The USTR report
| C.R.O.S.S.R.O.A.D.S |
 |
| Jonathan De la Cruz |
The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), the Cabinet level agency in charge of promoting America’s trading arrangements in all aspects and at all levels worldwide, has identified corruption, piracy, preferential tariff on various goods and restrictive laws as the principal barriers to trade between the US and the Philippines. In the agency’s 2011 National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers which is the equivalent of the annual State Department Report on Human Rights, it noted that “corruption is a pervasive and long standing problem in the Philippines... and reports of corruption remain common... Foreign and domestic investors express concern over the propensity of Philippine courts and regulators to stray beyond matters of legal interpretation into policy making and about the lack of transparency in these processes. There are also reports of courts being influenced by bribery and improperly issuing temporary restraining orders to impede legitimate commerce.”
Left unattended, this very serious charge may well sound the death knell for our growth aspirations at least over this administration’s term considering the central role of the United States in global trade. Even on a bilateral basis, the US remains a principal contributor to our development efforts. Last year, the Philippines had a surplus of $609 million in goods traded with the US as we exported $8 billion which is up by 17.5 percent. from 2009 while importing $7.4 billion over the same period. On the other hand, sales of services by majority owned US affiliates in the Philippines in 2008 stood at $2.6 billion while majority owned Philippine companies sold only $36 million in the United States. In terms of foreign direct investments (FDI), the US stock stood at $5.8 bllion in 2009 which is up by $200 million from the $5.6 billion in 2008. Which is why the fight against graft and corruption at all levels and in all forms, in and out of government, must be pursued in as rigourous and vigorous a manner as possible. But always with equity and fairness not selectively as has been practiced in the past and seems to be the emerging route even under the P-Noy administration
It is well and good for P-Noy and his colleagues to lash out at every turn against the alleged corrupt and abusive ways of the previous administration. But it is utterly disgusting to do so on a selective, hyperbolic manner. For instance, Palace subalterns have been haranguing the previous regime for such cases as the “fertilizer scam,” the aborted NBN-ZTE deal and the Mega Pacific contract but have been eerily silent as far as the “Peace Bonds,” the Slex-Star contracts, the IPPs and power industry privatization deals, airport and port contracts, the IT services at the LTO, DFA and LRA and even the multple contracts involving the LRT/MRT3 operations, most if not all of which have found “advocates” among key P-Noy officials and close associates..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110404com4.html
0 comments
Post a Comment