PCCI: We’ll hold them to their promises

The local business community vowed to hold presidential candidates accountable to the promises and pronouncements they made at Tuesday’s 41st Philippine Business Conference.

Senators Miriam Defensor-Santiago and Grace Poe, Vice President Jejomar Binay, and former Interior Secretary Mar Roxas outlined during a forum hosted by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) programs they planned to pursue if elected President in next year’s election.

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The programs ranged from priority bills, tax reforms, human capital and infrastructure investments to constitutional amendments.

“Basically, their opening statements talked of the same things and the questions that were asked of them were similar. At the very least, we have a record of what they promised us and if they win, we will hold them accountable for what they promised,” businessman Sergio R. Ortiz-Luis Jr. later told reporters.

Ortiz-Luis said the issues discussed were deemed crucial for businesses to thrive, pointing to measures to further ease doing business and amending laws and policies that are seen as unfriendly to businesses.

Lack of focus

However, he lamented the lack of focus on measures that can boost the competitiveness of micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises, which comprise over 99 percent of all registered businesses in the country.

“I thought they would spend more time on this issue especially on the issue of financing. I also thought that they would talk about exports. Unfortunately none of them did,” he said.

PCCI president Alfredo M. Yao stressed the need for political will to carry out necessary reforms for a sustainable and inclusive growth.

“I am looking for a leader who has the political will, and can make decisions whether popular or unpopular. When you say it, you do it. They said basically the same things although what Roxas said about the judicial impediments are also important,” Yao added.

Deviating from the usual face-off debates, the PCCI forum saw the candidates taking the stage one by one, delivering opening and closing statements and fielding questions by the moderator, TV business news anchor Coco Alcuaz.

‘More prosperous’

First up was Santiago who vowed to step down as President by 2022 with a nation that is more prosperous, people who are more united and institutions that are more stable.

First on the list of Santiago’s priorities once she assumes the presidency is to have the freedom of information bill enacted as this enhances transparency and public accountability; restore meritocracy in government and weed out political parasites in the ranks; run the government’s finances responsibly by reforming the 19-year-old tax system; “right size” the government; and keep government deficits manageable by keeping it below 3 percent of the gross domestic product.

Asked why she had refused to release her medical records, Santiago, who said he had survived stage 4 lung cancer, said: “Can’t you see me? Can’t you see I can stand straight? What else do you want from me? Why are you so nasty?”

“Have you seen anything, any provision under Philippine law that requires any candidate for any office to show his or her medical records?” she said.

“What right does someone walking on the street have to suddenly ask you: “Do you have medical records?” What have I done? Why should I surrender my medical records?” Santiago said.

Marcos connection

Asked about her choice of running mate, Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., Santiago said: “I did not team up with him to defend him … he can defend himself.”

“I have not seen prima facie evidence that Bongbong Marcos killed someone, raped someone, burned down a house or violated the revised penal code … A formal complaint must be filed in court so that we’ll see if there is any basis at all,” Santiago said.

Binay’s priorities

According to her, the election of the namesake son of the late dictator should show that the greater majority believes he deserves to be in public service.

Binay similarly stressed the need to ramp up infrastructure spending; revisit and reduce corporate income taxes; amend the Constitution to lift the restrictive economic provisions as these are no longer attuned with the present times; support agriculture sector; boost job creation, among other things.

The Vice President shrugged off allegations of corruption against him, saying these were “a conspiracy of all sectors.”

“But thank you for making allegations. It’s the job of the courts to say whether you are guilty or not of corruption,” he said.

“The moral problem actually is not corruption, the moral problem is poverty. That is what I have to face, not a fight against all these allegations but a fight to alleviate poverty in the life of every Filipino,” he said.

Charter amendments

Roxas spoke like he was running for reelection as he was forced to defend President Aquino’s record on anticorruption and public service, and his stand against Charter change and income tax cuts.

He said that in his four years as trade secretary, no foreign investor asked him to open the doors to more foreign investments but to address practical issues undermining business transactions in the country such as delayed payments of export credits, and the tedious and layered process in obtaining licenses.

Roxas said that while he was open to lowering income taxes, he pointed out that lower government revenues would have a negative impact on public service and the country’s credit rating (a downgrade due to lower collections would lead to higher borrowing rates).

He addressed businessmen’s concerns on the chronic breakdown and overcrowding in trains and congestion in the airports by saying that there was simply too little time to undertake adjustments in these essential facilities.

Roxas said the government had its hands tied on the MRT from Day One because its private proponents were guaranteed to earn a 15-percent internal rate of return in dollars per year from a contract awarded three administrations ago.

Roxas also blamed the short window for expansion and repair work in the airport and terminals that operate 18 to 20 hours a day. He said the government had to squeeze in the limited time frame to put up additional quick exit runways because it could not afford to shut down the airport.

READ: Roxas lauded for transparency in forum

Better late than never

Sen. Grace Poe, who was able to catch up in Tuesdays forum, vowed that in her first 100 days in office as President, she will have the freedom of information bill and the proposed Anti-Red Tape Act enacted; further ease in doing business; boost tourism; fight corruption; reform tax code; and reduce income taxes, noting that there is some P600 billion in unspent resources and that the reduction of income taxes will only be equivalent to about P30 billion.

READ: Poe says ‘lean’ resume in short public service is better

“We just need to be more efficient in government. We consider businesses as our partners and you will need the government to become an enabler,” Poe said.

Organizers had to bend over backward to accommodate the former movie censor. She had initially declined to appear in the event, saying she had a provincial engagement. Poe blamed the mix-up on a “misunderstanding” and that she decided to come at the last minute to “man up or woman up.” She was given 10 minutes to do her thing.