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Tuesday, September 06, 2005
Oro traders want end to Arroyo impeachment
By Stephen Capillas
SOME members of the Cagayan de Oro business community are admittedly hoping for the swift and just conclusion of the impeachment proceedings before Congress sometime this week.
President Ruben Vegafria of the Cagayan de Oro Chamber of Commerce and Industry Foundation Inc. (Oro Chamber) said this explaining that should opposition congressmen obtain the 79 signatures the country would brace for a long process ahead.
He told Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro in an interview that a lot of businessmen are favoring the immediate conclusion of the impeachment proceedings against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo so the city and the country can move forward.
"There are traders here who are for legal process and there are sentiments favoring Arroyo's continued stay in office and even support for the expanded value-added tax (e-VAT)," Vegafria said.
Though politics would be absent in the Mindanao Business Conference scheduled on Sept. 14, Vegafria said recent political developments would likely be on the minds of a lot of conference participants owing to the uneasy political climate.
"What's happening now is that domestic and foreign investors are quite disturbed over this ongoing political crisis and if the impeachment process pushes through, the long term business plans would either be discarded or drastically changed and they would either pull out or adopt a wait and see attitude, thus causing a standstill in the economy," he said.
The Oro Chamber president said a prolonged impeachment process would likewise cause local, national and foreign traders to resort to austerity spending and cut back on their investments.
The same reservations by the traders also cover the implementation of the e-VAT, which Vegafria said is a "bitter but necessary pill" to swallow that is supported by foreign and local traders.
Vegafria said the e-VAT would help raise the needed funds to cover the national budget deficit.
"Kung walay e-VAT patay tanan (If there's no e-VAT everything's dead). The Supreme Court was right when it ruled for the lifting of the temporary restraining order but politicians and the average person certainly oppose it because for them it means less food on the table, more bills to pay," he said.
(September 6, 2005 issue)
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