Philippines still pinning hopes on Save Act passage

28 Dec '11

2 min read

The Philippines Government is still hopeful about passage of the Save Our Industries (Save) Act in the US Congress. The optimism is mainly based on the high voting power of the Filipino-American (Fil-Am) community, particularly when the elections in the United States are approaching.

The bill is a win-win proposition for both the sides, as while it would resuscitate the ailing garment industry of Philippines, it would also breathe new life into the US's textile industry.

According to the Garments and Textile Industry Development Office (GTIDO), the forthcoming US Presidential elections are likely to shift the attention of the US legislators away from pending bills, but it would also extend a real time opportunity for the Filipino-Americans to give a final push to the Save Act bill, as the Fil-Am population in the US is very large and their votes count much for the legislators.

However, this could happen only when all the Filipino-Americans come together and push for a single legislative agenda to legislators seeking their votes.

Presently, some segments of the Fil-Am community are pushing the “portability of insurance” bill instead of the Save Act bill, as the former would enable them to use their insurance cover even outside the US.

Experts suggest that the Filipino-Americans should unite and jointly push for their causes, or else they may fail to achieve any of their causes.

With an intention to push for the bill, Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Cuisia and Trade Secretary Gregory L. Domingo met US legislators on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Council (APEC) Ministerial meeting held in Honolulu, during November 2011.

Philippines had to cut the number of product categories qualifying for duty-free access to the US from 17 to nine as it was felt that the US Customs found the revenue losses very high.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India

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