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| Reference Material |
| Roxas justifies trade safeguards By Lawrence Agcaoili, Reporter May 9, 2002, Today The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) yesterday defended the protectionist stance of the Philippines in asserting that local industries would be able to hone their competitiveness through tariff protection and other safeguard measures imposed by the government on certain products. In a statement, Trade Secretary Manuel Roxas II said the Philippine government is caught in the difficult role of balancing its fight against poverty, the development of policies suitable for a world trading system, and the management of the concerns and sensitivities of the Filipino people. The DTI lamented that jobs to be generated under a liberalized economy are slow to appear and have in fact left many displaced workers without any source of income. This, according to him, has made it difficult to convince the Filipinos about the benefits of globalization since they equate a liberalized trading regime with job loss, higher prices, lower wages and greater competition. �While we have steadily deregulated and opened up our markets, we have also experienced sudden and large dislocations. Concurrent with our pursuit of an open and progressive-oriented economy is our acute awareness of the severe challenges that these measures can put on our people,� Roxas said. This was the message conveyed by Roxas to his counterparts in the Pacific Basin during the 33rd International General Membership Conference of the Pacific Basin Economic Council held the other day in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. �Globalization and free trade liberalization (are) a process that in p5ractice is not as smooth and homogenous in its effects as it may seem in theory. Allowances have to be made for the timing and pacing of each country, in order to ensure that everyone has a chance to stay on board,� he said���. ***** See also Tony Abaya�s columns on Mar Roxas on Free Trade, More on Free Trade and others. |