The interagency Cabinet-level Investment Coordination Committee (ICC) of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) has approved seven infrastructure projects worth P28.7 billion.

The projects are expected to further perk up socio-economic activity in major agri-industrial parts of the country, as they seek to improve living conditions of beneficiary-communities.

A NEDA report reaching Malacaņang said the lion’s share of the approved funding went to the construction of the Agno River Integrated Irrigation Project.

The P10.8-billion Agno River irrigation project aims to water some 70,800 hectares all year round.

It is also expected to increase the production of paddy rice and diversified crops in the service area that will make farming a highly competitive and profitable business in Pangasinan and Tarlac.

Further, the project is also expected to raise per capita income, upgrade the living standards of the people and create job opportunities in the Ilocos and Central Luzon regions.

The Agno River project scope includes the repair of the San Roque diversion weir and intake; construction of the re-regulating pond with a capacity of 4.6 million cubic meters; construction of a canal at the right bank of the Agno River to supply service areas of the Agno River Irrigation System; and the construction of siphon across Agno River that will link the main canal of the lower Agno River Irrigation System.

The government of Japan, under its 26th Yen Loan Package, will fund the project.

Another project, the P5.38-billion Laguindingan Airport Development Project, involves the construction of a new international-standard airport at Laguindingan.

This will replace the Lumbia Airport in Cagayan de Oro and the Balo-i Airpot in Iligan City.

Funding will come from the Korean Economic Development Cooperation Fund.

The NEDA-ICC said three road projects of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) worth an aggregate P4.79 billion were likewise approved under Japan’s 26th Yen Loan Package.

These are the Palawan South road project; Mabini circumferential road project; and the upgrading of the inter-urban highway system project Phase I.

The P1.07-billion Palawan South road project aims to ensure a road network linking less developed communities to the mainstream of socio-economic development.

It involves the rehabilitation of 178.56 kilometers through asphalt concrete improvement and overlay, including the widening of the existing road from five meters to 6.10 meters with the provision of gravel shoulders on both sides.

The project also includes the construction of a 48-linear meter reinforced concrete deck girder at the Tagbarungis Bridge in the Puerto Princesa-Inapsan-Aborlan section.

The P316.3-million Tourism Roads: Mabini circumferential road project aims to link 11 barangays in the town of Mabini, serving as the main access of the interior villages to alternative markets in the town centers while assuring farmers of higher returns from their agricultural produce, and propelling development in the potential agricultural lands within the road influence area.

It involves the construction of 19.62 kilometers of 200-millimeter thick Portland cement concrete roadway and the replacement of one-overflow and three-ford bridges to reinforced concrete deck girder and pre-stressed concrete deck girder totaling 121.1 linear meters.

The upgrading of the inter-urban highway system with the construction of three bypasses along the Sta. Rita-San Jose section is worth P3.37 billion.

It involves the construction of a two-lane, 6.6-kilometer bypass road in Plaridel and a 2,020-linear meter interchange. It also includes the construction of a two-lane 11.3-kilometer bypass road in Cabanatuan, a 1,125-linear meter reinforced concrete deck girder bridge (Pampanga River Bridge), and eight other reinforced concrete deck girder bridges.

The project aims to mitigate serious traffic congestion and support socioeconomic development within the region.

Also approved was the P4.52-billion Pasig-Marikina river channel improvement project, Phase I.

The project intends to alleviate the living and sanitary conditions in Metro Manila due to massive flooding caused by the overflowing of the Pasig-Marikina River which results in severe damage to lives, properties and infrastructure.

The project will lessen the overflowing of the Pasig River at times of heavy discharge by raising the river’s conveyance capacity through riverbank elevations.

Under the project, some 18.2 kilometers of parapet wall and 17.6 kilometers of revetment walls will be erected, while the dredging and excavation of some 7,000 cubic meters of riverbed deposits are made from Delpan Bridge to Napindin Channel.

The works include the repair of about ten kilometers of damaged stretches of river walls to prevent erosion and collapse of riverbanks.

Lastly, the Valenzuela-Obando-Meycauayan area drainage system improvement and related works project, worth P3.24 billion, aims to mitigate flood damages in the area.

The project provides structural and non-structural facilities to effect the reduction of flood related damages in Malabon, Navotas as well as Obando and Meycauayan in Bulacan.

Floods in these areas have worsened, aggravated by high tides in Manila Bay, inundating low-lying parts and affecting some 400,000 people.

Press Secretary and Acting Presidential Spokesman Ignacio "Toting" Bunye yesterday expressed his support to the sports of arnis, a highly sophisticated fighting style that originated in the Philippines.

Bunye at the same time congratulated the members of the General Headquarters team of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) who called on him after winning no less than five gold medals and three silvers in the Qualifying Rounds of the Cebu International Arnis Tournament.

The said international arnis competition was held in Dumanjug and Ayala Center in Cebu City on July 19-25, 2002.

Among those who paid a courtesy visit on Bunye were gold medal winners Sgt. Christian Millan, Sgt. Rogelio Rentuma, Cpl. Regie Sanchez, Cpl. Jose Renante Ibanez and Joan Talledo; and silver medalists T/Sgt. Elmer Garlan, Randy Dano and Jefrey Agustin.

They were accompanied by Col. Jerry Albano (Philippine Army) and Capt. Marciano Jesus Guevarra (Philippine Air Force) from the Special Services Office of the AFP-GHQ.

The GHQ team is composed of nine military personnel and three dependents. Five of the team members enter the world championship tournament after winning in the qualifying round.

Aside from gold and silver medals, the two other members of the GHQ team also won bronze medals. They are S/Sgt. Antonio Capatoy and Sgt. Danilo Talledo.

Aside from the Philippines, the other countries that competed in the Cebu International Arnis Championship Tournament were the United States, New Zealand, Germany, Australia and other member-countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN).

Arnis is of Philippine origin. When the country was invaded by the Spanish, the invaders required guns to subdue their fierce opponents. The deadly fighting skills of Filipino warriors nearly overwhelmed them, and they dubbed the native stick style "escrima" (skirmish).

Escrima was subsequently outlawed, but the techniques did not disappear. They were preserved in secret, sometimes under the very noses of the conquerors in the form of dances or mock battles staged in religious plays known as "moro-moro."

These plays featured Filipinos, sometimes costumed as Spanish soldiers wearing arnis, the harnesses worn during medieval times for armor. The blade fighting forms and footwork were identical to those used in escrima. The word arnis soon became corrupted to arnis, and the name stuck.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has conveyed her condolences and deepest sympathies to the families of the two Filipina care-givers who were among those killed in a Palestinian suicide bombing in northern Israel last Sunday.

The President also ordered concerned government agencies to extend all possible assistance to the families of Adelina Cunanan of Minalin, Pampanga, and Rebecca Ruga of Bansud, Oriental Mindoro.

The two Filipina overseas workers were among the nine people who died when the bus they were riding exploded in northern Israel.

In today’s meeting of the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC), Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas F. Ople said he had conveyed the President’s expression of sympathy and condolences to the victims’ relatives in the Philippines.

Ople also told the LEDAC members that in his recent telephone conversation with Philippine Ambassador to Israel Marciano Paynor, Jr., the envoy told him that the two Filipina victims were positively identified by the Tel Aviv forensic and police authorities.

Secretary Ople said arrangements are now being made to ship the remains of Cunanan and Ruga to Manila as soon as possible.

"Perhaps this weekend, all the procedural requirements will be made so that the bodies will be sent to Manila," Ople said.

Ople said he was also assured by Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas that benefits to which the survivors of the victims are entitled under the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) are now being worked out.

He said these benefits would include insurance and burial expenses.

Ople also reported to the President that the Israeli government will bear the cost of transporting the remains to the Philippines.

According to Ople, as soon as the bodies arrive at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, OWWA will take care of all costs, including the expenses of transporting the remains to Pampanga and Oriental Mindoro.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today called on the leaders of both houses of Congress to speed up the enactment urgent administration measures, particularly bills included in the common legislative agenda.

The Chief Executive issued this call to Senate President Franklin Drilon and House Speaker Jose de Venecia, Jr. and other legislators during the 90^th Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) Meeting held this morning at Malacaņang’s State Dining Room.

The President said she purposely did not include many bills in her State of the Nation Address (SONA) because "I didn’t want to impose so much on Congress."

"I had already about 16 or so priority measures in the last Congress and we only added two, the Transco franchise bill and the Anti-Terrorism bill," she said, adding that if she had asked for so many bills "then it will be harder to prioritize because we have so many priorities."

During her secord State of the Nation Address last July 22, the President underscored the urgency of enacting six legislative measures, namely, the Anti-Terrorism Act, legislative franchise for Transmission Corporation (Transco), Special Purpose Asset Vehicle (SPAV), Absentee Voting Law, Citizenship Retention Law, and farmland as loan collateral bill.

Briefing the President and LEDAC members on the status of the administration bills, Secretary Gabriel Claudio, Presidential Legislative Adviser and head of the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office (PLLO), said that four of the six legislative measures enunciated by the President in her SONA are part of the current LEDAC common legislative agenda.

These are SPAV Law, Absentee Voting Law, Citizenship Retention Law, and farmland as loan collateral bill.

Claudio also said the following three administration measures are now in the advance stages of the legislative mill:

• SPAV Law – approved on third reading in the House; recalled from the floor and remanded to the committee in the Senate;

• Absentee Voting Law – is in the period of amendments in the House; to be re-opened for the period of interpellation in the Senate to accommodate further clarificatory questions; and

• Citizenship Retention Law – awaiting floor sponsorship in the Senate, and is already in the period of interpellation in the House.

According to Claudio, the three measures set to make considerable headway this week are the following:

• Transco franchise bill -- can finally be tackled on the floor any time soon since it has been reported out of the House committee even before Congressional adjournment in June. The said franchise bill must originate exclusively from the House, hence the Senate will have to await the House-approved version.

• The proposed bill giving small farmland collateral value may be wrapping up committee-level consideration this week. The House appropriations committee has scheduled a hearing tomorrow (Wednesday) relative to the guarantee clause of the substitute bill prepared by the House agrarian reform committee. Senate bill pending in committee.

• Anti-Terrorism Bill – is a bit delayed upon request by certain House members for more time in order to address human rights issues at committee level. Senate versions also pending in committee.

Claudio said that consideration of the anti-terrorism bill provide an opportunity to incorporate provisions against terrorism financing and pertinent amendments to Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA).

"This measure will therefore be our strongest response against global terrorism and will make the AMLA conform to international standards as recommended by Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Rafael Buenaventura in his memorandum to the President," Claudio said.

Claudio also reported that to date, four measures included in the "wish list" have recently been entered into the statute books and thus would bring the number of laws enacted under the present Congress to nine. These are the following:

• Anti-Money Laundering Act (RA 9160),

• Rent Reform Act of 2002 (RA 9161),

• General Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2002 (RA 9162),

• National Service Training Program (RA 9163),

• Synchronized Barangay and SK Elections (RA 9164),

• Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 (RA 9165),

• AFP Salary Increase (RA 9166),

• Film Development Incentives Act (RA 9167), and

• Plant Variety Protection Act (RA 9168).

Claudio noted that of the remaining bills in the common legislative agenda, two are pending in the bicameral conference committee, the Free Patents Law and Eid’l Fitr National Holiday; three were approved on third reading in either chamber, Magna Carta for Barangay Business Enterprises, SPAV Bill, and Securitization Bill; one approved on second reading in either chamber, Housing and Urban Development Bill; and five are pending in plenary in either chamber – including the Removal of the Documentary Stamps Tax, Railways Modernization Act, and Amendments to the Civil Service Code.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today convened the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) in Malacaņang and asked the leaders of Congress to fast track the enactment of priority bills she mentioned in her State of the Nation Address (SONA) last July 22.

The President, who is the chairman of LEDAC, also discussed with the members of the LEDAC the proposed national budget for 2003, whose theme is "Investing in a Strong Republic."

During the discussions on the budget for next year, the subject of the early retirement of government workers and proposed amendments to the Anti-Money Laundering Law were also discussed.

The Executive department briefed the lawmakers and other members of LEDAC on the Mutual Logistics and Support Agreement.

Saying "it is still a work in progress," Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes said the revised MLSA is now in the hands of the United States government for review.

The President agreed to the proposal of Speaker Jose de Venecia, Jr. that the LEDAC meeting be held at least once a month.

Among the legislators who attended the fourth LEDAC meeting under the Macapagal-Arroyo administration were Senate President Franklin Drilon, Senate President Pro Tempore Manuel Villar, Senate Majority Leader Loren Legarda and Senators Rodolfo Biazon, Aquilino Pimentel, Jr. and Robert Barbers; Speaker de Venecia, House Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II, and Reps. Jose Ma. Salceda, Rolando Andaya, Jr., Raul Gonzales, Oscar Moreno, and Gerry Salapuddin.

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) today clarified that, contrary to reports, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has not positively tagged the lady cashier of the Binangonan (Rizal) branch of the Land Bank of the Philippines (Landbank) as a suspect in the multimillion-peso fraud involving officials of the Landbank and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).

In a letter to Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye, NBI Director Reynaldo Wycoco said that while he was interviewing Acsa Ramirez, the Landbank Binangonan branch cashier, the President passed by the NBI to inquire on the progress of the investigation into the largescale tax diversion fraud.

"Consequently, she (the President) decided to meet Ramirez but the President did not categorically announce whether Ramirez was a suspect or not," Wycoco said.

Wycoco said that Ramirez, who has been cashier of the Binangonan branch since April 2002, was invited by the NBI to shed light on certain matters relevant to the ongoing investigation of the tax fraud.

The Department of Justice has charged Artemio San Juan, the Binangonan Landbank branch manager, with 17 counts of violation of the Anti-Money Laundering Act.

According to Wycoco, San Juan has faulted Ramirez for the opening of the Bonsalagen Account "because her reporting to the management of the suspicious P27-billion check deposit was merely an afterthought of her signing (approval) of the check’s clearing."

The discovery of the Bonsalagen account triggered the special audit that resulted in the discovery of the multimillion-peso fraud at the Landbank Binangonan branch.

San Juan has claimed that Ramirez also had a hand in the approval of the opening of the account, Wycoco said.

Ramirez was already the cashier of the Landbank Binangonan branch when majority of the multimillion-peso deposits were made on four fraudulent accounts, Wycoco said.

Governor Rafael Buenaventura of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) today urged the members of the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) to address at least two concerns in the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA) of 2001 so that the Philippines would be stricken out from the list of non-cooperative countries and territories (NCCT) in the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

At the fourth LEDAC meeting under the Macapagal-Arroyo administration, Buenaventura said that the remaining weaknesses of AMLA, or Republic Act No. 9160, have significantly impaired the effectiveness of the anti-money laundering system in the Philippines.

He said there is a need to expand the definition of "covered transactions" in the AMLA to include any suspicious transactions regardless of the threshold amount.

Buenaventura also said that the AMLA or the BSP must be clothed with the authority to inquire into suspicious deposits without the need for a court order.

In this connection, Buenaventura, as chairman of the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), urgently proposed the following amendments to AMLA:

• lower the threshold amount from P4 million to P500,000 for covered transactions;

• the reporting of suspicious transactions to AMLC regardless of the amount involved; and

• the grant of authority to AMLC and the BSP to inquire into or examine, even without court order, deposits or investments related to any money laundering offense, unlawful activity or other violations of the AMLA.

Buenaventura expressed the belief that the proposed amendments to the AMLA would effectively address the major concerns of the FATF and would pave the way for the removal of the Philippines from the NCCT list.

Buenaventura, however, told the LEDAC members that the FATF did acknowledge that the Philippines has made substantial progress since the passage of the AMLA.

"That’s the reason why no sanctions have been imposed on us, and they are giving us time," Buenaventura said.

"They also recognized that we are a democracy and it is not something that we can easily adopt and therefore leaves a lot of discussions, particularly in the legislature," Buenaventura said.

In his press briefing later this afternoon, Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye stressed the need to lower the threshold amount from P4 million to P500,000, saying that in other countries the benchmark is only $10,000.

"So, the proposal is any amount involving P500,000 must be automatically reported to the Anti-Money Laundering Council," Bunye said.

According to Bunye, the members of both the House of Representatives and the Senate must now discuss these proposals.

He also said that for as long as the Philippines is moving toward this direction, the government has nothing to worry.