Sunday, October 12, 2008 Gov't defends passage of RP-Japan trade pact
MALACAÑANG twitted Saturday critics of the newly ratified Japan Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) for claiming it will expose nurses to discrimination.
Deputy presidential spokesman Anthony Golez Jr. challenged critics not to seek nursing jobs in Japan if they feel they would be discriminated.
"Our nurses have the option whether to accept that job or not. If Japan accepts only nursing aides, will I force myself to work there if I don't feel like it?" he said over government-run dzRB radio.
He added that the important is to see the "overall effect" of the JPEPA, which he insisted will be beneficial to the country.
The JPEPA, signed by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and former Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in September 2006, aims to facilitate and promote the free flow of goods, services, and capital between the Philippines and Japan by eliminating tariffs on 80 percent of Philippine exports. It is ratified by the Senate last week.
Its critics claimed that under the agreement, nurses who will go to Japan will not practice the profession immediately but become trainees for three years.
Fr. Edwin Corros of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) warned Filipino nurses on working in Japan.
"What is very clear is we will be abused again. Now, if you are a nurse and you're still thinking about going to Japan, I think you have to be cautioned or you have to be cautious about going there because you know exactly what's going to happen to you," he said.
According to Corros, the ratification of the JPEPA would only legalize the abuses against Filipino health workers.
CBCP public affairs officer Deogracias Iniguez echoed Corros saying that the JPEPA would be "detrimental" to the Filipino people.
Iniguez also questioned the economic pact's provisions on sovereignty issue, which allow foreigners to set up businesses in the Philippines, the entry of their products that are already made or produced locally, and the stringent requirements imposed by Japan when accepting health care workers.
He said the Senate should have studied the JPEPA thoroughly before ratifying it.
The prelate said the CBCP would monitor the implementation of the JPEPA. (JMR/FP/Sunnex)
