RP bucks second wave of trade liberalization

The Philippines is opposed to a second wave of trade liberalization and regional integration that could be far more intense than the ASEAN Free Trade Area-Common Effective Preferential Tariff (AFTA-CEPT) scheme, Trade and Industry Secretary Manuel Roxas II said yesterday.

The government, according to Roxas, is calling instead for a more deliberate pace that all member-countries could comfortably sustain.

"Liberalization is generally good, but some members might, more than others, readily benefit from being part of the bigger market," Roxas said.

At the same time, Roxas noted, "others might not be able to open up as quickly since the downside of liberalization more readily impacts them than the liberalization success story does."

"While the Philippines would like to contribute to the common good of ASEAN, we should not be forced to throw in more commitments than we can afford at the moment,"he added.

The proposal for further trade liberalization and ASEAN integration stemmed from the recommendation of international consulting firm McKinsey which conducted a study on competitiveness of critical ASEAN sectors.

Among the recommendation of the McKinsey study is to come up with a number of possible sectors like electronics, consumers goods and tourism which would be identified as strategic sectors and subjected to an intensive regional integration program.

The McKinsey study also recommends that non-tariff barriers should also be torn down and all kinds of facilitation should be provided for the identified sectors.

By doing so, the McKinsey study said this would allow ASEAN to become a more tightly integrated and unified market.