Salonga, Guingona join group challenging validity of Jpepa

By Benjamin B. Pulta

12/05/2008

Former Senate President Jovito Salonga and former Vice President Teofisto Guingona Jr. have joined yet another group of petitioners challenging the constitutionality of the controversial Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (Jpepa).

In a 60-page petition, Salonga and Guingona joined the Fair Trade Alliance, Automotive Industry Workers Alliance (AIWA) as well as lawmakers Lorenzo Tanada III, Del de Guzman, Alfonso Umali and Carlos Padilla in asking the high court for a restraining order against the implementation of the controversial pact.

The petitioners also sought the setting of oral arguments for the case.

Among other things, the petitioners said the Jpepa was passed in grave abuse of discretion since “there was no effective and meaningful disclosure and consultation undertaken by the government in violation of the right to information and due process.”

They also claimed “by legalizing the entry of used four welded motor vehicles into the Philippines, the Jpepa is in clear violation of Executive Order 156 of 2002 providing for a comprehensive industrial policy and program for the auto industry.”

“It will be seen that what are assailed in the instant petition are not only unconstitutional provisions of the Jpepa itself but also the ratification of the Jpepa by the President and concurrence thereto by the Senate with grave abuse of discretion,” they said, adding “the Jpepa cannot be implemented without first determining its consitutionality.”

They also claimed Jpepa encroaches on the power of the legislature to enact measures, violates the Constitution by overriding specific national laws that impose nationality requirements and “violate the constitutional mandate that domestic enterprises must be protected against unfair foreign competition and trade practices.”

Last October nine civil rights and environment protection groups also petitioned the SC for a restraining order to stop the implementation of Jpepa, reiterating claims that the pact will open the country to the entry of hazardous materials from Japan.

In that 54-page petition for certiorari to the SC en banc, the groups that include the party-list group Akbayan Citizens’ Action Party, said “a temporary restraining order must be issued to prevent grave and irreparable injury to the Filipino people.”

Named respondents were upper chamber lawmakers who cast a vote of concurrence for the Jpepa, namely, Senate President Manuel Villar Jr., Senators Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Manuel “Mar” Roxas II, Edgardo Angara, Rodolfo Biazon, Alan Peter Cayetano, Jinggoy Estrada, Juan Ponce Enrile, Richard Gordon, Gregorio Honasan, Panfilo Lacson, Manuel Lapid, Loren Legarda, Francis Pangilinan, Ramon Revilla Jr. and Juan Miguel Zubiri.

Also named in the petition were the Cabinet officials in charge of the implementation of the pact, namely, the secretaries of trade and industry, foreign affairs, executive secretary, finance and the commissioner of Bureau of Customs.

Last August, the SC en banc dismissed a suit urging the disclosure of the details of Jpepa.

In the latest suit, the high court is being asked for the senators to “be prevented from transmitting the resolution of concurrence to the Executive branch for the latter to perform the final acts to make the treaty final and binding.”

The petitioners said the intention to engage in free trade of all kinds of waste is confirmed by the tariff schedule of the Jpepa.

The tariff schedule eliminates Customs duties and other kinds of charges on all waste products, including those that are considered hazardous waste under the Basel Convention and are thus prohibited from being traded: Ash and residues containing arsenic, mercury, thallium or their mixtures; ash and residues from the incineration of municipal waste; waste pharmaceuticals; municipal waste; sewage sludge; clinical waste; waste organic solvents; waste containing organic constituents, and waste of metal pickling liquors, hydraulic fluids and anti-freeze fluids.

Such tariff elimination is to take place immediately upon entry into force of the Jpepa.

“This elimination of tariffs creates the vital economic incentive and market condition will drive the importation of wastes from Japan. Moreover, it creates binding legal obligations: The zero-rating of waste products under the Jpepa creates an obligation on the part of the Philippines to allow importation from Japan at rates no higher than those designated in the tariff schedule,” the petitioners said.

They added “this zero ‘Customs duties’ — rating necessarily creates a prima facie presumption that these are permitted importations. Nowhere in the Jpepa — whether in the reference notes to the tariff schedule or in any of the reservations — is there any specific reference to the Basel Convention and other relevant Philippine laws that impose restrictions and/or qualifications on the importation of waste.”

The groups said the absence of references to treaty and statutory commitments to protect health and the environment “is made even more conspicuous by the fact that under the Jpepa, the Philippines has committed not to introduce or maintain non-tariff measures on imports from Japan” and to examine the possibility of amending or repealing laws and regulations that pertain to or affect the implementation and operation of the Jpepa.

This legalization of indiscriminate, free trade in toxic and hazardous wastes under the Jpepa is a direct violation of the constitutional duty of the Philippine government to protect and promote the Filipino people’s right to health and right to a balanced and healthful ecology and the country’s international commitments, the petitioners said.

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