Global Policy Forum

Maria Isabel Ongpin

We should all think twice and then make the correct decision when faced with the latest supermarket vegetables nicely packaged and seemingly cheaper than what we are accustomed to. They are foreign vegetables, mostly coming from Australia, that are playing havoc with our native vegetable industry. The savings to individuals these vegetables may give are not enough to compensate for the overall damage to livelihood. The temperate vegetable industry and other staples like potatoes which are based in Northern Luzon and some parts of Mindanao are being hurt by cheap imports of big supermarket chains. Some even suspect smuggling. We have had rice smuggling and other such activities, so vegetables may not be an exception.

The opening up of the country to imports with low or no tariff rates is part of globalization embraced by the Philippines together with most of the world. We have done it at a disadvantage as a developing country that has not put up the safety nets when the GATT bill went through Congress. It is now a mantra that globalization is inevitable and that like it or not, every country has to conform with it. Each country needs to calibrate its immediate effects particularly if they marginalize livelihood and impoverish inhabitants.

Globalization has become a one-way street, for the benefit of developed countries as against the pernicious effects on developing countries. This is as real as losing a job because what one produces has been replaced by a cheap import from somewhere else. The government is duty bound to intervene and do something intelligent like having a plan or making a choice about how to manage things vis-í -vis globalization's immediate effects on its internal economy. If this government has a plan, or if the previous government had one, we certainly have not heard about it. Maybe they have ad hoc measures but even these are invisible. The general impression is that it is in a passive mode.

The agriculture secretary has been heard to implore the big supermarket chains to have some social conscience about their reckless importation of cheaper or maybe just competitively priced vegetables, which presumably come neatly packaged and punctually delivered. This should not be all there is to it. Importers should be informed of the consequences of their actions and then made to consider what would be their chosen response. The Department of Agriculture should influence them. Is the profit motive the only consideration in the light of the spiral of destruction that the vegetable industry is going through?

Australia has consistently excluded our fruit exports particularly bananas and pineapples based on all sorts of technical demands. These technical standards have been put in place by our fruit exporters to comply, but more excuses are now forthcoming to bar them. The opposition of Australian farmers to Philippine fruit importers is the real factor. If the Australian government listens to its farmers why can't the Philippine government do the same? What are we doing by allowing whole sectors of our economy to be marginalized by another country's products, like the vegetables that we have produced satisfactorily for decades? And why is this interpretation of globalization as a one-way street allowed to stand? It is certainly not in the concept of free trade. Australia is clearly protecting its market in this case. On our part we should move for a quid pro quo to balance out our fruit exports with the Australia dairy product imports. We either negotiate or use reciprocal dirty tricks like they do. Balance out the fruit exports with the Australian dairy product imports.

When one notes the big picture of trading between Australia and the Philippines, there is an obvious imbalance. Australian dairy products are coming into the country, but our fruits are barred from down under and that is followed by dumping Australian vegetables here. This is utterly contrary to the tariff reduction, free trade and opening of markets that the globalization concept holds. Why can't this government blow the whistle and curb these Australian goods until they at least accept our fruits? It is never acceptable in international law or any law -- or common sense, for that matter -- that contracts are for the advantage of only one contracting party. In today's trade, this seems to be the idea of the developed countries. We must get the political will to make a decision toward rationalizing and rectifying the situation.

We are following globalization rules about tariff reductions but not doing the homework that would allow us to be competitive. And the homework is planning how to compete based on what our resources are, investing in the infrastructure to make it happen and putting modern technology in place. What do the Baguio vegetable farmers have of these items? Nothing. There is no plan or assistance to make them competitive. They have just about the worst roads in the country. One cannot help thinking that if the funds that made the "Road to Perdition" at the reclaimed area had been invested in the Halsema Highway, there would have been an economic lift for the Cordillera. Instead it has nil postharvest facilities and absolutely no concerted effort toward meaningful technology. All of these moves should have been organized from day one by any responsible government. And now when the crunch comes of runaway imports blowing away our products, the government sits idly by, or wrings its hands ineffectively.

An element of leadership and planning is absent from this picture. The government played a passive role in the face of globalization. It must wake up and make choices based on present and future trends about how to deal with it for its citizens and their future. It cannot take the attitude that things will sort themselves out. We do not live in that kind of world, especially today when the complexities of modern life and contemporary events are weighing heavily on everyone.

In the face of globalization, this country has to study what it should develop for competitive advantage and what it should discard for being hopelessly unable to compete. Adjustment can be made about what to import and what to export as long as there is a balance that is beneficial to both parties. We need the technocrats to bring these events about. But most of all we need leadership that will produce the political will, the economic common sense and the focus that is necessary for planning our future in the age of globalization.

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