MANILA, Philippines – Three months after the Senate concurred with the ratification of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the Philippines and South Korea, Malacañang released on Saturday, December 28, the executive order that sets the Philippines’ tariff schedule for certain products entering the country.
Executive Order (EO) No. 80, signed on December 23, indicates the rates of import duties for specific products from South Korea, dependent on the time they were imported.
The EO also states that products indicated in the schedule from South Korea “that are entered into or withdrawn from warehouses or free zones in the Philippines for consumption or introduction to the customs territory shall be levied the rates of duty as prescribed therein, subject to the submission of a Proof of Origin, in compliance with all applicable requirements under the PH-KR FTA.”
The document, composed of over 400 pages, indicates the rates of import duties on a wide range of products, from live animals, animal meat, seafood, fruits and vegetables, raw materials, including rare earth minerals, to textiles, among others.
The EO does not indicate the schedule of tariff commitments of South Korea for Philippine products under the FTA.
The FTA is expected to kick in on December 31, 2024, and is hoped to open the doors for Philippine products — particularly fruits such as banana and pineapple — to a South Korean market.
The deal covers over 97% of imports, according to a December 23 release from the South Korean embassy in Manila.
Based on the FTA, duty-free entry will be granted to over 11,164 Philippine products worth over $3.18 million.
Long time coming
The FTA was agreed upon by both countries back in September 2023, on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations meeting in Indonesia.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ratified the agreement months later, in May 2024. In October, then-South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol paid a state visit to the Philippines.
During Yoon’s visit, the Philippines and South Korea officially elevated ties to a strategic partnership.
South Korea’s parliament has since impeached Yoon for a failed coup attempt, but not before its members approved the FTA.
Manila and Seoul’s ties
The two countries celebrate 75 years of diplomatic ties this year.
It’s not just in trade that Manila and Seoul are keen to strengthen their ties. By elevating its relationship to a strategic partnership, the two Asian countries signal a desire to have closer defense and security ties.
The partnership, according to the two countries’ joint declaration, is hoped to deepen political engagement between the two governments and means that both are committed to “mutually beneficial security and defense engagements,” which would include military exercises and training to “address traditional and non-traditional security issues.”
South Korea has slowly but surely been positioning itself as one of the countries that can be expected to back the Philippines as it faces an ever-aggressive China in the South China Sea.
The Philippines, too, has been a reliable voice in calling for nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament and the “importance of sustained and peaceful dialogue in realizing lasting peace and stability on a denuclearized Korean Peninsula” as Seoul faces an existential threat in North Korea.
Yoon, back when he was president, vowed South Korea would “actively take part…in the modernization” of the Philippine military as it shifts focus to external defense.
Several of the military’s newest and most modern assets, including its FA-50 jets and frigates, are made in South Korea. – Rappler.com