President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr. wants to ensure that the agricultural sector is competitive enough before the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) will be ratified.

"I do not know that our agricultural sector is sufficiently robust to take on the competition that the opening of the markets will cause by RCEP. So let’s have a look at it again. Make sure our agri sector will not be at a disadvantage. If we ratify that, the system should already be ready to compete, because if they cannot compete they will be left behind," he said in a press conference Thursday.

If this happens, Marcos said the Philippines will be forced to ''frequently import.''

"We don’t want that. We want to beef up the agriculture sector. We want to have sufficient food supply for the Philippines in case of any crisis," he added.

The Senate has not ratified the RCEP, which went into force on January 1. In its website, the RCEP secretariat said paves the way for the creation of the world’s largest free trade area.

According to data by the World Bank, the agreement would cover 2.3 billion people or 30 percent of the world’s population, contribute $ 25.8 trillion about 30 percent of global GDP, and account for $ 12.7 trillion, over a quarter of global trade in goods and services.

Marcos said the government should scrutinize RCEP to protect farmers.

"We should really learn our lessons from the pandemic. That we should not let this happen, because if a crisis arises the people will really feel the insufficient supply of food for various reasons, " he said.

" If we ratify it now, what will be the effect on our farming community? Our farmers especially, need protection. How will it impact what our plans are, As I’ve mentioned earlier, create the value chain for agriculture, once again. So that’s my view on RCEP. Let's study it carefully," he added. Robina Asido/DMS