About 15,000 barangay officials from the seven provinces of Pampanga, Aurora, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Tarlac, Bataan and Zambales attended the regional congress.

Our government respects the rights of our people to assemble and to petition the government for redress of grievances. However, these rights, as guaranteed by the Constitution, are not absolute. They can only be exercised in a peaceful manner and always in consideration of the welfare of the majority of our people.

The commuters, the pedestrians, the students, and the business sectors have complained about the inconvenience and the disruption of the businesses, resulting in economic losses in millions of pesos, especially in the commercial districts of Makati City. We cannot let this to continue. Our policy of maximum tolerance has been abused, these rights have become licentious, to the detriment of the peace and order and the welfare of the greater majority.

This government will not tolerate activities that hurt the people and that undermine the rule of law. We should bear in mind that liberty is not a license. Liberty is the freedom to do right and never wrong.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said today that while the government respects the rights of people to peaceful assembly and free expression as guaranteed in the Constitution, they are still subject to certain restrictions in conformity with law.

"These rights are not absolute," the President stressed in a statement. "They can only be exercised in a peaceful manner and always in consideration of the welfare of the majority of our people."

She cited the complaints of commuters, pedestrians, students and the business sectors about the inconvenience and disruption of businesses resulting in economic losses in millions of pesos, especially in the commercial districts of Makati City.

"We cannot let this continue," she said. "Our policy of maximum tolerance has been abused, these rights have become licentious, to the detriment of the peace and order and welfare of the greater majority."

She stressed that the government will not tolerate activities that hurt the people and that undermine the rule of law.

"We should bear in mind that liberty is not a license. Liberty is the freedom to do right and never wrong," she explained.

Malacanang announced today the approval of six more members of the Consultative Commission (Con-Com), in addition to the 33 whose names were bared yesterday.

The six new names brought the number of the designated Con-Com members to 39, just 11 shy of the 50 target number.

Secretary Rigoberto Tiglao, Presidential Management Staff chief, said the six new members were among those recommended to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo by the Cabinet screening committee headed by Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita.

"These members were chosen based on the qualifications set forth in Executive Order 453 which states that members of the Consultative Commission must be men and women of national standing, experienced in government or with recognized competence in their respective fields," he added.

The six incoming members are Brother Rolando Dizon, director-at-large, Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines and member, Board of Trustees, De La Salle University; Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, Calbayog City Mayor Mel Senen Sarmiento, secretary-general of the League of Cities of the Philippines; Atty. Rita Linda Jimeno, president, Philippine Bar Association (2004-2005);

Dr. Emily Marohombsar, member of the GRP Peace Panel negotiating with the MILF and the first Muslim woman to have been appointed president of the Mindanao State University, and Atty. Sergio Apostol, chairman, CEO and president of the PNOC-EDC who was a former member of the House committee on constitutional amendments for three terms in Congress

Earlier designated Con-Com members whose names Tiglao also bared yesterday were Jose Abueva, Atty. Anthony Acevedo, Ronald Adamat, Emmanuel Angeles, Rene Azurin, Jose Bello Jr., Ma. Romela Bengzon, Jarius Bondoc, Franchis Chua, Donald Dee, Gilberto Duavit, Gerardo Espina Sr., Pablo Garcia, Nelia Gonzales, Joji Ilagan-Bian, Gonzalo Jurado, Jose Leviste Jr;

James Marty Lim, Lito Monico Lorenzana, Sergio Luiz-Ortiz Jr., Alexander Raymundo Magno, Jose Sonny Matula, David Naval, Pedro Romualdo, Democrito Mendoza, Victor Ortega, Vicente Paterno, Carmen Pedrosa, Mayor Oscar Rodriguez, Governor Pedro Romualdo, Bishop Efraim Tendero, Ray Teves, Atty. Antonio Vilar, and Ambassador Alfonso T. Yuchengco.

The 39 designated Con-Com members will informally meet tomorrow afternoon, Friday, at the Presidential Guest House and will be welcomed by Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita. The Presidential Management Staff will brief them about administrative arrangements in relation to the work of the Commission.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo inspected today embankments of the Candaba River in Pampanga which were washed out by torrential monsoon rains and typhoons resulting in heavy flooding of several areas in Candaba.

The President arrived at the Barangay Buwas Bridge in Candaba at 11:15 a.m. and was met by some 1,000 cheering residents and local officials led by Candaba Mayor Jerry Pelayo, Vice Mayor Danilo Gallardo, 4th District Representative Anna York Bondoc, and National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) Deputy Administrator Dr. Anthony Golez Jr.

She was accompanied by Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Officer-in-Charge Lualhati Pablo and Presidential Adviser for Central Luzon Renato Diaz.

Pelayo informed the President that some 138 families living along the Candaba River have to be evacuated to ensure their safety in the face of the continuing erosion of the riverbank.

The Region 3 DSWD reported that 4,045 families in 17 of the 33 barangays of Candaba were affected by recent flooding.

The President handed to Pelayo a certification for the release of 150 sacks of rice from the NDCC for distribution to residents of Candaba’s flood-affected areas.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita today lamented that while the administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is striving hard to succeed in pushing sound governance and turn the economy around, hostile forces batter it at every turn with determination so it would fail.

Keynoting the two-day 12^th National Public Relations Congress of the Public Relations Society of the Philippines (PRSP) at the Edsa Shangri-La Hotel in Mandaluyong City, Ermita said it is unfortunate that administration critics have set up all roadblocks along the way.

Ermita observed that without knowing it, people’s world boxing champion Manny Pacquiao has provided Filipinos a rallying point when he recently kayoed Mexican boxer Hector Velasquez at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.

Pacquiao’s recent ring victory, he said, gave Filipinos "a shining moment for patriotism" when the first thing he blurted out was "Mabuhay ang Pilipinas" as if pleading for his compatriots "to join hands in national healing, reconciliation and unification."

"There is no denying the fact that the country has been polarized by bitter political partisanship. . . We have a tendency to disagree on almost anything, save the recent victory of Manny Pacquiao in the boxing arena," he noted.

"Let us look at Manny’s feat as a shining moment for patriotism . . . for all Filipinos, here or elsewhere in the world, so that national healing, reconciliation and unification would be inexorably attained. Without unity we can never hope to move forward," Ermita added.

The Executive Secretary said Pacquiao, obviously, is not aware of it, "but he has just given us a lesson in unity, that there is still a great chance for us to join hands in the concerted task of nation building."

The government, under President Arroyo, Ermita said, has the blueprint for its vision of national economic and social development and has not wavered in its determination to give flesh and substance to that dream.

He called on all PR practitioners to join the government’s quest as "a third arm of the government in reaching out to the people and as a dynamic partner in public service."

Secretary Norberto Gonzales does not deserve the abusive and unparliamentary language heaped on him in the Senate.

We are co-equal and separate branches in a Republican system. We expect civility, comity and respect for each other’s right in dealing with each other.

Humiliating a Cabinet member in front of the media can never be justified as an act in aid of legislation.