Business requires legislative support

A businessman friend of mine is reeling under the stifling effects of the disaster called the coronavirus. Who is not? His once-robust enterprise is getting doomed. The quick turnover of his stocks in inventory that characterized the marketing venture pre-pandemic times is a picture of utter decay. His financial loss is at hand. The mounting unpaid interest of his bank loan stares him in the face and he has no cure for it. The savings he kept all these years have vanished after settling his payables. These are the things my friend told me last week. I could only commiserate with him on his imminent bankruptcy.

When otherwise profitable ventures begin to suffer staggering losses, businessmen tend rely on their entrepreneurial resourcefulness to survive. Most of them, being intellectually gifted, do. Others equally brilliant, either dribble for a while waiting for better times to come, or adopt innovations and change tactics. Those who fall along the way get stung by monetary reverses, but the economic venom is felt worse by their employees. What can be done?

The pandemic was unexpected. Nobody imagined that such a horrible disaster would strike. All of us got caught. For purposes of this article, even the brightest of our lawmakers did not see it coming. Nothing of this sort of calamity came into the purview of legislators. It is thus imaginable that the May 2022 election is the best time to take up the lessons of our unpreparedness. I dare to hazard a suggestion.

Private business is the biggest employer. Its total combined workforce is bigger than the entire ranks of the national and local government units. Conversely speaking, the largest job opportunities are offered by them. When they fold up, thousands of mouths, those dependent upon their jobs, go hungry. It is good to address this issue.

The congressmen we elect in the 2022 elections need to prioritize helping the business recover from the effects of this malady. If the health personnel served as the frontliners in the fight against COVID-19, the business sector will function as the frontliners in reviving the economy of the country. Whatever is wanting in terms of laws that will be the tool of the business sector must be supplied. Laws will have to be passed in order that businessmen of whatever capital depth can move quickly out of their economic doldrums.

More than ever, we need legislators with mental profundity to craft such needed laws. The likes of Arturo Tolentino, Jovito Salonga, and our own Pablo Garcia! Popularity must yield to intellect. The mind of an academic scholar is always more useful in solving difficult issues compared to the passing fancy of physical appearance. Understanding of the law, therefore, should rank first in selecting congressional aspirants. This criterion is not difficult to find. All that we need to do is examine the academic records of candidates. Are there summa cum laudes, magna cum laudes, or cum laudes among them? They deserve our top option.

The two criteria that I humbly suggest in choosing candidates in the 2022 elections are heart and morality. These are matters needing a deeper discernment. If we speak about the heart, we must exert best efforts in order to know how a candidate responds to the issues that confront business. In fact a bright candidate can discover what is needed to be done to help business.