By Lester Cavestany, Contributor
INQUIRER.net
FILIPINO patriots went for a swim Monday morning, the 21st of April, to cool down and relax in the crystal clear waters of Manila Bay. Well, not exactly! They dived into the swim-at-your-own-risk waters of Manila Bay to protest against the ratification of the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA). Pro-JPEPA senators will be feeling the heat from Filipinos who believe that the government has once again outdone itself when it comes to pimping our motherland to other countries.
According to the swimmers who braved the waters of Manila Bay, the treaty will allow large and high-tech Japanese fishing vessels to sweep our waters and get all the fish they want. But the government says that we don’t have to worry about any shortage in fish supply. Keep in mind that this is the same government who’s also telling us not to worry about the shortage in rice supply. So I guess it’s okay for Japan to catch all the fish they want because our government says it’s alright.
Greenpeace has also protested against JPEPA saying that it will allow Japan to ship toxic waste to the Philippines. “It’s okay,” the Philippine government says, “we don’t have to revise the treaty because ‘notes’ have already been exchanged between Philippine Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo and Japan Foreign Minister Taro Aso.” They now have a “gentleman’s agreement” that toxic waste will not be dumped in our country. I would like to believe the foreign ministers and I am sure they are men of their words. But the thing is, I can’t forget what happened in August 1999 when toxic waste from Japan was found in 92 (yes, 92!) 40-foot container vans. They were marked as recyclables but they contained used diapers, used syringes, incinerator ash, radioactive waste, and other disgusting things we should never speak of again.
If you still insist that it’s okay to be the trash can of a rich country because they will help our economy by providing jobs and by allowing our exports to enter their country with no tax, then you may join the ranks of our Politicos In Mama Pilipina, PIMPs for short! Join them as they try to convince the nation that JPEPA is definitely a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Join them as they say: “Let’s take in all of Japan’s toxic waste and let’s give all our fish to Japan so that they will give us jobs and economic aid.”
O Inang Bayan, patawarin mo po kami.
Also posted in www.lestercavestany.com
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April 27th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
In any deal , it’s the bigger and stronger that gets the better end. We have to remember the only prime export we have is educated and trainable labor but Japan won’t accept unlimited labor export to their country. The best deal should be patterned after the European Community in which cheap labor countries like poland etc can basically go to work in countries like Germany or Italy .
April 26th, 2008 at 6:34 pm
Hi Lester,
Let me first thank you for this wonderful article. Our sincerest thanks for calling us patriots against Jpepa. Yes, our group Pamalakaya together with No Deal Jpepa sponsored that swim protest against Jpepa. Our position is non-negotiable and we call for the outright rejection of this one-sided and exploitative economic agreement.
Jpepa is not an agreement. In reality it is an imposition of an imperial power, specifically Japan, the world’s no.2 economic power and the second largest exploiting nation across the globe.
Under Jpepa everything is served in silver platter to Japanese transnational corporations, further reducing this country into a perpetual modern-day slaves of super powers like the US, Japan and the European Union.
In the fisheries sector, Jpepa will allow the entry of Japanese factory ships. A 3,000 single ton factory ship, according to industry standard is capable of harvesting 150 metric tons of tuna per day or 50,000 metric tons of tuna per year.
A single factory ship could earn as much as $ 200 million in year operation. If they employ 10 factory ships per year, that would be tantamount to 500,000 metric tons of tuna and other fish species or roughly $ 2 billion US in total windfall.
In exchange for this whopping profit, is the massive depletion of tuna stocks in the country and the all-out destruction of Philippine marine environment.
We hope to hear more people like you to add their voice to counter the all-out propaganda of the government and Jpepa apologists and rally the people and defend the country’s sovereignty and patrimony.
April 24th, 2008 at 5:36 pm
Its easy to dismiss the JPEPA once you hear of stories of how Japan would dump toxic wastes anew in our country and siphon off all our fishes using their hi tech vessels. It really hurts our pride as a nation and its so easy to get emotional over it.
But rather than totally junk it, i feel that as ordinary citizen like me should really know the provisions fair and square–about what the government has done recently to amend some of the loopholes (they supposedly did right?). I hope somebody would release those to the public and educate the rest of us, about the pros and cons. Then people like me who wish to know more can judge better.
Baka kasi mamaya, magsisi nanaman tayo in the future. Kaya tayo naiiwan dito sa region na ‘to kasi lahat na lang may kumokontra, then debates and arguements ensue and some politicians and even activists just use this to get into the limelight, then what normally happens is it just drags until what could have been a fairly good deal slips out of our hands.
April 24th, 2008 at 8:57 am
Thats ok. It will solve our spatial attrition due to population growth. Hopefully many will die young. That will also give us more job opportunity to scavenge waste material. The fish? We cant catch them all anyway. We dont know how except by explosives. We are dregs and we only deserve the dregs of the world.
April 24th, 2008 at 8:34 am
The JPEPA is basically a trade and economic bilateral agreement. At a glance, the issues raised by the writer appear valid except they are given with apprehension impacting only on the negative aspects of the proposed treaty but to be fair, the writer should have also disclosed the positive aspects too so that the readers will have a better understanding of the pros and cons of the issues.
The same trade agreement has been done by Japan with Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia. It is not being fair if nothing is said about the measures in place that will protect the country from abuses and excesses in the implementation of the treaty. Case in point is the toxic waste shipped from Japan in 1992 which the writer noted. Innocently marked as recyclables, the shipment was inspected on arrival and found to be toxic in violation of the previous agreement, and immediately the container was shipped back to Japan. The fact that this happened shows the authorities are doing their job in preventing its repetition.
The Senate has determined and laid down all the conditions that will safeguard the country’s interests against dumping of toxic waste and the depletion of the country’s resources and marine ecosystem etc., to insure the country will not be in the losing end of the agreement. This is enough protective measures that will prevent the country from dangerous exploitation. The JPEPA should be ratified.