US senator refiles Save Act

MANILA, Philippines –  US Senator John Ensign from Nevada has refiled the Save the Industries Act before the US Senate in a bid to help revive the local Philippine textile industry.

The Philippine government has been asking the US to pass the Save Act because it will revive the local garments industry by allowing tariff free export of garments to the US.

In an interview, Board of Investments (BOI) managing head Cristino L. Panlilio said that the country needs to get more support for the bill because currently it only has one sponsor in the Senate as opposed to the last time it was filed when it had more sponsors.

“We don’t know if the Save Act will piggy back on some other trade bill,” Panlilio said. He noted that there is new direction for the Save Act given that there is a new BOI Executive Director who is leading the lobbying for the bill.

On the side of the House of Representatives, Panlilio said Representative James Mc Dermott has refiled the bill.

Should the Save Act be approved, Panlilio said that the local garments industry will be able to regain lost ground. He said that for four decades until the 90’s, garment was one of the leading exports of the country. He said that in the 70’s garments exported P3 billion worth of goods and employed 600,000 people.

Unfortunately, free trade agreements and the World Trade Organization (WTO) has dulled the local garments industry as the Philippines lost out its competitiveness in garments to Vietnam, Bangladesh, Honduras and Costa Rica.

Under the 809 component of the program, US made fabrics and yarns cut and wholly assembled in the Philippines would qualify to re-enter the United States free of duty. In addition, garments made of US spun yarn or extruded yarn formed in the Philippines, may re-enter the United States at 50 percent of the most favored nation (MFN) duty.

The Philippine garments export industry, during its peak, employed around 600,000 workers but was whittled down to 150,000 as cheaper garments are being manufactured from neighboring countries. –Ma. Elisa P. Osorio (The Philippine Star)