CEBU, Philippines - Local frontrunners of the Cebu business community commended this year’s relatively peaceful elections and lauded the political maturity of citizens and expressed hope for a stronger public-private partnership in the years ahead.
Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) president Philip Tan said that the new set of government officials should involve the private sector with the legislation and implementation of policy directions in the country.
“The time has come for us to work together and come up with a common agenda. The government has to work with us to take full advantage of our Gross Domestic Product. We will not allow any politician to destroy the remarkable economic growth of the country,†he said.
He added that government leaders should be able to understand the economic enterprise system and support the thrusts of the business sector who are composed of regular tax payers.
“Majority of the electorate have decided. They have to set aside the differences of their political parties and focus on the common good of the general welfare especially the business sector,†he continued.
Aside from the electorate becoming more intelligent voters, Tan also lauded the modernization of the election system in the Philippines that resulted to minimal problems, less complains and higher accuracy although not absolute.
He further said that the newly-elected officials should be careful of their performance and see to it they are efficient enough in serving the public or else the latte who may be dissatisfied, might decide not to re-elect the former.
Robert Go, director of the Philippine Retailers Association – Cebu Chapter, commended the improvement of the Philippine elections with the utilization of Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines and automated counting that resulted to quick voting results and minimal eradication of cheating contrary to the manual counting during the previous years.
Go is also the owner of the Prince Warehouse retail chain with around 40,000 sari-sari store members.
He said that further growth and development in Cebu will be expected, hoping for a wiser financial budget of public funds and accomplishments of projects of the local government.
He cited in particular the total completion of the river clean-up to prevent floods during rainy season, full repair of roads and infrastructure repairs, resolution of traffic and transportation problems, accomplishment of the proposed Bus Rapid Transit project by 2016, and the reconstruction of the Carbon Market after more than ten years.
He added that government leaders should consider tourism industry as the primary driver of the regional growth and prioritize the livability of Cebu as a competitive edge among other cities in the world.
“In the next three years, we will continue to see unprecedented growth of Gross Domestic Product in the level of seven percent and that would translate to a lot of improvement in the lives of the Filipino people. We just hope to convert that to higher per capita income for the ordinary masses,†he said.
He also applauded the political maturity of Filipinos taking into account the reports of less violence and cheating for this election season.
“The voice of the people has been heard and so is the result of the election. We have more surprises on the local level where we see the underdogs are winning. It seems people wanted change,†Go continued.
With less red tape and the continued fight against graft and corruption, he said that the enabling business environment in the Philippines shall attract more local and foreign investments that will eventually provide employment opportunities to the countryside.
“We hope that the public-private partnership shall continue and will be strengthened. We are on our way and Cebu's business has always been as bullish as before. Our next three years will be exciting. I think Cebu province, as a whole, will be in good hands,†he told The FREEMAN.
Filipino-Cebuano Business Club Inc. (FCBI) president Rey Calooy considered the results of last Monday’s polls as a good start for reform to entice more investors into the country.
“It was a fairly peaceful election, people casted their own choices. Little by little, we can foresee political reforms. As we observe, many political kingpins lost and have been replaced with new names even some of them did not have enough resources,†he stated.
He advised that those who have lost should willingly accept defeat and prepare for the next round of elections instead while engaging themselves in running their own businesses.
He also cited that for those who have achieved victory should try being an “entrepreneurial†politician who is focused on creating more businesses to generate more job, increase the spending capacity and improve the lives of Filipinos.
Calooy who is also known as the “Iron Man of Cebu†won as the vice mayor in his town in Libagon, Southern Leyte under the Liberal Party.
FCBI serves as a business organization of micro, small and medium enterprises in Cebu and other neighboring provinces such as Bohol and Leyte. /JOB (FREEMAN)