The militant Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) and the political group Anakpawis are set to launch massive protest actions as counterpoint activities to the World Trade Organization’s 5th Ministerial Meeting in Cancun, Mexico this September bannering the theme “Land! Food! Jobs! Not Imperialist Plunder! Get Out of WTO!”

The KMP and Anakpawis protests will highlight demands such as for Congress to immediately conduct a comprehensive impact assessment on the foreign trade policies and work for the withdrawal of the country’s membership to the WTO.

KMP and Anakpawis chair Rafael Mariano said that, “there is an urgent need to immediately assess the country’s nine-year membership to the WTO before the government makes any new commitment in the new round of talks in the WTO 5th Ministerial Meeting in Cancun.”

Mariano said, “the government’s policy of trade liberalization in accordance with the WTO is draining the country’s dollar reserve” citing that “for every $1 we earned from exports at least $6 was spent for imports.”

Five years before the country’s membership to the WTO (1990-1994), the agriculture sector gained more than $1.2 billion of agricultural trade surpluses, but after seven years (1995-2001), the agriculture sector incurred more than $5.2 billion dollars of agricultural trade deficit.

He further stressed that “as of the country’s all-out adherence to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade-WTO in 1994, importations increased: rice - 540 percent, corn - 320 percent, poultry – 580 percent, beef - 230 percent, pork -120% and fish by 45 percent.” 

The KMP also cited government figures that 1.3 million farmers lost jobs, majority of which came from the agriculture sector, from July 1999 to July 2000 mainly due to the policy of agriculture liberalization. “This figures excludes the 300,000 peasant-families who lost their livelihood brought by importation of agricultural products from 1994-1997.”

The GATT’s Uruguay Round created the World Trade Organization and took effect on January 1, 1995. The WTO is set to hold its 5th Ministerial Meeting to be held in Cancun, Mexico on September 10-14. # # #

KMP - 18 August 2003