By Sonny Fernandez
The Philippines faces fresh challenges as it seeks to renew its duty-free privileges from the European Union under the Generalized System of Preferences Plus (GSP+) trade incentives.
This, after the UN Human Rights Committee expressed concern last November 3 about reports of "grave human rights violations and extremely high number of extrajudicial killings, particularly in the context of the government's campaign against illegal drugs."
Meeting with Members of the Commission of Foreign Relations of the Federal Parliament of Belgium, photo source: TikTok account of House Deputy Speaker Ralph Recto
The following Monday, November 7, Senate President Miguel Zubiri slammed the UNHRC findings as "unfair." "Ano ba yun? Ang tagal-tagal na. Lumang tugtugin na yun... It' unfair for the UN to tag us that," Zubiri explained. He added that the "drug war is already a thing of the past as the new president has already stated that he will apply "maximum tolerance" on drug offenders. To emphasize his criticism against UN HRC, Zubiri said "as you can see, wala naman ako nakikitang namamatay." The EU GSP + is a special incentive for countries that practice good governance and sustainable development. It is a unilateral trade preference which grants zero import taxes or tarrifs on 6, 274 Philippines products that enter EU-member countries. Among Philippines products that enjoy zero tarrifs are processed fruits, coconut oil, footwear, fish, textiles, vacuum cleaners, preserved tunas, electro-thermic hair dressing apparatus, spectacle lenses, new pneumatic tires, fatty alcohols (industrial), parts for radio tv broadcasting and activated carbon. . Only eight countries, namely, Pakistan, Bolivia, Cabo Verde, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Uzbekistan are presently given trade preferences by EU which will end on December, 2023. Among the qualifications for duty-free incentives include a country's vulnerability, ratification of 27 international conventions which include labor and human rights, environmental protection, rule of law and good governance, and compliance with these agreements. In March this year, the European Union urged then Duterte administration to address the human rights and other concerns following the results of monitoring mission that assessed the country's compliance with international conventions. Another challenge for the Philippines' bid to renew its GSP + status, is the EU plans for additional international conventions: two each on human and labor rights, and one each on governance and environment.
Meeting with Members of the Commission of Foreign Relations of the Federal Parliament of Belgium, photo source: TikTok account of House Deputy Speaker Ralph Recto These additional agreements are Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, Convention on the Rights of the Persons with Disabilities, Convention on Labor Inspection No. 81, Convention on Tripartite Consultations No. 144, eParis Agreement on Climate Change and the United Nations Conventions Against Transnational Organized Crime. According to reports, the Department of Labor and Employment is working on the ratification process of the International Labor Organization Convention 81 on Labor Inspection, the only convention the Philippines has yet to ratify. In what it called a "charm offensive", the Philippines government sent top Congress leaders to the inter-parliamentary dialogue in Brussels, Belgium from October 25-28 and pushed for the renewal of GSP + privileges. Senator Sonny Angara and House Deputy Speaker Ralph Recto led the bicameral delegation which met with their EU counterparts upon the invitation of Daniel Caspary, chair of EU Parliament delegation for relations with the countries of Southeast Asia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Senators Win Gatchalian, Imee Marcos and Mark Villar complete the Senate representation. The two parties discussed trade and investment, opportunities for Filipino workers in Europe as well as the EU's recognition of Philippine-issued standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW) Certificates of Filipino Seafarers. On October 27, in a message he delivered before the EU Parliament Committee on International Trade, Trade Secretary Fred Pascual said the new administratoon reaffirms the country's compliance with the international conventions on human rights, labor, good governance and environment. In a report published on DTI website, Pascual identified "significant developments in the Philippine landscape - change in government leadership, transition to preventive and rehabilitative anti-illegal drugs campaign, assurance of press freedom and a vow to combat climate change." He added that "given the foregoing and the values and principles we share, the Philippines remains interested and therefore ready to work toward resumption of negotiations of the Philippine-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA)." Human rights groups lambasted the Marcos administration for not abandoning tokhang operations and the drug war. Anti-terror law remains in force and red tagging of government critics, democracy advocates and media, continues. On the issue of press freedom, according to the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, two broadcast journalists were killed under the Marcos Jr regime and various attacks against the working press remain unabated. In the past, duty-free incentives were cut off from Cambodia because of human rights violations. According to DTI, the renewal of the country's tarrif perks is significant in the progress of the economy and providing jobs to the jobless. The agency stressed that the Philippines saved P8.55B annually because of zero-duties as of October, 2022. EU is the 4th largest trading partner of the Philippines. Philippines exports to EU increased from €5.3B in 2014 when the country was first granted GSP+ status, to €7.77B in 2021.
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