THE Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilpinas (Pamalakaya) said President Aquino should publicly disclose the agenda of the Philippine delegation in the recently held Ninth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) held in Bali, Indonesia, from December 3 to 6.
Gerry Albert Corpuz, information officer of Pamalakaya said the Aquino administration should not keep its negotiating position like a top government secret and tell the people the agenda of the Philippine representatives who went to attend the top-level meeting.
Corpuz said it is highly suspicious for the Aquino administration not to disclose its agenda, considering the importance of the WTO meeting.
Filipino activists went to Bali to hold protests against the WTO.
Corpuz said the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) led by Secretary Gregory Domingo had been asked to share the government position on the Ninth ministerial meeting of WTO in the tourist capital of Indonesia.
Corpuz said Domingo did not disclose what was going on in Bali, as well as the official position of the Philippine government in the WTO ministerial meet.
“Everything is kept in the secret room of Malacañang and the Philippine trade department. This is a national foul play done in the name of the United States and global capital,” Corpuz said.
The Philippines is one of the 158 nations which approved the Bali package of the ninth ministerial meet of WTO. The Philippine trade chief said the Bali package includes cutting red tape in customs and port procedures while granting less-developed countries temporary dispensation from subsidy limits and some preferential trade concessions.
The DTI argued that overall, the Philippines will benefit from the Bali package. Under the agriculture agreement, developing countries like the Philippines will be able to maintain and expand its public stockholding for food security free from WTO dispute.
Earlier, KMP National chairman Rafael Mariano chided WTO Director Roberto Azevedo and called him a liar and a rabid apologist of WTO, and a salesman of neo-liberal globalization.
Mariano, also a former party-list representative of Anakpawis, slammed the prediction of Azevedo that the global economy will increase by $1 million if the Bali package is ratified by the trade ministers.
“How could that be? WTO is beyond repair and beyond review. The global community of people is witnessing and enjoying the downfall of an empire known as WTO,” he said.
Source: Business Mirror
