Change in '05 must begin with GMA, businessmen say.

(From Philippine Daily Inquirer)

Byline: Gil C. Cabacungan Jr.

IF 2005 is a "year of urgent change," the transformation should begin with President Macapagal-Arroyo herself to ensure that key fiscal reforms are implemented and that confidence in the economy is improved, leading business leaders said yesterday.

Businessman Raul T. Concepcion, a key member of the elite Makati-based companies, said the President should be more determined in pursuing the reforms needed, particularly in addressing the chronic budget deficit.

"I believe the President must change starting in the first quarter this year otherwise we will be like Argentina," said Concepcion, reiterating an earlier warning by University of the Philippines-based economists that the country's fiscal crisis could worsen into a debt crisis because of increasing dependence on borrowings.

The business executives were reacting to the President's New Year message, released the other day, in which she said that 2005 would be a year of "urgent change" after the country went through a season of triumph and tragedy in 2004, the year she was given a fresh mandate but when hundreds of people also perished in the killer floods that ravaged parts of Luzon.

Perennial resolution