Senate RCEP ratification debacle at the cost of PH GDP and welfare

President Duterte initiated the RCEP deal in early September. Without Senate ratification, the Philippines is about to lose hundreds of millions of dollars. In the coming months, delays will cost far more. Why the debacle?

A WEEK ago, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon urged members of both houses of Congress to quickly pass vital measures in the few remaining legislative days left before the long preelection recess. Yet, as the editors of The Manila Times have stressed, Drilon's to-do list excluded its most critical item: Senate ratification of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).