Peoples’ Forum 2015: ‘APEC not good for Filipino masses’

Janica Mae Regalo, Firas Abboud

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Peoples’ Forum 2015: ‘APEC not good for Filipino masses’
Representatives from the fields of economics, trade and industry, law and academe join DLSU students in analyzing the real impacts of APEC in the Philippine economy

MANILA, Philippines – Will Filipinos benefit from the APEC Summit?

Countering the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, the Peoples’ Forum on APEC 2015 (PFA 2015) organized an in-depth discussion on APEC’s negative implications at the De La Salle University (DLSU) on October 30, 2015.

Representative voices from the fields of economics, trade and industry, law and academe joined DLSU students in the forum entitled “Two decades of APEC: Anong Epek?”

The problem with APEC

APEC as an international organization with a long-term goal of fostering free trade in Asia-Pacific region. Similar to other free trade international blocs, AFTA (ASEAN Free Trade Area), TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership), and RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership), APEC encourages 21st century economic policies to its country-members. 

The Philippines has been a member of APEC since it was founded in 1989. The organization has grown from 12 to now 21 member economies.

Since not all APEC members are equal in terms of economics and culture, researcher Erick Javier emphasized how the competitions inside the organization can slow down developing countries’ – such as the Philippines – economic growth.

This was strongly affirmed by Joseph Purugganan, a researcher-activist from the Focus of the Global South, “We assert that it (APEC) will only lead to inequality.”

As elaborated by Purugganan, the FTA models used by APEC forum features Asia in the central position. This is mainly because of the region’s high growth potential, market expansions, dense population and abundance in raw materials. As a result, matters on intellectual property rights and regulatory coherence have become the most contentious issues of APEC as a new-age Free Trade Agreement (FTA).

How APEC affects Filipinos

Being a business in nature, APEC is expected to make winners and losers in the process. Winners in the new-age FTA can expect increased job opportunities, higher salaries and upgraded lifestyles. While for losers, bankruptcy of small companies and slow growth of economy await.

Josua Mata, the Secretary-General of SENTRO, a network of trade unions in the Philippines, highlighted the studies conducted by the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) showing the slow economic growth of the country since 1990s.

APEC’s neo-liberal economic policies includes privatization, contractualization and public-private agreements – all of which have been detrimental to the Filipino working class masses.

Purugganan reiterated, “APEC is good for businesses. What we are arguing (is that) APEC is not good for the rest of us.”

The bigger picture

Though recent statistics present the rosy Philippine economy, Max de Mesa, chairperson of the Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA), called for a closer look at the bigger picture – the human rights violations caused by the decade-long FTAs.

Citing the case of the Kentex factory workers, de Mesa stressed, “Zero strike does not mean zero human rights violation.” He further appealed that people must value human dignity over statistics.

The “non-binding” characteristic of APEC was also debated upon: being non-binding, APEC does not oblige member-economies to comply with legal agreements.

However, the panelists explained the play of power in new-age FTAs. Though non-binding, super economies like the US, Japan and China can influentially facilitate economic agendas.

Mata closed the forum, saying, “At the end of the day, APEC is all about power. Economics is a reflection of power.” – Rappler.com

Janica Mae Regalo, a 4th year Mass Communications student at San Pablo Colleges, and Firas Abboud, a 4th year Technical Communication student at Mapua Institute of Technology, are Rappler interns. 

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