Japan ambassador welcomes general review of JPEPA

MANILA, Philippines –  Japanese Ambassador Makoto Katsura has welcomed calls for a general review of the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) but defended the trade agreement for its benefits to the Philippines.  

Katsura said that because of the agreement, Japanese investments in the country increased, and Philippine agricultural products gained access to Japanese market.

“We could start talking with each other for the general review. I think your government will start or has started studying and, of course, in Japan we have somebody. And some time this year, we can start talking to each other on these JPEPA issues,” Katsura said in a press conference at the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) last Friday.

Katsura said that since JPEPA was enforced, Japan’s foreign direct investments into the country in 2010 rose 58 percent, which also represents 58 percent of the foreign direct investments into the Philippines from around the world.

“And maybe Japanese investors were waiting for the entry into force of JPEPA so we’re very happy to see this very strong, powerful, positive developments after the entry in force of the JPEPA,” he said.

Katsura noted that Philippine agricultural products such as bananas and coconuts entered Japan easily because of tariff reduction. Because of this, the country’s banana export rose 24 percent, and coconut 36 percent.

“So this is a tangible result of the entry into force of JPEPA,” he said.

Administration lawmakers urged President Aquino to form a multisectoral body that would review and renegotiate provisions of the JPEPA because Japan supposedly failed to fulfill their part of the free trade agreement since it was enforced in December 2008.                                                          

Other countries in Southeast Asia which has a free trade deal with Japan also supposedly has better deals with the superpower nation.

The free trade agreement signed on Sept. 9, 2006 by former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and former Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi during the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) in Helsinki, Finland.                                     

It allows a liberal flow of goods, manpower, services, and capital between Japan and the Philippines, among these the deployment of Filipino nurses and caregivers to Japan. 

Katsura and Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo last Friday exchanged notes on the P21.4-billion Official Development Assistance (ODA) loan for the Road Upgrading and Preservation Project (RUPP).                                              

The loan will finance the improvement of arterial roads and strengthen the maintenance and management capability of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH). 

The signing ceremony was witnessed by officials from the Department of Finance (DOF), the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), the DPWH, and the Japanese embassy.

The loan was pledged at the first bilateral meeting between President Aquino and Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan in Hanoi, Vietnam on Oct. 29, 2010.                                            

The ODA has an interest rate of 1.4 percent per annum and a 25-year repayment period with a seven-year grace period.               

“The project is Japan’s first ODA loan project for the Philippines under the Aquino administration. It attests Japan’s continued commitment to supporting the Philippine government’s development efforts under the leadership of President Aquino,” Katsura said.

Japan has been the top provider of ODA loans in the country especially in infrastructure projects, including the 2,100-km “Philippine-Japan Friendship Highway” (Pan-Philippines Highway) stretching from Aparri in Cagayan Province to Davao and the 94-km “Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway” which connects the Subic Bay Freeport and Special Economic Zone in Zambales, the Clark Special Economic Zone in Pampanga, and the Central Techno Park in Tarlac.