Sunday, December 02, 2007 Teves hits WTO By Edmund B. Sestoso
NEGROS Oriental 3rd District Representative Henry Pryde Teves hits top officials of the World Trade Organization (WTO) for the alleged "unfair business practices" it had entered together with the Third World countries including the Philippines.
Teves, who is recuperating from the congress bomb blast, said he will be working towards having fair business relations with the WTO governing bodies.
Teves is presently the Vice chairman on the Special WTO Commission. He is also the Vice Chairman of the House Special Committee on Aquaculture and Fisheries and a member of the Committees on Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources. He is also with the Committees on Rural Development and on the Information and Communication Technology.
The WTO's "unfairness" in its dealings with third world countries is reflected on how they treat sugar producers, Teves said.
He said that in other countries, millers are allowed to mill their own raw sugarcane in order to protect their sugar products.
Teves stressed that in the Philippines, the WTO seems to dictate on the millers that they should allow foreign businessmen to mill their sugar products.
When it comes to free trade, Teves also believe it can cause problems once the country fails to withstand the rigors of competition among similar products.
When products similar to those the country is producing are dumped in the Philippines, it can cause local products to be left out due to factors like high production cost and quality.
Teves said the government should protect the country's products first before entering into a "slaughtering type" of business competition in the world market.
Teves hopes that as he sits in the WTO commission, he will be able to work in favor of the millions of Filipino workers.
