Initial feedback, however, from the business community point to a preference for pursuing the established process by holding the scheduled 2007 elections for the elected officials with expiring terms.

The business leaders are also in favor of the President Gloria Arroyo continuing and finishing her term up to 2010 saying she has the mandate but warned Arroyo against a "no-election" scenario in 2007.

"We must follow the Constitutional process. We have to hold the elections in May 2007 only for those whose term will expire," industrialist Raul T. Concep-cion.

So far, Concepcion is conferring with Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Donald Dee on when the business community must meet to tackle the election issues.

"Business should discuss intelligently behind closed doors and come out with a position on what is the best solution," Concepcion said.

Those who will benefit from a no-election are the 238 Congressmen, 12 Senators and around 17,000 local elective posts.

Apparently, Malacañang is amenable to postponing the elections to 2010 so as not to distract the government’s focus from the economic recovery.

"But how can you change the rules midstream? This is what we call freezing the ball and this would force the people to look for an alternative to the sitting president," he said noting it would be more dangerous for Arroyo not to hold the elections in 2007 because this could foment more demonstrations and protests.

The May 2007 elections must push through whether it is a unicameral, parliamentary or bicameral.

Concepcion acknowledged that the economy has started to recover but the political issues have kept on hounding a supposedly economic take-off.

"If our kind of politics continue, then all the good news at the start of the year will be a let down," he noted as he scored on some politicians including former president Fidel V. Ramos saying "I think everybody is wary of his moves."

Concepcion noted that prices of basic commodities were not able to go up much during the holidays because the softening of the oil prices in the international market.

For the November-December period, the Dubai crude went up by .81 per barrel while the Brent slowed down by .69 but the peso appreciated P1.09.

As of January 4, Brent was up by .95 and Dubai by .68 but the peso was up P0.56.

The most crucial is the December-February period because of the impending additional 2 percent EVAT or a total of 12 percent EVAT including power and petroleum products.

But Concepcion said the administration should not crow so much about the very strong peso as its achievement saying this will affect the competitiveness of the country’s exports. He said the ideal level is between P54 to P56 to the dollar.

Concepcion said Congress will resume session on January 15 and should take up the proposed EVAT (Extended Value Added Tax) limit on power and petroleum products to 10 percent only and not 12 percent as these products will hit across all industries and cut across all classes.

Aside from the oil products and power, Concepcion said that Congress should also amend the 70 percent cap on input VAT and the amendment to the Electric Power Industry Reform Act to allow the open access and enable consumers to choose their source of power.