The President cited McDonald’s Charities’ Bright Minds Read (BMR) during the launch of a fund raising campaign with the theme "A Public-Private Partnership: Improving beginning Reading for Filipino Grade 1 Pupils" this afternoon in Malacaņang.

"Once again, I would like to thank McDonald’s Charities for all that you have done for our children. What you are doing for our children is for our future. Thank you and congratulations," she said.

McDonald’s reading initiative under Republic Act 8525’s Adopt-A-School Program reported "zero nonreaders among the 4,200 pilot students" in the National Capital Region (NCR) in school years 2003-2005.

"On the other hand, a total of 907,213 students in 6,948 classes have dramatically reduced the level of nonreaders from 40 percent to 6 percent since the birth of the BRM program in 2002," McDonald’s said.

From 14 schools in 2002, the BMR project is expected to cover 37, 000 public schools nationwide by 2008.

A joint undertaking of McDonald’s Charities and the National Capital Region (NCR) of the Department of Education (DepEd), the BMR program "tackles the problem of reading deficiency in two ways: first, it developed training manuals for public school teachers, providing them with strategies and know-how to successfully teach beginning reading to Grade 1 schoolers.

Second, "it provided workbooks for Grade 1 pupils, especially designed to enhance reading and comprehension skills."

Aside from DepEd, McDonald’s Charities has gained new partners in its BMR program, namely the League of Corporate Foundations, Inc. (LCFI), Adama Publishing, National Bookstore, United Print Media Group (UPMG), Makati Princess Urduja JCI (Jaycees), Philippine National Construction Corporation-Skyway Corporation, and Petron Foundation.

LCFI will fund 800 BMR kits in the next two to three years, while UPMG will help communicate BMR messages through its member publications, while the Makati Princess Urduja JCI will help tap local government units to support and adopt BMR.

Petron Foundation will be the first to adopt the BMR program in its beneficiary schools, while the PNCC Skyway Corp. will provide space in its booths for BMR donation boxes.

The President said that with the partnership of McDonald’s Charities with other companies and organizations "a new and more dynamic era in elementary education is in the offing."

"McDonald’s came up with this Bright Minds Read program aimed at developing not only genuine love for reading among children from the first grade level onwards, but also the development of comprehension and critical thinking skills, correct grammatical structures and decoding know-how," she said.

The President stressed that to improve the reading skills of Grade 1 pupils, her administration is determined to close the classroom gap before the end of her term in 2010.

"I am determined to close the classroom gap by 2010 by building 6,000 grade school classrooms yearly, adopting double-shift classes, distributing high school vouchers to provide assistance to private high school students, providing scholarships to poor college and vocational school students, and by providing every high school with computer linkage," she said.

She pointed out that since July 2004 up to January 2006, the national government had built 14,000 additional classrooms and provided 73 percent of high schools with computer and computer laboratories.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo inspected today the various road improvement projects and proposed traffic management schemes in and around the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 which is set to open this year.

The NAIA 3 terminal covers 65 hectares within the Villamor Air Base and can accommodate a projected capacity of 10 to 14 million passengers annually once operations go full blast.

A joint team composed of Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chair Bayani Fernando, Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane and Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) General Manager Alfonso Cusi presented to the President a proposal of undertaking which their respective departments hope to achieve on target.

The MMDA’s proposed schemes include the widening of Manlunas Street, various geometric improvements within the periphery of the area that include the construction of a rotunda access to and from the terminal or the construction of a flyover access.

However, due to its prohibitive cost of P280 million, the construction of the flyover access was almost immediately scrapped in favor of the rotunda access (P48 million), which can be completed within three to four months.

Secretary Ebdane, meanwhile, gave the President an update on the construction of the Sales Interchange that will link north and southbound vehicles traversing the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) to NAIA Terminal 3 via a series of flyover off and on ramps located at the Sales exit of the SLEX.

According to Ebdane, work being done at the Sales interchange is in full swing and, barring any hitches, will continue until its completion.

The smooth flow of customers, personnel and cargo, on the other hand, was the main concern of MIAA GM Cusi when he presented his update on the Terminal 2 and Terminal 3 (T2-T3) Access Road program to the President.

According to Cusi, the construction of the T2-T3 Surface Access Road (SAR), which is intended to provide a vital facility that will link NAIA Terminal 1 and 2 to NAIA Terminal 3, was recently completed with the help of the DPWH.

The SAR is expected to facilitate the ferry of both passenger and cargo from one terminal to the other within the secure premises of the airport complex.

Cusi also said that construction of the T2-T3 Cargo Diversion Road, which cuts across domestic runway 13/31 has begun and is estimated to be completed within 90 days.

After the powerpoint presentation by the team, the President was given a "windshield inspection" of the above mentioned programs for a first hand look at the ongoing work process.