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Eco-Environment "JPEPA: Boon or Bane for Filipinos?" Is KK! Topic on DZRH on Aug6--RP Senate Ratifies Treaty Oct9
| "JPEPA: Boon or Bane for Filipinos?" Is KK! Topic on DZRH on Aug6--RP Senate Ratifies Treaty Oct9 |
"JPEPA: Boon or Bane for Filipinos?" Is KK! Talk Show Topic
on DZRH -AM radio, on Aug. 6, 2008, Wed., @ 7:30 p.m. (Manila Time)
The Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) is aimed at "liberalizing and enlarging trade and investment" between Japan and the Philippines, "while establishing a legal framework" for an interdependent partnership. Twenty leading professional and business organizations, including the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP), have expressed support for the ratification of the JPEPA, due to what their leaders see as positive economic impact of JPEPA on the country. The Philippine Institute for Development Studies has also concluded that the JPEPA will be good for the economy.
But, civil-society organizations are asking: Which country? Whose economy? They argue that the JPEPA is grossly disadvantageous to Filipinos and to the Philippine economy and environment. So while business leaders are calling for the ratification of the JPEPA now, NGO leaders are calling for its cancellation. At the least, they request that the JPEPA be subjected first "to stakeholder consultations and debates both in public fora and on the Senate floor" before further action is taken on it.
Kalikasan, Kaunlaran! (KK!), DZRH -AM radio, will address that request on August 6, 2008, Wed., 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. with a talakayan featuring Dr. Nina Galang, Coordinator, Green Convergence for Safe Food, Healthy Environment and Sustainable Energy; Ms Ester Perez de Tagle, Founding Chair, Concerned Citizens Against Pollution (COCAP); Julian Amador, Director, Environment Management Bureau; and Richard Gutierrez, Director, Basel Action Network, Asia-Pacific. Dr. Cora Claudio, President, EARTH Institute Asia, will moderate the discussion.
Tune in and understand the issues and the pro/con arguments on the JPEPA ratification. Submit your questions, comments, and recommendations on the topic. A few of them will be read on air and all will be submitted to officials in the public and private sectors who are involved in the JPEPA ratification process.
Some NGOs argue that the JPEPA is grossly disadvantageous to the Philippine economy and environment. Business leaders are calling for the ratification of the JPEPA. NGO leaders are calling for its cancellation. Many leaders request that the JPEPA be subjected first "to stakeholder consultations and debates both in public fora and on the Senate floor"
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KK! is co-produced by EARTH Institute Asia, Inc. and DZRH , with the cooperation of the MAP, GREEN Army, PFST, TOWNS, PBE, AIJC, PEIA, DENR, MabuhayRadio.com, SanibLakas, various egroups, and others. It is at 666 kHz in Metro Manila and at other kHzs in other areas nationwide. It is globally accessible through http://dzrh.tripod.com or www.mabuhayradio.com (click DZRH )
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+ - 07:46, October 09, 2008
The Philippine Senate on Wednesday night ratified an economic partnership agreement signed by the government with Japan two years ago.
The agreement was ratified by a vote of 16-4, Philippine TV network GMA News reported.
Under the agreement, 95 percent of Philippine exports to Japan will be entitled to zero duties. Ten years from its effectivity, tariffs will be removed on almost all industrial goods.
"In one short sentence, my word is my bond," Senator Panfilo Lacson said when explaining his "Yes" vote.
Last month, Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago, chair of the Senate foreign relations committee, released to the other lawmakers copies of the exchange of notes between the foreign affairs chiefs of Japan and the Philippines to guide them in ratifying the controversial treaty.
She said that in international law, "an exchange of notes constitutes a treaty, binding on the parties and implying performance in good faith."
"This exchange of notes will in effect constitute an integral part of the treaty," she said.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed the agreement with then Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in September 2006 in Helsinki during the European leg of her four-nation trip.
Source: Xinhua
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