ISDS Case Map
Philippines
The conclusion of a Philippines-US free trade agreement (FTA) will drastically impact on the country's agriculture because it is labor intensive and employs large number of people, according to a recent paper published by De La Salle University experts.
Exporters are pressing the government to pursue bilateral free trade arrangements to enable them to benefit from liberalization instead of waiting until 2013 for developed countries to lift their subsidies on agricultural exports.
The reduction of tariffs on wide range of agricultural products as mandated by Executive Orders 485 and 487 under the China-ASEAN FTA would impact the Philippines' vegetable and fruit industries, a coalition of nongovernment organizations for the agriculture sector said.
THE Philippines and Japan are working double time to be able to firm up within this year their long-delayed economic pact aimed at easing trade restrictions between the two nations.
The Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) yesterday asked the Supreme Court to reconsider its decision allowing the government to take over Terminal 3 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) only after payment of an initial P3.002 billion to the Philippine International Air Terminals Co. (PIATCO) representing the proffered value of the facilities.
Japan has urged the Philippines to restart talks on the stalled negotiations of the bilateral Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) so they can conclude all negotiations within the month. The Philippines has remained non-committal until a case filed by civic groups with the Supreme Court, seeking a temporary restraining order to bar the Philippine government from concluding the bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Japan, is resolved.
The Japanese are keen on resolving contentious issues on the automotive sector under the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement within the month.
Japan said Saturday it had agreed to accelerate negotiations on separate free-trade pacts with Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines in meetings held ahead of the inaugural East Asia Summit.
Hyundai Motor Co. will put up a car-assembly plant in the Philippines after the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and South Korea forge a free-trade agreement, according to the Korean carmaker's sole distributor in Manila.
Philippine House Committees on globalization and trade will study 35 bilateral agreements the Philippines forged over the past decades with some countries.
