Garment firms lobby for approval of US Act

The Philippine garment sector will appeal in Washington for the approval of the “Save Our Industries Act,” according to the Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. (Philexport).

The Act is expected to allow locally made apparel that uses fabrics from the United States to be re-exported duty free.

A Philexport statement quoted Robert Young, president of the Foreign Buyers Association of the Philippines (Fobap), as saying that should the bill be approved, local garment exports to the US can grow by 15 to 20 percent, while some 200,000 new jobs can be generated.

Young said the Fobap, in collaboration with Confederation of Garment Exporters of the Philippines (Congep), Garment Business Association of the Philippines (GPAP) and Textile Mills Association of the Philippines (TMAP), will be making this “urgent request” for the approval of the Save Act, more than a month after Supertyphoon “Yolanda” ravaged parts of Eastern Visayas.

“Maybe with the Yolanda aftermath, probably we can somehow gain some sympathy as what they did in Haiti,” Young said. Amy R. Remo