Investors want stability in legal system - lawmakers

MANILA, Philippines - Administration lawmakers said yesterday local and foreign businessmen want stability in the country’s legal environment and that the ongoing efforts to reform the judiciary would augur well for the economy.

Ang Kasangga party-list Rep. Ted Haresco and Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone in separate statements dismissed warnings that the ongoing impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona would turn off investors as the proceedings project the country as politically unstable.

“Businessmen require a stable political social and legal environment. That is our fundamental prerequisite to plan ahead in economic development; planning ahead in creating jobs and wealth to trickle down to become inclusive as desired by the popularly elected President,” Haresco, vice chairman of the House committee on small business and entrepreneurial development, said.

“Any cloud of doubt hanging over the top judiciary in this case the Supreme Court will diminish business optimism. Fairness towards truth is a must for Juan de la Cruz,” he said.

Evardone, chairman of the House committee on public information, said many investors have long complained of corruption in various agencies in government, including the courts, as well as flip-flopping judicial rulings.

“The Big Picture is that the impeachment trial is not an attack on the justices or the judiciary itself, but a constitutional process meant to make top officials — in this case, the Chief Justice — accountable to our people and to restore the High Court to its erstwhile glory as an ardently independent, highly credible and greatly respected co-equal branch of government,” he said.

He noted many business groups, including the Makati Business Club, backed the ongoing impeachment trial.

However, Kabataan party-list Rep. Raymond Palatino said the impeachment trial “cannot feed the people.”

“The impeachment trial cannot bring food to the table. We are full accountability but it appears the Aquino administration is using the trial to distract the people’s attention from the mounting economic problems,” Palatino said.

“The impeachment trial is being used to justify the lame actions of this administration. We are on the second week of the trial and yet the oil firms have already made several price increases,” he said.