The Philippines is confident it will be able to exercise its right to retaliate against Thailand on its failure to heed a ruling of the World Trade Organization (WTO) on its discriminatory taxes on cigarettes.
“As the Philippines has already won the case as well as the two appeals on the case, it is time to say that enough is enough,” said Ceferino Rodolfo, undersecretary of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), referring to a 13-year old dispute between Manila and Bangkok.
Rodolfo said the Philippines is confident the WTO and its members will see through the tactics being used by Thailand in order to impair the country’s exercise of its substantive rights.
“We are confident the WTO and its members will see through this underhanded attempt to prevent our exercise of our right, by blocking even the very WTO meeting where this would have been discussed,” said Rodolfo.
Rodolfo was referring to the February 28 dispute settlement body (DSB) meeting when Bangkok blocked the adoption of the agenda to tackle the notification of the Philippines to slap additional duties on motor vehicles imported from Thailand. The move is in retaliation to Thailand’s defiance to fix its valuation on imported cigarettes from the Philippines that was the subject of a dispute subsequently won by Manila.
“In a rules-based environment, those who break the rules and and who go unpunished, derive the most benefits–at the expense of those who diligently abide by the rules. The Philippines has been a decent and responsible member of the WTO, abiding by its rules…,” said Rodolfo who led an inter-agency Philippine panel that successfully defended the country’s trade and economic policies at the Philippines’ fifth trade policy review in Geneva.
He also chairs the country’s technical committee on WTO Matters.
“While the world has been witnessing countries that resort to unilateral bilateral trade measures and retaliations, the Philippines is even seeking WTO authorization to exercise its rights arising from a dispute that can already be considered a saga,” Rodolfo said in a statement.
The dispute started in 2007 and WTO ruled in favor of the Philippines in 2011. The Philippines won two appeals filed by Thailand who appealed last week for the third time.
However, the WTO body that hears the appeals, the Appellate Body, has been rendered non-functioning over an impasse in the appointment of members.
