Clarity amid confusion

The night before the 2007 Senatorial Forum was a bit confusing especially for the organizers since it was touch and go with some candidates confirming their attendance prior to the event, and then backing out at the last minute. In spite of the glitches, the forum turned out to be a well-attended affair with a lot of businessmen showing up to hear what the senatorial candidates had to say. The venue was jam packed with people from the tri-media covering the forum. Members from the diplomatic circle were also present, with the Mexican Ambassador Araceli Paz Campos and Argentinean Ambassador Mario Schuff in attendance.

It was rather unfortunate that the Genuine Opposition’s campaign manager decided to send the candidates to other sorties rather than have them attend the Manila Hotel venue. Obviously the standing order was for the GO candidates not to attend the forum which was rather disheartening, but I’m glad Nikki Coseteng and Sonia Roco (who arrived a few minutes after the forum has started) displayed their independent good judgment by deciding to participate.

At the beginning of the forum, Congressman Prospero Pichay commented about the lack of representation from the opposition, to which former Senator Coseteng reacted, smartly replying that on the contrary, the Genuine Opposition is represented by someone who happens to be a woman – and that counts a lot. Aside from Congressman Pichay, the administration’s Team Unity was also represented by Senator Edgardo Angara, Governor Luis "Chavit" Singson and Mike Defensor. Congressman Miguel Zubiri arrived much later but nevertheless more than made up for it with his youthful enthusiasm. Senator Francis Pangilinan, who is running as an independent, was allowed to join the forum after some high level negotiations on the part of the organizers – a decision that later on proved to be wise especially on the part of the Senator.

The panelists – Dr. Cayetano Paderanga, former Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno, Professor Rene Azurin, Integrated Bar of the Philippines national president Atty. Vicente Salazar and Manila Overseas Press Club chairman Tony Lopez – fielded very interesting questions to the participants. As usual, our friend and MOPC chairman Tony Lopez elicited a few good laughs when he pointedly asked candidates: What gives you the right to run as senator, and how (if elected) do you plan to move the economy forward? Everyone except Sonia Roco cited their track record as public servants, but while Roco acknowledged she was a neophyte, she pointed out her experience in four national campaigns where her husband, the late Raul Roco, either ran as senator or president.

While the forum centered on economics and governance as the two major topics, the subtopics covered a whole range of issues that affect not only the business sector but the country in general. Economic growth and poverty, employment and wages, international competitiveness, bureaucracy, local governance and peace and order certainly concern not only the domestic front, since the said issues, particularly peace and order and bureaucratic red tape, are major issues that businessmen have to contend with in the course of doing business in this country. Whether senatorial candidates agree or not, the economy is much better now than it was 10 years ago. Things are starting to pick up, and regardless of what critics may say, news like a one percent decline in the national government’s debt – from P3.88 trillion in 2005 to P3.851 trillion as of December last year – are certainly welcome. Though the economy experienced a slight hiccup a couple of weeks ago when a drop in China’s stock exchange triggered a global plunge, the country quickly recovered.

Hopefully, politics will take second place to economic concerns, where legislators will work together to strengthen the country’s position in the global arena. At the end of the day, all are expected to benefit if the economy continues to move up. We can’t keep on carping about past issues that will just continue to hamper the growth of the economy. All told, the forum would have been a great opportunity for the other candidates especially from the opposition to ventilate their views regarding the economy. The opposition has been saying all along that the economy has not trickled down to the poor, and they could have used the venue to tell everyone what they plan to do to make sure the positive effects of a growing economy will be felt by everyone. Perhaps their weakness lies in the fact that they cannot really argue about the economy too much, perhaps thinking that the bulk of their votes will come from the lower end of society. But then again, the poor are interested in finding out what will happen to them, and obviously the businessmen are in a position to alleviate poverty and help uplift the lives of the poor. If the economy does well, then there will be more jobs, which could translate to more money for education, housing, health and other basic services needed by each and every Filipino.

We must congratulate everyone who participated in this forum, especially Nikki Coseteng and Sonia Roco and of course, Kiko Pangilinan. It certainly looks like he will be the Number One senator judging from the surveys showing him on top of the list. He’s very perceptive and articulate, and I could definitely hear many of the businessmen saying that Senator Pangilinan deserves to be number one. I believe the forum served as an eye opener for everyone since it gave us a brief glimpse of what these future legislators have in mind on issues that would affect the country. The whole thing came out rather well, except for an old man claiming to be a senatorial candidate who barged in saying he wanted to participate. He gave a speech – so I guess democracy is very much alive and kicking in this country. At the end of the day, it was a good show. My congratulations to Susing Pineda, Mike Varela, Jun Ortiz and Donald Dee for making it a great success.

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