By Billy Begas
The House of Representatives adopted on Tuesday a resolution urging the Senate to ratify the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement.
The House adopted House Resolution 728 principally authored by House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez via simple voice voting.
Prior to the approval, House Senior Deputy Majority Leader and Ilocos Norte Rep. Sandro Marcos delivered a sponsorship speech stressing the need to ratify the RCEP agreement.
Marcos said the agreement “aims to create a liberal and competitive investment environment in this mega trade bloc; facilitate trade in goods through the progressive elimination of tariff, barriers and eliminate restrictions and discriminatory measures with regard to trades and services.”
RCEP was entered into by Brunei, Cambodia, China, Japan, Laos, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, Marcos said “paving the way for the creation of the world’s largest free-trade area for the Philippines.”
The RCEP was signed by then-President Rodrigo Duterte in 2021 and submitted to the Senate for ratification.
“In this present era of globalization, digitalization, and regional cooperation, it is the duty of our government, to rebalance the economic advantages and risks we can gain vis-a-vis, disadvantages, and risks that we may have to live through should we decide to defer accession to or join RCEP,” Marcos added.
