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Philippines: Programs developed to save local garments industry
from collapse after textile quotas end - DOLE |
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2005-1-4
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The Department of Labour and Employment (DOLE) is growing programs to protect the domestic garments industry from possible collapse and prevent displacement of workers with the end of global quota agreements.
Spokesman Benedicto Ernesto Bitonio of Labour assistant secretary said the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) is coming out with plans to improve the skills of local garment workers.
"The new TESDA programs upgrade the skills of workers and enable the local garments industry to compete with other garment-exporting countries," he said.
The government is focusing at other measures that would assist modernize the facilities of garment factories by providing capitalization or loans to local entrepreneurs, he said.
DOLE had warned of more displacement of workers nationwide earlier with the closure of many garments and electronic factories due to the expiration of an international agreement that guaranteed the access of major garment exporters to markets in the West.
DOLE officials said the number of garments and electronic factories in the country could drop by half as a result of the expiry of the 30-year Multifiber Arrangement (MFA). The US accounts for at least 70 percent of Philippine garments export.
In 1974, MFA went into effect and was renewed several times until the World Trade Organization into its 1995 Agreement on Textiles and Clothing provided a 10-year transition that would end with the removal of all quotas in 2005.
The Philippines, without the quota, would have to compete for the US market with other garment exporting countries like China.
The Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, last year, reported that many garment firms in the country have closed down after losing competition with imported products.
But Bitonio expressed confidence that the DOLE programs would help the local garment industry and save it from possible collapse.
Labour Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas has assured the nation that the Philippine government is exerting efforts to assist Filipino workers displaced when a garments firm in Brunei closed down.
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