Ibon: RP Industry, Fisheries Endangered More
under Non-Agri WTO Trade Talks

IBON, a member of the local anti-WTO network Resist WTO! and the global coalition Our World Is Not For Sale , challenges the country's negotiators at the WTO ministerial to resist the further extension of trade liberalization into manufactured goods and fisheries and instead focus on finding meaningful ways to develop the country's manufacturing sector.

BY BULATLAT

Acceding to a proposal in the World Trade Organization (WTO) for greater market access for non-agricultural goods would only worsen the crisis of the local industrial sector, according to independent think-tank IBON Foundation.

Non-agricultural market access (NAMA) is an agreement for the binding and reduction of tariffs not just on manufactured products but also on commodities such as fish and fishery products (which are not under the scope of the Agreement on Agriculture). The NAMA is one of the items on the agenda of the WTO 6th Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong this December 13-18.

NAMA, coupled with other WTO agreements such as the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), Trade-Related Investment Measures (TRIMS) and Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), would worsen the by now epidemic exposure of the local economy to an onslaught of foreign manufactured imports and capital.

The Philippine manufacturing sector is already characterized by foreign domination of local industries; dependence on imported production inputs, leading to weak backward linkages; predominantly small and medium enterprises engaged in subcontracted small-scale production of light manufactures for export rather than for domestic consumption; vulnerability to global slowdowns, particularly those of the US, which is the country's top trade partner; and a low level of technology.

Opening the local economy further to an influx of imported manufactured goods under a NAMA agreement would only exacerbate this already dire situation and lead to further destruction of domestic industry. The share of manufacturing to gross domestic product has already fallen from 28 percent in 1976 to 24 percent in 2004.

Many Filipino small and medium-scale entrepreneurs are also expressing their concern over the harsh impact of trade and investment liberalization, which would benefit primarily the giant foreign corporations who have access to greater resources as well as market information and advanced technology. As of 2004, 60% of the manufacturing firms among the country's top 1,000 are foreign-owned transnational corporations (TNCs), which account for 73% of total gross revenues. More alarmingly, TNCs' dominance is more felt in the heavy manufacturing sector, which makes up the backbone of an industrialized national economy.

Just as bad would be the effect of NAMA on the country's small municipal fishermen, who fish for subsistence and for sale in local markets. The current export orientation of the fisheries sector would be exacerbated by NAMA and decimate the livelihood of small-scale fisherfolks in favor of commercial fisheries and export-oriented aquaculture. The share of municipal fisheries to total volume of fish production has fallen from 67% in 1950 to 29% in 2004, while the share of commercial fisheries has grown from 22% to 31% over the same period and that of aquaculture, from 12% to 40 percent.

IBON, a member of the local anti-WTO network Resist WTO! and the global coalition Our World Is Not For Sale , challenges the country's negotiators at the WTO ministerial to resist the further extension of trade liberalization into manufactured goods and fisheries and instead focus on finding meaningful ways to develop the country's manufacturing sector. Posted by Bulatlat

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