President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo had committed 200 million dollars for human rights victims, and I stand corrected.

We believe that just compensation will be the first step to greater unity, as the sacrifices made in the name of freedom are acknowledged, regardless of partisan or ideological color.

The continued strengthening of the peso marks the return of confidence that is fully deserved by our diligent and hardworking people.

As we drive the wheels of the economy, we are paving the way for more jobs, better health services, clean water in every barangay and more and better schools.

The loss of lives can be prevented if we could just turn armed conflicts into clashes of the mind and will under a peaceful democratic process.

The insurgency problem has been one of the major stumbling blocks to bringing development to the countryside.

• We are negotiating for a ceasefire with the NDF because we want to encourage a paradigm shift: rather than use armed struggle in seizing state power, the CPP and the NDF should sincerely consider parliamentary struggle as a peaceful means of achieving societal change.

• The demand for a ceasefire is also gauge not only for government but also for the people to find out if the CPP and the NDF are ready to pursue the peaceful option that the parliamentary struggle provides.

Indigent kidney patients in dire need of transplant operation now have a chance to get a new lease in life through the free kidney surgery project of First Gentleman Jose Miguel T Arroyo.

The First Gentleman formally launched today his new charity kidney transplant project in the Philippine General Hospital (PGH).

Under the project, indigent patients suffering from end-stage renal diseases or kidney failure, can now avail of free transplant operation that also includes post-operative medications and treatment for three months.

The First Gentleman’s charity kidney transplant project is being undertaken in cooperation with the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) and the PGH.

Under the project team-up, Mr. Arroyo, through the First Gentleman (FG) Foundation, shoulders the transplant surgery costs. PCSO handles the post-operative medication costs, while PGH provides the expertise and facilities.

During the project’s simple launching rites at the PGH Atrium today, Mr. Arroyo said the only requirements the patients need to satisfy under the project, are that they must be poor and they have qualified donors.

The First Gentleman took the occasion to thank the PGH officials, led by Director Dr. Carmelo Alfiler, and its experts for volunteering to provide their services and facilities for free.

The free kidney transplant is the fifth charity project being supported by Mr. Arroyo at the PGH.

The four others include support for the operations of patients with hydrocephalus and meningocoele, pediatric cancer patient chemotherapy, the Diosdado Macapagal Stroke Center and the free dentures for the low salaried PGH health workers and other employees under the "Bagong Ngiti sa Dating Ngebu" project.

Assistant Secretary Juris Soliman said Mr. Arroyo, "a person with a big heart for the poor people," instantly agreed to the charity kidney transplant project when approached by PGH officials three weeks ago.

The First Gentleman, Soliman said, maintains similar projects at the National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI) and Far Eastern University (FEU) Hospital since 2003 which already benefited 40 poor kidney patients.

She said Mr. Arroyo has shelled out P3.5 million from his personal funds for the project.

Dr. Michael Tee, Assistant to the PGH Director for Public Affairs, said the hospital has the multidisciplinary expertise of transplantation in the ranks of its medical specialists and consultants.

Tee disclosed that the first kidney transplant was performed at the PGH in 1968. Since 1993 he said, PGH has done 140 transplant operations.

PGH officials also took today’s occasion to give Mr. Arroyo a tour of its new dialysis unit and transplant operation rooms at the hospital building’s sixth floor.

Aside from kidney, PGH also performs other organ transplants such as liver, bone marrow, bone and skin.

Today Mr. Arroyo also extended assistance to six more hydrocephalus and meningocoele patients, at the PGH, five of whom are infants.

The latest batch of beneficiaries of his regular monthly hydrocephalus and meningocoele mission at PGH are new-born Raymundo from Sta. Mesa, Manila; Angel Magbuhos from Bulacan, Kimberly Patricio from Sariaya, Quezon; and Jason Peralta from Pasay City, who are all 41/2 months old; Joy Ann Agustin, nine months old from Palawan; and Nenita Macasuot, 43 years old from Mabalacat, Pampanga.

Apart from the free cranial operation, the First Gentleman also committed to provide further help to Macasuot, who secrets water in her brain due to brain tumor.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has ordered the development of a separate full chapter on culture as an essential ingredient in the government’s poverty alleviation drive, as well as for fighting pollution and corruption as the country forges a distinct national identity with cultural diversity.

The President’s decision is aimed at underscoring the importance of culture as a catalyst for values formation and human rights education to promote a culture of peace, social justice,and sustainable development.

The seven thrusts of the current Medium Term Philippine Development Plan for Culture and the Arts 2004-201-(MTPDP-CA) will be the basis for the priority projects of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts since these thrusts respond to the national goal of human and economic development.

The projects are envisioned to contribute to the realization of the President’s 10-point legacy agenda.

Mrs. Arroyo’s 10-point agenda includes poverty reduction, education for all, and the assurance of nationwide peace particularly in conflict-affected areas with a focus on Mindanao, among others.

For the next six years, efforts will be directed to the following priority strategies:

1. Mainstream Culture and Development in plans, policies, programs, and the projects, providing KALAHI services for the poor, particularly the marginalized, the minorities, and the migrants; and addressing the social rehabilitation needs of abused women and youths, especially those with disabilities and out-of-school through free arts training towards employment expansion.
2. Institutionalize culture in education, media, and in good governance, specifically focusing on the formation of patriotic values for moral reform, and to fight crime and corruption, poverty and pollution, drugs and depravity, ignorance and injustice, and tyranny and terrorism.
3. Continue the implementation of programs for the promotion of cultural liberty and excellence in artistic development that forges the identity, memory, vision, and conscience of our nation.
4. Promote sustainable heritage conservation approaches to nurture historicity and to preserve our patrimony of bio-cultural diversity, which will serve as a safety net against globalization and homogenization.
5. Create special cultural programs in line with national peace and unification initiatives to help end violence against mankind and Mother Earth, and to promote conflict resolution through multicultural dialogues.
6. Encourage the generation of jobs or livelihood through the animation and growth of cultural industries, and eco-tourism highlighting the wealth of indigenous heritage and new routes of artistic expressions rooted in traditional cultures, merged with creative, modern experiments that push the execution of the UN Millennium Development Goals.
7. Expand exchanges and agreements with other countries for international understanding, and tolerance through underscoring cultural pluralism twinned with the artistic genius of our people, which will be harvested and manifested in the Philippines’ hosting of the UNESCO International Theatre Institute Congress and the Theatre Olympics of Nations from May 25 to June 5, 2006.

The Department of Energy and the United States technology firm Headwaters Technology Innovation Group signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) this morning on a coal-to-liquid fuel project.

The project is envisioned to pave the way for the Philippines to become a hub of the coal-to-gasoline conversion technology in Asia..

President Gloria Macapagal–Arroyo witnessed the accord signing at the Malacanang Rizal Hall, with Energy Undersecretary Peter A. Abaya, signing for the Philippine government, and Craig Hickman, president of Headwaters, Inc. representing his company.

Under the MOU, the Headwaters Group will establish in the Philippines a 25-kg/day pilot plant to study and determine the feasibility of converting the country’s indigenous coal to liquid fuel.

If found feasible, commercial operations start with the establishment of a 50,000-70,000 barrels per day fuel-producing plant.

Headwaters Inc., which is considered one of the best corporations in the United States, will invest some two to three billion US dollars for this project.

Involved in coal conversion into clean alternative fuels, Headwaters Technology Innovation Group has a market capitalization of $500 million.

One of the best weapons against poverty is education.

Thus declared Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Chairman Fr. Rolando de la Rosa, as he enumerated the programs of CHED to help reduce poverty during the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC)-Cabinet Group Meeting in Malacanang this morning.

Eradicating poverty is one of the 10-point legacy agenda of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

To attain this goal, Fr. de la Rosa said CHED shall provide quality education to providers of basic services – teachers, health and social workers.

CHED will also broaden access to higher education among poor, but deserving students, and contribute to job creation.

According to Fr. de la Rosa, CHED intends to attain these objectives through various interventions like standards-setting and enforcement, facility upgrading, development of centers of excellence and centers of development, quality assurance and the phasing out of poor or non-performing programs or schools.

"We plan to improve the passing average of graduates in licensure examinations 10 percent in five years or at an average of 2 percent per year," he said.

He pointed out that this would produce about 45,000 teachers in 2005 or 235,000 teachers in 2008; 2,280 doctors in 2005 or 11,800 doctors in 2010; 5,580 nurses in 2005 or 29,000 nurses in 2010.

Fr. de la Rosa said 52,600 beneficiaries under CHED’s regular assistance program have been targeted to support another 54,000 beneficiaries under the Students Financial Assistance Program (STUFAP), and 2,000 under the Iskolar para sa Mahirap Program, for a total of more than 108,000 this year.

Financing for these programs is included in the CHED’s Higher Education Development Fund, he said.

The CHED, Fr. de la Rosa said, is working closely with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) in implementing a ladderized program under a National Qualification Framework.

This would enable students to enter-exit-reenter the education system from vocational technology to higher education and vice versa at any point in their life, he said.

"This way, employment need not always be premised on obtaining a college diploma, but on acquiring the needed competencies for a particular occupation," Fr. de la Rosa added.

Targeted for development and pilot testing are six ladderized programs in 2005 including Hotel and Restaurant Management, Engineering, Pre-Nursing and Agriculture.

Malacanang today assured the government is ready to extend all necessary medical help to former President Joseph Estrada, who was rushed to the Cardinal Santos Medical Center (CSMC) due to pneumonia.

In his regular briefing this afternoon at Malacanang, Press Secretary and Presidential Spokesman Ignacio R. Bunye said he agrees with the decision by Estrada’s security officer to immediately fly the former President from his rest house cum detention center in Tanay, Rizal to the CSMC in San Juan, Metro Manila.

"We would like to accord the former President the medical treatment he needs," Bunye said.

He added the prompt decision to immediately bring Estrada to the hospital is perfectly understandable because of its emergency nature.

"I think that’s a normal response. It’s a response to an emergency and he should be given prompt medical treatment," Bunye said in defending the use of a helicopter to fly Estrada to the CSMC.

Malacanang today defended President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s reported meeting with members of the opposition, calling it part of her efforts to forge a principled unity with her political adversaries for the sake of national reconciliation.

Press Secretary and Presidential Spokesman Ignacio R. Bunye, however, dismissed reports that the President had a recent secret meeting with opposition stalwart, Sen. Edgardo Angara.

He explained that the President’s latest scheduled meeting with the senator took place shortly after last year’s elections.

Aside from Angara, the President had also talked with Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile and former presidential aspirant Sen. Raul Roco.

"We are glad to report that members of the opposition with whom the President has spoken to appear to share the direction this government is taking," Bunye said.

He stressed that the President’s meetings with the opposition personalities were prompted by her desire to reach a principled unity with the opposition and has nothing to do with any horse-trading or attempt to raid the opposition camp.

"After the elections, the President tried to reach out to some of her former political opponents, and I believe the President met with Senator Angara at least once last year," Bunye added.

He said her meeting with Roco was significant as it was through that encounter that the former senator agreed to provide legal assistance to Malacanang on the proposed opening of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3.

Citing a Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) report, the Presidential Management Staff (PMS) today said the entertainers ordinance issued by the Government of Japan aimed to check human trafficking, will take effect on February 15, 2005.

The ordinance allows a grace period of one month prior to its full implementation.

The DFA report further said the stricter Japanese policy on Filipino entertainers will have no retroactive effect on applications approved or filed on or before March 15,2005.

The new policy is not aimed at numerically reducing the number of entertainers; it aims to check human trafficking, the DFA report stressed.

Under the new policy only legitimate and genuine Filipino entertainers shall be allowed to work in Japan, and that trainings and experience in the Philippines shall be considered as part of the two-year minimum experience requirement for Filipino entertainers applying in Japan, the report said.

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), the Philippine Overseas Employment Authority (POEA), the Japanese Embassy and the Philippine Embassy in Japan shall work together to address the issue of Filipino entertainers in Japan, the DFA added.

Meanwhile, Japan and the Philippines will shortly forge a bilateral agreement under which Japan’s health and caregiver sectors will be opened to Filipinos.

An estimated 750,000 caregivers are needed in Japan and the DFA shall work things out to facilitate the initial batch of caregivers and health workers that will be allowed to work in Japan, the report said.

In a related development, the DFA said the Philippine government shall take advantage of the current voluntary repatriation being implemented by the Government of Malaysia to register undocumented Filipinos in that neighboring country.

Presidential Adviser Jesus Dureza has been tasked to establish a BIMP-EAGA 0ffice in Sabah which shall include a Consul and a Labor Attache to spearhead the documentation of unregistered Filipinos in the area.

The DOLE will provide information and assistance to undocumented Filipino workers and have them registered, as well as help them secure proper working permits in Malaysia.

A documentation campaign will go full blast with the setting up of a joint office of the DOLE, DILG, DND and DFA in Bongao,Tawi-tawi shortly.

TAYTAY, Rizal -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today inaugurated another water project that would provide clean and potable water to some 1,000 households in Sitio San Lorenzo Ruiz, in Barangay San Juan here.

The President was warmly welcomed by residents and local officials led by Rizal Governor Casimiro Ynares and Taytay Mayor Joric Gacula.

Assisted by Governor Ynares and Mayor Gacula, the President opened the faucet signaling the official operation of her "Patubig sa Barangay" in the community.

"I am happy to visit again the progressive town of Taytay. Congratulations to all of you because starting today you have now clean and potable water," the President said in her brief impromptu remarks.

She assured the residents that aside from potable water, she also has plans to improve the traffic situation and rehabilitate the highways in Taytay to further improve its economy.

The President noted that Taytay is part of the "urban beltway" that makes it a natural corridor for industry, commerce, and investment. "That’s why I want to rehabilitate the highways coming and out of this town to attract more investors to Taytay," she said.

President Arroyo’s visit to Taytay was also intended to enable her to monitor the implementation of her Patubig program as part of her 10-point legacy agenda to provide potable water to all waterless barangays in the country.

The program intends to establish potable water systems to the identified 633 waterless municipalities outside Metro Manila, including those covered by the peace accord in Mindanao, and a number of communities in Metro Manila.