Thus declared the labor sector even as they called on the government to defend local industries and local jobs against unfair trade.
Over 200 protesting workers from the Philippine Cement Workers’ Council (PCWC), National Confederation of Labor (NCL), Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL) and Association of Democratic Labor Organizations (ADLO) staged a protest rally Tuesday morning in front of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in Makati City. They burned a Taiwanese flag to dramatize their cause.
The workers lashed out at the Taiwanese government and TECO officials for causing the death of many local industries and the subsequent displacement of thousands of workers and farmers.
Philippine products from onions to cement, according to ADLO president Carlito Rallistan, are being blocked in the Taiwan market while its imports are "dumped uncontrollably in the local market," resulting in what he said is the loss of jobs in local industries affected by the flood of imports.
For its part, the PCWC registered its protest against the biggest cement importer in the country, the Taiwan Cement Corp. (TCC) which, it alleged, began "dumping excess cement" in the Philippines in 1999 through its 100 percent subsidiary, TCC Cement.
The PCWC cited records from the Department of Trade and Industry showing that TCC Cement brought in 7.2 million bags of cement in 1999 and 20.9 million bags in 2000.
"Because it is dumping cement here," PCWC secretary-general Samuel Eslava said, "TCC has unfairly displaced domestic cement and eaten up its market share at rapid rates in the distributorship level."
"Market shares of imported cement rose from 1.4 percent in 1998 to four percent in 1999, to 13.1 percent in 2000 and 21 percent as of September 2001, with Taiwan cement capturing 13 percent of the Philippine market," Eslava added.
As a result, Eslava said two Philippine companies, APO and Alsons, have to export the local product being displaced by imported cement to Taiwan.
But Taiwan, he said, quickly imposed a 45 percent tariff for five years on all Philippine cement even if it has only a negligible four percent share of the Taiwan market.
The Taiwanese government, he said, also overlooked the fact that the 15 other RP corporations making cement are not exporting their products to Taiwan.
"The intent is clear," said Eslava. "The Taiwanese want to control our market while they are closing theirs to us. This is patently unfair and we want Taiwan to know that we will fight it to the end."