'What needs to be done, according to Lorenzo, is to "correct the gross imbalances in commitments by developed and developing economies made during the Uruguay Round."'

The WTO is bad news

FREE trade, as practiced in the World Trade Organization, is not working, at least, not as far as the developing countries see it.

"We want all or nothing," is what Agriculture Secretary Luis P. Lorenzo told the meeting of the Working Group for Agriculture in the WTO conference in Cancun, Mexico.

What needs to be done, according to Lorenzo, is to "correct the gross imbalances in commitments by developed and developing economies made during the Uruguay Round."

Under the existing agreement, the developed countries, principally the United States and Europe, can and do provide heavy subsidies to their farmers.

This has a bad effect on the agricultural commodities of poor countries. Even in their home markets, the produce from the richer countries can undercut them because of the dumping of cheap products from the advanced nations. Not only that, Lorenzo also accused the developed countries of putting up barriers on agricultural exports from the developing nations.

Even if these are non-tariff devices and are thus allowed under WTO rules, the open secret is that these are being used to protect their home markets, as exclusive territory for their subsidized farmers.

What the WTO decided in Cancun is to maintain the status quo and return to the problem in two years at the next WTO Conference.

Even this status quo works in favor of the developed nations.

As it is now, the developing countries are reflecting losses in agriculture primarily because the developed countries are subsidizing their exports and taking the market away from the home-grown farmers in the Third World.

This is free trade?

Among our glaring errors in the Philippines is that we have brought down our tariffs without thinking of the effect on ourselves of these low, low tariffs. While the WTO has been urging all nations to bring down tariff walls, it is only the Philippines that has been over-eager to do so even to the detriment of our agricultural, industrial and commercial producers.

We ought to keep the tariffs high and even increase them where local farms or factories have difficulties in competing with what are subsidized exports from other countries, especially those of the First World.

When we talk of a free market, we also hope that the free market will be fair. As long as the developed countries, most specially the United States and Europe, are not forced to be fairer to us in the Third World, do not expect them to do their poorer relations any favors.

This is something that our national leadership ought to sit down on, strategize and decide on what this country will do about the WTO. It is probably too late to get out of the WTO. A country that is out of the WTO will have no way of growing with the rest of the world. Thus, we're stuck there. Still, we ought to be able to get the WTO to listen to what we are saying and even to adopting our viewpoint. This would be easy if we had the right people to do the job over the long-term.

***

A false report of a nightclub robbery has inspired GMA to order the PNP to enforce strictly a ban on police officials and personnel patronizing nightclubs. "It is already bad for the police image that a high profile nightspot is robbed, and it is worse that this place is being tagged as a hang-out for police officials," GMA said.

The false report was that armed men with Uzis entered Class Mate, a girlie KTV in Quezon City. They then robbed customers and the ladies (GROs) of P200,000. Immediately, one knows that this is a false report. Only P200,000? Can't be true. In fact, it never happened.

What actually happened was that the floor manager of the club was held up on the street outside the club as he was leaving for home at 5:30 in the morning.

At any rate, the order of GMA is a pointless one. The cops know that they are not supposed to go to these places. Still, any better-quality nightspot where there are no cops is more the exception than the rule. Will her order make any difference? No.

Thus, it is a useless order.

By the way, other government officials, including cabinet officials, are also barred from these places. As pointed out, this is a useless order.

***

I do not know Archbishop Gaudencio Rosales who has been named archbishop of Manila. At 71, he takes the place of Jaime Cardinal Sin whose retirtement has been accepted by the Pope.

Thus, because priests retire at 75, we shall have Archbishop Rosales in Manila for four years. If he can only keep politics, partisan or otherwise, out of the churches in his Archdiocese, he would have done 100 percent better than his predecessor!

Cardinal Sin's parting words: "I beg pardon from those I might have led astray or hurt. Please remember me kindly."

I never listened to him; thus the Cardinal never could lead me astray. It is for those who followed him blindly who are now being asked for forgiveness. You are not duty-bound to forgive him but it is the Christian thing to do.

***

The nightmare of a Blanquita Pelaez is a reminder to all government officials and wannabees how dangerous being in the public service is. She sold handcuffs to the PNP during the time of FVR. Under the contract, she was liable for taxes and duties that would have to be paid on the merchandise.

Because the peso depreciated, the taxes and duties due on the handcuffs increased to the point where the deal was no longer that profitable for her. Thus, she asked the PNP to find a way for her to keep her profits. Various PNP chiefs tried to convince the Bureau of Customs to exempt the deal from taxes and duties. This was something that the BoC would not do.

When Ping Lacson became PNP chief, she again tried to resurrect the deal. No deal. Because of this, she has sued Lacson and even has a judgment from a US Court in the millions of dollars even if the unpaid portion of the deal was only for $32,000!

This proves that Ping Lacson was harder for her to talk to than any of his predecessors. I believe that this fact alone already tells us something about Ping's integrity. Why else is someone like Blanquita so mad at him when she is not even at all peeved at all the others who also could not make the handcuff deal work for her?

Email address: [email protected]