Senate opposition not solid behind JPEPA - Pimentel

By Ronron
February 3, 2008

The opposition bloc in the Philippine Senate, which is tasked to act on a treaty with foreign governments, will not be voting unanimously against or for the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA).

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel, Jr. said in a statement Sunday that he will be evaluating the draft report on the JPEPA by the Senate Committees on Foreign Relations and on Trade and Commerce by himself, without being influenced by his fellow opposition lawmakers.

“The eight-opposition group in the Senate will not vote as a bloc on the (JPEPA)… (My) vote on the bilateral treaty will be based on how the government addresses and resolves three main concerns,” Pimentel said.

The two Senate committees are still finalizing the draft report on the JPEPA for signing by committee members, and later, for plenary deliberations and voting.

Under the Constitution, two-thirds of the 23-member Philippine Senate should concur with a treaty before it is ratified and becomes effective.

Aside from Pimentel, the other members of the so-called Solid Minority Bloc in the Upper House are Senators Rodolfo Biazon, Panfilo Lacson, Loren Legarda, Jamby Madrigal, Mar Roxas, Benigno Aquino III, and Antonio Trillanes.

Pimentel said his particular interests on the JPEPA are the issues over the alleged export and dumping of toxic wastes in the country; if Japanese investors will be given preferential treatment in doing business in the country to the disadvantage of Filipinos, including the right of Japanese fishing vessels and factory ships to operate within its 200-mile exclusive economic zone; and, if Filipino nurses and caregivers will be treated as health professionals and not as trainees.

But on the first issue, Pimentel already saw comfort in the fact that a protocol had earlier been signed by the Japanese and Philippine governments, prohibiting the export or transfer of toxic waste from one country.

“It will assuage our concerns that there may be all kinds of toxic wastes entering the Philippines,” he said./DMS