MANILA, Philippines—President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo tried on Wednesday to congratulate Democratic standard-bearer Barack Obama for his historic victory over Republican John McCain but the first African-American US president was too busy to take her call.

“A phone call was put but she wasn’t able to speak with him,” Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita told reporters at a briefing. “I suppose they just registered the fact at the White House operations center and the State Department that the President had called.”

Ermita noted that it was around 2 a.m. in the United States when Arroyo made the call, to explain the probable reason Obama was unable to take it.

He said she had also phoned McCain but the losing candidate was similarly out of reach.

Wednesday was the second time Arroyo failed to catch Obama.

The first time she tried was in June, during her working visit to the United States.

“I am sorry I will not be in Washington, and therefore will be unable to meet with you in person," Obama wrote in a “Dear President Arroyo” letter.

"I look forward to meeting you in the future, and to working with you to advance the critical partnership between our nations. Please enjoy your visit this week,” he said.

According to Ermita, meeting Obama will be “high” on Arroyo’s agenda when she flies to the United States next week for a United Nations interfaith affair.

Arroyo remains “excited” about “working with a newly elected president of such a powerful country as the United States of America,” according to Malacañang.

In a statement read by Ermita, Arroyo said: “On behalf of the Filipino nation and the Filipino people, I congratulate Senator Barack Obama on his election as the 44th President of the United States.”

On Wednesday, Ermita said, Arroyo monitored the US election “very closely” up until Obama secured enough electoral votes to clinch the presidency.

At around 2 p.m., US Ambassador Kristie Kenney came to Malacañang to personally deliver the news of Obama’s victory.

Arroyo is optimistic that Obama’s victory will lead to the ratification of a bill seeking to recognize and compensate the Filipinos who fought alongside US troops during World War II.

“We look forward to closely working with Senator Obama in strengthening regional cooperation in the Asia-Pacific, as well as in addressing the concerns of our World War II veterans here and in the United States,” she said in her statement.

“This much we can expect from a country-ally whose strong relations with our country we have mutually nurtured through decades past and which we both enjoy to this day,” she said.

As early as June 2007, Obama promised to co-sponsor the Filipino Veterans Equity Act in the US Senate, saying in a TV interview that “we should honor [the veterans’] sacrifices and give them the benefits that they earned.”

Last September, the US House of Representatives passed its version of the bill authorizing a lump-sum payment for some 18,000 Filipino war vets.

Ermita said the Philippines could expect to get "much more attention" from Obama, "even if right now, we’re getting that much attention from [President George W.] Bush who is a Republican.”

Representatives of the Philippines’ biggest business groups voiced excitement over the new direction that Obama had vowed to set for the world's largest economy, and caution over the Democrats’ protectionist policies.

But like many Americans, hope appeared to be the dominant sentiment among Filipino businessmen.

Makati Business Club (MBC) executive director Alberto Lim said the local business community was one with the rest of the world in looking forward to the fresh start that Obama had promised.

“All our eyes are on the United States right now and the kind of leadership it will exercise in the world,” Lim said. “For us, this new direction is a good thing.”

The MBC is the umbrella group of the Philippines’ largest corporations, most of which routinely conduct business with counterparts in the United States.

According to Lim, the performance of the US economy inevitably affects the economies of its trading partners like the Philippines, which exports a significant percentage of raw, intermediate, and finished goods to North America.

He said Obama had promised to revitalize the US economy, and that this would eventually redound to the benefit of Philippine businesses.

Donald Dee, the chair emeritus of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said RP-US political relations would “remain strong” regardless of who occupied the White House.

But Dee expressed concern over Obama's campaign pronouncements that invariably took a protectionist tone, due in parts to the Democrats’ long-standing principles and to the economic crisis in the United States.

Dee said he was concerned about the Philippines’ business process outsourcing (BPO) industry, which has been serving mainly American markets.

“[Obama has] said that he will penalize US firms that outsource jobs abroad,” Dee said. “We will have to see what form that will take, but that is a concern for us.”

The Arroyo administration has given significant importance to the BPO sector in order to ease unemployment. This policy may collapse if the US government clamps down on overseas outsourcing as part of its own efforts to stimulate local employment.

Dee also expressed worry about trade policies under an Obama administration.

His concern was echoed by MBC's Lim, who noted that the policies of any Democratic administration invariably leaned toward protectionism.

Dee likewise remarked on the future of the US government's “war on terror,” during which it gave billions of dollars in aid to allies like Pakistan, Afghanistan and even the Philippines.

“That will not stop, but we will probably see some kind of adjustment,” he said.