AKO, SAMPU NG AKING PAMILYA AY NAKIKI-ISA SA BUONG SAMBAYANANG KRISTIYANO SA PAGDIRIWANG SA KAPANGANAKAN NI HESUS.

ANG DAKILANG PAGSILANG NI HESUS AY ISANG SIMBOLO NG PAGKAKA-ISA AT KAPATIRAN, PAGPAPA-KUMBABA AT HIGIT SA LAHAT ISANG WAGAS NA PAG-IBIG SA SANGKATAUHAN.

KASING-KAHULUGAN DIN ITO NG ATING PAGHANGAD NG KAPATIRAN AT PAGKAKAISA NG ATING SAMBAYAN.

ANG MGA KATANGIANG ITO ANG DAPAT NA MAGSILBING INSPIRASYON UPANG SAMA-SAMA NATING LUTASIN ANG MGA PROBLEMANG ATING KINAKAHARAP AT MAITAGUYOD ANG ISANG MATATAG AT MAUNLAD NA BANSA.

PAG-IBIG ANG DAHILAN KUNG BAKIT NAGKATAWANG-TAO SI HESUS. PAG-IBIG SA ATING KAPWA ANG TUNAY NA DIWA NG PASKO. PAG-IBIG DIN ANG MAGSISILBING TALA NA SIYANG TATANGLAW SA ATING PAGTAHAK SA NAGKAKA-ISANG LANDAS TUNGO SA ATING GANAP NA PAG-UNLAD.

MANALIG TAYO SA KAKAYAHAN NG ISA’T-ISA AT MAGTULUNGAN UPANG MABIGYANG KATUPARAN ANG ATING MGA PANGARAP.

MANALANGIN TAYO NA MAGKAROON NG MUNDONG PUNO NG PAG-IBIG, KASAGANAHAN AT KAPAYAPAAN.

KATIWASAYAN, PAGMAMAHALAN AT PAGKAKAISA ANG NAPAPANAHONG MENSAHE NG KAPASKUHAN.

ATIN PONG ISABUHAY ANG TUNAY NA DIWA NG KAPANGANAKAN NI HESUS -- ANG PAG-IBIG SA SANGKATAUHAN.

Not a single peso of taxpayers money was paid for road right-of-way (RROW) claims filed with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) during the less-than-two-years administration of President Macapagal-Arroyo.

This Public Works and Highways Secretary Simeon A. Datumanong stressed to allay fears that illegal RROW claimants, said to be aided by unscrupulous persons, might get compensated, as he ordered a freeze on unpaid RROW claims filed with the agency since he took office.

Datumanong said an internal investigating task force is hastening its investigation on alleged anomalous RROW claims, as he enjoined the body to uncover illegal claims and to bring the perpetrators to the bar of justice.

In a bid to instill President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's program of good governance in the agency, Datumanong said the heads of errant officials and employees should roll and their cohorts in the private sector should face the full force of the law.

"No one is above the law," Datumanong stressed as he directed the task force, created under Department Order No. 158, to also thoroughly review documents he signed on payments for private property used for public purposes since 1997.

Lawyer Joel Jacob, officer in charge of the DPWH legal division, said the task force, after three months of reviewing RROW documents, reported that claims filed in Datumanong's time have remained unpaid.

This was stressed in an official report the DPWH submitted to the Senate committee on public works and to Executive Secretary Alberto Romulo.

The task force was formed following allegations that unpaid RROW claims had ballooned to some P7 billion.

Jacob debunked this, saying that since 1997 when the upsurge of claims took place, unpaid RROW claims nationwide had totaled only P5.58 billion. Of this, only P223 million was released. Many legal claims were even paid on annual installments.

RROW claims are filed with the DPWH by private persons whose property had been used by the government for public infrastructure projects like roads and buildings. The government allots funds to pay the claims, which are guaranteed in the 1935, 1973 and 1987 Constitutions.

But budgetary constraints forced the state to start paying some of the claims only in 1997. Payments were not even full. The treasury could only afford payments in installments that ran to years up to today.

Jacob said Datumanong had enjoined DPWH personnel to transform the public perception of the DPWH from being one of the most graft-ridden agencies of government to being an agency of morally upright public service and good governance, as pushed by President Macapagal-Arroyo.

A few months ago, Datumanong cancelled the release of some P9 million in payment of road right-of-way (RROW) claims along the Gen. Santos City-Sarangani Highway when he knew there was an ongoing court dispute to determine the real heirs of the deceased landowners.

The fund was almost reverted to the DBM.

Malacaņang today said that the government is continuously fine-tuning its contingency plan for the Middle East amidst reports that the United States and Great Britain would launch a military offensive against Iraq in January.

In a radio interview, Press Secretary Ignacio R. Bunye said that Ambassador Roy Cimatu, head of the Middle East Preparedness Team (MEPT), would be leaving for the Middle East early January to personally monitor events there.

"We are continuously reviewing our contingency measures. Of course, our number one objective would be to protect our overseas Filipino workers (OFWs)," Bunye said.

Bunye said that the policy that has been adopted is for the relocation, and not evacuation, of Filipinos away from the conflict zone, but still within the Middle East.

He also assured the nation that the country’s oil supply would not be affected by the outbreak of a new conflict in the Middle East since the Department of Energy had been making arrangements with other non-traditional oil suppliers.

In her speech at the golden anniversary celebration of the National Press Club of the Philippines at the Holiday Inn in Manila last December 17, the President spelled out specific measures that would assure the safety and security of OFWs in the event of the outbreak of a new Gulf war.

The President said that the evacuation of the Filipinos in Iraq would be done "upon the signal of the United Nations agencies in Iraq or upon receipt of reliable intelligence information."

For OFWs in Kuwait, the President said, she has ordered two contingency plans. The first is for the estimated 90 percent of some 60,000 OFWs who may opt to stay even in the outbreak of war, and the other for the remaining 10 percent who may want to be evacuated.

She said the Philippine Embassy in Kuwait has already submitted a detailed cost for the two contingency plans and these will be supported when the time comes.