Umbrella group of business leaders cautions Congress on impeachment

AN UMBRELLA group consisting of the top business and other organizations has urged Congress to exercise its impeachment powers under the Constitution “with great prudence, probity and transparency,” a statement the group issued on Tuesday said.

In a press statement, the private sector umbrella group Judicial Reform Initiative (JRI) flagged “the growing use — or threat — of impeachment proceedings in Congress against a number of the Philippines’ highest ranking and prominent government leaders, including the President, the Vice-President, the Supreme Court Chief Justice, the Ombudsman, and the Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman....”

JRI added: “Investors would risk capital only in countries where they have full confidence in the rule of law. Thus, any initiative which may be perceived as weakening the check and balance among the branches of government might shatter this confidence and negate our hard-won economic gains.”

The umbrella group was established in 2012 by the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines, the Institute of Corporate Directors, the Management Association of the Philippines, the Makati Business Club, the American Chamber of Commerce, the European Chamber of Commerce, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, the AustraliaNew Zealand Chamber of Commerce, and the Movement for Restoration of Peace & Order, among others.

The group also said the “indiscriminate or ill-considered filings of impeachment proceedings against government officials distract those accused from the performance of their duties as public servants, as well as our Congress from its priority legislative agenda.” It added that these efforts may be construed “as any serious indictment of our justice system could weaken the Constitutionally protected independence of the judiciary.”

The Makati Business Club also this month had issued a similar statement urging caution on the series of impeachment cases against the top public officials mentioned — although in the case of election chief Andres D. Bautista, the impeachment complaint against him was junked last week.

Other groups that have also aired similar statements include the Integrated Bar of the Philippines and Philippine Bar Association.

The Philippines’ business sector has been known time and again to take part in the country’s modern history — from the aftermath of the Aquino assassination in 1983, when the Central Business District of Makati became the new Plaza Miranda of street protests against the Marcos dictatorship, to the later contentious episode of Joseph E. Estrada’s presidency, when Makati’s trading floor witnessed a different rally calling for his resignation.