Local business sector airs rising fears on economy

The local business community, led by Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), expressed its concern yesterday on the country’s seeming lack of good governance, worsening peace and order situation and the continuing lack of infrastructure to support the growth and development of the business sector.

In a resolution submitted to President Arroyo during the 29th Philippine Business Conference (PBC), the local business community also cited the need for the passage of key legislation regarding business development as well the provision of more credit and financing for the business sector, protecting the environment and nurturing the country’s human capital resources.

The group also highlighted their growing concerns about the country’s trade policies, industry and other cross-cutting issues such as population and food security.

PCCI president Sergio Ortiz-Luis said most of the concerns of the business sector are long-term and recurring such as the peace and order situation and lack of infrastructure and the government is exerting effort to address these problems.

Officials of the PCCI led by Vicente Lim, Raul Boncan and Raul Hernandez agreed with Ortiz-Luis that Malacañang has been exerting effort to address the business sector’s concern.

In fact, Malaca-ñang presented yesterday a 25-page response to the PCCI’s resolution.

The PCCI officials said that President Arroyo were able to address majority of their concerns at her keynote speech during the PBC opening.

President Arroyo lauded the PCCI for working with her to boost the local economy. The country’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 5.9 percent during the third quarter of the year.

Mrs. Arroyo also cited the government’s concrete response to the peace and order problem, specially kidnapping.

The businessmen applauded the President’s decision to allocate a P300 million reward fund for the capture of known kidnappers as well as her instruction for more police presence.

But while the PCCI officials gave the President a high rating of eight for her speech, they withheld rating her for her overall performance in the past two years or giving her an outright endorsement until they have listened to all of the presidentiables.

Hernandez said the PCCI would revue Malacanang’s 25-page response to their resolution and come up with a scorecard on how government has responded.