Cory restored economic freedom of RP, PCCI says

Philippine business groups mourned the death of former president Corazon C. Aquino, saying that she will always be remembered for “re-establishing the country’s economic freedom." The late leader also helped “dismantling monopolies of cronies of the martial law regime," Edgardo G. Lacson, president of Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) told GMANews.TV, citing her efforts to level the playing field for legitimate economic players. Two years after she assumed office, the Philippine economy expanded by 6.7 percent, an indication that business, both local and foreign, was confident of her leadership. However, growth was cut short — and compromised — by a series of coup d’ etats against her administration and a contraction in the US economy in the early 1990s. Mrs. Aquino’s last few years in office was also marked by crippling 12 hour brownouts in Manila, a move that was not helped by her government’s decision to dissolve the Department of Energy. Her administration was reportedly prompted to do away with the department after its involvement with the construction of the unsafe, fraudulent, and overpriced Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP). Easily the most recognizable “white elephant" of the Marcos regime, the BNPP was supposed to avert a power crisis in the Manila, the country’s center of trade and commerce. Since the project’s construction was attended by fraud, debt advocates such as the Freedom from Debt Coalition called on the Aquino government to repudiate and cancel payments on these debts. But the call fell on deaf ears, after her economic advisers warned that debt repudiation would compromise the country’s capacity to borrow from foreign sources in the future. Despite these criticisms, businessmen still see her as an “icon and symbol of the [Philippines’] regained freedom after two decades of misgovernance and dictatorship under Marcos." She “provoked awe, inspiration and genuine pride for the Filipino people," Lacson said. For the Makati Business Club — whose members comprise senior executives of the Philippines’ largest companies — Mrs. Aquino was was the country’s moral beacon. “She restored the light of democracy after a long dark age of the Marcos dictatorship. She was the country's moral beacon during the Macapagal-Arroyo decade of moral decadence," Makati Business Club executive director Alberto Lim said in another interview. Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines (Finex) Foundation chairman Eduardo Francisco said the former leader “gave us a lot of herself to us." “Like the rest of Filipinos, we are sad at her leaving us. It is now up to us to ensure Ninoy and her sacrifices do not go for naught," Francisco said. “A part of all of us died with Mrs. Aquino," said Francisco I. Chavez, who served as solicitor-general under the Aquino government. "In darkness, she was our light; in troubles, she was our strength; in despair, she was our inspiration. In her pain, she made us look in ourselves; in her dying moments, she united us in prayer," Chavez said in a text message. "We mark in tears the passing of an honest leader the steadfast vanguard and champion of freedom on democracy the indefatigable and eternal flame of truth and justice and indeed the soul of our nation," he added. Mrs. Aquino died before dawn on Saturday, August 1 after a long bout with colon cancer. Her remains are currently at the La Salle Greenhills campus in Mandaluyong City. - With reports from Cheryl M. Arcibal, GMANews.TV