Скачать или смотреть PHILIPPINES: PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES TAKE PART IN PUBLIC DEBATE

(22 Jan 1998) English/Nat

Voters in the Philippines were afforded a rare sight on Wednesday, when five candidates for May's presidential election took to the stage for a public debate.

The were told by current President Fidel Ramos that his was a back-breaking job.

He told them he wouldn't have stood for re-election, even if he had been allowed to do so.

It was a rare moment.

A large crowd of Filipinos got to see most of their presidential aspirants together under one roof.

The forum on Wednesday was sponsored by foreign correspondents.

All five candidates gamely posed for the cameras: former Defence Secretary Renato de Villa; Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim; main opposition candidate and current Vice President Joseph Estrada; Senator Raul Roco and administration candidate House Speaker Jose de Venecia.

Each was given seven minutes to talk about their policies.

Most of the presidential candidates who joined the debate said they would continue economic reforms begun under President Fidel Ramos, but would do more to
curb widespread rural poverty.

They vowed to reduce crime - specifically a wave of kidnappings which, along with the hardships caused by the regional financial turmoil, are threatening to darken Ramos' last months in power.

The outgoing Philippine President was also present to provide unsolicited advise to the candidates.

Ramos, one of the Philippines' most active presidents, said the heavy demands of the job, along with the economic woes caused by Asia's financial storm, have convinced him he wouldn't hang on to power even if it were allowed by the constitution.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"It's a punishing job, ladies and gentlemen. It's backbreaking. And someone who
is less than totally physically fit may not be able really to do justice to the job.
SUPER CAPTION: Fidel V. Ramos, Philippines President

After his term, Ramos said he wanted to become an elder statesman who would give advice to his successor to prevent the country from sliding back into economic chaos.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"But beyond our loud debates and beyond the circus like atmosphere of our elections,
I assure you that we take here in the Philippines our democracy very seriously, and we do gather as a people when the dust settles from the elections."
SUPER CAPTION: Fidel V. Ramos, Philippines President

At the same forum, President Ramos announced that the Philippines was negotiating with the International Monetary Fund over a standby credit of at least two-point-seven (b) billion U-S dollars for any "extreme emergency" arising from Asia's financial storm.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"As a former patient in sick bay, it is prudent for us (the Philippines) to have some kind of precautionary arrangement, I think that is the technical term for it. Meaning, some sort
of stand-by credit line that the Philippines can call upon in case of extreme emergency. And that now is at the level of about 2.7 billion (US) dollars, according to the latest information given me by the Governor of the Central Bank. But this is just a precautionary thing that would be there ready for us to call upon on a need basis."
SUPER CAPTION: Fidel V. Ramos, Philippines President

I-M-F officials are arriving in the Philippines in the next few weeks to begin negotiations for the credit, which could be approved as early as the second quarter of the year.

Since speculative attacks set off unprecedented currency declines last year in several Southeast Asian countries, the Philippines, although less economically developed, has emerged among the healthiest and has not sought an I-M-F bailout.

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