Jesli Lapus, Trade Secretary, recently made a statement that, the Philippine government is still optimistic of the United States Congress passing a bill, granting preferential duty treatment to Philippine garment exports.
Lapus, who accompanied the Philippine President on an official visit to Washington, was assured by the US Congressmen that they will be accelerating the process of passing the House Resolution '3039' or 'Save Our Industries Act', which Lapus believed will generate over 100,000 new jobs in the garment industry.
According to Lapus, for US, it is a win-win legislation, as they met the Congressmen and learnt that there is extreme pressure to an extent that, even the President has urged specific Senators and Congressmen to swiftly pass the bill which has already been put up before, both the Houses.
Lapus, during the meeting observed that the US legislators were apprehensive regarding the transhipment and labour law compliances by Philippines.
He thereby extended assurance to the US authorities that there will be stringent rules for transhipment, and also that they will be furnished with regular monitoring reports.
He further informed the authorities about the new accreditation technique for textile garment exporters, jointly launched by the Confederation of Garment Exporters of the Philippines (CONGEP) and the DTI. The new system would be isolating the exporters, with records of violations and they will not be accredited.
To further ascertain their views and ideas Lapus also divulged that they have roped in the International Labour Organization to be a part of their endeavour.
Although Lapus feels that the forthcoming elections in US on November 2 will have a very small adverse effect on the supporters of the bill, he is convinced that the 150 Congressmen who have already consented to the bill, would try for speedy passage of the bill.
He also said that, Philippines is also looking ahead to step in to the European and Japanese markets, to promote country's textile products.
Enactment of the 'Save Our Industries Act' would hike the country's garment export to US from US $1.2 billion in 2008 to around $3-3.5 billion during the initial three years. Also it is believed that this would amplify the job opportunities in the industry, by around three times, that is, from current 200,000 to 600,000 jobs.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk - India
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