For domestic industries to fully recover from damages caused by typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng, the Federation of Philippine Industries (FPI) said that the government must invoke an article of the Asean Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA) that would temporarily exempt the country from the zero-tariff regime beginning next year under the Asean Free Trade Area-Common Effective Preferential Tariff (AFTA-CEPT) scheme.
In a statement over the weekend, FPI added that in a letter it sent to President Gloria Arroyo last week, the group appealed that the Philippines immediately invoke Article 23 of ATIGA, or the “Temporary Modification or Suspension of Concessions,” citing the “extreme circumstances resulting from the devastation of the recent national calamities.”
“Article 23 of ATIGA, which the government signed on February 26, 2009, legally allows the Philippines to temporarily modify or suspend its tariff reduction obligations due to emergency or exceptional circumstances other than those covered by Article 10 [Measures to Safeguard the Balance of Payments], Article 24 [Special Treatment on Rice and Sugar] and Article 86 [Safeguard Measures]” FPI said.
“Invoking Article 23 is justified given the current state of calamity in large parts of the country, and it is in situations like this that Asean [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] has intended this provision in the agreement,” it added.
Asean groups Brunei Da-russalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
During a telephone interview, Jesus Arranza, FPI president, told The Manila Times that all local industries should be shielded from potential stiff competition from imported goods that will come in with tariffs of only between 0 percent and 5 percent because of the AFTA-CEPT, which is scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2010.
Arranza also told The Times that the Philippines needs at least one year to rehabilitate its industries.
“We have to create a defense mechanism that will allow our industries to recover. The government’s reconstruction efforts should also benefit locally made goods,” he said. –Ben Arnold O. De Vera, Reporter, Manila Times
World Day for Safety and Health at Work
“Safety and health at work every day!”
Invoke Article 33 of the ILO constitution
against the military junta in Myanmar to carry out the 2021 ILO Commission of Inquiry recommendations against serious violations of Forced Labour and Freedom of Association protocols.
Accept National Unity Government
(NUG) of Myanmar.
Reject Military!
#WearMask #WashHands #Distancing #TakePicturesVideos
Monthly Observances:
March – Women’s Role in History Month
April – Month of Planet Earth
Weekly Observances:
Last Week of March: Protection and Gender Fair Treatment of the Girl Child Week
Last Week of April – World Immunization Week
Daily Observances:
Mar 25 – International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transallantic Slave Trade
Mar 27– Earth Hour
Apr 21 – Civil Service Day
Apr 22 – World Earth Day
Apr 28 – World Day for Safety and Health at Work
