STATEMENT OF SENATOR IMEE MARCOS on Rumored “Senate coup”

I am so over coups! But I must respond to this statement by the Senate President regarding RCEP:

“Even the delay in the passage of RCEP was due to the lack of support it got from the main sponsor herself who is the chair of the Committee on Foreign Relations,” apparently in reference to me.

Even before the Office of the President transmitted the RCEP ratification package to the Senate on November 29, I had already conducted a public consultation in September to urge DA, DTI, and BOC to respond to the concerns raised by the agriculture and MSME sectors.

The ratification package was referred to my committee only on December 6. In less than a week, on December 12, I conducted the first formal hearing. Again, the concerned departments were unresponsive.

I asked Senate President Zubiri’s help to get these agencies to respond adequately and in concrete terms, but to no avail.

Thus, I immediately told the Senate leadership that I would not be able to sponsor the measure without adequate protection for farmers, fisherfolk, and MSME’s, as well as aggressive measures against smuggling.

The change in Executive Secretary may have resulted in the late transmittal of RCEP. But I can hardly be pointed out as the cause of delay in its passage.