As the debates on the VAT bill ensue, we are confident that statesmanship and civic duty will prevail and will result in the passage of the VAT bill to save the country from fiscal doom.

The President understands only too well the difficulties being encountered by the people and the government is doing all it can to mitigate these through protecting consumers, monitoring the markets and leading the energy conservation campaign.

At the same time, we all know the high prices can best be resolved by growing the economy, creating well-paid jobs, attracting foreign investments and work for overall economic stability.

MARAWI CITY – Pressing her anti-Illegal advocacy and drive, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will inspect illegally cut logs seized by government forces and now impounded in Camp Ranao here when she visits this city today, March 31, 2005.

The confiscated logs are the result of the intensified illegal logging efforts by elements of the 1st Marine Brigade led by Col. Armando Melo, Jr. and their commander, Brig. Gen. Ben Dolorfino who works closely with Project Director Datu Jubair Macaumbos of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Project Management Office here.

Col. Melo said his men confiscated not only the 500 pieces (roughly 240,000 board feet) of illegally cut logs now impounded at Camp Ranao, but also six portable sawmill machines used to cut up the logs into smaller pieces for easier transport and hiding them when necessary.

In support of the anti-illegal logging drive, Lanao del Sur Gov. Mustaqbal Aleem Basher Manalao has also taken concrete steps to check the menace in his province.

In a report to be submitted to the President, Manalao said his office has linked up with the DENR, the Philippine National Police (PNP), Mindanao State University (MSU), and local community leaders towards "developing collaborative work and implementing an effective action plan to curb any and all illegal-logging activities in the province."

Malacanang admitted today that high oil prices, corruption and other problems related to the economy are weighing down President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s approval rating as shown by the latest opinion survey conducted by Pulse Asia.

The President considers the problems besetting the country as shown by the opinion survey as challenges that must be addressed and successfully overcome, Press Secretary Ignacio R. Bunye said in radio interviews this morning.

Far from dismissing the opinion survey, Bunye said that the President uses public opinion as a management tool to determine which areas of governance should be given more attention.

"The President is sensitive to the feelings of the people. We accept the result of the survey; we admit that we are confronted with serious problems brought about by surging prices of oil in the world market," which, in turn, jack up prices of a wide range of commodities in the Philippines, Bunye said.

Noting that people’s complaints stemmed mainly from their economic difficulties, Bunye pointed out that the President’s proposed solutions are geared toward solving the country’s economic ills.

The reform agenda, of which the expanded Value-Added Tax (VAT) is a major component, is designed to improve the economy and put the fiscal house in order, Bunye said.

Bunye, who is also presidential spokesman, said the outcome of the expanded VAT proposal would be crucial to the President’s efforts to resolve the fiscal problems and restore investors’ confidence in the Philippines.

Press Secretary Ignacio R. Bunye said today pump prices in the Philippines remain among the lowest in Asia, despite strong pressures from the international market.

Bunye said pump prices in the country are still relatively lower than those of Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore, New Zealand, Australia and Thailand.

Data from the Department of Energy show that if computed in pesos, the price of unleaded gasoline in pump stations in Hong Kong has already reached P86.22 per liter, while those sold in South Korea amounted to P72.77 per liter.

The same type of gasoline sold in pump stations in Singapore costs P50.27 per liter, P48.05 per liter in New Zealand, and P47.28 per liter in Australia.

In Thailand, unleaded gasoline is sold at P30.72 per liter, compared to the Philippines’ average price of P29.93 per liter.

Bunye noted that even the price of diesel is lower in the Philippines at P26.06 per liter, compared to Hong Kong’s P51.76, South Korea’s P46.18 and Singapore’s P33.30.

In Australia, diesel costs P49.16 per liter. In California, USA, it sells at P36.05 per liter.

At the recent meeting of the National Security Council (NSC), Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla noted that the price of unleaded gasoline has gone up 10.6 percent from P28.23 per liter on Dec. 1, 2004 to P29.93 per liter as of March 28, this year.

On the other hand, diesel price has gone up by 11.9 percent from P23.28 per liter on Dec. 1, 2004 to P26.06 per liter on March 28, 2005.

This was despite the $20 per barrel jump in the regional price of diesel in Singapore since January to March 2005 alone.

DOE also noted that Dubai crude prices increased by $6 per barrel from the February average of $39.87 per barrel to $45.63 in March.

Dubai crude prices rose 161 percent to P2,705 per barrel as of March 21, 2005 from only P1,036 per barrel in 1990.

MARAWI CITY, Lanao del Sur – President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said here today her government will soon initiate several "design changes" in the Agrarian Reform Community (ARC) projects to ensure that more people are benefited by the program.

The Chief Executive, who had just inspected an ARC farm-to-market road project in Barangay Dad-o, Balindong, made this statement to reporters upon her arrival at the 1st Marine Brigade grounds in this city.

She described the current design of ARC projects as "elitist" and expressed displeasure over the utilization of the P40 million allocation for the project.

A staunch believer that "farm-to-market roads are there to reduce prices of farm products and increase the profit of the farmers," the President said the Balindong project was an example of a "not good farm-to-market road."

"The design of the ARC project I inherited is very elitist. You spend P40 million for one barangay but the other barangays have nothing," Mrs. Arroyo said.

"What makes it worse is with this kind of concept, you may have like what we saw (in Balindong): four kilometers of concrete roads, supposedly farm-to-market, but the rest of the 20 kilometers of the farm-to-market is rough road. Has the P40 million to concrete four kilometers of road help to reduce the prices? Did they help to increase the profit of the farmers? They did not. So therefore it was P40 million not well spent," she added.

MARAWI CITY, Lanao del Sur – President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo underscored today the need to create new high wage jobs to help cushion the impact of the seemingly unstoppable prices of goods.

"The best way to diminish the impact of rising prices is to create those new high wage jobs to attract foreign investment to bring overall economic stability to the nation," the President said during a brief media interaction she presided after she inspected confiscated illegally cut logs at the 1st Marine Brigade here.

The Chief Executive likened herself to a "laser beam," straight and focused on the task of generating jobs that she said will bring economic stability to the country.

"I’m focused like a laser beam," the President said, adding "I’m focused on job creation and increasing wages by having better kinds of jobs."

She cited her newly created "cyberspace corridor" which stretches all the way from Baguio City up to Zamboanga City and has so far generated 75,000 high paying jobs for individuals as call center employees or business process outsourcing agents.

Breaking his silence on his alleged US$20,000-a-day suite rental at the MGM Grande in Las Vegas, Nevada recently, First Gentleman Atty. Jose Miguel Arroyo debunked the allegations in a press conference he held today, and said the opposition has injected malicious political dimensions to the issue.

The First Gentleman admitted he stayed at the MGM Grande but the suite he occupied was offered to him free of charge, a complimentary gesture made by the hotel management to him as husband of the President of a sovereign country.

Mr. Arroyo flew to Las Vegas to cheer people’s champion Manny Pacquiao, considered a hero by his Filipino countrymen, in his non-title fight against former Mexican world champion Erik Morales last March 19 (March 20 in Manila).

He, however, expressed doubts there is any hotel suite in the entire Las Vegas area that costs $20,000 a day as alleged. The amount translates to more than one million pesos, and he hinted ABS-CBN had made inquiries and found out the most costly is about $6,000 a day.

"This is all politics. ‘Pinu-politika nila’ (They’re making a big political mess about it)," he told reporters, adding he did not even bother to ask how much his room cost since it was offered to him free. His brother, Negros Occidental Rep. Ignacio Arroyo, slept with him in his suite.

Asked if his acceptance of the free accommodation offer did not violate any government policy, the First Gentleman said, "No" since he is neither a government official or an employee of the government, but a private Filipino citizen.

"I never spent government funds. All my projects, like kidney transplants, etc., they are all from private funds. ‘Puro FG Foundation po yan’ (They are all funded by FG Foundation). Every time I move, it is private funds I use," he added.

The First Gentleman said he also neither smokes or gambles and if anybody was seen gambling in Las Vegas, "hindi ako yon" (it was definitely not me), he stressed.

ZAMBOANGA CITY – Military and police authorities presented to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today suspected Kuwaiti-born international terrorist Fawaz Zi Ajjur, following her arrival at the Edwin Andrews Air Base (EAAB) here from Marawi City.

Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Southern Command (Southcom) chief, Lt. General Alberto Fernando Braganza and Philippine National Police (PNP) Western Mindanao director, Chief Supt. Vidal Querol, presented the arrested terrorist to the Chief Executive.

Querol said Ajjur was apprehended by the Zamboanga City International Airport (ZCIA) authorities last March 26 (Black Saturday) for his failure to present a valid visa to enter the country.

Ajjur attempted to enter the Philippines via South Phoenix Air from Sabah, Malaysia.

He was carrying a Palestinian passport which made airport officials suspicious. A background check with the Bureau of Immigration established Ajjur’s links with the local terrorist Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG).

Querol said Ajjur was identified by a detained Abu Sayyaf member as one of the five Arab-looking terrorists who trained him in the production of bomb explosives at Camp Ajid in Sulu.

The arrested terrorist suspect is also being linked to the planning of the terror bomb attacks in Metro Manila before the May 2004 national elections.

The officials who received President Arroyo here this afternoon include Zamboanga City Mayor Celso Lobregat, Rep. Erico Basilio Fabian, Vice Mayor Maria Isabelle Climaco, Querol, Braganza, Sulu Gov. Benjamin Loong and Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Gov. Parouk Hussin.