Farmers group wants EO on tariff cuts recalled

The Philippine Peasant Institute (PPI) is asking for the recall of an executive order which reduced the tariff on all products covered under the Common Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT) scheme of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Free Trade Area (AFTA) to zero percent from 60 percent.

"There is no way that our small farmers and agricultural stakeholders can survive a fully liberalized market. It exposes our local farmers to competition from producers in other countries that enjoy higher levels of productivity because they are better supported by their governments," said Riza Bernabe, director of the agriculture trade center of the PPI, a moderate farmers’ organization.

Bernabe cited the case of sugar where the Philippines’ yield of 4.93 metric tons (MT) per hectare trails behind Indonesia’s and Thailand’s output of 5.76 MT and 6.71 MT per hectare, respectively.

"Farmers view EO 268 as a turnaround from government’s earlier pronouncements that it will not commit to further opening up markets. These announcements were made after the collapse of the WTO ministerial meeting in Cancun Mexico. We are disappointed. We feel that government misled us and they are now speeding up liberalization," said Bernabe.

President Arroyo signed EO 268 last Jan. 9 as part of government’s commitment under the AFTA-CEPT scheme.

This in effect, lifted the tariff rates on agricultural commodities of the Philippines, Laos, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Cambodia, Myanmar, Malaysia and Vietnam.

Bernabe said farmers are also concerned about the 50 percent tariff rate prescribed for rice.

"Government should continue its policy of maintaining quantitative restrictions (QR) on rice. We are concerned that the EO’s prescribed tariff rate of 50 percent for rice is a prelude to Malacanang’ s decision to allow the liberalization of the market for rice. It is also indicative of the low level of protection the President is planning to provide small rice farmers," she added.

Bernabe said EO 268 comes at a time when farmers groups, particularly livestock growers and vegetable growers, are reeling from huge losses brought about by the massive influx of cheaper imports from other countries.

As a regional trading body, the AFTA-CEPT aims to lift all trade barriers among member-countries. In 2003, its goal to create a single market gained ground with the adoption of the ASEAN Harmonized Tariff Nomenclature (AHTN).

The eight-digit AHTN replaced the previous six-digit tariff nomenclature and this was based on the harmonized commodity description and coding system of the World Customs Organization. This will harmonize the classification of goods tracked within AFTA and unify ASEAN as a market.