Pacquiao pegged as Filipino Fashion Ambassador

Bataan 2nd district Rep. Albert Garcia, House Committee on Trade and Industry chairman, is pushing for boxing champ and Sarrangani Rep. Manny Pacquiao as garments ambassador to perk up the industry.

He said the ring icon could lobby American legislators for the passage of the Save Our Industries Act, a bill that would help revive not only the local garments business but the US textile industry as well.

The Save Act is expected to provide enough incentives for garments exporters to expand their operations through a grant of preferential treatment from the United States, according to Garcia.

He cited opportunities with Pacquiao, to discuss the state of the garment industry which has been in the doldrums since the end og the quota regime.

Garment manufacturers from Mexico, the Caribbean and Andean countries enjoy preferential treatment, ranging from lower duties to quota-free and duty-free entry into the United States.

Under Save Act’s 809 component, US-made yarn and fabrics cut and wholly assembled in the Philippines would qualify to reenter the US duty-free. But garments made of US-spun yarn or extruded yarn formed in the Philippines would be allowed to reenter the US at half the duty of a most favored nation.

By Butch Gunio