RP's biggest enemy is political instability: Ramos

RP's biggest enemy is political instability: Ramos

MANILA (AFP): The threat of political instability is the Philippines' "biggest enemy," President Fidel Ramos said here yesterday, citing recent grenade attacks in the capital's financial district.

A resurgence in political instability could threaten the country's recovering economy, Ramos said in a live interview over radio station DZRH.

"The biggest enemy of the country is not crime but political instability. That is where another possible decline could start," he said.

He cited as examples of a possible resurgence grenade attacks Wednesday on the Shell and the Citibank NA headquarters in the financial district of this city and a continuing lack of political consensus in the government over key issues.

Ramos reiterated that he had instructed the police to "investigate all aspects" of the attacks, including whether they were politically motivated. Police say they believe the attacks were probably part of a botched bank robbery.

"The real problem is political stability of which peace and order is an element and a very important one," Ramos said adding that unity among national leaders was crucial.

He complained that after three years of work to revive the economy, "we are reverting back to our main industry, which is politics," an apparent criticism of opposition groups that have attacked his unpopular economic reforms.

The groups have charged that reforms such as an expanded value-added tax and an oil price increase were pushing up prices and hurting the poor, but Ramos said the measures would boost state revenues and lead to improved services and infrastructure.

He also asserted that "a budget surplus is the best weapon against inflation."

Ramos blamed the political squabbling on "some people who are orchestrating a hidden agenda," but did not give specifics.

"We must concentrate on ... turning around the economy," Ramos said adding that "we must continue to try to convince people that the competition today is not in politics," but in the international economy.

He brushed aside speculation that the grenade attack was intended to condition the public for authoritarian rule, reminiscent of a series of bomb attacks in the early-1970s that then-president Ferdinand Marcos used as a pretext to declare martial law in 1972.

"We will get to the bottom of this. We are not trying to create a scenario similar to the early seventies," Ramos said adding "there is no way we will go back to a martial law situation."

He also said that the resurgence in foreign investments showed that his program to revive the economy was bearing fruit, adding that "we are nearing our objective despite temporary setbacks."

Foreign analysts have largely agreed that the political instability that bedeviled the country from 1983 to 1991 has largely subsided, but they still complain about squabbling between the executive and legislative branches of government, quarreling among congressmen and the legal system, which they say obstructs crucial economic decisions.