Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said that Executive Order No. 511 will save government money by doing away with unnecessary advertising expenses and reduce the cost of operation of state information agencies with overlapping functions.

"Allegations that EO 511 shall be a tool for media censorship are farfetched and irresponsible," Bunye said in his newspaper column, The View From the Palace that will come out tomorrow.

"The EO is quite straightforward and simply redefines the functions of the Presidential Communications Group which will guide, integrate and supervise the public information activities, including advertisements, of all departments, bureaus, offices and agencies in the Executive Branch."

Bunye lamented that some critics continue to distort the intention to consolidate the information efforts of various government agencies under the Executive Branch.

"A review of the various government agencies tasked with communication and information dissemination reveals some overlapping of functions, duplication of responsibilities and uncoordinated use of resources," he said.

He added that streamlining of the operation of these agencies would allow them to collectively work more efficiently without wasting resources.

Some columnists, have expressed concern that EO 511 "may just be all about money."

In a sense, this is correct, "because one of the objectives of EO 511 is to save the government money by eliminating unnecessary advertising expenses," Bunye said.

Earlier, the Palace official said the sole purpose of EO 511 is to organize and rationalize the public information program of various government agencies in the Executive Branch.

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From 72 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2005, the country’s foreign debt is expected to ease to 68 percent of GDP this year on the wings of the fiscal reforms initiated by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, according to Press Secretary and concurrent Presidential Spokesman Ignacio R. Bunye.

In his newspaper column, The View From the Palace that comes out tomorrow, Bunye said that if the "trend continues, and we are confident it will, then we are well on our way to achieving a balanced budget on or before 2010."

He said the international market has responded favorably to the President’s single-minded pursuit of fiscal reforms, and her efforts have reaped dividends for the country.

The country’s five-year bonds have rallied, thus pushing yields to the lowest in more than seven years. "Since the market expects the government’s borrowing requirement to be less as the deficit narrows, there is room for further decline in the yields," Bunye said.

He explained that what "this all means is that we can anticipate more savings because we will be paying less for our international obligations. For the first time in many administrations, we will have internally generated money to pay for our basic social services."

Contributing to the very strong performance of the markets were the recent positive economic data, favorable earnings reports, strong remittances from Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) and the government’s less-than-target budget deficit, Bunye added.

Earlier, Bunye said that for the first time in decades, "our goal of reducing our debt from 50 percent of GDP is within reach, especially with the stability of the peso strengthening our fiscal position."

He pointed out that the country’s good fiscal performance showed the resiliency of the economy despite the political noise and sends a good message to the international financial community.

"Intermittent political storms will not distract us from our course toward economic takeoff. The resilience of the Philippine economy has been tried and tested and we are grateful to the Filipino people for their sacrifices and support. They shall be the prime beneficiaries of the fruits of their own labors, as we now see and feel the social payback of reforms," he said.

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