Film producer Marichu P. Maceda has thanked President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for signing into law last June 7 Republic Act 9167 creating the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP).

The President signed the bill in simple rites at the Ceremonial Hall in Malacaņang. The signing was witnessed by members of the Senate and the House of Representatives and prominent personalities in the movie industry.

In a letter, Maceda said the film and entertainment sector was "deeply grateful" for the President’s approval of the law.

"Finally, after years of futile attempts, a law has been passed to benefit the Philippine movie industry. At long last, we see a flicker of light at the end of a dark tunnel," she said.

As a fitting tribute to the President, local artists have composed, recorded and produced the song, "Maraming Salamat Po (Thank You Very Much)," in compact disc.

Maceda said the song, "specially composed to commemorate the birth of RA 9176," was sang by Pops Fernandez, with lyrics written by Edith Gallardo and music by Moy Ortiz.

Under the law, the FDCP is tasked to establish and implement a Cinema Evaluation System, an incentive-reward system for movie producers.

A Cinema Evaluation Board shall evaluate and grade films submitted to the council.

The Board, in grading the films, would not, however, be authorized to delete, shorten or modify the submitted films.

The law also provides that the Movie Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) and the Videogram Regulatory Board (VRB) will give due weight and consideration for the graded film’s viewing, reproduction, exportation and other purposes.

The National Irrigation Administration (NIA) posted a net operating income of some P93 million in the first semester, in a major turnaround that breathed life back to the agency’s flailing finances in past years.

In a report to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Agriculture Secretary Leonardo Montemayor, NIA Administrator Jesus Emmanuel Paras said total revenues hit P689.8 million from January to June, up by 33 percent from P486.8 million derived in the same period in 2001.

Irrigation fees collected reached P333.2 million, up by 56 percent from P213.7 million year-on-year, Paras said.

Management fees posted a 100-percent increase, to P169.8 million from P81.1 million while equipment rentals rose by 12 percent to P50 million from P44.6 million in the same period under review, Paras said.

He added that total agency expenses remained within the programmed amount at P597.5 million in the same period this year.

Paras noted that NIA had been incurring heavy operating losses from 1992 until 2000, except in 1997 and in 1999, averaging P62 million yearly. In 2000, the NIA registered a net operating loss of almost P122 million.

He attributed the financial turnaround to a combination of various revenue-enhancing and cost cutting efforts.

According to Paras, for the first time in many years, the insurance and health care contributions of NIA field personnel were paid without government subsidy.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today ordered the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) to make sure that a specific unit is assigned to neutralize each identified transnational and local illegal drug ring operating in the country.

In a short message before law enforcers who attended a two-day PDEA-sponsored intelligence workshop in Camp Crame, the President said these special units should ably pinpoint, monitor the activities of and eliminate the drug syndicates.

She cited PDEA Director General Undersecretary Anselmo Avenido’s report that said 11 transnational and 215 local drug groups have been identified to be actively operating in the country.

The report noted that of the 215 local drug groups, 116 are in Luzon, 48 in the Visayas and 51 in Mindanao.

The President called on the Philippine National Police (PNP), the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and other law enforcement agencies to help the PDEA in the fight against drug groups.

She said this support should come while the PDEA could not yet fully operate and while its personnel and resources could not yet ably carry out the provisions of the Dangerous Drugs Act.

She considered the police and other law enforcers as deputized PDEA agents.

The PDEA, she said, should be informed of operations within 24 hours from the time of actual custody of suspects or seizure of dangerous drugs, precursors and paraphernalia.

The President further directed all law enforcement agencies to work closely with other concerned public and private sectors to put up a united front against drug rings.

She stressed that illegal drug syndicates are interlinked with other criminal groups; but if the government and the people would join forces, it would be easier to cut off these links and eliminate these criminal groups.

She urged local government units to help the authorities in naming persons involved in street-level drug pushing.

She added that Local Government Secretary Jose Lina, Jr. has reorganized and revitalized the anti-drug abuse councils in all local government levels, as she ordered city and town mayors to put up multi-sectoral anti-drug monitoring teams.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today paid tribute to the officers and men of the Philippine National Police (PNP) Police Anti-Crime and Emergency Response (PACER) unit and the Cavite Police Provincial Office who rescued last August 27 a kidnap-for-ransom victim and later arrested six suspected kidnappers belonging to the notorious Tresvalles Gang.

The President personally congratulated the policemen who saved kidnap victim Jan Arad Fernandez, 24, two days after the abduction in Bacoor, Cavite.

She said she was glad over the speed by which the police have responded to recent kidnapping incidents.

She recalled that the kidnapping of Rowena Jackie Tiu was solved in eight days; the recent Patricia Chong kidnap in six days, and the Fernandez kidnap, in just two days.

The search-and-rescue operations for Fernandez were immediately launched after the victim’s father, Arthur Fernandez, alerted the police.

The police arrested six Fernandez kidnap suspects on August 29. Presented to the media today at Camp Crame were the suspects Dennis Tresvalles, the alleged gang leader; Conrado Jocson, Noel Tresvalles, Gonzago Quario, Dominador Layacan, and Allan Garcia.

They were arrested in different hideouts by the four PACER tracker teams led by Superintendent Alan Purisima and the Cavite Police led by Cavite Police Provincial Director Senior Superintendent Samuel Pagdilao.

PNP Chief Director General Hermogenes Ebdane said the Tresvalles Gang had been responsible for a string of robbery and holdup incidents in Cavite since last year.

Ebdane told the President the gang preyed on pawnshops, buses and jeepneys, gasoline stations and others, stretching from Cavite to Laguna provinces.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today instructed Interior and Local Government Secretary Jose Lina, Jr. to come up with a policy of accommodation on the case of Filipino repatriates from Malaysia to ease possible congestion in cities and towns in Mindanao where the repatriates disembark.

The President announced a more "pragmatic focus and effective response" to the problems of the repatriates and their host local government unit during the culmination of a two-day Intelligence Workshop sponsored by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) at Camp Crame.

She said Secretary Lina would be responsible for the enforcement of law and order in the areas where the repatriates would be accommodated.

Adequate support should also be given to local government units that would accommodate the repatriates, who are expected to arrive in big numbers in the next few weeks from the port island of Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysia.

The President last Thursday flew to Bongao, Tawi-Tawi, to personally look into the conditions of some 3,000 Filipinos repatriated from Sandakan. They were fetched by Philippine Navy boats.

While in Bongao, the President directed state agencies to coordinate and speed up efforts to set up livelihood projects to benefit the repatriates and their families, besides providing food, health care, shelter and transport assistance.

A processing center to facilitate the documentation of repatriates had been set up in Bongao.

A similar center was also set up in Zamboanga City to process Filipino travelers and workers who arrived by commercial boats from Sandakan.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today called for "prudence, sobriety and reason" among the Filipino people on the plight of thousands of Filipino repatriates from Malaysia, as she disclosed a five-point program to address the issue.

She also urged that the "Philippine claim to Sabah must be firmly delinked from the issue of the repatriates."

In a message aired nationwide, the President stressed that this is not the time for people to stir controversies out of the situation but rather, the "time for our nation to come together for a humanitarian cause."

She said she saw the sufferings of thousands of Filipinos who fled from Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysia when she visited Bongao, Tawi-Tawi Thursday.

"Many of them are sick and hungry. They need our help," she said, as she urged everyone – civic-minded groups, the media and others -- to extend whatever assistance, recalling the Filipinos’ innate trait to respond to the needs of their neighbors whenever tragedy strikes.

The President said the "events have brought in their wake serious controversies," which some people have tried to exploit "to serve their selfish ends, to erode our relations with Malaysia, or to pursue political or terroristic ends inimical to the common interests of both nations."

"I must ask for prudence, sobriety and reason among our people," she urged.

"The problem of deportees from Sabah must be viewed from the overall spirit of goodwill, amity and mutual respect that have characterized our relations with Malaysia," she added.

The Chief Executive said she had talked with Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad by phone Friday and "we came to an understanding on how best to ease the situation affecting our countrymen in Sabah."

She said an official Philippine mission would be going to Kuala Lumpur, capital of Malaysia, on Monday (September 2) to thresh out the details of her discussion with Mahathir.

"Malaysia is our ally in security, peace and development. Together with Indonesia, (Malaysia) is a co-signatory to our trilateral agreement on the interdiction of crime and terrorism along our common seas," she stressed.

"Malaysia has assisted us in the peace process in Mindanao," she added, referring to peace talks between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) hosted by Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur.

"We enjoy strong investment and trade ties, particularly within the context of the Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East Asean Growth Area," she said.

The President warned against grandstanding and diplomatic adventurism. "This is not the way to resolve bilateral problems between long-standing friends."

She presented a five-point "pragmatic, focused, effective response" to the problem of repatriates to include:

• Ensuring the safety and welfare of the repatriates. The National Disaster Coordinating Council shall put up coordination centers as necessary to attain this objective.

• Heightened alert among the military and police forces in areas where potential problems on law and order may arise. The Secretary of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) shall be responsible for the strategy and deployment options.

• Adoption of a policy of accommodation in local government units (LGU) to ease geographical congestion. The DILG shall draw up a plan and involved LGUs shall receive full support.

• Deployment of doctors and medical workers to care for Filipinos in detention centers. The departments of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and Health will work closely to implement this. Diplomatic initiatives will also be made to attain this end.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today received International Monetary Fund (IMF) resident representative Sean Nolan who ended an almost four-year assignment in the country.

Nolan, accompanied by IMF official Vikram Haksar, called on the President at the Rizal Room of Malacanang.

Nolan is due to proceed to the IMF office in Washington before taking up another mission.

Nolan will be assigned as IMF resident representative to Australia and New Zealand.

In their brief conversation, Nolan noted the strong fiscal management undertaken by the administration as well as the reforms being instituted in the bureaucracy, especially in the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).

Nolan likewise cited the President’s State of the Nation Address (SONA), where she stressed the need to build a strong republic.

The President, on the other hand, briefed Nolan and Haksar on continuing efforts of her administration to raise revenues in order to finance the wide range of social and developmental programs and projects.