Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — Members of the Joint Foreign Chambers (JFC) of the Philippines got a glimpse of what each presidential candidate has in store for the economy during the fifth and final anniversary forum of Arangkada Philippines on Tuesday (March 1).
Presidential candidates Manuel “Mar” Roxas II, Jejomar Binay, Rodrigo “Rody” Duterte and Grace Poe sent representatives to the forum but Miriam Defensor-Santiago was not represented.
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After the hour-long forum, John Forbes, adviser of the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines and one of the forum organizers, said they still hope to hear more.
As far as he is concerned, Binay gave the most detailed platform through his representative, former Finance secretary Gary Teves.
“The first speaker gave us the most detail and I think the business community, both foreign and domestic, would look forward to seeing similar amounts of detail from all of the candidates including the one that was unable to send a representative,” Forbes said of Teves, who presented Binay’s platform, but hardly touched on corruption.
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Duterte’s running mate, Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano took the opportunity to attack Binay whom he said cannot speak on corruption – a big concern for businessmen.
“I mean no disrespect. Corruption. There’s a candidate here who cannot talk about corruption. And if he wins, it will just be like-you can clap if you want, that doesn’t mean you won’t vote for him – if he wins, it will just be like the Erap [Joseph Estrada], the GMA [Gloria Macapagal Arroyo] or (Ferdinand) Marcos time because these corruption issues will continue to hound him,” Cayetano said, comparing a Binay administration to previous governments.
The candidates through their representatives were given a few minutes for opening remarks which were followed by a quick question and answer where each of them were asked a different question.
With a little more than two months still in the campaign, Forbes said they hope to hear more on the candidates’ economic policies and they look forward to the upcoming election debates organized by the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
“As you know, campaigning in the Philippines is a mixture of promises and theatrical performance in the local villages and municipalities. Those debates bring out a more than what happens in the normal kind of campaign, Forbes said.
He added the businessmen would like to hear the candidates’ specific plans to develop the agriculture sector and address unemployment.
LOOK: Presidential candidates’ campaign trail interactive map
