Businessmen support call vs. Constituent Assembly

CEBU, Philippines – The business sector has joined the call for the abolition of controversial House Resolution 1109 that enables the House of Representatives to convene itself into a Constituent Assembly and make changes to the Constitution without the Senate’s participation.

Gordon Allan Joseph, president of Cebu Business Club, read the resolution of his organization during the First Conference of Independent Business Clubs in the country yesterday in Marco Polo Hotel.

He said that although they firmly believe that the 1987 Constitution can and should be improved, the members of the CBC however were deeply concerned with the passing of HR 1109 otherwise known as Con-Ass.

“There are numerous challenges facing our deteriorating economy and our troubled political landscape. The pursuit of constitutional amendment at this inopportune time, by a methodology that is arguably flawed is not a priority in the face of these urgent concerns,” Joseph said.

Con-Ass has begun to polarize our Nation and protests began the other day in Makati and in Cebu.

Joseph said that their group believes that the legislators should do their utmost to avoid the perception that self-interest, and not the interests of the Filipino people, are their primary agenda.

“We believed that the passing of the HR should be repealed or aborted in the interest of the economic, social and political stability of our nation,” he added.

Bukidnon Rep. Teofisto “TG” Guingona, who was one of the guest speakers during the event, said that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is the one who directed the maneuver of HR 1109 due to the overwhelming number of administration congressmen who approved the said resolution.

“There is an evil mastermind behind the entire ruckus-the one who controls the release of the pork barrel,” Guingona, the House Deputy minority leader said.

Meanwhile, Sen. Manuel Roxas, who was one of the guests of the forum, met with close to a hundred trisikad drivers in barangay Lahug before heading the event.

The drivers of the pedal-powered transportation, which Roxas has extensively used in his bid to become president in 2010, expressed their support to the calls against Con-Ass. — Mitchelle L. Palaubsanon/NLQ (THE FREEMAN)