Japan-Philippine Economic Partnership Agreement (jpepa)

Japan-Philippine Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) is free-trade agreement and bilateral investment treaty between Japan and the Philippines. It was signed by former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on 09 September 2006, in Helsinki, Finland.

The JPEPA aims to facilitate and promote the free flow of goods, persons, services and capital between Philippines and Japan. The free-trade agreement has a positive impact on gross domestic product (GDP), employment generation, and poverty reduction due to greater market access from the world’s second biggest economy in terms of trade. It will also boost the competitiveness of the Philippines in the global market. The agricultural industry will grow due to the gradual reduction of tariffs on exported goods such as marine products, fruits and vegetables. But there is also gradual reduction of imported Japanese goods on the automotive, iron, and steel products. Low tariffs on imported goods will decrease the patronization of local goods; it will also decrease revenues for the Philippines because of the reduction of tariffs on imported goods. Unemployment rate will decrease because Filipinos will be allowed to practice their profession in Japan subject to certain conditions such as care giver and nurses. However, the requisites for the deployment are difficult to comply with. Such requirements are to pass the Japanese Nursing Examination written in Nihonggo with a maximum of three attempts, and finish a four-year college course. And the salary of caregiver in Japan is not enough to sustain their every day struggles in a foreign country due to high cost of living.

The Philippines will allow entry of originating goods from Japan which includes toxic and hazardous wastes in the list of tradable goods. The Philippines cannot properly dispose its own wastes, how much more those of others. JPEPA has loopholes and is contrary to existing environmental laws such as Toxic Substance