Photo courtesy: PCO
Aghast by the total sell out of the Philippines to the United States based on published reports surrounding the trade agreement between Pres. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and US President Donald Trump, Senator Ping Lacson has proposed that the country should seriously consider looking for other trading partners.
Lacson pointed out that the 19% tariff on Philippine exports to the US and ZERO tariff on US goods entering the Philippines is definitely not a fair deal between decades-old friends and allies. He said it is an insult to Marcos. other trading partners.
For his part, Sen. J. V. Ejercito exclaimed, “Masyado tayong dehado. This is grossly disadvantageous to the Philippines”
The Presidential sister, Senator Imee, had this to say: “A mere 1% reduction in tariff rates for the Philippine goods, while US goods enjoy zero tariffs, certainly does not look like a win for the Philippines”. In a text message she described the entire show as “pathetic”.
For wanting to say something Sen. Tito Sotto, who had been taking a jab at Senate President Chiz Escudero, came out with his own assessment: “This is a most fruitful and productive visit by the President which carries with it direct benefits for our country”. I do not know how a one-sided agreement be fruitful. But then maybe he is trying to evoke laughter.
Indeed the lopsided deal makes not only President Marcos so miserable and weak but the Filipino nation as well. Gone are the days when a President Duterte stands face to face with a leader of the most powerful nation in the world and say “you son of a whxxre” and thereafter earned respect from other advance economies who rolled down the red carpet for his visit and get visited right in his spartan home in Davao City as well. Even Trump later made sure he attends the ASEAN summit in the Philippines and made friends with Duterte.
But as they say, them were the days. In a DTI memorandum circular which was leaked while Marcos was in Washington DC, it appears like, as it explicitly states, that Marcos was ready to submit to whatever wishes Trump will ask for since the Philippines cannot live without Uncle Sam. Pathetic indeed.
Senator Lacson’s suggestion to look for other trading partners could trigger trade realignments. It was on account of trade imbalances that BRICS plus six nations was born. Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa come together to promote economic and development programs among emerging economies and reduce dependence on western countries. BRICS has grown in numbers. Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Iran and Ethiopia are now members and growing.
Of the group, China is the big consumer market and in fact the biggest in the world that Trump had sought leverage with the country after engaging it in a a brief tariff war. Trump in fact plans a visit to China while our Marcos avoids it like a plague.
Aye there’s the rub and the irony of it all. The late President Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr. sent his wife, FL Imelda Marcos as his special envoy to China to establish diplomatic relations at the time when US President Nixon sent Henry Kissenger to meet with Chairman Mao to establish friendly relations in anticipation for the regime’s economic growth and development. Everything went well and rosy except that in the latter days multiple claims among neighboring countries of Spratly Islands surfaced with Philippines and China having a dispute over Scarborough when the late President Noynoy Aquino, for some reasons, pulled out the Philippine Coast Guard in the island thus virtually giving up our claim. There were tensions later since our fishermen were banned from fishing.
Only when Duterte was elected President did Philippines engage China in bilateral talks over the disputed islands that our fishermen were allowed to fish around the island again. China also opened its market for whatever goods the Philippines may trade. China had an avuncular space for the Philippines, it extended the country with cheap loans to fund its infrastructure projects and gifted it with bridges across the river Pasig. China too provided the Philippines with personal protective equipment and vaccines at the height of the pandemic when the US and London imposed an embargo on their PPEs and vaccines.
Then came BongBong Marcos. He forgot the diplomatic legacy of his father by cuddling close to US President Joe Biden, opened the Philippine territory for American bases and the rest is history.
