Euro traders hope for end of Corona trial, call for focus on jobs, investments

MANILA, Philippines—The European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) expressed hope on Tuesday that Chief Justice Renato Corona’s testimony on Tuesday would help lead to closure on the political issue that has been distracting policymakers from the country’s economic needs.

ECCP president Hubert d’Aboville, in a statement issued the day the chief magistrate took the stand, said the country’s leaders should focus on creating more jobs and attracting more investments.

“Let us close the book on the impeachment trial at the soonest possible time,” D’Aboville said on Tuesday. “Focus on growing and developing the Philippine economy,” he said.

“Bring more foreign investors into the country and help create more job opportunities for Filipinos not just in Metro Manila but across the country,” he said.

The business group declined to make a position on Corona’s guilt or innocence.

A recent survey by research firm Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed that the country’s unemployment rate reached a record-high of 34 percent in the first quarter of 2012. This translated to about 13.8 million jobless Filipinos, up by 24 percent from the end of last year.

The SWS findings compared with the state’s own Labor Force Survey (LFS) last January that showed the country’s unemployment rate at 7.2 percent for that month, down from 7.4 percent the same month in 2011. This meant that the number of unemployed Filipinos was just at 2.92 million.

The Aquino administration has said that Corona’s impeachment is a key part in its efforts to curb corruption, which has been blamed as one of the main deterrents to increased foreign investments.

Corona is accused before the Senate Impeachment Court of having lied about his net worth in his annual statements of assets and liabilities. Administration officials consider Corona a “midnight appointee,” having been named Chief Justice during what they call to be the campaign period and the election ban on new appointments in 2010.

He was said to have been biased in favor of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who is currently detained on charges of election rigging, on a number of high profile cases before the Supreme Court.