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| 11 FEBRUARY 2005 | ||
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| 11 FEBRUARY 2005 | ||
| GMA inaugurates Unilever's 'Food for Life Building' |
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today inaugurated the state-of-the-art "Food for Life Building" of Unilever Philippines, Inc. in Paco, Manila, considered one of the multinational’s best buildings in the world. The new structure houses Unilever’s research and development facilities and other company offices. Designed to capture the ambiance, warmth and comfort of a modern home, the building is part office and part laboratory. Unilever, which has invested an average of P300 million annually in the Philippines in the past 10 years alone, is one of the leading multinationals operating in the country. The corporation has been operating in the Philippines for the past 77 years now, and employs 1,700 Filipinos. The company is also a major taxpayer in the City of Manila and among the top 20 taxpayers in the country. Howard Belton, Unilever chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), informed the President that his company’s Philippine operations continue to flourish. "Exporting our products to over 40 countries all over the world is an indication that we have achieved world class excellence. We are proud of our excellent products," Belton told the President. Unilever manufactures a wide range of goods, including food items, deodorants, ice cream and beauty products. Other top grossers are its Lady’s Choice and Best Foods product lines. Unilever’s Selecta ice cream business, a joint venture with RFM, is also a big money-earner. Selecta products are exported to the USA, Saipan, Guam, Dubai, Canada, Australia, Singapore and Malaysia. The company’s home and personal care unit produces such brands as Cream Silk, Close-Up toothpaste, Surf laundry soap and Rexona body deodorant, among others. Belton said that for the past four years, Unilever Philippines has been exporting Rexona ministick to more than 30 countries. Knorr sinigang mix is also one of the company’s top exports. "When it comes to sinigang, we found out that Filipinos all over the world look for our Knorr Sinigang mix because it brings authentic sinigang flavor that reminds them of home," Belton told the President. During a tour of the company’s Customers Center Building, the President was introduced to the company’s special "Sinigang ni Gloria sa Kalamansi" mix by Eileen Araneta, Unilever’s marketing manager. The concoction is especially formulated to produce a unique flavor of the President’s favorite dish. |
| No let-up in drive vs. illegal drugs -- GMA |
Drug lords and their financiers will have to think twice now: There will be no let up in President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s campaign against illegal drugs and the syndicates behind them. This, the President herself emphasized today following another successful raid on a shabu den in Valenzuela City, Metro Manila by operatives of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI). A partnership agreement with China is making it possible to apprehend the drug lords or masterminds in the illicit drug trade, according to the President, citing an incident in one of the shabu raids in Valenzuela. "On the day we arrested the people involved in the Valenzuela shabu lab raid, they were also arresting the masterminds in China," the President said, stressing that it is a joint transnational partnership. Interior and Local Governments Secretary Angelo Reyes told the Chief Executive that law enforcement agencies are pursuing relentlessly the President’s order to go after drug lords and their financiers. In a press conference in Malacanang this afternoon, Reyes reported the raid in Valenzuela on the strength of a warrant issued by a judge in that city. Seized during the raid were equipment, chemicals and finished shabu products. Reyes assured media men that they are now tracking down the masterminds. "We have a list of these people. Most of them are based abroad and they are of Chinese descent," Reyes said. |
| GMA opens the 9th Philippine International Hot-Air Balloon Fiesta |
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo leads the opening rites of the 9th Philippine International Hot-Air Balloon Festival in Pampanga tomorrow (February 12) to further push tourism in her hometown province. Aimed at promoting Clark Special Economic Zone (CSEZ) in Pampanga as Asia’s ballooning capital, the event will be participated in by some 30 foreign ballooning enthusiasts from the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, Hungary, Korea, Sweden and Japan who will join their avid Filipino counterparts. The weekend event will feature special aero-sports highlights including aerobatic shows, sky-diving exhibitions, x-air formation flights, helicopter fly-bys, light airplane flying, and choreographed kite flying demonstration, among others. After the hot-air balloon fiesta opening, the President will induct the 11 new print and broadcast media officers of the Capampangan in Media, Inc. at the "Bahay na Puti" (White House) also at the CSEZ. She will also listen in on a series of presentations on Subic and Clark development and on the North Rail relocation project. |
| GMA vows to fight corruption to the finish |
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo vowed today to wage war against corruption to the finish. In her opening statement at the press conference in Malacanang this afternoon, the President said: "We must break the back of corruption as our economic gains forward." She said the war against corruption is a "strategic campaign that will be fought to the finish." The "anti-corruption is a gate to economic confidence that must have the full support and participation of the people," she added. The President emphasized that the battle against corruption is not only a matter of directly cleansing the government bureaucracy, "but a campaign for moral values among the entire citizenry." "We’ll match every ounce of political resolve to pass our fiscal measures with the equal resolve to challenge corruption at all levels," she stressed. The President also thanked the Senate for approving the national budget for 2005 on third and final reading last night. The P907.35 billion general appropriations bill passed by the Senate is P204 million short of the House-approved version of the budget proposal. Calling the national allocation as a "People’s Budget," the President said the general appropriations measure will "continue to fuel our 10-point pro poor agenda to create jobs, build the vital infrastructure to draw in more investments, and bring more basic services to needy communities far and wide." She expressed confidence that the approved 2005 budget would draw its "full force from the revenue measures that are now on stream" in the Senate. "We’re going full steam ahead in setting our fiscal house on firm foundations, from which we can boost business confidence and enterprise at all levels. Now is the time to strike out boldly in our reform to notch up our gains every passing day," she added. |
| GMA welcomes Korean investors |
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo expressed elation today over the decision of Enter Tech Corporation, Korea’s leading technology developers of family entertainment systems, to put up a compact karaoke microphone factory in the country with an initial investment of $5 million. The President thanked the Enter Tech Corporation led by its president, Kyung Ho Lee, for choosing the Philippines as their next investment hub in manufacturing the famous "Magic Sing Along," the most innovative compact karaoke microphone. "Thank you for choosing the Philippines. The Filipinos love to sing and 90% of the Filipinos sing well," she said. The President told the Korean investors during a brief courtesy call on her at the Malacanang’s Study Room this afternoon that the Philippines is a very convenient location for business investments in Asia. She said the Korean venture will be an important investment for Filipinos who really love to sing. Lee told the President they intend to build their manufacturing plant along Chino Roces Ave. (formerly Pasong Tamo) in Makati City. It is set to start operations within the year. Enter Tech Corporation, established in 1994, specializes in developing compact video karaoke systems and their components such as MIFI, transmitters, ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) and wireless microphones. "Magic Sing Along" is the most advanced multi-media karaoke system compacted into a single microphone where both visual and audio functions of a bulky karaoke machine are built into a single microphone with interchangeable microchips. Also present during the brief courtesy call were Ilocos Sur Rep. Eric Singson and Kun Tae Kim, vice-president of Enter Tech Phils., and Shin Wan Kim, executive vice-president. Earlier, volunteers of the MZR group of companies led by its owner Ms. Marlene Z. Robertson, and members of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church medical-surgical mission, paid a brief visit to the President at the Ramos Music Conference Room. Accompanied by Negros Occidental Congressman Ignacio Arroyo, the mission group members, who all came from different places in the United States, are here in the country to conduct medical and surgical missions in Negros Occidental, Samar and Zambales. |
| No ceasefire in military operations against MNLF breakaway group |
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said today she has not ordered a ceasefire in the military operation against a breakaway group loyal to jailed former Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) commander Nur Misuari and members of the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group in Jolo, Sulu. "As of now, there is no such order for a ceasefire," the President told a press conference this afternoon in Malacanang. The President also condoled with the family and relatives of Col. Dennis Villanueva, commanding officer of the 53rd Infantry Battalion, who died while undergoing emergency treatment at the Camp Asturias Hospital in Jolo. Villanueva was mortally wounded in a mortar barrage launched by the breakaway MNLF men on Panamao town. The President thanked Villanueva and the soldiers, who died or were wounded in the ongoing clashes in Sulu for their gallantry and sacrifice in fighting terrorism and restoring law and order in that province. "Their gallantry in combat brings deep pride and prestige to the (military) command at a time that the Filipino soldier must be seen in his or her finest," she said. The President also expressed sympathy for the civilians in the towns of Panamao and Maimbung who have been displaced as a result of the conflict. Vice Admiral Ariston delos Reyes, vice chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), reported to the President during the press conference that military forces in the area have been beefed up. Delos Reyes said the military offensive would continue unless a ceasefire is ordered. "We have increased our troops there and we will continue providing additional troops until they (lawless elements) are neutralized. If members of this breakaway group continue their illegal acts, then we will be forced to continue our operations," delos Reyes added. |
| Statement of the President: On anti-money-laundering law |
I take pride in the team spirit of the Government and the private sector in upholding the strict standards of our anti-money laundering law and getting us off the list of non-cooperative countries of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). My congratulations go to the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) spearheaded by the Bangko Sentral, Congress, the Supreme Court, the Ombudsman, the Department of Justice, the Solicitor General for playing an active and leading role in this effort. Once more, we are seeing our democratic institutions at work for a rightful cause, marking an important milestone for the whole nation in the fight against corruption, money laundering and terrorist financing. Our graduation from the FATF list is a vote of confidence from the international community of our efforts to clean up the mess of the past, enforce good governance, and support global security. We shall continue the fight against corrupt practices through the stricter enforcement of the law, heightened mass education in moral values, and tools provided by new forms of technology. The FATF’s vote of confidence will continue to attract long-term and large investments that will further underpin the stability of the Philippine Peso, and its eventual role in the creation of more jobs and in building the infrastructure. I am hopeful that this event will continue to encourage all branches of Government to work together toward transforming our nation into one that truly reflects its potential for high growth, market leadership, and human resource ingenuity. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is an inter-governmental body whose purpose is the development and promotion of policies, both at national and international levels, to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. The Task Force is therefore a "policy-making body" which works to generate the necessary political will to bring about national legislative and regulatory reforms in these areas. The FATF monitors members’ progress in implementing necessary measures, reviews money laundering and terrorist financing techniques and counter-measures, and promotes the adoption and implementation of appropriate measures globally. In performing these activities, the FATF collaborates with other international bodies involved in combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism. The FATF does not have a tightly defined constitution or an unlimited life span. The Task Force reviews its mission every five years. The FATF has been in existence since 1989, and it has been agreed that its current mandate extends through the end of 2004. it will only continue to exist and to perform its function after this date provided the member governments agree that this is necessary. Brief History of the FATF In response to mounting concern over money laundering, the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF) was established by the G-7 Summit that was held in Paris in 1989. Recognizing the threat posed to the banking system and to financial institutions, the G-7 Heads of State or Government and President of the European Commission convened the Task Force from the G-7 member States, the European Commission, and eight other countries. The Task Force was given the responsibility of examining money laundering techniques and trends, reviewing the action, which had already been taken at a national or international level, and setting out the measures that still needed to be taken to combat money laundering. In April 1990, less than one year after its creation, the FATF issued a report containing a set of Forty Recommendations, which provide a comprehensive plan of action needed to fight against money laundering. During 1991 and 1992, the FATF expanded its membership from the original 16 to 28 members. Since then, FATF has continued to examine the methods used to launder criminal proceeds and has completed two rounds of mutual evaluations of its member countries and jurisdictions. It has also updated the Forty Recommendations to reflect the changes which have occurred in money laundering and has sought to encourage other countries around the world to adopt anti-money laundering measures. In 2001, the development of standards in the fight against terrorist financing was added to the mission of the FATF. FATF members The following list shows the countries,
territories, and organizations that make up the membership of the FATF. |
