Free but fair trade

One strategic industry that could anchor the country’s post-pandemic recovery efforts is the domestic petrochemicals sector.

The Board of Investments explained that because of its strong linkages upstream, midstream, and downstream, the sector provides robust multiplier effects on other main sectors of the economy such as construction, electronics and computer, medical services, transportation and automotive, packaging, education, telecommunications, power and water distribution, agriculture and fishery, and furniture, among others.

According to the Association of Petrochemical Manufacturers of the Philippines (APMP), the local petrochemical industry has built over $3 billion in state-of-the-art petrochemical plants and contributes P2.5 billion in annual tax remittances while directly employing over 5,000 Filipinos.

Unfortunately, though considered a backbone of many industrial sectors, the local petrochemical industry’s growth, which the government has been supporting, is being hindered by a surge in imports of key raw materials, in particular high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE).

Used in consumer applications such as packaging for food and beverage, personal care, hygiene and sanitation products, furniture and houseware, as well as for industrial applications such as pipes, pallets, crates, drums, ropes and nets, data from the Bureau of Customs show a 274 percent growth in imported HDPE between 2015 and 2019. The top five major sources of HDPE were Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Saudi Arabia and the United States.

Similarly, the volume of imported LLDPE, another major petrochemical product used for agricultural films and for flexible and industrial packaging, imports grew 51 percent from 2015 to 2019. Significant volumes come from ASEAN neighbors Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia, as well as from Middle Eastern countries Qatar and Saudi Arabia, and from 2018 onwards, also the United States.

This has led JG Summit Petrochemical Corp. (JGSPC) to raise a red flag, as a member of the APMP, and file a safeguard measures petition with the Department of Trade and Industry to stop the seemingly unabated importation of HDPE and LLDPE from other countries.

JGSPC is currently the only operating local producer of HDPE and LLDPE resins and is presently aiming to add capacity, as well as new products and new technologies in its portfolio.

Under the Safeguard Measures Act, the government can temporarily restrict imports once it is established that imports are taking place in such increased quantities as to cause or threaten to cause serious injury to the domestic industry that produces like or directly competitive products.

Industry leaders have warned that if the unabated entry of imported HDPE and LLDPE -- which are consistently being sold at much lower prices -- is not addressed,the sizeable contribution that the petrochemical industry brings will ultimately be imperiled. APMP was aiming to achieve self-sufficiency in strategic resin supply by increasing the petrochemical sector’s contribution to total Philippine GDP to P215 billion by 2025.

Industry players likewise stressed that the situation has made it increasingly difficult to get financing for their modernization, expansion, and operational requirements. Worse, the industry is unable to increase wages to global standards, making it more difficult to hold on to important technical personnel such as engineers and chemists.

The current world regime of free trade, fortunately, requires fair trade practices from all players. Having a strong domestic petrochemical industry will help make the country less reliant on imports and attain self-sufficiency for essential PE raw materials. But the industry’s future largely depends on government being able to provide a level playing field.

Fitness is essential

For many of us, going to the gym is our way of staying fit. But why is the fitness industry in the country considered recreation? And why are gyms still not allowed to reopen under a heightened general community quarantine (GCQ) status when other personal service businesses, some of which are actually non-essential like salons and dine-in restaurants, are now being allowed to operate? Is the threat of spreading the virus greater inside gyms than inside restaurants where people remove their masks while eating?

Why does the IATF consider going to the salon essential and going to the gym recreational?

As pointed out by Gold’s Gym (Philippines) CEO Mylene Mendoza-Dayrit, exercise is already an accepted modality of preventive medicine.

She noted that while the COVID-19 pandemic is a great concern for the government, there are actually emerging pandemics that have worsened such as obesity and mental health, in particular stress and depression. Many of their members, she said, have won against obesity, depression and lifestyle diseases and these are life-changing transformations that cannot be lumped into the recreational category.

During the pandemic, the largest fitness chains, namely, Anytime Fitness, Celebrity Fitness, Fitness First, Gold’s Gym, Slimmer’s World, and UFC Gym have formed the Philippine Fitness Alliance. What’s notable is the fact that the gyms belonging to the alliance have more than 600,000 member check-ins in the few months that they were allowed to open since the quarantines started last year, but have had zero club transmissions.

Ryan Cheal, chief operating officer of Anytime Fitness Asia, maintains that fitness is essential and contributes to the improvement of our overall immune system. The gym, he said, is a reasonably safe place for members as long as it strictly adheres to the safety protocols and guidelines.

He said that recent data from New South Wales, Australia showed that out of 7.31 million check-ins across 546 gyms, there has been no reported cases.

For his part, Mark Ellis, country manager of Evolution Wellness (Fitness First and Celebrity Fitness), said recent study by Glasgow Caledonian University showed that a person who is active is 50 percent more likely to have higher antibodies after a vaccine, compared to someone who is inactive.

He urged government and the IATF to allow fitness centers to reopen their doors to safe workouts as he referred to studies from around the world which demonstrate that with the right precautions and protocols in place, attending a gym can be regarded as relatively low-risk.

Meanwhile, Slimmers World president Desiree Moy adds that fitness centers have proper health protocols installed, with stringent sanitation and aseptic procedures. “It is a controlled environment where there is proper supervision and monitoring of exercise activity.  Establishments like groceries, hospitals, and gyms can only provide maximum protection by setting up strict health protocols, but the bottomline is that one’s safely is always dependent on the person’s actions. The key is to be cautious and constant in practicing proper hand wash, maintaining a safe distance, and wearing of masks wherever we go and whatever we do,” she said.

Dayrit of Golds Gym also emphasized that if the government really insists that the fitness industry is a public threat, then it should be given support or concessions as a distressed industry especially since thousands of industry workers have already lost their jobs.

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