Foreign chambers bullied
By Michael Lim Ubac
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 00:45:00 06/07/2008
Filed Under: Investments, Foreign affairs & international relations, Electricity Production & Distribution, Congress
MANILA, Philippines--The Joint Foreign Chambers of Commerce in the Philippines was yesterday told by Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile to leave the country if it did not like the way business was done here.
Riled by the refusal of Hubert D' Aboville, spokesperson of the group and president of the European Chamber of Commerce, to answer certain questions at a hearing by the Senate committee on energy, Enrile said the foreign businessmen should "get out of the country if you can't live with us."
The Joint Foreign Chambers (JFC)--which represents investors from the United States, Australia-New Zealand, Canada, Japan, Europe and Korea--later apologized to the committee for earlier writing a letter to President Macapagal-Arroyo opposing amendments to the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira).
Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, the committee chair, said the May 27 letter was "precipitate," a breach of protocol and an undue interference in the workings of a coequal branch of government because it was not addressed to the Senate or Congress as a whole.
They refused to specify
What further angered Senators Enrile, Santiago and Joker Arroyo during the two-and-a-half-hour hearing was the refusal of the JFC to specify the proposed amendments that it was objecting to.
Enrile dominated much of the proceedings with his strong language, telling the JFC at one point: "You wanted to make a profit. Because you are forcing the government to sell [its generation and transmission assets] for a song. My goodness ... get out of this country if you can't live with us.
"You're guests in this country."
Despite being on the receiving end of scathing remarks from Enrile and Santiago, D'Aboville later said he was "cool" about the experience.
"I'm doing my job here the best I can," D'Aboville, who is married to a Filipino and has lived here for 31 years, told reporters.
But when prodded about his reaction to Enrile's outbursts, he said: "I have never heard anything like this before, as far as I am concerned."
Contracts with IPPs
In its letter to Ms Arroyo, the JFC urged her not to amend the state contracts with independent power producers (IPPs) as the government sought to cut soaring power costs.
It said amending the contracts would be a major disincentive to investors planning to build additional power plants or to participate in the government's privatization program.
"Many of the unwarranted accusations being raised by legislators and GOCCs (government-owned and -controlled corporations) appear to be questioning bedrock principles that are sound and, in fact, practiced by many progressive power industries around the world," the JFC said in the letter.
Enrile said the JFC was "accusing legislators of making unwarranted accusations regarding bedrock principles."
"Who are these legislators? Name them, please, into the record," he told D'Aboville.
When D'Aboville said he would answer the question later on, Enrile thundered: "No! Just name the legislators, sir!"
"We're not here to name specifically..." the soft-spoken Frenchman said, and went into a discussion of systems loss and "take or pay" provisions in government contracts with IPPs--one reason, he said, the power rates of Manila Electric Co. were the second highest in Asia after Japan.
'You may not continue'
Annoyed, Enrile asked Santiago to direct D'Aboville to answer his question.
Santiago told the Frenchman: "Your answer must come straight to the point. If you do not wish to answer the question, you may say so and this committee will then decide."
When D'Aboville resumed reading from a prepared statement, Santiago herself issued a stern warning: "You may not continue. You may not continue. You do not determine what you can say or not say. I determine [it]."
Enrile reiterated his question. When D'Aboville did not answer, Enrile blew his top: "You are within the jurisdiction of the Senate. Since you assume the role of speaking for your organization, unfortunately for me and maybe for you, I'm directing my question to you and I'm asking you, I think, a reasonable, rational question."
Santiago likewise advised D'Aboville to answer the question, "or state formally that you cannot answer or do not wish to answer, and then give the reason why not. Please do not deal with any other subject."
D'Aboville said that since he was talking in behalf of all seven chambers, he should first consult with the other presidents who were also present at the hearing.
Enrile thus moved for the suspension of the hearing, to "let them talk among themselves."
He added: "I want to know who are these legislators. You are responsible people. I'm sure that's why you're presidents of chambers of commerce. You must know the language that you use in your letters unless you're ignorant of it."
When the hearing resumed after a 10-minute break, the JFC said it was not too late to apologize to the senators.
Apology
"If we misunderstood, I certainly apologize for being misunderstood," said D'Aboville.
Asked if he was apologizing in behalf of the entire group, he said: "We are here ... to make clarifications, and I hope we can go forward with questions and answers, though, as I said before, our technical resource persons are not in the room."
He added that the presidents of the chambers of commerce were not technically capable to dwell on the details of the Epira, so any question propounded by the senators would have to be referred to their experts.
Enrile relented, but added that if D'Aboville could not provide answers, "I will appreciate it if you do not lecture to me. I'm too old to hear your lecture."
The other presidents of the chambers of commerce also apologized to the committee one by one, recognizing the power of the Senate and Congress to amend the laws of the land.
Santiago later said the JFC apologized to the Senate after the senators took turns in "chastising" its members "for breaking protocol."
"If they have anything to say about pending legislation, they should say it to the Senate," she said.
Tension gripped the hearing at the outset, soon after D'Aboville started reading a prepared statement.
'We understand English'
"Magandang umaga sa lahat ng mga ginang at ginoo (Good morning to all ladies and gentlemen)," he said, prompting Enrile to say:
"We understand English, don't worry. Like you, I value the correct use of my language and I hope you understand our nationalistic feeling."
D'Aboville explained to the committee that the JFC letter was addressed to Ms Arroyo "because the issues raised were broad and not limited to the Epira Law. Let us assure you that there was no offense meant."
He said the JFC was an informal organization of foreign chambers, including the Philippine Association of Multinational Companies Regional Headquarters, representing more than 2,000 members and one million employees.
Enrile again cut in after Aboville cited the JFC's substantial investment in the Philippines:
"Please go to your point. Don't lecture to us. We understand this. Maybe you think of us with less consideration, but we understand. You don't have to tell all of these things to us. We know our country. We know our economy."
But Senator Arroyo assured the JFC that the Senate would not touch existing contracts.
D'Aboville later told reporters that he had lived in the Philippines for 31 years, and that he and his wife had four children with dual citizenship.
'Because we love it'
"Many of us have been here in the Philippines not because we are forced to be here, but because we like it here, because we love it," he said.
He said he was not "necessarily offended" by Enrile's outbursts, and that he would be willing to stay "for the next 30 years."
"We do write regularly to the President of the Republic of the Philippines," D'Aboville said. "We do write to various secretaries and so on. We are just making clear the position of our members. And the job of the board of each chamber is to relay their concerns, to make proposals. We don't dictate anything. I mean, we are not the Congress. We make proposals because we are big stakeholders of all the subjects that we are mentioning."
Position unchanged
The JFC stood by the position that the Epira should not be amended even as senators stressed that as it stood, it had provisions disadvantageous to Filipinos.
With a report from Daxim L. Lucas
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