Clamor vs killings jolts finance chief

Malacañang's chief financial adviser on Tuesday said the clamor of foreign business chambers to stop political killings should jolt the goverment to finally take action. Finance Secretary Margarito Teves said the statement from the Joint Foreign Chambers of Commerce in the Philippines on the spate of murders came as a surprise, especially to the Cabinet's economic team. "Coming from them, I would say the government should map an action plan to end political killings. This is the first time the chambers brought it up," Teves said in Filipino during an interview on dzRH radio. Teves also said multinational institutions in other countries such as Japan have also manifested similar concerns to Philippine officials. "Even our ambassador in Japan said many of our people and even multinational institutions have voiced similar concerns. So we should really face the problem," he said. He noted that the JFC includes groups from the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Europe, Japan and Korea, and the Philippine Association of Multinational Companies Regional Headquarters. Earlier, a similar plea came from local executives of US-based apparel companies Gap, Polo Ralph Lauren, Wal-Mart, Liz Claiborne, American Eagle Outfitters, Jones Apparel Group and Phillips Van Heusen. Teves said the statement from the JFC was a first, since its members barely took up things other than economic issues with Philippine officials. If ever, he said the JFC officials would merely refer to the problem in "general terms," such as "the need to improve peace and order." "It's only now that they mentioned political killings in their manifesto. They used to express concerns about various issues but it's only now that this particular issue was tackled," he said. Renewed 'commitment' Human rights group Karapatan has listed over 720 victims of extrajudicial murders, mostly against members of left-leaning groups critical of the Arroyo administration. The deaths were recorded since 2001, when Mrs Arroyo took over the reins of government through the second People Power revolt. The police's Task Force Usig, however, recorded a total of 110 cases of killings of members of party-list groups from 2001 until October this year. Of the number, 36 cases were filed in court and 74 others are still under investigation and case build-up. Amid criticisms from activists, President Arroyo formed the powerful Melo Commission to purportedly launch an independent probe on the killings. However, left-leaning groups have been dissatisfied with the investigation's progress. The call of the foreign chambers of commerce came less than a week after Mrs Arroyo publicly renewed her commitment to avert the string of murders. Speaking at the 28th Catholic Mass Media Awards last Friday, Mrs Arroyo said that, "We do want to make clear that things get pretty murky with all of these violent groups playing for keeps … I wish we could wave a wand and end all the killings now and forever. We’re doing everything in our power to stop them." No trickery For his part, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita interpreted foreign chambers statement as a mere "reminder" rather than a "warning." While the administration has been criticized for purportedly clamping down on press freedom, Ermita said media groups may be able to allay the businessmen's fears "through reporting that you're making on what the Melo Commission and Task Force Usig is doing." He added that, "maybe through the Department of Trade and Industry we can call a meeting and have (the chambers) briefed so they will know what we are doing ... I will ask the Department of Interior and Local Government … for a dialogue to give them confidence." Teves downplayed claims that the statement was a ploy to take investments away from the Philippines. "(Those claims) are puzzling because they already have businesses here. I would like to believe that they merely wanted us to improve our peace and order situation," he said. In the meantime, Teves said the government's financial managers will continue to work on improving revenue collection. He said present trends indicate economic growth in 2007 will depend mainly on the agriculture and services sectors. "Our economic fundamentals are fine and we expect the economy to improve," he said.-GMANews.TV