SC JPEPA decision turns Filipino people into beggars of information on critical national issues
As Angel Mendoza, a petitioner and a FairTrade labor convenor, puts it:
“"This decision of the Supreme Court emboldens the executive department and the non-electable economic technorats to disregard transparency and public accountability on economic policies. Instead of encouraging the executive branch to hold democratic consultations with Filipino workers and industries, this decision literally transforms them into beggars of information on matters directly affecting their lives and future. This is a throwback to the martial-law period, when the Marcos administration concluded one loan after the other with the World Bank-IMF group and one trade agreement after another with the developed countries without informing and consulting the people. Look at the economic mess that this Marcosian practice created for the country."”
Manuel Quiambao, another petitioner and an FTA convenor for agriculture, opines:
““Apparently, the Supreme Court has become subservient to the neo-liberal agenda of the government technocrats, who have this narrow view that wholesale trade liberalization is good for the country, totally disregarding the social and economic impact on the people of such liberalization. Is the food crisis not the direct outcome of the agricultural deregulation and import liberalization programs, programs which wiped out the nation’s capacity to grow its own food?"”
Meanwhile, the Executive Department and some members of Congress have construed this recent Supreme Court decision as a validation of the soundness of the JPEPA, and that the decision has removed all doubts about the early ratification of JPEPA in the Senate. Of course, the SC’s decision does not mean that the JPEPA is good for the country. What the decision tried to address is the so-called right of the executive branch to secrecy, which now amounts to a “right” to hide crucial trade information from the people.
The truth is that aside from the questionable negotiation process, JPEPA as written is a bad treaty. It violates the Philippine Constitution on many aspects. For examples: First, it grants the Japanese land ownership. Second, it gives the Japanese virtual fishing and maritime rights over our territorial seas. Third, it does not provide for reciprocity.
On the other hand, JPEPA allows obnoxious trade in toxic wastes and job-displacing trade in used vehicles and garments.
JPEPA is un-Constitutional, unfair and anti-Filipino. We, therefore, ask the Supreme Court justices — search your souls and reconsider your decision. Join us in asking for a renegotiation of a flawed treaty.
