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| 30 MARCH 2008 | . | |
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| 30 MARCH 2008 | . | |
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| Departure Statement of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on her working visit to Hong Kong (March 30, 2008) |
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Our trip to Hong Kong is dedicated to meeting with our strong OFW contingent
in Hong Kong and to meet with business leaders to encourage them to continue
to make strong investments in the Philippines. At a time when the Philippine economy is at its strongest in over 30 years, it is imperative that we stay focused on continuing to strengthen our economy through aggressive outreach to investors and to enhance our cooperation with governments in the region like Hong Kong. As a result of our economic program in the Philippines, we have diversified our economy, built up our foreign reserves, stimulated a surge of foreign investment and made heavy government investments in human and physical infrastructure. We have done all this while having the strongest balance sheet in a generation, including being on the verge of a balanced budget. One central component of our economic plan has been steady and consistent investment by my government in strengthening our regional political and economic engagement. Taken together, all of these efforts – our economic plan at home and our foreign engagement abroad – have helped prepare us for the global economic forces that are affecting the Philippines today. We are speaking about global forces outside our control that includes a major economic slowdown in North America, a historic spike in the price of oil and a near crippling spike in the price of rice. Our trip to Hong Kong is another action we are taking to continue to bolster our economy through more investments and to confer with vital business and government leaders on cooperative steps we can take to cushion ourselves in Asia against these global issues. We are also taking the opportunity to meet with our precious OFWs and introduce a series of programs we are taking to mitigate the strengthening of the peso against the dollar. The fact that I have been asked to deliver the keynote address at the Asia Investment Conference in Hong Kong to over a thousand investors and fund managers underscores the interest the outside world has in the growing stability and economic fortunes of the Philippines. I am proud to once again carry the banner of our nation and lead the charge for even more investments in our great nation. |
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| Respect Supreme Court's ruling on Neri-Senate case -- Davide |
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Retired Supreme Court Chief Justice Hilario G. Davide said the High
Tribunal’s decision on the Neri case must stand and “be respected unless the
Supreme Court reverses itself on a motion for reconsideration seasonably
filed by an aggrieved party to the case.” Davide, now the Philippine Ambassador to the United Nations (UN), was asked about his reaction to the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Neri case in an interview with the Filipino Reporter, the biggest US-based Filipino newspaper. In its March 25 decision, the high court stopped the Senate from arresting former National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary Romulo Neri to compel him to testify on the controversial national broadband network (NBN)-ZTE deal. The Filipino Reporter’s interview with Davide was quoted in full by Press Secretary and Presidential Spokesman Ignacio R. Bunye in his column The View From the Palace. In the interview, Davide said he had read both the majority and the dissenting opinions of the Supreme Court justices on the Neri case, as well as the “defense of and the criticism against the 9-6 decision coming from the various sources.” “These exchanges of views on the decision are a healthy sign of the vibrant democracy we have in our country,” Davide said. He pointed out that in all cases involving the court’s ruling, the “majority opinion is the decision of the Court. The Supreme Court is the final arbiter of all constitutional cases. Hence, it has been said that what it says, by way of the majority opinion, is the law.” “The Rule of Law doctrine, which is at the heart of our Constitution and is a cornerstone of our democratic institutions, demands that decisions of the Supreme Court must be respected and obeyed. It must at once be stressed that the Supreme Court is the last bulwark of democracy, the guardian of the Rule of Law, and the guarantor of stability,” Davide pointed out. He explained that under the Constitution, the “Supreme Court’s judicial power includes the duty to determine whether or not there has been grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction on the part of any other branch or instrumentality of the Government.” Under this constitutional mandate, while criticisms of the high court’s decisions may be allowed, “such must never denigrate the decisions for they weaken not just the Supreme Court but our democratic system as well,” Davide said. For his part, Bunye said that two important points could be gleaned from the Davide interview. First, that in a democratic system, “while we listen to the minority, it is still the majority that rules and prevails.” Second, whether the decision of the Supreme Court is “for or against one party, we should always respect it. Let us not badmouth the Supreme Court when the decision is against us.” |
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| PGMA's HK trip to attract "strong investments in RP" |
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HONG KONG (via PLDT) – When President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
flies over here this afternoon (Sunday, March 30) to start her three-day
working visit, she will be showcasing the Philippines as a valued investors’
destination in the Asia-Pacific region. This she will accomplish via her speech before the much-awaited annual Asian Investment Conference (AIC) of Switzerland’s Credit Suisse, and her meetings, some of them one-on-one, with Hong Kong business leaders. In her departure statement as she left Manila for Hong Kong today, the President said: “Our trip to Hong Kong is dedicated to meeting with our strong OFW contingent in Hong Kong and to meet with business leaders to encourage them to continue to make strong investments in the Philippines.” “Our trip to Hong Kong is another action we are taking to continue to bolster our economy through more investments and to confer with vital business and government leaders…” the President added. Among the business leaders President Arroyo will be meeting here is Sir Gordon Wu of Hopewell Holdings, “one of the premier group(s) of companies in Hong Kong with diverse business interests spread across property investment and development, highway infrastructure, hotel and hospitality, and construction businesses.” It may be recalled that at the start of the year, the President had ordered a “construction surge,” to counter the possible ill effects of global economic downtrend, particularly the slowing down of the United States economy, on RP’s economy. Hopewell, for itself, “pioneered the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) concept in the China Hotel project in the PRC (Peoples Republic of China), a method of operating joint ventures with local authorities.” The Hopewell website says the said five-star 1,200-room China Hotel in Guangzhou was then the largest and most modern hotel in the PRC when Hopewell built it 24 years ago in 1984. Listed in the HK Stock Exchange in 1972, the now 36-year-old Hopewell Group has completed three projects in the Philippines, namely, the Navotas I 3x70 or 210-megawatt (MW) turbine power station; the 110-MW power station in 1993; and the Pagbilao 2x367.5 MW power station, the Philippines’ largest coal-fired power plant which commenced operation in 1996. The meeting with the Hopewell Group headed by Sir Gordon Wu will also be attended by other Philippine officials led by Trade and Industry Secretary Peter Favila, Press Secretary and Presidential Spokesperson Ignacio R. Bunye and Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) head Narciso Abaya, among others. Wu, an engineering graduate of Princeton University, was named ‘International CEO of the Year’ by George Washington University in 1996, among his other international awards and recognitions. |
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| Eligibility for MCC compact could pave way for RP access to huge U.S. aid -- Bunye |
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The eligibility of the Philippines for the Millennium
Challenge Corporation (MCC) “Compact Status” will pave the way for the
country to gain access to hundreds of millions of US dollars in the form of
grants for government programs to reduce poverty and accelerate economic
growth, according to Press Secretary and Presidential Spokesman Ignacio R.
Bunye. Aside from the huge financial assistance that goes with the “compact,” the MCC decision is also viewed as a validation of the efforts of the administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to “govern justly, invest in its citizens, encourage economic freedom and fight corruption,” Bunye said in his column “The View From the Palace.” Ambassador John Danilovich, MCC chief executive officer (CEO), informed President Arroyo on March 12 that the Philippines had been selected as eligible for the MCC compact. The MCC, a US government corporation directly under State Secretary Condoleezza Rice, provides assistance to developing countries by promoting sustainable economic growth through investments in transportation, water and industrial infrastructures, agriculture, education, private sector development and capacity building. The MCC Compact is a large-scale grant funding based on independent indicators that measure good governance, the country’s investments in its people and policies that encourage economic freedom. The Philippines received on July 26, 2006, a $21-million (P1.1 billion) grant from the Millennium Challenge Account in recognition of the bold steps taken by government to eradicate corruption and attract foreign investments through the Millennium Challenge Account Threshold Program (MCATP). The MCATP, which ran for two years, funded the fight against corruption by strengthening the Office of the Ombudsman, and intensifying the enforcement of anti-graft programs of the Department of Finance (DOF), namely, the Revenue Integrity Protection Service (RIPS), Run After Tax Evaders (RATE), and the Run After The Smugglers (RATS). Under the MCATP, $6.5 million or P338 million was allotted to the Office of the Ombudsman for the hiring and training of additional prosecutors and other employees, the establishment of an information management system and enhancement of the agency’s investigative and surveillance capabilities. The RATE program received $9.4 million (P489 million), RATS, $3.1 million (P161 million), while RIPS was allocated $1.4 million (P73 million). Under the grant agreement, $250,000 (P13 million) was utilized for the monitoring and evaluation of the MCATP to ensure that it conformed with MCC standards. The President said the P1.227-trillion 2008 national budget “dedicates itself to investing in our people and lifting up our poor” in consonance with the primary goal of the MCC. She added that the selection of the Philippines as eligible for the MCC Compact is “an opportunity that can bring hundreds of millions of dollars to our nation to lift our nation out of poverty.” She said she was “deeply honored and pleased that our efforts are paying off and have been recognized in Washington, D.C.” To political allies and critics alike, the President said, “I believe that if we can all come together, redouble our efforts and continue to meet the criteria of the Millennium Challenge Corporation, the long term benefit to our nation will be the best gift I can leave this nation when I step down in 2010.” |
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| PGMA looks forward to meeting with HK OFWs |
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HONG KONG (via PLDT) -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
awaits with eager anticipation her meeting with what she described as the
“precious” overseas Filipino workers (OFW) here numbering some 123,545. Overseas Filipino workers (OFW) in this special administrative region (SAR) of China are first on the must-meet list of the President during her three-day working visit that starts today (Sunday, March 30). “Our trip to Hong Kong is dedicated to meeting with our strong OFW contingent in Hong Kong,” the President said in her departure statement in Manila. “We are… taking the opportunity to meet with our precious OFWs and introduce a series of programs… to mitigate (the effects of) the strengthening of the peso against the dollar,” the President said. Her first engagement here is a meeting with the HK-based OFWs at the Grand Hyatt Hotel at 7 tonight. To be unveiled by the President to the HK-based OFWs are four bank programs aimed at providing the OFWs and their beneficiaries secure, fast and reliable remittance and savings programs, as follows: The OFW Hedging Program (Peso Insurance and Peso Protect) and i-Net Negosyo Program of the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP); and the Long-Term Negotiable Certificate of Deposit (LTNCD) and OFW Cash Card of the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP). As of yearend 2007, some 123,545 Filipinos worked as household service workers (HSW) here, down from the 2001 peak of 155,485. It may be recalled that the President has been trying to stem the brain drain in the country by inviting billion-dollar international business locators to the Philippines so Filipino workers could work at home and be nearer their families instead of going abroad to look for jobs. Filipino HSWs first entered HK in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. In comparison with other labor-importing countries, particularly in Asia and the Middle East, the HK-SAR has a “generally favorable working environment.” Unlike Filipino workers in some other countries abroad, OFWs in HK are covered by the Hong Kong Employment Ordinance which grants foreign hires the same rights as local workers. The monthly salary of foreign domestic helpers (FDH) here is HK$3,480 or higher. The amount is lower than the former minimum wage for FDHs of HK$3,670 which the HK government lowered to HK$3,270 in 2003 when this former British colony reeled from an economic downturn compounded by the SARS epidemic. Also in 2003, HK had announced the imposition of HK$400 levy on all FDH employers for a re-training program for unskilled local workers. The Philippine Consulate, together with several FDHs and concerned groups, had pushed for a judicial review of the HK policy but the HK Court of First Instance (CFI) dismissed the argument that the levy and the lowered FDH wages were related. The group appealed the decision, but lost in the HK CFI. There are also a “notable number of Filipino professionals in HK,” according to the Philippine Consulate which identified the “significant minority” of HK-based Filipino professionals as “architects and civil engineers, some of them involved in more prominent buildings and construction projects in HK; information technology professionals; and professionals in accounting, law and finance.” Many of the professionals have grouped themselves into organizations such as the Builders, HK Musicians’ Union, Philippine Association of HK, and the Bankers Club. |
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| PGMA faces busiest day in HK tomorrow |
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HONG KONG (via PLDT) – Her keynote address at the 11th
Asian Investment Conference (AIC), two separate interviews by leading
writers of International Herald Tribune and Reuters, and the High Tea
Roundtable with Fund Managers will highlight the second day of President
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s three-day working visit here Monday, March 31. At 11 a.m. tomorrow, Don Greenless, a top writer of International Herald Tribune, will conduct a one-on-one interview with the President on various domestic and international issues. This shall be followed by another no-holds-barred interview with the President by Umesh Desai, chief correspondent for Asia, Fixed Income, of Reuters. Both interviews will be held at the Presidential Suite of Grand Hyatt Hotel where the President and First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo are staying. After her Credit Suisse luncheon keynote speech at the 11th AIC to be held at Main Ballroom of Conrad International Hotel with question-and- answer portion, the courtesy call by the Congep Group, headed by Willie Tan, chair and CEO, Luen Thai Private Group of Companies, shall follow at 3:30 p.m. at the Presidential Suite. At 5 p.m., the President’s High Tea Roundtable with Fund Managers will be held at Grand Hyatt where she is expected to offer the Philippines as the best investment destination in Southeast Asia today. |
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| PGMA off to HK to keynote investment conference, meet with OFWs |
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President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo brings with her the
best of what the Filipino and the Philippines can offer when she addresses
the 11th Credit Suisse Asian Investment Conference (AIC) in Hong Kong from
March 30 (Sunday) to April 1 (Tuesday). The President is expected to make a strong pitch for the country as a valued investors’ destination in the Asia-Pacific region to some 1,500 investors from all over the world, including representatives of the top 300 companies in the region. In her departure statement this afternoon, the President stressed that “it is imperative that we stay focused on continuing to strengthen our economy through aggressive outreach to investors and to enhance our cooperation with governments in the region like Hong Kong at a time when the Philippine economy is at its strongest in over 30 years.” “As a result of our economic program in the Philippines, we have diversified our economy, built up our foreign reserves, stimulated a surge of foreign investment and made heavy government investments in human and physical infrastructure. We have done all this while having the strongest balance sheet in a generation, including being on the verge of a balanced budget,” the President added. In an interview before boarding the Philippine Airlines (PAL) commercial flight for Hong Kong, Press Secretary and Presidential Spokesman Ignacio R. Bunye said the President will present to the world business leaders the Philippines as the “best value for foreign investments” in the region. Aside from keynoting the AIC, the President will also meet with the Filipino community in the former Crown Colony, and walk them through several programs designed to protect their remittances from the harsh effects of fluctuating exchange rate and the strengthening peso. A representative of the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) will discuss its Peso Hedging Program, while the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) will present its “i-Net Negosyo” program and OFW Cash Card. The DBP said its Peso Hedging Program, which consists of the “Peso Insurance” and “Peso Protect,” will give “OFWs the opportunity to mitigate the effects of the Philippine peso appreciation vis-à-vis their US dollar remittances or the equivalent in US dollars.” Peso Insurance is “an agreement where the OFWs can sell their US dollars at prevailing exchange rate on maturity or at the selected protection rate if the peso appreciates and the OFW pays an insurance fee,” DBP explained. On the other hand, Peso Protect is “an agreement whereby the exchange rate (forward rate) at which OFWs will sell their US dollars in the future is already determined beforehand, and the OFW pays no fee but has to place a hold-out deposit refundable after the delivery of the contract amount to the DBP.” The DBP also has an “i-Net Negosyo” program which is a “loan facility offered to eligible OFWs for the setting up of a mini ‘internet station’ via SMART wireless broadband or other telecom internet service provider offering similar packages.” Joining the President on her trip is First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo, Trade Secretary Peter Favila, Finance Secretary Margarito Teves and other government officials. |
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| PGMA begins her 3-day working visit to HK, RP's top third export market |
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HONG KONG (via PLDT) – President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
arrived at 5 p.m. today for a three-day working visit to this Special
Administrative Region (SAR) of China which has become the Philippines’ third
top export market. Among the highlights of her visit here will be her keynote address at the 11th Asian Investment Conference (AIC), interviews by leading writers of Reuters and International Herald Tribune, and High Tea Roundtable with Fund Managers tomorrow (Monday). Hong Kong, with its estimated Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita of US$28,400-US$28,700 in 2007, is a potentially huge market for food and other consumer items from the Philippines . From January to September 2007 alone, Hong Kong bought US$4.324 billion worth of Philippine products. During the same period, Hong Kong ranked as the country’s top fourth trading partner, with total trade reaching US$5.9 billion. “Due to the strong performance of exports during the first nine months of 2007, the Philippines recorded a surplus of US$2.8 billion,” according to the Philippine Consulate in HK. In 2006, HK was the Philippines’ fifth top export market, next only to its mother country, the People’s Republic of China (PROC), which was then RP’s fourth top export market. In that year, HK bought US$3.7 billion in Philippine products. The amount made up 7.82 percent of RP’s total export receipts during that period. Semiconductors worth US$2.8 billion dominated RP exports to HK in 2006, comprising 75.12 percent. Other top performers were gold bullion (US$165 million); parts and accessories of data processing machines (US$118 million); radio receiver parts and accessories (US$70 million); and storage units (US$52 million). Trade balance with HK from 2002 to 2006 “was in the Philippines’ favor, with average annual surpluses amounting to US$1.33 billion,” added the RP Consulate here. |
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| PGMA gets warm welcome from Filipino community in HK |
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HONG KONG (via PLDT) -- The Filipino community here
composed mostly of some 123,545 household service workers gave President
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo a warm welcome this evening during the presentation
by the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) and the Land Bank of the
Philippines (LBP) of their two new products each aimed at providing OFWs and
their beneficiaries reliable savings program to soften the effect of the
strong peso and the global economic downtrend. The President, accompanied by First Gentleman Jose Miguel T. Arroyo, arrived here late this afternoon aboard a commercial Philippine Airlines (PAL) flight 306 to address tomorrow the 11th Asian Investment Conference 2008, a private investment sector event organized by Credit Suisse, a leading global financial services company based in Zurich. Right from the Hong Kong International Airport, the President and party went directly to the Tiffin Lounge of the Grand Hyatt Hotel, where she will be staying during her three-day working visit here, for a reception with Filipino community in this Special Administrative Region of China for the formal launch of OFW Savings Instruments of the two government-owned banks. During the evening reception, she unveiled the two new products of the DBP, namely: the OFW Hedging Program and the i-Net Negosyo Program; and two new offerings of the LBP, namely the Long Term Negotiable Certificate of Deposit or LTNCD and the OFW Cash Card. The DBP’s OFW Hedging Program is designed to protect OFWs from foreign exchange volatility. Here, OFWs can soften the effect of the Philippine peso appreciation vis-à-vis their US dollar remittances. The DBP offers two products under its Hedging Program: the Peso Insurance and Peso Protect. The Peso Insurance is an agreement where the OFWs can sell their US dollars at prevailing exchange rate on maturity or at the selected protection rate if the peso appreciates and the OFWs pay an insurance fee. On the other hand, the Peso Protect is an agreement whereby the exchange rate or forward rate at which OFWs will sell their US dollars in the future is already determined beforehand and OFWs pay no fee but they have to place a hold-out deposit refundable after delivery of contract amount to DBP. The second DBP product to be unveiled is the i-Net Negosyo Program to provide livelihood opportunities for the families of OFWs in the Philippines. This loan facility is offered to eligible OFWs for the setting up of a mini Internet Station via SMART Wireless Broadband or other telecom internet service providers offering similar packages. The DBP-SMART OFW i-Net Negosyo Program has P1 billion fund allocation to eligible borrowers. Land Bank of the Philippines, on the other hand, launched its two new products exclusively for OFWs to wit: the Long Term Negotiable Certificate of Deposit where an OFW can invest as low as P20,000 while having a high-yielding interest compared to other existing savings or time deposits; and the OFW Cash Card, developed by Land Bank in collaboration with Smart Communications where overseas Filipino workers can send their remittances to the Philippines, the safe, convenient, fast and affordable way. It is a debit card that can be linked to a Smart mobile phone and likened to an ATM card that can transact in any of the 7,000 Expressnet, Megalink or Bancnet ATMs nationwide. Unlike an ordinary ATM card, it does not require the opening of a deposit or maintaining daily balances. |
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