Traders to Arroyo: Use last 18 months for reforms
11/20/2008 | 07:49 AM
MANILA, Philippines - Amid perceptions that the present administration wants to extend term via Charter change, business groups urged President Arroyo Thursday to use her last 18 months in power to put country above self and work for real change.
The business groups made a similar call to lawmakers and political leaders in a newspaper ad placed in the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
"We call on President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the Congress and all our political leaders to demonstrate their patriotism and have the COURAGE to use the remaining 18 months of their term to do what is right for our country and our people, to put country above self," the Management Association of the Philippines, Makati Business Club and Coalition for National Transformation said in the ad.
Also, they called on other religious leaders, business groups and civil society to close ranks with senior Catholic bishops led by Jaro Archbishop Angel Lagdameo for “radical" reforms.
Lagdameo, president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, had led four other bishops in calling for “radical changes" in what they considered a graft-ridden government.
"We can no longer afford to do nothing. In calling for a corruption-free government, change, real change, must come to the Philippines NOW ... Our people in desperation can no longer wait," the business groups said.
The three groups threw their support behind the call of the five senior Catholic bishops led by Lagdameo, saying the time for radical reforms to rebuild the country is now.
Also, they said they are "justifiably alarmed" that the span and depth of corruption has become so extensive that the people's and the world's trust in country and government have been irreparably shattered.
"The world has not been oblivious to the culture of corruption in our government that is thriving with near-total impunity as surveys by reputable international agencies have shown. The dishonor of being the most corrupt in Asia and one of the worst in the world compels us to join the call for redemption," they said.
Also, they said corruption has become a moral and social cancer especially with the big fish always getting away scot-free.
"Despite the many celebrated cases of corruption in high places, who in this government has been held accountable>? Who has been prosecuted? Who has undergone trial? Who has been jailed? Suspects are in fact perceived as being protected and even rewarded. We cannot understand government's inability or refusal to wield its vast powers to prosecute the accused," they lamented.
The groups said it is time for national transformation, with all Filipinos exercising their right and doing their duty to the country as citizens.
"Doing right by our conscience, the law, the people and country is a sacred duty whatever our station in life may be," they said.
The groups also stressed a commitment to reform requires courage to not only speak out against wrongdoing but also do something about it.
"It is the virtue that makes all other virtues possible. It starts with self. And it is only by our COURAGE that we will free ourselves from the shackles of corruption and redeem our honor and dignity,"
they said. - GMANews.TV
