Prominent Filipino businessmen are lobbying both President Benigno Aquino and Chinese envoys in Manila to resolve a maritime stand-off to protect trade relations.
'There are some people who have offered to mediate on the issue,' said Ricky Carandang, Aquino's communications secretary, as a month-long face off between Chinese and Philippine vessels continued off Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea. 'We are considering different offers to mediate right now,' Carandang said.
Professor Benito Lim, an expert on Filipino-Chinese relations from Ateneo de Manila University, said the businessmen had written letters to Aquino, urging a peaceful solution.
'I'm not going to mention names but they told [Aquino] they would rather that the conflict or controversy be resolved peacefully through diplomatic means,' Lim said.
'They are worried that the situation could deteriorate, especially after [a Catholic bishop called for] a boycott of Chinese products. They expressed the belief that the relationship [between the two states] can be preserved.'
Some businessmen have pointed to the sudden cancellation of tour packages to Manila and the impounding of Philippine bananas at Chinese ports as being a result of the diplomatic fallout.
Trade and Industry Secretary Gregory Domingo tried to downplay the impounding as 'part of the normal course of doing business', a 'temporary dislocation of exports' and 'a phytosanitary issue' because some insects were allegedly found in a number of boxes.