ISDS Case Map
Philippines
At least 10 Japanese cyclists will participate in a "Peace Cycle" in Metro Manila that started Tuesday, joining local militant groups in opposing the ratification of the controversial Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA).
Japanese pastors joined the calls echoed by the National Churches of the Philippines to reject the controversial Japan-Philippine Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA)
The United States remains lukewarm to the Philippines' push for a free trade agreement. While the US is seeking Philippine support in the WTO talks, the Philippines is asking the US government to move forward on an FTA or at least craft a new trade and investment framework agreement.
The proposal for a “conditional concurrence” of the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) only means that as it stands, the treaty violates the Philippines Constitution, a coalition against the agreement said Friday.
Greenpeace says Japan is pursuing trade agreements with Southeast Asian nations “to reopen the region to toxic waste trafficking” citing an August 2006 contract between the Japanese government and Shinko Research Co. Ltd. “to assess the use of bilateral agreements 'for bidirectional movement of toxic wastes between Japan and Asian countries.'”
Anti-JPEPA groups criticized Philippine Senator Mar Roxas' statement that he will advocate ratification of the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement as tantamount to "conditioning the public's mind that the controversial JPEPA will be ratified by the Senate very soon."
The passage of the controversial Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) is most likely a lost cause, said Philippine Senator Pia Cayetano, chair of the Senate committee on environment. She said even Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago, chair of the Senate committee on finance, said JPEPA "is not going to make it".
A militant fisherfolk group opposed to the ratification of the controversial Japan-Philippine Economic Partnership Agreement described as mere “grease money” the US$173 million loan granted to the Philippines by the Japanese government through the Japan Bank for International Cooperation.
Examines JPEPA's implications on women's productive and social reproductive work, and uses the framework of international care chain/care drain in analyzing the migration of Filipina health professionals abroad.
The Philippine government stands to lose P3 billion to P4 billion in revenues in the first year alone of the implementation of the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement, estimates by the Department of Finance showed.
