Campaign To Assure That Japanese Are “Not Only After Our Tunas”ff

In an effort to persuade senators who remain unconvinced of the benefits to the country from the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA), President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has formed a task force to make the case for the treaty in the Senate ratification process.

The President has issued Administrative Order No. 198 creating an inter-agency task force that will “put forward to the Senate the benefits, advantages and the opportunities to the Philippine economy” of JPEPA, which Arroyo and former Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi signed in September 2006.

The JPEPA has been submitted to the treaty-ratifying Senate but after the initial hearings, the senators are saying that environmental and activist groups opposing the treaty have presented better arguments than the government which claims, among other things, that the treaty would open the Japanese labor market to Filipino nurses and caregivers.

The last hearing on the treaty by the Senate foreign relations committee headed by administration Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago has been set for next week.

”The task force will prepare a much better presentation that will convince the senators,” said Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita.

Signed on Sept. 28, AO 198 mandates the inter-agency task force “to act with resolve and urgency” for the ratification of the agreement.

The task force is composed of representatives from 18 government agencies, including 15 Cabinet departments and the National Economic and Development Authority, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (the Philippine central bank) and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The administrative order also provides for the creation of a panel of special experts made up of public officials and private individuals who are “leading figures in the areas of law, international trade and economic cooperation” to assist the task force.

A militant fisherfolk group which has been invited to the Senate hearings has claimed that the Japanese are “only after our tunas”.

The Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) said JPEPA would allow Japanese fishing vessels to gain entry into Philippine waters, to fish “not only tuna and tuna-like species but also a wide range of marine species”, to the detriment of Filipino fisherfolk.

”Japan is now reviving its interest in tuna because of the scarcity of supply and high demand for tuna which is equivalent to lucrative business and promise of huge return on Japanese investments,” said Pamalakaya chairman Fernando Hicap in a statement.