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PUMALAG wants Benguet Dads to study China-RP accord

BAGUIO CITY (June 1) — PUMALAG (Pambansang Ugnayan ng Mamamayan Laban sa Liberalisasyon ng Agricultura) appealed to the Benguet local government officials to restudy the conduct of a pest risk analysis (PRA) on carrots from China and instead concentrate on the Bilateral Trade Agreement.

In an interview, Fernando Bagyan of PUMALAG stressed that the signing of the Bilateral Trade Agreement between the Philippines and China makes the entrance of Chinese vegetables into the country inevitable. He added that a new round of PRA is not an assurance that carrots from China will not enter the market.

Meanwhile, La Trinidad Councilor William Esteban disclosed during the weekly Kapihan sa Benguet that the new round of PRA on carrots from China will be conducted as a result of the overwhelming opposition of Benguet farmers and local officials against the earlier PRA of the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI).

Esteban added that this time, Benguet will be represented in the new team that will conduct the new round of PRA. He said three representatives from the local BPI, three experts from the Benguet State University (BSU), one from the Benguet Farmers’ Federation Inc. (BFFI) and a representative from the local importers group will join the new team.

Esteban reiterated that the PRA is a requirement for the Phyto Sanitary Permit mandated under the Plant Quarantine Law of 1978 (Presidential Decree No. 1433) to prevent the entry of foreign pests.

“The PRA is just part of the agreement and besides, even during the earlier PRA pests were already identified, so why another round?” Bagyan countered. He further said that the PRA testing is mainly on the technical side, particularly pest management, therefore, it will not reflect the economic and social impact of the importation of carrots. He stressed that instead of another round of PRA testing, the local government should direct all efforts to protest the trade agreement, which the World Trade Organization (WTO) member countries are using while specific agriculture provisions are not yet in place.

According to Bagyan, 70% of the total vegetable produce of Cordillera goes to Manila, Southern Tagalog and as far as the Visayas and only 30% distributed to the entire Northern Luzon (Region I, II and Cordillera Administrative Region). This was in reaction to BPI’s claims that the proposed carrots from China will be distributed in Manila only.

In an earlier Nordis report, BFFI said that around 200,000 local farmers will be displaced should the trade agreement push through. BFFI added that majority of the province’s population live in the rural areas and are dependent on agriculture, specifically vegetable farming. # Kim Quitasol for NORDIS

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