This week, the President announced that a Free Trade agreement has been signed between the Philippines and one of the progressive countries in the world, the United States of America . This means that goods between two countries can be traded without protective barriers. Our province will be flooded with cheap and quality products. With the purchasing power of the peso rising, there will be plenty of things imported to buy. The bad thing is some of our industries will be swept away by competition.

In recent times, a country is no longer isolated. That means, every country must interact with one another to give their citizens a better quality of life. One nation cannot offer a decent standard of living to her citizens by herself. She must depend upon other nations to furnish what she lacks. Industrialized nations like the United States , Canada , Japan and Germany cannot provide all the necessities and luxuries to their citizens without exchanging good through trade. Even trade between themselves cannot suffice they must deal with other nations.

By necessity, a country must trade with another because she does not have this product. The Philippines must import wheat for bread, cakes and pastries because we are not wheat growers and we had acquired a taste for wheat products. After several centuries of colonization, the natives have been conditioned to appreciate something imported such as apples, grapes, cigarettes, wines and liquor. Other countries buy our bananas, mango pineapple, mangosteen and so on. There is more or less a fair exchange. Even if tariff barriers are lowered, the arrangement can be mutually beneficial. However, if the imported item competes with the native product, then that is another story.

Take the case of vegetable products. Filipinos, being cosmopolitan had acquired a taste for foreign vegetables. Some enterprising farmers grow cabbages, carrots, cauliflower and broccoli to fill the local demand. Since these vegetables are not native, production costs are high. To protect the local farmers, tax is imposed on imported vegetables of the same kind so they cannot compete with the locals. This is what is called tariff. Take that away and we will be flooded with cheap vegetables. The garlic industry of Nueva Ecija and Ilocos was killed due to imported or smuggled garlic.

Whether we like it or not, Bohol will be affected by the Free Trade agreement. What do we produce that we can sell for a profit in the international market? Our products are mostly agricultural; we do not have anything sellable outside the country. All we can do is buy since we cannot produce what we like. Our rice industry will die. The US is not a rice eating country and can produce quality rice cheap because of their modern farming methods and vast lands suitable to rice. The budding vegetable industry will also die. Perhaps, if we change our direction, we could take advantage of the agreement. We go to sea farming since we are surrounded by seas. What we could not catch perhaps we can grow. We could develop our fishing industry. We could put up fishing fleets to fish for blue water fishes around and away from Bohol . Boholanos are known to be adventurous. If our fish products will sell outside the country without tariff barriers, we could make a decent living. This way the agreement could be a boon.