Bu-lat-lat (boo-lat-lat) verb: to search, probe, investigate, inquire; to unearth facts Volume 3, Number 37 October 19 - 25, 2003 Quezon City, Philippines |
The
ABC Behind a U.S.-RP FTA Through an extensive and intimate participation in the political process behind economic reforms, U.S. monopoly capital is able to shape the contours of U.S.-Philippine "special relations" for its own avaricious ends. By
Paul L. Quintos Not
surprisingly, American big business is the most ardent advocate of a new
comprehensive trade and liberalization pact between the U.S. and the
Philippines. Last April 2002,
senior executives from 15 of America's Fortune 500 companies led a mission to
the Philippines as part of the Philippine Business Committee of the U.S.-ASEAN
Business Council to push further liberalization of trade and investment in the
country. The
U.S.-ASEAN Business Council (U.S.-ABC) is composed of over a hundred of
America's largest corporations with extensive business interests in the ASEAN
region such as Citigroup, Chevron-Texaco, Cargill, Ford, GE, IBM, Lockheed,
Nike, AOL Time Warner, McDonalds, Pricewaterhouse Coopers, Boeing, United
Airlines, Microsoft, Dupont, Del Monte, Procter & Gamble, and so on.1
The
2002 mission produced a Business Framework Agreement (between the
U.S.-Philippine Business Committee and the Philippine-U.S. Business Council) in
order to steer their corporate lobbying both in the U.S. and in the Philippines.2
By
May of this year, the U.S.-Philippines Business Committee boasts of having
exercised influence with regards reforms in the energy sector, capital market
development, airlines ("open skies"), customs modernization,
telecommunications, biotechnology and port security.
In
its May 2003 progress report, the Business Committee cites having created a "Philippines Energy Ad Hoc Working Group" which has
"developed an advocacy plan to encourage more investment in the Philippines
energy sector. The Ad Hoc Working Group meets regularly and has discussed this
plan with Philippine energy officials, consumer advocates, and energy project
lenders." The
report also proudly notes its success in pushing "the commercialization of
biotechnology ... in partnership with the Government of the Philippines."
The report states: "... the U.S.-Philippines Business Committee, led
by two of its biotechnology members, worked with the administration of President
Macapagal-Arroyo to address the political and logistical needs of an Executive
Order permitting the commercialization of biotechnology in the Philippines. The
U.S.-Philippines Business Committee has thanked the administration for its work
on biotechnology and has offered its further assistance to the President and to
the Secretary of Agriculture of the Philippines. "
Congressional
caucus Perhaps
most significantly, the Business Committee gleefully reports having successfully
launched - with the help of the Philippine Embassy in Washington - a
Congressional U.S.-Philippine Caucus with the primary purpose of "educating
members of the U.S. Congress and their staff on the bilateral trading and
investment relationship" between the two countries.
Last
month, the U.S.-ABC's Philippine Business Committee was in town once again as
part of the preparations for President Bush's state visit this October.3
The Business Committee lauded the economic reforms undertaken by the
Arroyo government but pushed for further liberalization, particularly in terms
of lifting restrictions on foreign ownership in the telecommunications and
property sectors- reforms that would require amending the country's charter.
The business mission also called for the immediate passage of the Transco
Franchise bill which would pave the way for U.S. corporations to participate in
an estimated US$1-2 billion worth of investments in the power sector, and the
optical media bill which would strengthen protection of monopoly rights of
American transnational corporations (TNCs) over intellectual property and
information technology. Groundwork Mirroring
these private sector initiatives, the U.S. revitalized the U.S.-Philippines
Trade and Investment Council (TIC) after a decade of dormancy. The TIC is
essentially the official body responsible for doing groundwork for a bilateral
trade and investment agreement between the governments of the U.S. and the
Philippines. The TIC held two
meetings last year with the Philippine government (one at the ministerial level)
to address business and investment issues that corporate America deemed
prejudicial to their interests. A
third meeting was held last May (via videoconference) preceding President
Arroyo's state visit to Washington early this year. The two sides agreed on the
need for regular consultations under the existing Trade and Investment Framework
Agreement (TIFA) to resolve bilateral issues and to consider other steps to help
lay the groundwork for a free trade agreement, as envisioned by Bush's
Enterprise for ASEAN Initiative. For
the U.S. government, these "issues" refer to existing laws and
policies of the Philippine government that American business interests consider
as impediments to the freer entry of imports and investments from the U.S. These
include what remains of quantitative restrictions on the importation of rice;
what remains of restrictions on foreign ownership of land and strategic
industries such as telecommunications, mass media, public utilities, domestic
shipping, etc.; preferential treatment of local suppliers in government
purchases and infrastructure projects; restrictions on foreigners in practicing
the licensed professions such as law, medicine, accountancy, engineering, etc.;
and a host of other measures. Indeed,
the 2003 report of the U.S. Trade Representative on "Foreign Trade
Barriers" faced by U.S. industries abroad devotes no less than 11 pages on
the Philippines.4 The
U.S.-ASEAN Business Council was an important participant in each of these TIC
meetings, even offering to draw up a feasibility study for the prospective
U.S.-Philippine Free Trade Agreement (FTA). Through such an extensive and
intimate participation in the political process behind economic reforms, U.S.
monopoly capital is able to shape the contours of U.S.-Philippine "special
relations" for its own avaricious ends.
Bulatlat.com ================ 1
http://www.us-asean.org/ and <http://69.20.19.239/Aboutus/members.asp/> 2
Ibon Facts and Figures, Vol. 25, No. 15 & 16, 15 & 31 August 2002 3
Manila Bulletin, Sept. 17, 2003, "US Businessmen cite RP reforms, eye
liberalization" 4 http://www.ustr.gov/reports/2003.html/ We want to know what you think of this article.
|
|