Senator Ma. Consuelo “Jamby” Madrigal said last week that business interests who will benefit from the controversial Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) are lobbying senators who are presidential hopefuls in the 2010 national elections to ratify the one-sided treaty.
BY GERRY ALBERT CORPUZ
Bulatlat
Vol. VII, No. 40, November 11-17-2007
Senator Ma. Consuelo “Jamby” Madrigal said last week that business interests who will benefit from the controversial Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) are lobbying senators who are presidential hopefuls in the 2010 national elections to ratify the one-sided treaty.
The anti-JPEPA lawmaker came out with this expose’ at the launching of No Deal! JPEPA, Movement against Unequal Economic Agreements at the Claro M. Recto Hall, UP Diliman in Quezon City last Nov. 9.
Delivering a five-minute solidarity message to the public launching of the anti-JPEPA, anti- unequal economic pact coalition, Sen. Madrigal urged those present to closely monitor pro-JPEPA pressure groups which are aggressively intensifying their campaign for the Senate to ratify the Japan-RP economic pact.
“Groups who will benefit from JPEPA are potential funders for the May 2010 elections. So, you must apply pressure to those who will run for president in the next elections to defeat this unilateral move of the executive to violate the economic independence of the Filipino people,” Madrigal told anti-JPEPA groups and personalities who attended the coalition’s launching.
Madrigal lamented that after five Senate hearings, the government until now has failed to justify JPEPA. She said the Senate committee on foreign relations led by Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago will most likely recommend the rejection of the treaty, but pro-JPEPA senators might bypass the committee report and instead vote for the ratification of the agreement if they have enough numbers.
Accepting the challenge of Sen. Madrigal is the left-leaning fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya or National Unity of Fisherfolk Movements in the Philippines), warning senators with presidential ambitions in 2010 that they would face rejection of the Filipino people if they vote for the ratification of the controversial Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement.
Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap, also one of the convenors of the broad anti-JPEPA coalition No Deal! JPEPA, Movement against Unequal Economic Agreements said his group is closely watching the political positioning of senators reportedly running for president less than three years from now.
“Their vote for JPEPA is a kiss of death. That’s not a slogan. That’s a concrete political warning to all politicians seeking the highest elective post in the land in 2010. We will campaign for their rejection if they insist in pushing this economic monster against the will and collective interest of 88 million Filipinos,” the Pamalakaya leader.
Hicap urged Senate President Manuel Villar and Senator Mar Roxas, two of the current leading presidential candidates to state their true position on JPEPA. The Pamalakaya leader also asked other probable presidential candidates what is their respective stand on JPEPA.
“Let us all be aboveboard here. We cannot play the usual merry-go-round guessing game. After five Senate hearings, the government failed to convince the Filipino public about the merits of JPEPA. The senators’ only option at this point is to bury this economic treaty six feet under,” he added.
Pamalakaya agreed with opposition Senator Jamby Madrigal that certain pro-JPEPA elements in the business sector are engaged in active lobby work, pressuring the presidentiables and other re-electionist senators to approve the modern-day parity rights agreement in favor of the Japanese owned transnational corporations.
“Potential funders of the May 2010 presidential elections, and who will benefit from JPEPA, are now making their presence felt in covertly and overtly. Big business groups obsessed with the Japan-RP trade pact have joined Malacañang in campaigning for the ratification because the present administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is suffering from chronic crisis of extreme credibility,” the group said.
