MANILA, Philippines -- Loida Nicholas Lewis, a Filipino-American community leader, has joined the clamor to find out the truth behind the scrapped $329-million broadband deal with China’s ZTE Corp.

But Lewis distanced herself from calls for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to step down, warning that the people might be used by groups with “vested agenda.”

In a statement, Lewis, chair and CEO of investment firm TLC Beatrice LLC, expressed fears that the controversy hounding the Arroyo administration might result in “anarchy.”

“The unrelenting agitation in the last two years is bringing us to the brink of anarchy,” she said.

“The truth that we seek is clouded by the ensuing intense, emotionally charged political arena. The Filipino people are being forced into extremist positions advanced by personal vested agendas,” Lewis added.

No other alternative

Her executive assistant, Liza Soriano, said Lewis, who is spearheading the campaign of US Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton in New York, called her up and dictated her statement.

Lewis is a founding member and former national chair of the National Federation of Filipino-American Associations, considered the largest advocacy group for Filipino-Americans in the United States. The group has more than 500 affiliated umbrella organizations.

Soriano, who is in charge of Lewis’ affairs in Manila, said the Fil-Am leader was supporting Ms Arroyo “on the ground that there’s no other alternative.”

“GMA (Ms Arroyo) is the best [person] to lead the nation,” Soriano said.

In the statement, Lewis, a lawyer by profession, cited the recent achievements of the Arroyo administration as shown by economic indicators. The Philippine economy grew 7.3 percent last year, the highest in 30 years.

“Consistent growth in the next two years will bring our country to the threshold of socioeconomic progress,” she said. “The poor and the marginalized will at last feel the tangible benefits of economic growth.

Seek truth

“We the private sector and civil society call on the Filipino to seek the truth, to ask for the truth, to walk with the truth. But only in peaceful collective action can we learn the truth,” Lewis said.

After her husband, billionaire Reginald Lewis, died from brain cancer in 1993, Lewis took over the family business, TLC Beatrice International Holdings Inc. -- a diverse collection of food makers in 31 countries, from a snack company in Ireland to an ice cream maker in the Canary Islands. Miko Morelos and Inquirer Research