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THE
envoy of the European Union in Manila has lamented the
Philippine government’s “misplaced fear” over its
proposed partnership cooperation agreement (PCA), saying
the deal is not linked to imposition of trade sanctions
if Manila commits breaches on human rights.
Ambassador Alistair MacDonald, head of the Delegation of
the European Commission to the Philippines, said the EU-proposed
PCA, submitted in November 2006, is aimed to improve the
bilateral agreement of the EU and the Philippines that
seeks to cover new areas of cooperation like climate
change, migration, environment, and fight against
terrorism, organized crimes and human trafficking that
were not covered by the existing bilateral deal signed
two decades ago.
The EU
is negotiating bilateral agreements in the form of PCA
with member-countries of the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (Asean) to qualify in the comprehensive
free- trade agreement between the two regional blocs.
The PCA
with Asean members seeks to adhere to the EU core values
on human rights, democracy and rule of law. The
agreement also includes commitments to ratify the Rome
Statute of the International Criminal Court and adhere
to the nonproliferation treaty on nuclear weapons.
“It is
completely far-fetch for the Philippines to be at risk
of trade sanctions based on its human-rights
records....that kind of fear is completely misplaced,”
said MacDonald in an interview with reporters.
He said
a clause in the PCA provides that, “if one party
is/should be in serious breach of the essential elements
of the agreement, then there is a requirement to have
discussion between the two parties whether the agreement
could be continued or terminated.”
MacDonald also said that concerns over the undocumented
Filipino migrant workers can also be discussed under the
framework of the PCA. There are at least 122,000
undocumented Filipino migrant workers in Europe, mostly
in France, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom.
“I
regret very much that there has been no response from
the Philippines on the proposed [PCA] agreement because
migration is one issue that could be tackled by the EU
and the Philippines in a very ideal [if we have a PCA],”
he said.
EU
member-states are set to implement deportation of
illegal migrants, including Filipinos, in the next two
years following the EU Parliament’s adoption of the
rules restricting illegal migrants in the region. |
