JDV proposes RP-US free trade pact

Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. has proposed a Philippines-United States free trade agreement and a global anti-terrorism summit in separate meetings with a US senator and a group of American congressmen.

"We (the Philippines and the US) will have a free trade," De Venecia quoted Sen. Daniel Inouye as saying yesterday in ceremonies where the Speaker conferred upon the visiting official the Congressional Medal of Achievement, the highest decoration from his chamber.

Earlier, the Speaker met with a delegation from the US House of Representatives led by Rep. Henry Hyde, chairman of the foreign relations committee. The delegation included Reps. Dana Rohrabacher, Eni Faleomavaega, Melvin Watt, Jeff Flake and Daniel Coughlin.

De Venecia said President Arroyo made similar proposals on free trade and an anti-terrorism conference in meetings with the visiting US lawmakers.

He described Inouye’s commitment as a strong endorsement of his free trade proposal.

"We are about to sign an economic partnership agreement with Japan, but the Philippines, the United States’ ally in the Asia-Pacific for the longest time, does not have trade pact with the US," he told the senator from Hawaii.

He said it was time the two allies concluded a free trade agreement.

Inouye described the Philippines as the oldest US ally in the Asia-Pacific region and "a friend of America in good times and bad times."

He informed De Venecia that he has sponsored measures in the US Senate for Filipino war veterans.

"Qualitative steps have been taken to rectify the situation. The process is not finished, but it will (soon) be finished," he said.

The measures include bills providing American citizenship to Filipino World War II veterans and granting them health and disability compensation benefits.

De Venecia said Inouye also played a key role in the Philippine-US defense reform program and the peace process in Mindanao, and in raising financial assistance to the Philippines from $60 million five years ago to $230 million, or a total of $1.2 billion in the last five years.

He said the US senator is the country’s principal ally in allowing Mindanao tuna into the US market after being prejudiced by duty-free tuna from the Caribbean.

Those who attended yesterday’s ceremonies included former President Ramos, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, Deputy Speaker Raul del Mar, and Senators Richard Gordon and Ralph Recto.