Arroyo assures of a “clean and peaceful elections” as she woes businessmen to continue betting in the country

By Ronron
March 3, 2007

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo assured the business community on Saturday of a “clean and peaceful elections” this May as she pleaded them to continue betting in the country.

In a statement, Arroyo said the Filipino will make this happen, “as sure as the sun rises.”

“We are a nation that cherishes democracy and freedom as deeply as we cherish enterprise and competition. Investors should go for the gold in the midst of the Philippine bull run,” Arroyo said.

She boasted that “the strength of the Philippine economy goes beyond transient political events like the forthcoming May elections.”

According to her, the fundamentals of growth, namely, “a sturdy fiscal house, a solid program of good governance, a robust social payback to the people, mounting gains in the security front, and a democratic system in full bloom,” have already been laid.

“The business community is on the right track by placing their bets on this nation and government, the excellence of the Filipino and the spirit of enterprise that lives in our society,” she said.

At the same time, her spokesman, Secretary Ignacio Bunye, expressed appreciation to the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) for sponsoring the debate on March 14 of the senatorial candidates of the Genuine Opposition and Team UNITY of the administration.

“We appreciate the civic-minded move of the country’s leading business groups to sponsor and host the debate between Team Unity and the opposition. We support all efforts to gather the nation around an enlightened, sober and informative discussion of the issues in the campaign,” Bunye said in a separate statement.

He said that through the debate, the electorate will have the opportunity to “scrutinize the political, social and economic creed of each candidate” and find out how prepared each one is to put it forward.

“Let both camps prepare their argument in a way that will clearly reflect their respective platforms and programs of implementation… The people demand an accounting of statesmanship, service and nation-building,” Bunye said.

“We are in the era of performance politics, no longer in the song-and-dance stage… Let the political noise abate and reasoned debate commence,” he added.

Both tickets of the administration and opposition have earlier expressed willingness to participate in a debate./DMS