Filipino traders stage protest

Filipino traders stage protest

KORONADAL, Philippines (Reuters): Hundreds of traders closed shop and brought this city to a standstill yesterday in the first mass protest by Philippine businesspeople over Asia's financial turmoil.

The businesspeople launched a protest motorcade across two provinces on southern Mindanao island, appealing to President Fidel Ramos to stop banks foreclosing on their businesses.

The protesters complained that high interest rates -- a consequence of the hefty depreciation of the Philippine peso -- were driving them to bankruptcy.

"The banks are at our doorsteps ready to deliver the final blow for our disintegration," they said in a letter to Ramos.

"We earnestly urge you, Mr President ... redemption from foreclosure, not an epitaph for our demise," the letter said.