Philippine President Urged to Intensify Negotiations EU and US on Tuna ff
11 October 2002
Philippines
Philippine Senate President Franklin Drilon appealed on Thursday to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to immediately make representations before the United States and the European Union to save the country's tuna industry. The government should, among others, appeal to the United States to extend to the Philippines the same duty-free privilege granted to tuna-producing Andean countries in North America, Drilon said.
Two months ago, the US Congress passed a bill allowing tuna in pouches from Andean countries like Ecuador and Colombia to enter the US market without tariff to spur alternatives to the drug trade in those countries.
Drilon said that the jobs of around 10,000 Filipinos in Mindanao could be placed in uncertainty since the United States and Europe implemented trade barriers against canned tuna from the Philippines.
He argued that Philippines, being an acknowledged ally of the United States, must also be granted the same privilege.The processing of tuna fish has been a backbone industry for Mindanao in the southern Philippines. Secretary of Trade and Industry Manuel Roxas said earlier that the development of this industry is vital for the country to eliminate poverty in the south, which Arroyo described as a major factor leading to the increase of domestic terrorism.
