Migrant Filipinos,
Do Not Let Our Lives be APECted

An APEC Primer for Migrant Workers

by Lina Cabaero,
 

If you don't know yet what APEC is, you had better read this primer before it's too late.

APEC stands for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. But considering the harm it brings to the Filipino people, including us - migrant workers, APEC can very well stand for the “Anti-People Economic Conspiracy”.

But what has APEC got to do with migrant Filipinos? At a glance, it appears to be just one of those acronyms migrant workers encounter regularly - you know, the likes of OWWA, POEA, PDOS, MOI No. 8, MC 41, EO 857, MTPDP (Philippines 2000) etc. But yes, even those acronyms figure out in the whole APEC scheme, no thanks to President General Fidel V. Ramos.

With APEC, migrants will cease to be called as such. Instead, we will be called “internationally shared human resources”. With APEC, our chances of sending our children to the university become smaller as with the privatisation of universities, the cost of education will spiral to unaffordable rates. With APEC, our families back in the Philippines will be at the mercy of ever increasing prices of basic commodities and services. And if we want to go home for good, there will be no jobs waiting for us. If we are able to save up some money to engage in small business (like a sari-sari store), in a few months we will be forced to close shop because of competition. APEC is like that - it seeks to control every fibre of a poor country's economy, including people's lives.

And all these are happening now, no thanks to President General Ramos' Philippines 2000 and the numerous legislations it has railroaded in Congress to facilitate and speed-up the APEC process in the Philippines.

“What's all this fuss about APEC?”

President General Fidel Ramos is extremely nervous these days. In a month's time, he is to play host to the Fourth APEC Summit and there are still a thousand and one thing that needs to be done if he is to be the Summit's perfect host. He has to impress the APEC leaders and their entourage even if it means spending much more than the Philippine can actually afford, and even if it means masking the poverty and misery of the Filipino people - at least while the Summit is on - by creating a festive atmosphere complete with Christmas lights, ornamental plants, intensified garbage collection, and repainting of buildings, curbs and gutters. And to make it truly festive and eye-worthy, beggars, street children and vagrants will be taken off the streets.

President General Fidel Ramos has also ordered the eviction and relocation of at least 16,000 families - eyesores and nuisance, he calls them - in and around the major routes of the APEC leaders. Thus we have heard of the demolition of 7,500 squatter families along R-10 in Tondo which is being rushed as an alternative route to Subic, the grim determination of Metro Manila mayors to exterminate some 3,500 squatting families in Del Pan, Port Area and Quiapo and the senseless death of a few in the Muslim squatters community in Quiapo during one of the demolition operations in the area.

Not only that, the Philippine government has allocated seven billion pesos (approximately US$254 million) for infrastructure expenditures for the APEC meeting. A new expressway (Tipo-Binictican) is being constructed for the exclusive use of APEC. As well, the government will import 40 tax and duty free luxury cars (bullet-proof BMWs) for use by the APEC delegates.

"Aha, that explains some, but so what?"

What President Ramos is doing to prepare for the meeting is nothing compared to what APEC can do to the millions of workers, peasants and the rest of the impoverished Filipino people. Worse things are to come with APEC.

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) can be described as a relatively loose grouping of 18 countries situated around the Pacific Ocean. Its current membership include Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, south Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and the USA.

APEC started out as a loose and non-binding economic forum that served as a venue for exchange of ideas and "sharing of economic concerns" among member nations. It was established in 1989 upon the initiative of Australia and Japan as a forum to discuss specific "regional interests and positions" vis-a-vis the ongoing GATT Uruguay Round negotiations. Trade and investment liberalisation are the cornerstones of APEC's identity and activity. Its central objectives are to strengthen the multilateral trading system, expand regional and global trade and improve investment rules and procedures in a GATT-consistent manner.

Since it started, there had been four ministerial meetings: Australia (1989), Singapore (1990), south Korea (1991) and Thailand (1992). When the United States assumed chairmanship of APEC, the mere ministerial forum that APEC used to be was transformed into a formal and executionary meeting of heads of states whose decisions would be binding and obligatory among member nations..

The first leaders' summit held in Seattle, USA in 1993 firmly placed APEC as a vital policy instrument of the US to advance its economic agenda in the East Asian region. The second leaders' summit held in Bogor, Indonesia (1994) targeted the years 2010 and 2020 for the full implementation of free trade in industrialised and less developed countries respectively. In 1995 at the third leaders' summit in Osaka, Japan the 9-point basic principles of APEC (Osaka Action Declaration) were formulated to pave the way towards free trade and liberalisation of economies.

At the fourth leaders' meeting which will be held in Manila, Philippines in November 1996, APEC member-economies are expected to submit their specific action plans, the overall implementation of which is expected to start by January 1997.

"Go on, I'm listening."

Since it started, it has become increasingly clear that APEC serves the economic and political interests of US and Japan more than those of less powerful member-states. APEC's primary function is to extend American and Japanese economic and political control over the region while at the same time they "quarrel" for economic control.

It was not an accident therefore that Clinton's administration began pushing APEC soon after NAFTA's (North American Free Trade Agreement) approval. NAFTA and APEC are meant to be tools for the more effective infiltration of the member countries by US capital. Moreover, APEC is to be used by the US in its competition with the European Union.

While US and Japan are to be the main beneficiaries of APEC, the weaker countries may have an illusion that they too will gain - in the sense that their export commodities will gain access to the industrialised countries' market - from APEC. But they will have to pay a lot with the internationalisation of their internal economies as this will bring about the destruction of opportunities for developing their own independent industrialisation.

"Excuse me, I don't seem to get it."

Asia-Pacific has become the arena for US-Japan competition for economic supremacy. Asia-Pacific is touted as the most dynamic and diverse economic region that is home to the four tigers (or newly industrialising countries - NICs) i.e. Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong and south Korea. The industrial development of these countries were actually sponsored by imperialist powers to manufacture MNC re-exports, play their part in the international division of labour and contain the political threat posed then by neighbouring communist governments in Asia. The majority however of countries in the region are underdeveloped and agrarian though they cater well to the imperialists' need for cheap raw materials and export markets for its finished products.

The US agenda in the APEC formation is evident. After all, Asia is the number one export market for the US with exports expected to reach $250 billion by 2010. One-third of US exports supporting 2.7 American jobs are destined for Asian markets. Thus after consolidating its own national and nearest regional market - North and Latin America - it spearheaded the formation of APEC to ensure that Asian free trade agreement stays within US control and preempt the Japanese -instigated East Asia Economic Cooperation (EAEC) proposed by Malaysia.

The US' shopping list of economic intents in Asia is endless. It wants to push its exports into Japan to offset its huge trade deficits with the latter. It also wants China to eliminate restrictions on profit repatriation and minimize foreign exchange rules. It wants India to improve its trade classification system and open its markets to US on insurance, textiles and distilled spirits. US is irritated by Korea's strict policy of subjecting imported products to test and its requirements for MNC and TNCs to submit documentation i.e. recipes for processed foods. And so was its irritation with the south Korean government's anti-mass consumption of foreign automobiles campaign.

Japan is also trying to consolidate its national and regional markets and is using very much the same US strategy to solve its own crisis (since 1991, Japan has been on a downward course and is moving into heavy public borrowing to revive its economy).

For Japan, it was vital to establish regional cooperation. While a large part of its investment goes to the US, a substantial portion goes to Southeast Asia and the NICs. With the US protecting its own economy, Japan needed to force removal of trade and investment barriers in the Asian region to allow its continued expansion. Being an economic power in Asia and re-using its World War II slogan, it advances its interests under the "Asia for Asians" philosophy.

But even as Japan and US battle for hegemony over the region, the former maintains superiority: US' consumer market remains amongst the largest for Japanese products, it retains control over patent rights in electronics and other high technology and over other sources of fuel and other raw materials and US continues to dictate the terms of security in the region.

"Why this competition, this desperation to secure markets? What's the bigger picture?"

Not obvious to the naked eye is the deepening crisis of global capitalism and how imperialist powers are trying to mitigate this crisis by redividing the world into their own spheres of influence. The world capitalist powers are experiencing today a prolonged and unprecedentedly severe crisis of overproduction and the need for wider export markets becomes more and more crucial for them. But the thing is the global market is steadily falling as a result of massive unemployment, massive poverty and social welfare cutbacks in most countries of the world. In addition, the world is already divided into spheres of influence amongst different imperialist countries. Thus the competition runs high among global centres of imperialism.

Hence the competition. But even as they compete with each other, they also get together in alliances, joint investments and agreements to advance common economic interests and political agenda. And if there's one thing they have no problem with, its their common need to prey on Third World's human and natural resources. To justify their exploitation, they use the International Monetary Fund and the World bank (IMF-WB), the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs-World Trade Organisation (GATT-WTO), United Nations and the Group of Seven.

The regional free trade zones are arenas for consolidating and expanding their spheres of influence, turning entire global regions into one borderless economy with the imperialists on top of it all. Germany spearheaded the formation of the European Union while the US and Canada the NAFTA.

People are told that free trade and market reforms are the only alternatives left if countries want to remain 'competitive" in an emerging global economy. Right now, most Third World countries are integrated into the global capitalist system. They have been forced to follow the world division of labor. They export primary goods and some simple industrial products, and import industrial goods.

Without APEC, the type of economic growth (export-driven) that has so far taken place in Asia has already been accompanied by low wages and restrictions on workers' rights to organise, depletion of the natural resource base and degradation of the environment to an extent that threatens the very survival of Asia-Pacific peoples, shameless trafficking of people, especially women and children and destruction of traditional agriculture and indigenous people's livelihood. Naturally, repression and suppression were always present to see to it that people's resistance is kept at bay.

"I get it but how does Philippines fit into APEC?"

President General Fidel V. Ramos, eager to impress his guests in the forthcoming APEC summit in November has fast tracked the enactment of laws in compliance with GATT-WTO agreements on how exactly member-nations intend to carry out the liberalisation of their economies. Examples of such laws are as follows:

Republic Act (RA) 8178 (The Agricultural Tarrification Act) abolishes quantitative restrictions on the importation of agricultural products such as corn, garlic, cabbage, onions and potato and repeals salient provisions of the Magna Carta for small farmers.

RA 8179 (Amendment of Foreign Investment Act) gives foreign investors the privilege of owning up to 100% of the business they want to put up in any given industry.

RA 8180 (Deregulation of Oil and Petroleum Industry) allows the oil cartel to control and determine prices of petroleum products.

RA 8181 replaces Home Consumption value with Transaction Value as the basis of tariffs for imported products and thus extremely lowering import tariffs at the expense of local manufacturers and producers.

APEC intensifies the problem of landlessness and vulnerability of peasants to merchant abuse. This will be due to the influx of imported agricultural products and massive utilisation/conversion of land for foreign investment led export exploitation. As well, the further integration of Philippines' backward agrarian economy to global capitalism has resulted to the expansion of the semi-feudal system, not industrialisation.

New Mining Code of 1995 offers and opens five million hectares of land for mining and allows 100% ownership of foreign mining companies.

Bank Liberalisation Act allows ten more foreign-owned banks to operate in the Philippines.

Land Lease Act allows foreigners up to 50-70 years lease of Philippine land.

From these laws, APEC's three pillars - privatisation, liberalisation and deregulation - are set to motion. Simply put, these three pillars assures unlimited plunder and exploitation of raw materials and human resources by foreign investors especially by transnational corporations (TNCs).

“Hmm, that sounds familiar. Is APEC is like Philippines 2000?”

It's the other way around, my dear. Philippines 2000 is APEC in action.

The fact is, even before the new APEC-serving laws were enacted, Ramos had already neatly packaged the Philippine economy for foreign exploitation and destruction with his Medium Term Philippine Development Program or Philippines 2000. Deceptively packaged as Philippines' way to industrialisation and qualification to engage in “global competition”, Philippines 2000 is nothing but a nightmare in broad daylight.

Philippines 2000 is trade liberalisation and deregulation to the fore. Its “success” is hinged on foreign investments. To make sure that foreign investors do invest in the country, President Ramos offered - on a silver platter, take note - cheap, docile and skilled labour force, tax exemptions, faster and reliable communication facilities and infrastructures to facilitate transportation of goods from other countries easier. Trade and other sectors like the financial sector and mining industry were liberalised.

“Wait a minute, you are making me nervous. All this talk about trade, liberalisation, privatisation, deregulation - such big words I could not grasp at first. But I am beginning to realise now that they are very easy to understand. Like hey, what am I slaving here in Hong Kong for? I am beginning to see that what I earn will never be enough to see my children to the university, to clothe and house them decently, to see them through life a bit more comfortably and what I remit to our government will never be used for the benefit of my family. This APEC is making me angry. What should I do? Better yet, what must we migrant workers do?”

No matter how monstrous APEC looks, we can indeed do something to defeat it.

Reading this primer is a good start but there is more you can do. Register your strong opposition to APEC by joining forces with other migrant Filipinos who, like you, have decided to confront it.

Make yourself aware of issues that confront migrant Filipinos and the Filipino people and see how these and APEC are inter-related.

Speak out, make yourself heard together with the rest of struggling migrant Filipinos. Participate actively in activities organised by the United Filipinos-Migrante, Hong Kong.

Questions you may want to ask but hesitant to do so.

I want to read more about APEC, Philippines 2000, migrants' issues and issues affecting the Filipino people. Where can I get such reading materials in Hong Kong?

Get yourself on the mailing list of the Mission for Filipino Migrant Workers' (MFMW) “Global Focus” and the Asia Pacific Mission for Migrant Filipinos' (APMMF) “News Digest”. E-mail them at these adresses: migrant@hk.super.net (MFMW) and apmmf@hk.super.net (APMMF) or better yet call them at these numbers: 25228264 (MFMW), 27237536 (APMMF).

I want to attend discussions, fora, seminars and even protest actions on APEC, migrants' issues and national issues. What should I do?

You can either call-up MFMW and APMMF at the numbers above or the United Filipinos-Migrante, Hong Kong (UNIFIL) at 28167435 or you can leave your name, address and number so anyone from the abovementioned organisations can contact you.

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