That scenario has alarmed not only local businessmen but also officials of foreign chambers of commerce in the country. And the venue and timing of their concern are doubly foreboding – the annual Philippine Business Conference at the Manila Hotel last Tuesday.
But what is the basis of their apprehension?
For the past several days, there has been speculations of what private business and critics have termed "an alarming possibility" – the declaration of a national state of emergency by President Arroyo.
And such presidential proclamation conjures up teams of government bureaucrats swooping down on executives suites of private business and shoving CEOs, thus: "Move aside. We’re taking over!"
Last Monday, that conjecture turned into a looming reality.
Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales, always a good copy everytime he has something to declare, admitted before media representatives he has in the can an antidote to "a clear and present danger."
Indeed, through his own initiative, he said, his office has already crafted a proposed declaration of the state of national emergency. All sewed up, Gonzales said.
"With some fine-tuning, it is just waiting for the signature of the President," the Cabinet member told a group of radio interviewers.
That discordant chord was more than enough to send an unmelodious signal to the business community. And provide a volatile arsenal for the critics of the Arroyo administration to unleash fiery accusations that "martial rule cannot be far behind!"
But in the face of all this fear and apprehension of government taking over some private businesses, Secretary Gonzales insists that what his office has done is premised on something that is constitutional.
And the about-to-be-fined-tuned presidential proclamation is well-defined in some provisions of the highest law of the land. That means, among others, it does not pay for an Ayala Avenue executive to argue when a government functionary tells him: "Move over. From now on we’re in-charge here!"
Obviously squirming in their seats during the Manila Hotel convention were Henri Schumacher, president of the European Chamber of Commerce, and Eric Santos, American Chamber of Commerce CEO.
As far as these two responsible foreign businessmen are concerned, the Gonzales I-did-it-on-my-own-volition antidote is not only untimely but also irresponsible.
But Donald Dee, ever a guarded optimist, has cautioned nervous businessmen and roly-poly politicians to calm down. Short of saying there is no reason for Secretary Gonzales to lift the cover of what he has put in the can.
"Our country is not exactly in a state of emergency. Oil products and energy are readily available," Dee says.
Yes, they are. But gasoline products, LPGs, and cost of electricity have become luxurious commodities of the middle class and above. To the average Filipinos, they are elusive!
So, what is there to do?
CONFUSING THE PUBLIC. An item in this column last Friday has elicited rejoinders from contending camps. One is that, while the party of Bildner and Africa was given a clean mandate in the September 7 decision – with finality – of the Supreme Court, the contesting group in POTC and Philcomsat insists it is still in control, confusing those who are not too familiar with the case.
Recently, a complaint was filed with the Sandiganbayan claiming that Bildner and Africa were misrepresenting themselves as directors and officers of the two mentioned companies.
In a statement given to the press, Victoria de los Reyes and John Benedict Sioson, corporate secretaries of the two firms, disputed the allegation and said it was the other way around.
The contesting group said their members were elected to the board and management in August 2004, based on proxies issued by Independent Realty Corp. and Mid-Pasig Land Development Corp. 40 percent shareholdings.
But the Africa-Bildner party said that as early as December 20, 1999, the fourth division of the antigraft court had already issued an order that nullified those shareholdings.
De los Reyes and Sioson also said that on June 15, 2005, three months before the complaint was filed, the High Tribunal issued a decision affirming the Dec. 20, 1999, Sandi-ganbayan resolution that nullified the shares of IRC and Mid-Pasig.
The contesting group also claimed that SEC issued an order validating their August, 2004, meetings during which they were elected to the POTC and Philcomsat boards. No, the other party noted, the Court of Appeals issued a preliminary injunction against that.
By the way, the government owns 35 percent of both POTC and Philcomsat.
