SC upholds Philippines-Japan economic pact

MANILA, Philippines —  The Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA), a bilateral trade and investment deal entered into by the two countries during the Arroyo administration and ratified by the Senate in 2008.

In a 95-page decision dated June 13, 2023 but made public only last Jan. 24, the SC dismissed for lack of merit two petitions that challenged the legality of the agreement.

Petitioners claimed the agreement violated provisions of the Charter that guarantee people’s right to health and to a balanced healthful ecology as well as compel government to protect and reserve the use of the nation’s marine wealth and its archipelagic waters and exclusive economic zone exclusively for Filipino citizens.

They also claimed the agreement violated constitutional provisions that reserve certain sectors of economic activities to Filipinos. The agreement, they added, also violated constitutional provisions that mandate the government to pursue trade policies that serve the general welfare and to engage in arrangements based on equality and reciprocity.

The first petition was filed by Initiatives for Dialogue and Empowerment Through Alternative Legal Services Inc., Alliance of Progressive Labor, Ecological Waste Coalition of the Philippines, Mother Earth Foundation, Concerned Citizens Against Pollution, Fisheries Reform, Kilusan Para sa Pagpapaunlad ng Industriya ng Pangisdaan, and Philippine Workers Alliance.

The second petition was filed by the Fair Trade Alliance, Automotive Industry Workers Alliance and several lawmakers and former senators.

The petitions, consolidated by the SC, named as respondents senators of the 14th Congress which approved the agreement as well as several Arroyo administration cabinet members.

JPEPA, according to petitioners, liberalizes trade in goods in a one-sided way as the Philippines opens its market to Japanese goods by reducing 98 percent of tariff lines while Japan is bound to eliminate tariff duties only on 90 percent of tariff lines.

The petitioners also described JPEPA as “grossly unfair and disadvantageous” to the Philippines because Japan, as a developed country