SC pressed to rule on JPEPA's constitutionality

Non-government organization Fair Trade (FairTrade) Alliance has asked the Supreme Court on Wednesday to finally decide on the constitutionality of the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement or JPEPA, a deal forged between the two countries in 2006. FairTrade filed a motion seeking the early resolution of the petition it lodged before the high court in 2008. "Now that the JPEPA is in the implementation stage without the final determination of the agreement's constitutionality, the unevenness of the agreement is clearly out in the open," said FairTrade executive director Mars Mendoza in a statement. Under JPEPA, 95 percent of Philippine exports to Japan will have zero duties, with the tariffs on most industrial goods to be removed 10 years after the agreement is in place. The agreement, which promises freer flow of trade and investments between the Philippines and Japan, was approved by the Philippine Congress in 2008 following heated debates. The agreement allows greater access of Philippine produce such as bananas, pineapples, crabs, shrimps, chicken, and tuna to the Japanese market. Japanese exporters will be able to supply steel products, cars and auto parts, and electronic appliances to the Philippines at low or zero tariff. Japan will also accept Filipino nurses and health care workers under the deal. Erroneous figures? Mendoza disputed the figures presented by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) last January 26, 2011 at a World Trade Organization hearing. Mendoza said that DTI representatives showed that the Philippines' market share in Japan increased "but the data presented proves otherwise" because total imports of Japan from the Philippines declined after the agreement was enforced. "Japan's imports from the Philippines pre-JPEPA were 7.9 million in 2006, 8.7 million in 2007, and 8.4 million in 2008. These figures are way high compared [with] post-JPEPA when Japan's total imports from the Philippines only totaled 6.3 million," said Mendoza. - Sophia Dedace/KBK, GMA New