By Fernan Angeles
AMID threats of revoking tariff perks, Malacañang challenged the European Union legislative chamber to “walk its talk.”
In a statement, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said the European Union does not seem to know Filipinos well adding that the Philippines cannot be threatened even as the country continues to grapple with the impact of the pandemic.
“Dapat sana wag lang awayin, magandang mapag-usapan, meron naman tayong ambassador doon, ano ba talagang dapat gawin kung talagang misinformation ito, ipaliwanag ng gobyerno,” he said.
Prior to Malacañang statement, the European Union issued a warning to revoke tariff incentives on Manila’s exports over what it described as an alarming human rights concern, particularly in this time of a pandemic.
Responding to the EU threat, local think-thank said that the government should seriously consider the repercussions of losing market.
Dindo Manhit, president of Stratbase ADR Institute, said losing a market would lead to unemployment, thus aggravating poverty – and made worse at a time when the Philippine economy has been dragged into recession by the lingering COVID-19 pandemic.
“Sa panahon ngayon wala tayong dapat mawalang market. ‘Pag nawala ang binebentahan mo ng produkto, kahit hindi sila malaki, tatamaan ang kita ng bansa. Ang mawawala ay trabaho at ang mawawala ‘pag nawalan ng trabaho dadagdag ang kahirapan ng taongbayan,” Manhit said.
The European Parliament called for a review of the tariff incentives extended to Manila citing human rights abuses and the deteriorating level of press freedom in the Philippines.
“’Pag tinanggal ito dahil sa isyu ng violation of human rights, dahil sa atake sa media at journalists nakakalungkot na pangyayari,” Manhit said in a radio interview.
The loss of an export market would mean less opportunity to sell Philippine products and could also impact jobs and push medium enterprises in the country to closure.
“Sana ‘wag mangyari, sana pakinggan din ng gobyerno ang mga ganitong resolusyon,” he said.
He said it would be better if the government responds and not simply dismiss it as there are already fears that some export firms might lose their business.