japan-Philippine Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA), the government appears to be pursuing a similar bilateral free trade agreement (BFTA) with the United States. But like in the JPEPA, the RP-US trade talks are shrouded in secrecy.
Another JPEPA deception
JPEPA’s promise of opening up Japanese borders to Filipino professionals may not exactly be true and Filipino nurses and health workers delighted over Malacañang pronouncements may have celebrated too early.
Alliance forged vs RP-Japan trade pact
From militants to high society matrons, citizens’ groups have embarked on a joint effort to fight the ratification of a controversial Philippine-Japan economic agreement they fear would turn the country into a “garbage republic” for Japan’s toxic and hazardous waste.
Militants to take fight vs trade pact to Japan
The militant leftist group Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) is bringing the struggle against the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) right to the heart of that North Asian country—the Diet—to ask its members to reject the onerous trade pact.
Fair Trade statement on JPEPA
We, at the Fair Trade Alliance (FTA), bewail the lack of transparency in the way the executive branch of the Philippine government is crafting the JPEPA.
KMP threatens boycott of Japanese products: Farmers’ group urges Japan not to push through with JPEPA
The Japanese government will send its big commercial fishing vessels to the Philippines’ most productive fishing grounds in search of yellowfin tuna and skip jack instead of importing it directly from the Philippines under the controversial trade pact between the two countries.
JPEPA will allow Japan to exploit RP’s tuna resources—group
A militant coalition of fishermen groups protested the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) as it will allow Japanese transnational fishing companies to corner the country’s tuna resources.
RP ready to engage US in sectoral bilateral free trade talks
The Philippines is ready to officially engage the US on a possible sectoral bilateral free trade agreement, Trade and Industry Secretary Peter B. Favila said Thursday.
RP stands to lose P9b a year in tariff revenues under JPEPA
The Philippines stands to lose more than P9 billion annually in tariff revenues under the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA). Meanwhile, the gains to Philippine exports that government economic managers claim will happen under JPEPA are similarly overstated. Some 80% of Philippine exports to Japan already enter tariff-free and will not be affected by the free trade pact.
Int’l group urges Senate to reject RP-Japan trade pact
Saying Japan’s motives were "highly suspect," an international monitoring group urged the Philippine Senate on Tuesday to reject a controversial economic deal with Japan unless toxic wastes were removed from the list of products that could be brought into the Philippines.
RP sponsors Asean for Jpepa-like deal
As a bilateral agreement between Japan and Philippines on free trade has been submitted for close scrutiny by Congress over alleged provisions that would allow the dumping of toxic wastes in the country, Trade and Industry Secretary Peter Favila is now negotiating in behalf of the entire Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) for a similar trade liberalization deal.
Farmers picket Japanese embassy over economic pact
About 20 Filipino farmers picketed outside the Japanese embassy Friday to protest the Japanese-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA).
JPEPA to encourage trade in hazardous and toxic waste
A summary of the current debate over the Philippine-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement by the Philippine Centre for Investigative Journalism.
DENR opposed waste dumping in trade deal but gave in to DTI
The Philippine Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) tried but failed to stop the government from including toxic and hazardous wastes from the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA), yielding to pressure.
Senate indignant, CBCP sad over ‘toxic’ accord
Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, yesterday said he was saddened by the agreement that environmentalists fear would turn the Philippines into Japan’s dump for toxic wastes. Indignation was also voiced in the Senate and calls were made for an investigation of the Japan-Philippine Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA).
RP-Japan accord ‘toxic’
A new dump for toxic waste may soon open for Japan — and it has 7,100 islands. This is how concerned environmentalists see the likely effect of the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) which President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and then Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi signed on Sept. 9 in Helsinki on the side of the Asia-Europe Meeting.
The Right to Information in International Trade Treaties
The right of the people to information on matters of public concern is a fundamental right that has been enshrined in the Bill of Rights of the Philippine Constitution,and which has been held to be self-executory (i.e., not requiring enabling legislation) by the Supreme Court in a long line of cases.
Japan-RP Economic Pact Brings Dubious Gain
After negotiating away from public scrutiny for four years, the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) was signed at the Asia-Europe Meeting in Helsinki, Finland on Sept. 10, 2006.
Environmental Implications of the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement
Last September 9, 2006 in Finland, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Japanese Prime Minister Junihiro Koizumi signed the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA), a bilateral preferential trade treaty between Japan and the Philippines that seeks to remove barriers to investments and the trade of goods and services between the two countries.