Once more, we cite Congress on the passage of the bill on accountability reforms, or the lateral attrition bill.

Fighting corruption and waste in government is matter of enforcing the law as well as the deterrence of corrupt acts through the discipline and enhancement of human resources.

Through this bill, we shall restore the prestige and good name of our revenue agencies and make them effective tools of the people’s welfare.

We are continuously employing means to ensure that every single centavo the government collects goes directly to the national treasury and is spent wisely for our pro-poor agenda.

Our anti-corruption drive remains as steadfast as before, from law enforcement to deterrence to education of the public.

Military adventurism is a dying phenomenon in our political system.

The lessons our soldiers have learned from failed coups have made them realize that their participation in such destabilization moves have become pointless and worthless for it just serves the interest of a disgruntled few rather than that of the people and the nation.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today welcomed the opening of a new call center in Baguio City, the first ever to be put up outside of Metro Manila.

During a courtesy call in Malacanang, ClientLogic Corporation Chief Operating Officer Chad Carlson said that this year ClientLogic has invested P329 million in the latest call center at the Baguio Export Processing Zone along Loakan Road.

This brings the company’s overall investment to a total of P1.2 billion, with plans of erecting another facility in the southern part of the country in the near future.

Carlson said the Philippines, with its pool of young English-speaking, diligent and hardworking human resources, can become a model for outsourcing companies in the Asia and Pacific region.

To date, ClientLogic has provided jobs to close to 2,500 Filipino workers, majority of whom are new graduates.

ClientLogic’s first contact center is located at the Ortigas Center in Pasig.

ClientLogic is a subsidiary of a Canadian diversified company, Onex Corporation, and operates in 53 locations in 12 countries throughout North America, Europe and Asia.

ClientLogic is among the top five global contact center providers, managing more than 140-million customer interaction in 2003.

The President said ClientLogic Philippines, the country’s newest contact center that is fast expanding its operations, has made a good choice in locating its call center in Baguio.

There are many good English-speaking Filipinos in Baguio, brought about by the many missionaries working in Baguio and other parts of the Mountain Province.

She said Baguio is also known as the University Center in the Philippines because of its many colleges and universities. She said many students prefer studying in Baguio because of its cool climate.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said today’s observance of the 4^th EDSA Dos anniversary is an opportune time for Filipinos to talk about how the country fared economically since she took over the national leadership four years ago.

EDSA Dos refers to that fateful day on January 20, 2001 when then President Joseph Estrada left Malacanang in response to the Filipinos’ demands for his resignation on account of his alleged involvement in massive graft and economic plunder.

Estrada was then on impeachment trial by the Senate. The day before, his majority Senate allies blocked the opening of the Jose Velarde bank documents that first person witness Clarissa Ocampo said were opened and personally signed by him in her presence.

In an interview over radio station DZEC, Mrs. Arroyo said EDSA Dos’ message then and now remains basically the same: "We have to fight graft which has also already corrupted our culture" and which has made the country an economic laggard for decades now.

The President pointed out, however, that while the Philippine economy suffered serious setbacks in the last 20 year, it performed creditably well and even better than those of neighboring countries during her watch.

"Our six percent economic growth for 2004 was in fact unexpected," she noted.

In her luncheon dialogue with media executives Wednesday at the Malacanang State Dining Hall, she said there are good reasons indeed for Filipinos to be optimistic.

She said the Philippine peso remains strong against the US dollar, propped further by the country’s exports growth and the about $8-billion remittances by overseas Filipinos during the year.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today said it is imperative for Filipinos to stop the corruption of their culture, which has stalled the country’s economic growth for decades now.

The President said this is the important message as the country commemorates the 4^th anniversary of EDSA 2 that catapulted her to the presidency as a result of the corruption and economic plunder charges against former President Joseph Estrada.

The important message is for Filipinos to fight the culture of corruption that now pervades the entire Philippine society, Mrs. Arroyo said in an interview over radio station DZEC this morning

The Chief Executive also thanked Congress for passing the Lateral Attrition Act last night.

The measure, she said, will give a strong push to her administration’s "accountability reform" program and the fight against graft and corruption, including the unwise and wasteful spending of government funds.

The President said the Asian Development Bank (ADB) study reported in the newspapers today showed that the Philippines suffered a sluggish growth over the last 20 years mainly because of corruption.

The ADB study also noted the Philippines’ economic growth attained under the present administration in the past four years.

She pointed out that the unexpected 6 percent growth of the economy posted in 2004 was higher than the growth attained by several neighboring Asian economies.

Under the ADB survey, 34 percent of the 716 respondents representing as many establishments in four key manufacturing sectors – food and food processing, garments, textiles, and electronics – identified corruption as a major or severe burden in their business operations.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today lauded the different law enforcement agencies for keeping the country safe and secure from all attempts to destabilize the government.

Responding to a question on another destabilization plot last week, the President told DZEC, "Well, the important thing was it did not happen. I want to congratulate our intelligence and law enforcement agencies for a job well done."

The Chief Executive motored to Quezon City this morning as part of her schedule on the occasion of the 4^th anniversary celebration today of People Power 2. From Quezon City, she proceeded to the Welfareville Development Project in Barangay Addition Hills, Mandaluyong City.

Asked to comment on media reports critical of her administration, the President pointed out that she respects and upholds press freedom. She said, however, that press freedom cannot be misused as a license to destabilize the government.

She said the focus of her administration is to improve the economy and uplift the lives of the poor, rather than giving importance to threats coming from unscrupulous groups who want to destroy the democratically-elected government.

Last Wednesday, the President invited to Malacanang media executives and urged them to help her administration move the country forward by working in concert with the government on crucial issues and concerns.

She briefed the media executives on the recent credit rating downgrade from BB to BB- and the long-term local currency rating to BB+ from BBB- that the global credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) gave the Philippines