D E C I S
I O N
(En Banc)
PANGANIBAN, J.:
I.
THE FACTS
Petitioners Senators Tañada, et al. questioned the constitutionality of the concurrence by the Philippine
Senate of the President’s ratification of the international Agreement
establishing the World Trade Organization (WTO). They argued that the WTO Agreement violates
the mandate of the 1987 Constitution to “develop a self-reliant and independent
national economy effectively controlled by Filipinos . . . (to) give preference
to qualified Filipinos (and to) promote the preferential use of Filipino labor,
domestic materials and locally produced goods.” Further, they contended that
the “national treatment” and “parity provisions” of the WTO Agreement “place
nationals and products of member countries on the same footing as Filipinos and
local products,” in contravention of the “Filipino First” policy of our
Constitution, and render meaningless the phrase “effectively controlled by
Filipinos.”
