PCCI also wants Estrada to resign

After long hours of debates in the boardroom, the leadership of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) decided yesterday to take a unified stand: the best solution to the political and economic crises was for President Estrada to resign.

Voting in favor of calls for the President to step down from office was 72 percent of the group’s 10 regional governors, 37 chambers and 115 industry associations.

The PCCI, considered the country’s biggest and most influential business group, conducted the survey on the current leadership crisis after members sought a review of its original position.

Long identified as a consistent Estrada supporter, the PCCI had merely called for the immediate resolution of bribery charges against the President.

Following the closed-door meeting, PCCI president Miguel Varela told reporters that a majority of the leadership now believes the President’s resignation is the answer to the country’s woes.

"The survey asked the chambers and the sectoral groups what they thought was the best solution to the crisis, and resignation emerged as the top option," Varela said.

He pointed out that the results were categorical, and that the leadership also recognized the voice of members who called for an expeditious but fair impeachment process.

The PCCI has over 20,000 member-corporations, "and this makes us the biggest organization in the country," Varela said. "It is not easy to get a consensus and the process was very difficult."

Members of the PCCI board showed signs of strain as Varela read the chamber’s official position.

PCCI vice president Sergio Ortiz-Luis said the voting result was an expression of "the lack of confidence in the leadership of President Estrada and the desire to normalize the political and economic situation."

"The preponderant reason appears to be the declining confidence in the President. The membership believes that any solution to this crisis, as long as it is constitutional, will calm the market place. Resignation is seen as the most expedient way to do this without resorting to extra-constitutional alternatives," Ortiz-Luis said.

Present during the meeting were 10 of PCCI’s 15-member board of directors, namely Senen Bacani, Raul Boncan, Peter Favila, Francis Ferrer, Gus Lagman, Igi Ong, Toni Tan, Anna Periquet, Cesar Purisima and Jose Luis Yulo Jr.

Varela had refused to disclose the actual figures but Yulo said six of the 10 voted for resignation and four for the completion of the impeachment proceedings.

Yulo said 23 of the 32 regional councils and sectoral organizations present also voted in favor of calling for the President’s resignation.

He added that of the 17 regional chambers represented in the meeting, 13 voted in favor of resignation.

Ortiz-Luiz said the PCCI decided it would soon conduct a more comprehensive survey among its general membership to confirm the results.

However, Yulo said this would not likely affect the group’s position.

"The regional chambers had already conducted a survey among the members and their position on the matter was only firmed up in this meeting," he said. – Des Ferriols