TODAY'S EDITORIAL: RCEP cannot break what is already broken
Critics fear that local markets will be flooded with imports, and that will be the death knell for local industries, especially agriculture. As others have said, though, the reality is that agriculture was already broken long before the Senate ratified that trade pact.As mentioned before in this space,
helps attract foreign investments to the country, perhaps those from regions not covered by the pact. Western investors, for instance, do not have to set up factories in China to cater to its large market. They can locate elsewhere, like the Philippines, and still get access to that market.Of course, the Philippines needs to be more competitive. Also, we were the last country to ratify
, he or she would be wrong to assume that it harms local farmers and agriculture in general. That sector was already unproductive and problematic long before ratification.Consider that nearly half of Filipinos live in rural areas, and yet the agriculture sector contributes less than 10 percent to gross domestic product . That figure seems consistent with the sector's past performance, suggesting that protectionist policies have failed.There are other troubling figures.
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Zubiri: PH can withdraw from RCEP if imports flood local industries"So, guaranteed. If kung mukhang dehado tayo and there’s influx of goods from all over that swamped our manufacturing, swamped our garments, swamped our agriculture, then definitely a review will be in place and will be in order, and that we can recommend to the President if need be," Zubiri said.
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