ROXAS, JUSTIN BRYAN S.

B-212

A. What are the highlights of the video? List and discuss at 3 major
highlights.

Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) is a

free trade agreement between the ASEAN countries like Philippines, China, and
Thailand. Contrary to what the public believe that RCEP is a China-led FDA,
RCEP is an ASEAN-led FDA and in fact led and conceptualized this free trade
agreement. The target of the RCEP Agreement is to lay out a cutting edge,
complete, superior grade, and commonly valuable economic partnership that will
work with the extension of regional trade and investment and add to global
economic growth and improvement.
The implementation of RCEP is seen to drive Philippine economic
recovery and growth. With that being said, there are three noticeable highlights
on the video: (1) Importance of RCEP to the Philippines, (2) Sectors that will
benefit the most, (3) Areas that will benefit from RCEP.

Importance of RCEP to the Philippines – This partnership agreement will

boost the trading performance of the Philippines. In fact, the participating
countries of RCEP are also the countries where 50% of the country’s products
are being exported. Moreover, 68% of the sourced products that are being
imported are coming from the participating countries of RCEP. This allows the
Philippines to participate in a mega free trade deal among its key trading
partners.

Sectors that will benefit the most – Based from the study of Dr. Cororaton,
electronic, machineries, agriculture, processed foods are among the sectors that
have notable improvement particularly in exports. Due to the effect of pandemic,
several jobs were lost in these sectors and through the implementation of RCEP,
by 2030 these sectors will generate more than 1 million jobs.

Areas that will benefit from RCEP – With the implementation of RCEP to the
Philippines, several areas will gain benefit. For example, the area in goods will
have an enhanced market access which is beneficial to the exporters. In addition,
the service sector will also benefit because RCEP provides a stable and
predictable environment that will boost investments on various sectors. And the
third area that will benefit is the area of investment. Several investors are coming
from the participating countries of RCEP, hence, if Philippines will be part of the
mega free trade deal, investors would expect a stable and predictable business
environment in the Philippines with a strengthen rule-based system.
ROXAS, JUSTIN BRYAN S.
B-212

B. How can the economy achieve improvement as we are still faced by the
pandemic?

The business industry is a significant cause of job and tax; however, the
COVID-19 pandemic has had many pulverizing impacts, including business
terminations and unemployment. Because of that, the government is struggling to
improve the economic environment in the country. With that being the problem,
the economy can improve if the government allows the business industry to be
back on its operations. It will allow a revival of jobs and income and boost private
consumption. Moreover, since there is already a source of income, buyers can
increase their spending capacity, which will result in a positive impact on the
economy. In addition, to improve the economy, the government can increase
investments to new and existing firms through the availability of direct capital
injections through investments, loans, and grants. Additionally, the government
can increase the activity through systems of public-private collaboration and
increase incoming foreign direct investment (FDI) while decreasing existing FDI.