Tuesday, November 06, 2007 Militants rally versus trade pact with Japan By Ben O. Tesiorna
MILITANT group Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) and the No Deal! Movement against Unequal Economic Agreements held a protest rally in Davao City Monday against the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA).
The protest was held in time for the Senate committee on foreign affairs' submission of its report on Jpepa in the plenary Monday.
Celso Pojas, regional spokesperson of KMP Southern Mindanao, said more farmers will be denied of their right to own and till a land if the trade treaty is ratified, saying "it gives license to massive land-use conversion towards mono-crop plantations of multinational corporations."
"The Arroyo administration has already targeted two million hectares to increase the landholdings controlled by foreign agro-corporations like AJMR-Sumitomo, Dole Philippines, Tagum Development Corporation (Tadeco), and del Monte," he claimed.
He said that Philippines, being Japan's largest source of banana (58 percent of Japan's total fruit exports), the Jpepa will also definitely increase the use of hazardous pesticides and expansion of banana plantations to watershed and forested areas.
Pojas said the peasant and agricultural workers will also suffer even more from contract growing arrangements with multinational agri-business corporations.
"Due to lack of genuine agrarian reform, backward agriculture, lack of government subsidy, and high quality standard of Japan for exportable agricultural products, more peasants and agricultural workers will suffer great losses from contract growing. Massive contract growing is now also being used by big plantation corporations to evade from the requirements of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Environment Clearance Certificate (ECC) from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)," he said.
The protesters called for the rejection of the treaty, which they claimed is grossly lopsided in favor of Japan.
"The provisions of JPEPA will further reinforce the unequal economic relations between countries by removing the tariffs for all Philippine products while Japan will continue to protect its own products and by allowing Japanese corporations to plunder our country's rich agro-biodiversity and marine and coastal resources such as the tuna reserves and important aquatic species in Mindanao, particularly in Saranggani, Sulu and Moro Gulf," Pojas said.
The peasant group instead called for alternative genuine agrarian reform law in Congress, through the initiative of progressive party-list groups Anakpawis, Bayan Muna, and Gabriela, that will truly serves the interests of the peasantry. (With Press release)
