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Senator Ma. Consuelo "Jamby" Madrigal exposed this information at the launch of an anti-JPEPA movement known as No Deal! JPEPA, Movement against Unequal Economic Agreements at the University of the Philippines Diliman in Quezon City last Friday. In her five-minute speech, Madrigal urged activists to closely monitor pro-JPEPA pressure groups aggressively intensifying their campaign for Senate approval of the Japan-Philippine economic pact.
Big business groups who support JPEPA are pressuring the candidates to approve the economic pact because it works to their advantage at the expense of Filipino peoples' livelihood, jobs and the environment. They are willing to gamble and spend money for the presidential hopefuls just to ensure this pact is approved.
Environmentalists say the trade pact would allow Japan to export its toxic wastes to the Philippines; the agricultural sector says it will facilitate landgrabbing and conversions of land for production of export crops to Japan; fisherpeople argue that it will open Philippine waters to exploitation of Japanese factory ships looking for tuna and other marine-based products.
"Groups who will benefit from JPEPA are potential funders of the May 2010 elections. So you must apply pressure to those who will run for president in the next elections to defeat this unilateral move of the executive to violate the economic independence of the Filipino people," Madrigal told anti-JPEPA groups and personalities who attended the coalition's launch.
Madrigal lamented that after five Senate hearings, the government until now has failed to justify JPEPA. She said the Senate committee on foreign relations led by Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago will most likely recommend the rejection of the treaty, but pro-JPEPA senators might bypass the committee report and instead vote for the ratification of the agreement if they have enough numbers.
The opposition senator's revelation is nothing new in Philippine politics. In fact, it is part of a political system in which politicians seeking elective posts often get the bulk of their campaign funds from big business groups in exchange for loyalty and legislative action that would protect and immunize their businesses from accusations of malpractice or corrupt practices in the course of their business operations in the Philippines.
Big business associations, with their billions of pesos in profit, can make or unmake a president and vice-president, senators and congressmen. This political way of life has contributed to the system of institutionalized corruption and chronic bankruptcy of governance across the country.
One of the groups to accept Madrigal's challenge is the activist fisherfolk alliance Pamalakaya,
which opposes the trade pact on the grounds that Philippine fishermen and fish industry workers would lose out to Japanese fishing fleets and factory ships, which the treaty will allow to operate in Philippine waters.
The group immediately warned senators with presidential ambitions that they would face rejection by the Filipino people if they vote to ratify the controversial Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement. Pamalakaya National Chair Fernando Hicap, one of the conveners of the anti-JPEPA coalition, said the group is closely watching the political positioning of senators reportedly running for president less than three years from now.
"Their vote for JPEPA is a kiss of death. That's not a slogan. That's a concrete political warning to all politicians seeking the highest elective post in the land in 2010. We will campaign for their rejection if they insist on pushing this economic monster against the will and collective interest of 88 million Filipinos," the Pamalakaya leader stressed.
The fisherfolk leader pressed Senate President Manuel Villar and Senator Mar Roxas, two of the current leading presidential candidates, to state their true position on JPEPA. He also asked other probable presidential candidates what is their respective stand on JPEPA.
"After five Senate hearings, the government failed to convince the Filipino public about the merits of JPEPA. The senators' only option at this point is to bury this economic treaty six feet under," Hicap said.
Some Japanese social groups also oppose the lopsidedness of the agreement. Unlike their government, Japanese citizens do not want a second invasion of the Philippines, this time in the economic sphere.
Filipinos and Japanese groups opposed to the agreement are working hand-in-hand in campaigning against the JPEPA in the Philippines, Japan and elsewhere in the world. This will lead to a monumental historical victory in the very near future.
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(Gerry Albert Corpuz is a correspondent of Bulatlat.com, an alternative Philippine online news site. He is also currently, the head of the information department of Pamalakaya, a national federation of small fisherfolk organizations in the Philippines. His website is www.gerryalbertcorpuz.motime.com, and he can be contacted at themanager98@yahoo.com. ©copyright Gerry Albert Corpuz.)
