PCCI execs in N. Luzon to Estrada: Quit

ANGELES CITY — Regional chapters of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) are up in arms against their central leadership’s refusal to join other business groups demanding for the resignation of President Estrada.

"Consider the PCCI’s Northern Luzon area as a breakaway group, but we are holding our ground. We want President Estrada to resign," said PCCI Northern Luzon vice president Renato Romero.

The Northern Luzon PCCI covers 22 chapters in Regions 1 (Ilocos), 2 (Cagayan Valley) and 3 (Central Luzon), and the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR).

After a meeting attended by the five PCCI vice presidents last Tuesday, the chamber’s top officials issued a statement saying the PCCI supports "constitutional processes with transparency, credibility and dispatch" in resolving the scandals facing the President.

"Our central officials are ignoring the sentiments of the chambers in the regions," Romero said.

"The position of the Northern Luzon PCCI is that the President should resign. The longer he stays, the more our economy will plunge," he said.

Romero said his call for the President’s resignation is supported by the PCCI governors under his jurisdiction with whom he had held meetings before the PCCI’s central officials issued their statement.

"What I heard is that the PCCI in the Visayas is also supporting the call for the President’s resignation, while those in Mindanao are still meeting to come out with a common position," he added.

Romero, however, said the PCCI will again hold a national convention on Nov. 8 to assess the economic and political situation in the country.

He expressed hopes that the PCCI would eventually reverse its stance. — Ding Cervantes