Magkaisa Junk JPEPA Coalition Says JPEPA Incurable Of Defects

An activist from the Magkaisa Junk JPEPA Coalition dressed as Inang Bayan painted big red “X” marks on an oversized JPEPA report card, giving the flawed agreement a final grade of “FAILED” for its dismal failure to put the welfare of the Filipino people before its rosy promises and so-called profits. (Photo by Gigie Cruz/GAIA.)

Magkaisa Junk JPEPA Coalition Says JPEPA Incurable Of Defects

November 23, 2007. Pasay City —Converging today at the Senate for another hearing on the controversial Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA), the Magkaisa Junk JPEPA Coalition asserted that the agreement's flaws are fatal and cannot be cured simply by a supplemental agreement.

An activist from the Magkaisa Junk JPEPA Coalition dressed as Inang Bayan painted big red “X” marks on an oversized JPEPA report card, giving the flawed agreement a final grade of “FAILED” for its dismal failure to put the welfare of the Filipino people before its rosy promises and so-called profits.

Various environmental, labor and other civil society groups belonging to the Magkaisa Junk JPEPA Coalition were at the Senate this morning to raise their objection to another contentious scheme, as reported by Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Malacanang Palace and the Japanese Embassy in Manila, to craft a supplemental agreement to rescue JPEPA from impending rejection by the Senate. The Coalition is contesting the feasibility of a supplemental agreement to remedy the defects of the JPEPA.

“Even if we assume, for the sake of argument, that the JPEPA’s constitutional flaws could be corrected by such a supplemental agreement, what will happen to the other equally important issues that need to be solved?" asked Manny Calonzo of the EcoWaste Coalition, a member group of the Magkaisa Junk JPEPA Coalition. "Will the supplemental agreement substantially address issues such as Japanese protectionism with regard to agricultural products from the Philippines, the dumping of Japanese toxic wastes and cast-offs in the country or the second-class treatment of our nurses in Japan? No side agreement will cure JPEPA of its inherent defects.”

Civil society groups also contested the legality of the proposed side agreement, saying that it is unethical and illegal to allow the same people who are supposed to ratify or reject the treaty to craft a means of salvaging it.

”It is not the Senate’s job to draft a side agreement that will allow them to ratify this treaty,” said Atty. Mimi Sison of the Green Initiatives Inc., another Coalition member. “The Senate's duty, given the well-known policy flaws and legal infirmities of the JPEPA aired during the Senate hearings, is to reject the agreement and let the Executive renegotiate it in an open and transparent manner with civil society participation.”

During previous hearings the JPEPA came under fire from previous sectors, exasperating Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago, chair of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, who at one point said she would "go up in flames" if she had to defend the JPEPA on the Senate floor.

The Magkaisa Junk JPEPA Coalition is apprehensive that Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago now appears to be trying to find ways to push this atrocious treaty through after all the pronouncements she made to the contrary in previous hearings. The Coalition pointed out that the Executive branch of government cannot negligently negotiate important preferential trade agreements like the JPEPA and expect the Senate to tidy up the mess afterwards every time.