Ramos warns protests may harm economy
Ramos warns protests may harm economy
MANILA (AFP): The Philippine economy, already hard-hit by the peso's fall, could suffer even more if the Roman Catholic Church goes ahead with a protest rally Sunday, President Fidel Ramos warned yesterday.
"There is no reason for us to keep battering our economic stability and capability and credibility," Ramos said in Prague, the third stop of a four-nation tour.
A transcript of his remarks was released by the presidential palace here.
"We are undergoing a storm which is a regional storm... but it will pass for as long as the house is in stable foundation," the president said.
The rally, organized by the church and its business supporters, aims to halt moves by Ramos's backers to amend the constitution, which now limits the president to a single term.
Ramos's term ends next year.
The Supreme Court has thrown out two petitions requesting a temporary order restraining the Catholic church from staging the protest.
A lower court rejected yesterday a petition to ban the rally.
Ramos points to the opening of the economy under his five-year-old term as the foundation for modest growth over the past three years.
But a prolonged regional currency crisis has forced economic managers to reduce growth targets.
Many businessmen are worried that politicking at this time could affect the leadership's willingness to make hard decisions.
"Can you imagine the president of the Philippines is in the middle of big crowd... being covered by the international media, being shown to the world as the hate symbol?" Ramos said.
Before his departure last week on a 10-day, four-country tour of Europe and Kuwait, Ramos sought to reassure Filipinos that he would give up the presidency in 1998 after fears were raised that he would impose martial rule as late dictator Ferdinand Marcos did.
In an interview Tuesday with Czech television, Ramos said he would be "finishing my six years as president on the 30th of June next year. I am in my last year now and I mean to turn over the presidency to whoever my successor is, who will be elected in the elections of May 1998."