Or else
by Carol Araullo, Philippines
The headline of a widely-read national broadsheet blared: “Foreign businesses to GMA: Stop killings.” The prominence given to this development is deserved because it is unprecedented. We do not recall any instance any time in the past — not even during the martial law years — that the Joint Foreign Chambers of Commerce (JFC) or any similar grouping of foreign investors in the Philippines expressed its deep concern, or made any public statement, much more a strongly worded one, on the dire human rights situation besetting the country.
The message is very clear. It is not only an appeal; it is a warning, if not a threat: stop the killings or we pull our investments out. The threat is aimed at the jugular. It unequivocally and categorically states that failure of the government to stop the killings will affect investments and economic aid, the very things the Gloria (more…)
