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| 19 JANUARY 2007 | ||
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| 19 JANUARY 2007 | ||
| Statement of the President |
Global approval of and confidence in the Philippine track is firm, and will stay that way for as long as we keep our sights on the economy and not on partisan politics. Confidence is fueled by the unity of the people, the spirit of enterprise and the force of regional integration. On these three counts, the Philippines is on the ball and playing the game with solid teamwork and sound strategy. As we mop up the terror cells in Mindanao and usher in peace, as we consolidate free trade in ASEAN and East Asia, as we drive domestic enterprise to the grassroots and rally all Filipinos behind the fight against poverty—we will be well on the way to winning the grand prize of first world status in 20 years. Every department and agency of the national government, every local government unit, every sector and component of civil society must row in one direction of a strong Philippine democracy that can compete in all fronts. |
| Statement of Secretary Ignacio R. Bunye |
Continuing successes in the field are a clear indication that the Abu Sayyaf Group and Jemaah Islamiyah are nearing the end of the line. The President commends the gains of AFP Oplan Ultimatum which is the final push against these groups. Our soldiers are doing a great service to the nation in terms of keeping the Filipino people safe and secure in their homes and places of work. This government is determined to mop up the forces of evil and our security forces are leading the way with courage and steely resolve. |
| UN Sec-Gen congratulates PGMA for successful hosting of 12th ASEAN Summit |
| United Nations
Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon has congratulated President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for the
significant results and successful hosting of the ASEAN and East Asia Summits in Cebu last
Jan.10-15. The UN Secretary-General's message was conveyed through Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo when the two officials met at the UN Headquarters in New York last Wednesday (Jan. 17) where Romulo briefed Ban on the results of the ASEAN and East Asia Summit meetings hosted by the Philippines, being this year's ASEAN chair. "We had a very good meeting. Our meeting started off with the Secretary-General conveying his congratulations for the 'profound and meaningful success' of the Cebu Summit meetings," Romulo said. Romulo added that the UN official noted that the success and meaningful outcomes of the meetings were a direct result of the strong direction and leadership of President Arroyo. The Foreign Affairs Secretary said that UN Secretary-General Ban also expressed his deep appreciation to President Arroyo for taking the lead on key issues that promote the progress and stability of East Asia. "He was particularly grateful for the leadership of the Philippines on issues that are of great importance to the United Nations," Romulo said. The Foreign Affairs Secretary said their discussions focused on the situation in the Korean Peninsula, ASEAN's continued push for democracy in Myanmar, President Arroyo's initiatives on interfaith dialogue, debt-for-equity, disaster mitigation, energy and counterterrorism. Romulo also said that he assured the UN secretary-general of the Philippines' full support, as a UN member and current chair of the ASEAN, on his agenda for the UN, particularly in terms of initiatives he intends to take to make the organization more effective and responsive to current challenges. |
| PGMA: RP on way to First World status in 20 years |
| CLARK SPECIAL
ECONOMIC ZONE, Pampanga -- As long as Filipinos keep their sights on the economy and not
on partisan politics, the Philippines, according to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, is
well on the way "to winning the grand prize of First World status in 20 years." The President made this clear in a speech at the closing ceremony of the two-day Anti-Poverty Summit here, where she took note of the rising investor confidence in the country "Global approval of and
confidence in the Philippine track is firm, and will stay that way for as long as we keep
our sights on the economy and not on partisan politics," she said in her speech. |
| PGMA's Caravan for National Unity continues |
| As part of her
"Caravan for National Unity," President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo visited today
another barangay in the vicinity of Malacaņang, turned over "PGMA Training for Work
Scholarship" certificates and distributed groceries. The President personally turned over 100 such certificates provided by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) to Barangay chairperson Gisela Guevarra for distribution to her constituents at Barangay 638, Zone 65, 5th Street, San Beda Subdivision, Manila. The certificates are applicable only on such courses as welding and call center training as well as finishing courses in the amount of P5,000 with a duration of 100 hours and valid until December 2007. The President also gave a Certificate to Operate a Tindahan Natin outlet to Guevarra. She greeted the salespersons of Botika ng Barangay provided by the Department of Health and the interactive kiosk for on-line application set up by the Department of Labor and Employment. At the informal barangay interaction, she instructed Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairman Bayani Fernando to rehabilitate a post light metering and street lightings before the election ban starts on Feb. 13. She also asked the MMDA to de-clog the drainage along 3rd and 4th Streets and put up security gates across C.M. Recto Avenue. The President thanked the barangay residents for their warm accommodation, treating them as neighbors in the Malacanang complex. |
| PGMA outlines hunger mitigation master plan |
| CLARK SPECIAL
ECONOMIC ZONE, Pampanga - President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo outlined today her hunger
mitigation master plan that would effectively address and resolve the decades-old problem
of poverty in the country. The President detailed her anti-hunger framework in her speech at the closing rites of the two-day Anti-Poverty Summit at the Clark Museum inside the Clark Special Economic Zone in Pampanga. The summit has for its theme, "Crossing the Threshold of Poverty in the Luzon Urban Beltway." Among the hunger mitigation measures she presented were: 1) increasing food production, enhancing efficiency of logistics and food delivery; 2) putting more money in poor people's pockets; 3) promoting good nutrition, and 4) managing the population. To increase food production, the President wanted the productivity programs to expand all over the country. These include livestock, crops, marine regeneration (mangrove and coastal fishery developments), family farm (through Gulayan ng Masa at the backyard) and irrigation to be prioritized by the Department of Agriculture, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and National Irrigaition Administration (NIA). In order to put more money to the people's pockets, the President tasked concerned agencies to improve productivity in coconut areas, provide more aggressive micro-financing, maximize employment opportunities in construction and maintenance of farm-to-market roads, irrigation and roadside maintenance. To promote good nutrition, the President directed the Department of Health (DOH), the National Nutrition Council (NNC) and local government units (LGUs) to conduct social marketing of quality, cheap but nutritious foods, promote breastfeeding, and nutrition education in schools through the food-for-school program. In managing the population, the President ordered the DOH to coordinate with the different civic and non-government organizations and other concerned religious groups to help the government in the promotion of responsible parenthood. The President also revealed that the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) assured her that it would not raise its electricity rates nor impose the Currency Exchange Rate Adjustment (CERA) due to the strong peso, bullish stock market and other positive indicators in the economy. Before her speech, Cabinet Officer for Regional Development 3 (CORD3), Luzon Urban Beltway (LUB) and Subic-Clark Alliance for Development Council (SCADC) Chairman Edgardo Pamintuan presented to the President the output of the two-day summit. In return, the President thanked Pamintuan and National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) Lead ConvenorDomingo Panganiban and assured that their proposals and resolutions will definitely help the government address and resolve the poverty problem of the country. On her way back to Malacanang, the President inspected the ongoing construction of the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway Project. The expressway is one of the important infrastructure projects of the government to improve and speed up the economic activities in Central Luzon. Once completed, the Subic-Clark-Tarlac expressway will connect the Subic Freeport to Clark Special Economic Zone and booming Tarlac province for the fastest delivery in and out of goods to Central Luzon and neighboring provinces in Regions 1 and 2 and nearby Bulacan and Metro Manila. Meanwhile, in his speech at the opening of the anti-poverty summit on Thursday, Pamintuan appealed to the more than 400 delegates to come up with "out of the box" strategies to win the war against poverty. Pamintuan noted that the President is currently implementing infrastructure projects nationwide that will have a great impact on the condition of life of the poor Filipinos. He said that the LUB is currently coordinating 15 of these high ticket projects. LUB, one of the five mega-regions created by President Arroyo during her State-of-the Nation-Address last year, is composed of the southern provinces of Central Luzon, the National Capital Region, Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) provinces, Marinduque, and Mindoro. These projects within the LUB corridor include two seaports, two airports, six expressways, four railway systems, and one water project. But the success of these projects of the President will not be possible without the cooperation of the people, Pamintuan stressed. On the other hand, Panganiban said that the Arroyo government policies have helped an estimated 5.5 million people in the first five years of the administration's Medium Term Development Plan. Last year alone, he said, the government has widened the people's access to credit and capital, providing over P76 billion in loans to small entrepreneurs, farmers and fishermen. "We brought new land under cultivation, creating hundreds of thousands of jobs in our rural areas in the process," he said. Panganiban added that the government has created more employment opportunities in the cities, built more classrooms and trained more people for higher paying jobs in business and industry. In the next three years, he said the Arroyo administration will continue to direct public resources to the government's highest budget priorities-modern infrastructure and the national anti-poverty program. This means, he stressed, that "we will keep our full weight behind the drive to bring the country together through the establishment of super regions and the construction of more ports, roads and better communication facilities." Other speakers on opening day of the summit were Albay Congressman Joey Salceda, who expressed confidence that the anti-poverty programs in the LUB and four other mega regions will not fail; National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Director General Romulo Neri, who discussed the government's national economic strategy; Assistant Secretary Danilo Consumido of the Subic-Clark Alliance for Development Council-LUB who spoke on LUB's coordination efforts to push the government's poverty reduction program; Assistant Secretary Dolly de Quiros-Castillo and Alexander Cauguiran of SCADC-LUB. |
| PGMA orders all government agencies to lead actively in information dissemination |
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has ordered all Cabinet members and their respective agencies to lead actively in the information dissemination on the different government achievements, programs and projects that improve the lives of the Filipino people. Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, in his message at the Communications Planning Workshop held today at Bahay Pangarap in Malacanang Park, said the President issued the order in view of the need to inform the people of the "effective socio-economic reforms, enhanced pro-poor programs and evident economic gains," specifically those achieved under the administration’s Medium-Term Development Plan and the 10-point Legacy Agenda. Ermita bewailed that although the "government has a treasure chest of good news that it has been trying to tell our people," such messages about what the administration "has done and is doing" are drowned by the political noises. "Instead of applause, we get survey results that speak of people dissatisfaction towards government, all because of media’s penchant for what sells—politicking, political personalities and political controversies," Ermita said. "It is sad that government performance is measured in terms of relational surveys and ratings," he deplored. "Many are led to believe that government performance is hinged on whether 50 percent of our people trust the President….Thus, we have seen how the President’s low popularity ratings overshadow the more important thing that matters—that our President and our government, despite the challenges facing them, have actually delivered on their promise," Ermita said. According to Ermita, the President has thought it is now time to turn the tables around by effectively informing the public on the government’s milestones and achievements. To achieve this goal, he said the President’s instructions called on "all Cabinet members and their respective agencies to actively lead in stepping up the dissemination to the citizenry of effective socio-economic reforms, enhanced pro-poor programs and evident economic gains, specifically those brought under the Medium-Term Development Plan and the 10-Point Legacy Agenda." All Cabinet members were also instructed to continue to hold press conferences and visit state universities and colleges to inform the people including students and teachers, on the economic gains the government has so far achieved. To effectively pursue a communication plan, Ermita said two aspects must be stressed: good governance is the main theme to be projected, and that the theme has to be properly communicated through effective channels. |
