Makati businessmen on GMA: Let’s wait and see

The Makati Business Club (MBC) said yesterday it has not withdrawn its support for the Arroyo administration even as it awaits the facts behind fresh calls for the President’s resignation.

The group of businessmen appealed to the public to "stick to the facts and not be carried away by emotions."

MBC executive director Guillermo Luz said in a telephone interview that the organization was waiting for hard evidence and hard facts to support allegations that Mrs. Arroyo manipulated the results of the 2004 presidential elections.

A full-page advertisement calling for calm and sobriety appeared in major newspapers yesterday, paid for by major business groups that did not include the MBC.

MBC’s conspicuous absence from the roster of business and economic organizations spawned speculations that the Makati businessmen were distancing themselves from the administration.

According to Luz, however, the draft statement was faxed to the MBC offices very late on Friday and the organization did not have time to get board approval for the statement.

"There wasn’t any time and we didn’t know the deadline was over the weekend," Luz said.

"But, of course, we continue to support the Arroyo administration. It is the duly-elected administration," Luz said. "There are a lot of accusations but not enough substantiation. What we have been saying is to wait for the facts if any will show up and wait for the evidence."

"It’s not out of the ordinary, that’s how we have always conducted ourselves," he explained. "We are watching like everyone else and waiting to see what will happen. We are on the side of truth and justice. These are the things that will not mislead us."

Luz acknowledged the source of the controversial audio recordings, former National Bureau of Investigation deputy director Samuel Ong, had called a press conference, but noted that the contents of the alleged taped conversations were not made public.

"They were presented to the media but no one has listened to them," Luz said. "He said he had the tapes but no one asked him to play them. Why not?"

Luz meanwhile expressed doubt that the influential Catholic Church was directly endorsing Ong and his evidence.

"Mr. Ong sought refuge from the (Catholic) Church because he felt that his safety was being threatened," Luz said. "I don’t think any church will refuse a request for safe haven. It is the nature of religious institutions throughout history to give safe haven."

Luz opined that any church — whether Christian, Islamic or Buddhist — would have refused to provide safe haven. "I do not construe that as an endorsement or support per se."

Luz said the MBC was asking the public to "sit tight and wait for further evidence" before taking any action.

"If there are facts and evidence that would support such calls, then we should first study them before doing anything," Luz said. "If we follow our emotions, then things get subjective, people become subjective and we don’t always make the right decisions or take the right actions."