GMA to investors: RP again ‘open for business’

"Open for business."

This was the message of President Arroyo to foreign investors following the bitterly fought congressional and local elections with the administration appearing to gain a slim 13-11 majority in the Senate.

At the same time, the Department of Foreign Affairs is gearing to step up its economic diplomacy to bring back investor confidence to the country.

Appearing in a video link with an investors’ forum organized by Credit Lyonnais Securities Asia in Hong Kong, Mrs. Arroyo said she had already spoken with oppositionists who appeared to be "very forthcoming and very cooperative."

"The victory of some members of the opposition shows the perceptiveness of our people and the desire all of us share for a return to normalcy and business as usual," she said.

The President stressed to the gathered investors that the "interesting times" the country had been going through were now at an end.

"I hope I have impressed upon you that when we say that the Philippines is back in business, we know what we are talking about," she added.

Mrs. Arroyo, who is expected to run for a full-six-year term in 2004, told the foreign investors her administration would be marked by "a leaner and more dignified lifestyle — in stark contrast to the previous regime."

However, she stressed that amid the structural reforms, the plight of the nation’s poor would not be neglected.

"As an economist my decisions will at least be informed as much by intellectual discipline as by compassion," the President said.

Calling Monday’s polls "free and fair elections about which even the opposition cannot complain," Mrs. Arroyo appealed that partisanship should now end with the conclusion of the election period.

"This is a time of healing... The moment I cast my vote, that was the end of the election period for me," Mrs. Arroyo said.

She claimed the crushing on May 1 of a riot of loyalists of jailed ex-President Joseph Estrada was no more dramatic than the anti-globalization riot in Seattle, Washington.

"The true mark of stability in a democracy is the ability to strictly circumscribe the occasional source of turmoil — which can happen even in Seattle — and return instantly to normalcy," she said.

The Foreign Office will also attempt to communicate the return of normalcy to the country among the country’s top foreign investors.

An official of the DFA economic diplomacy unit (EDU) said the fact that the elections took place with minor hitches "is an achievement in itself in terms of development sense" after all the trouble the country has undergone.

"The heavy turnout of voters indicated the desire of the people to be heard through ballots and it showed that the voting population is now more sophisticated," said the official, who requested anonymity.

"This is very reassuring for prospective investors," he added.

The involvement of supposed coup plotters in the polls is also a positive development because it gives the perception that they will be working within legal means, he said.