Facing the new year with ASEAN trade integration

BEHIND THE SCENES

 Alfred P. Dizon

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet -- I recently brought some visitors from Manila to the Strawberry Farm, here, just a stone’s throw away from where I live. As they picked what was left of the harvest, I asked the farmer in the local dialect, “What if by next year, the stall sellers there (I pointed to the nearby stall where they sell strawberries and souvenir items) would be selling bigger and redder strawberries from abroad? You will be hard put trying to sell your strawberries.”

He looked at me with curiosity in his eye, “Why would that be?” I told him strawberries from foreign lands would be cheaper as these won’t be taxed. “Uh,” he shot back, “Whatever, I don’t know, I’ll just have to plant to earn a living. I have a lot of kids, you know.”

I didn’t tell him foreign goods would flood the country with implementation of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) and member nations would move or sell their products with no tariff.

The farmer’s attitude and ignorance on the issue, we presume, reflects that of most people who are into business like farming, trading or any other endeavor like services. Yes services, like guiding tourists. According to tourism officials, even foreign tourist guides may ply their trade here with implementation of ASEAN, while we the locals could also do the same thing among member nations.

Call 2015 a brave new world even as hope, apprehension and ignorance pervades among folks, and yes, even government officials on the country’s integration.

Our neighborhood philosopher summed it up in another of our idle Sunday roadside talks: We will be competing with other Asian nations and good, if they won’t kill local businesses like that in Marikina where the once booming shoe industry died with those plying the trade gone bankrupt due to entry of cheap shoes and slippers from foreign countries like China.

Our philosopher may have hit the nail right in the head as even government officials are apprehensive about ASEAN’s outcome on this blighted nation’s economy.

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Sen. Antonio F. Trillanes, in a recent speaking engagement in Abra aired the same view.The senator said thereare six major challenges the country is confronting once the AEC will be implemented: inadequate infrastructure, high cost and insufficient power, peace and order concerns, bureaucratic red tape, abundance of unskilled labor and pervasive corruption.

“A few businesses that are aware of integration are clueless where to start while most businesses are simply clueless. All these serious talks on preparations only started the past two years and right now, both government and private sectors are merely doing information drive on potential impact of ASEAN integration. Not much has been done, if anything has been done at all,” Trillanes said.

He said practically all sectors are vulnerable and the country may not survive ASEAN integration’s expected stiff competition. Trillanes said it is high time for Cordillera people to modernize their ways to spare the region’s agriculture sector from expected serious negative impact of integration.

Modernizing current methods of agriculture, he explained, will greatly help the farmers increase volume of their production while reducing production cost.

The senator cited the role of the national government at this point in providing access to capital and basic infrastructure development.

According to Trillanes, it is high time farmers own post-harvest facilities like water hoses, storage houses, packing stations, rice mills and transportation services which must be provided by government and acquired by farmers cooperatives at low cost or to be amortized over a period of time.

“The farmers’ control and supervision over the storage facilities, transport and production facilities will remarkably increase their income,” he said.

Trillanes added the national government could condone interests, penalties and surcharges of loans secured by farmers, fisherfolks and agrarian reform beneficiaries from concerned government agencies.

 More importantly, the senator said he wanted the young farmers program to be institutionalized strengthen participation of the youth on agriculture development efforts and equip them with necessary entrepreneurial skills, production and marketing support.

He said government could aid them with capital support so they will contribute to food security, generate employment in the countryside and enhance agriculture and fisheries to meet the challenges of ASEAN integration.

Sen. Paulo Benigno Bam Aquino IV, in a recent visit to nearby Baguio City said contribution of government is the missing

link in making Philippine products competitive with AEC implementation.

Aquino was in the summer capital as guest of honor and speaker during the 3rd founding anniversary of the Cordillera Youth Leaders, an umbrella organization of youth leaders from Cordillera.

Like our neighborhood philosopher, he said the whole point of free trade is a two-way process where local goods can be freely sold in overseas markets while products of other nations can also be sold in the country with zero tariff.

“We must ensure that our farmers are given sufficient support services to make their products competitive in the international markets. The quality of our goods is already there but the manufacturing processes and packaging have yet to be enhanced,” Aquino said.

Like Trillianes, he said government agencies must provide farmers with financing options at affordable interests, crop insurance and safety nets to make sure production cost of agricultural crops are significantly lowered.

The senator added government must also facilitate removal of unnecessary layers in marketing of products of farmers so they will have increased income and eventually lower production and marketing cost of their produce.

 “With a more efficient market, better financing options, crop insurance support and safety nets for our farmers in place, we will be addressing concerns of free trade and the Philippines will be the one that will largely benefit from it by exporting more of our products to member nations,” Aquino said.

Full implementation of free trade, he added, will be crucial because both the government and private sectors are now making last minute adjustments to make Philippine products competitive in ASEAN markets so the country will not be left out in the highly competitive field.

The lawmaker said concerned agencies, particularly Departments of Agriculture, Trade and Industry, Science and Technology among others should go down to grassroots and provide sufficient technical and financial assistance, to allow farmers and small and medium enterprises flourish or reign in the global market.

He urged government and private sectors not to allow Philippine products left out in international markets but instead make local products patronized by foreigners to perk up the country’s economic growth.

Aquino said he believes in the ability of Filipinos to cope with shortcomings when the ASEAN free trade will be implemented because of resilience of the people to rise from where they have fallen and become models in the global market.

For sure, entry of the new year will mean boom or bust for local industries with ASEAN free trade.