BORACAY, Aklan -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo expressed confidence here Thursday evening that Congress will enact the necessary legislations that will enable government to generate the P80 billion needed to stabilize its finances and fund vital social services and pro-poor programs.

"What is important here is the commitment of Congress that government will be able to generate the P80 billion needed," she said.

The President did not show any dissatisfaction on the 10 percent value added tax (VAT) measure passed by the Senate Wednesday.

"I don’t want to nag them in public. Let us give them time to exercise their wisdom at the bicameral conference committee," she added.

BORACAY, Aklan -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo turned over last night a P1- million check to the Boracay Foundation to assist the vendors who were victims of the fire that razed the Boracay Public Market last January.

The assistance, which came from the Kasangga and Gabay Foundation, will serve as seed capital for a micro-lending program for the vendors.

The vendors displaced by the fire will be given access to micro-finance loan facility and will be charged minimal interest rates.

Last Jan. 21, a four-hour fire destroyed the flea market (talipapa), together with some 60 tourist establishments in Barangay Manoc-Manoc here, causing damage to property worth about P200 million.

Boracay Foundation president Lora Salaver said the government’s financial assistance will help the victim-vendors to rebuild their businesses.

President Arroyo has also ordered the drafting of a comprehensive plan to convert Boracay into a national park and provide for its sustainable development, taking into account the plight of its small entrepreneurs.

BACOLOD CITY -- Negrenses will long remember their annual Panaad Festival this year with no less than President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo gracing its highlight events on Saturday (April 16) evening here.

The festival actually kicks off Saturday morning with several activities leading to a colorful pageantry in the evening.

Aside from gracing the Panaad celebration, the President will have a briefing on the plant nursery and water supply projects in Himamaylan City where she will also interact with media Saturday morning.

She will likewise personally monitor prices of basic commodities at the public market here to gauge the impact of the continuously rising oil prices on ordinary consumers and households.

The Panaad Festival, considered as the biggest fiesta celebration in Negros Occidental, started in 1993 as a thanksgiving celebration and a fulfillment of promise and vow to the Divine Providence in exchange for good life.

Since then, it has been held annually at the Panaad Park and Stadium in Barangay Mansilangan, Bacolod City. Panaad is a Hiligaynon term for "vow and its fulfillment."

The festival brings together the 13 cities and 19 municipalities of Negros Occidental. It is aimed to showcase the province's history, arts, culture, commerce and trade.

BORACAY, Aklan--President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo led this morning the lowering of the time capsule and unveiling of the commemorative marker for the proposed Shangri-La Boracay hotel in Barangay Yapak on this island resort.

Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, one of the leading hotel groups in the Asia-Pacific region, will build a beachfront resort with 170 guestrooms and 50 deluxe villas in the country's premiere tourist destination. It will be opened in mid-2007.

It is expected to create at least a thousand jobs for the local residents through a $75-million foreign investment which, according to Shangri-La officials, is their way of supporting the President's 10-point agenda to create 10 million jobs before 2010 through foreign and local investments and through the tourism industry.

Tourism infrastructure facilities, like the proposed Shangri-La hotel here, will further boost the sustainability of Boracay as a world-class tourist destination.

The tourism industry has been among the country's top dollar earners and the Arroyo administration is developing the sector to attract foreign investments that would generate more jobs and the much-needed revenues the government needs to fund the country's development and propel economic growth.

The beachfront resort, to be built in an 11-hectare area in the northern part of the island, will be designed by Hawaii-based architect firm WATG. The interior design will be headed by well-known Singapore -based designer Dan Bube, who is designing the group's Maldives resort. The resort will reflect a classic yet contemporary style combined with local cultural influences.

All the resort’s guestrooms and villas will feature ocean views from spacious balconies or porches.

The resort will also provide the largest meeting and banqueting facilities in the island, consisting of a 600-square meter ballroom and 400 square meters of function rooms.

It will also feature Shangri-La's signature spa brand in a 1,350-square meter CHI spa, with treatments based on Chinese and Himalayan healing concepts. The CHI will be a separate spa village complex located on a rock peninsula in the ocean and overlooking a private bay. It will be designed as a sanctuary within the resort.

The Spa Resort will have the luxury of a world-class resort hotel.

BORACAY, Aklan--President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo presented awards to the best ecological solid waste management practitioners of Boracay island in simple rites held last night at the Regency Hotel here.

The island-wide search for the Best Ecological Solid Waste Management (ESWM) Practitioners 2005 was launched in Boracay on Dec. 12, 2004 with the support of the Boracay Foundation, Inc., Smart Telecommunications, Department of Environment and Natural Resources- Central Office, DENR-Environmental Management Bureau-Region 6, 7107 Life and the local government of Boracay.

The search is in line with the aim to strengthen the implementation of the Solid Waste Management Act (RA 9003) in Boracay Island, foster multi-sectoral and community participation in Boracay's five-year Unified Plan on ESWM, and sustain the efforts of the barangays in waste management.

The influx of tourists, both local and foreign, to this world-class beach resort has caused huge garbage pile daily. To remedy this problem, an effective and efficient garbage management program was launched by encouraging households and business establishments to start segregating their garbage from the source and recycle garbage that could be reusable.

Awarded first prize in the "Start Managing and Recycling Your Trash," Barangay Category, was the group of Sitio Din-iwid of Barangay Balabag. The group received P30,000 cash and a shredder.

The runners-up in the Barangay category were Barangays Yapak and Manoc-Manoc which received P10,000 each.

JORDAN, Guimaras - The decade-old problem in the power supply of this province was finally resolved today after President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo inaugurated the P115-million, 3.4-megawatt bunker oil-fired Guimaras Power Plant here.

The President, who flew to this province via presidential chopper from Boracay Island in Aklan, switched on the button signaling the formal operation of the Trans-Asia Guimaras Power Plant located at Barangay San Miguel, Jordan.

She was briefed by Trans-Asia Power president Antonio Del Rosario and executive vice president Francisco Viray on the operation and benefits of the newly completed power plant to the island province of Guimaras.

Guimaras Governor Joaquin Carlos Rahman Nava and Jordan Mayor Felipe Nava accompanied the President in the inaugural rites.

The P115-million oil-fired power plant is the result of the electricity supply agreement (ESA) signed in November 2003 between Guimaras Electric Cooperative (GUIMELCO) and the Trans-Asia Oil and Energy Development Corporation,.

The completion of the power plant is expected to augment the power shortage in the island, enough to energize some 17,000 households of the 98 barangays and five municipalities of the province.

Frank Almacen, plant manager of the Trans-Asia, assured the President that the newly built power plant could provide reliable power and better voltage quality to the province.

Guimaras province is composed of the municipalities of Buenavista, Jordan, Nueva Valencia, Sibunag, and San Lorenzo.

Under the ESA, the Trans-Asia will construct, finance, operate and maintain a new power plant at Barangay San Miguel in the town of Jordan, under a Build-Own-Operate Scheme.

The energy generated by the power plant will directly be delivered to the 13.2-KV distribution line of GUIMELCO.

Trans-Asia Oil and Energy Development Corporation, a 35-year-old oil and energy company, is also involved in the exploration and development, drilling and production of North Matinloc wells off West Palawan.

The Guimaras Bunker Oil-Fired power plant was started in June 2004 and completed last March.

After the inaugural rites, the President joined local officials, barangay leaders and power plant employees in a luncheon.

From Guimaras, the President flew to Iloilo City to visit the city's central market and conduct price monitoring of basic commodities. It was followed by a media interaction.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said today that the drive to collect the right amount of taxes is part of administrative measures being implemented by the government to improve its resources and put the fiscal house in order.

In a radio interview this morning, Ermita said many senators and congressmen have, in fact, been urging the government to fully implement its intensified campaign against tax evaders and collect taxes efficiently.

Last month, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo started intensifying the government’s revenue collection drive by signing a proclamation declaring April of every year as Tax Awareness Month to instill nationwide awareness and appreciation on the importance of taxes and the value of civic responsibility to society.

The weak resolve to address tax evasion was seen as among the major factors behind the dismal revenue position of the government since decades ago.

To improve collections, the government pushed for the passage of the Lateral Attrition Law, which grants revenue agents incentives for exceeding quotas, while allowing removal of those who fall short for no good reason.

Improving tax collections and going after tax cheats are among the government reform measures aimed at averting a fiscal disaster. Other measures include the passage of the expanded value-added tax (VAT), austerity measures, and fighting corruption.

In the case of Richard Gomez, Ermita denied the actor’s allegations that the filing of tax evasion charges against him is a form of political harassment, saying he believes the actor can properly explain his side to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).

ILOILO CITY -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today ordered the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to bring out all its documents and present them as evidence against tax cheats and tax evaders.

The directive should move the BIR to pursue more intensively and more seriously the government’s tax collection drive within the framework of the law, particularly against habitual tax evaders and tax cheats, or those who don’t pay their correct taxes, officials here noted.

"I would ask the BIR to bring out the documents," the President told reporters during the media interaction at the Iloilo Central Public Market this afternoon.