BAGUIO CITY – President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo met with United States Ambassador Francis Ricciardone yesterday, discussing ways on how to further strengthen security cooperation between the Philippines and the US.

The President had a one-on-one meeting with Ricciardone at the US envoy’s official residence at Club John Hay here where the annual Christmas gathering was held in honor of Filipino and American officials.

"They asked how and what more they can do to help. That’s really what we talked about," she said.

The President said Ricciardone is going back to Washington and will relay her message to the White House.

"We talked mostly about security cooperation between the Philippines and the US because, that’s one of the things that drive our relationship during this very difficult period of the world characterized by terrorism," the President revealed during a dinner with reporters at the Presidential Mansion.

The Chief Executive said they have noted that fighting terrorism also requires the need to address poverty as "terrorism flourishes when you have people who are poor."

BAGUIO CITY - President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said last night the prices of vegetables would stabilize further as the administration took vigorous actions to pin down vegetable smugglers.

The President, who is here for the holidays, said she has met with Benguet farmers Thursday night (December 26) and discussed with them measures to avert the smuggling of vegetables and at the same time stabilize the prices of their produce.

The President told the vegetables farmers during the meeting that she is not inclined to reduce the tariff on imported vegetables until it can be sorted out which of the vegetables should have a reduced tariff.

During their meetings, the Benguet farmers recommended to her that all refrigerated vans in the Manila International Container Terminal be opened and checked for smuggled vegetables.

The President recounted Friday night (December 27) that she has instructed PSG Commander Hermogenes C. Esperon, who was with the Presidential party here, to go back immediately to Manila and act on the recommendation of the Benguet farmers.

The President said the anti-smuggling task force on vegetables, in coordination with the Bureau of Customs’ Anti-Smuggling Intelligence and Investigation Center and the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, found and seized four 40-foot container vans from China containing smuggled vegetables amounting to P6 million. The vans arrived on board the vessel Hunsa Bhum.

"Nobody declared, there was an attempt, in other words, the vegetables are intended to be smuggled. But because there were apprehensions, nobody claimed. And, I told Esperon he should not leave to customs the filing of charges. As head of the task force, he’s authorized to file cases. He’s working with (Customs Commissioner Antonio) Bernardo on that, even starting on those seized last December 23^rd," the President said.

SAN JUAN, La Union – President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today inaugurated at Barangay Bacsayan here the President Diosdado Macapagal Bridge, linking the towns of San Juan, Bacnotan and San Gabriel, for a more prosperous trade and commercial activity, hastening the movement of goods and people and eventually bringing the residents in the different towns closer to one another.

The President, who’s in Baguio City for the holidays, flew to this town this morning to inaugurate the bridge and personally meet the townsfolk.

Shortly before 10 this morning, the President walked from the landing site of the presidential helicopters and unveiled the President Diosdado Macapagal Bridge markers.

Afterwards, the President, on board a top-down owner-type jeep, drove through the bridge and proceeded to the Bacsayan-Cabugnayan Elementary School for a short program.

In brief remarks, the President said the new bridge was built through the President’s Bridge Program at a cost of P20 million, of which P9.5 million was the counterpart of the provincial government of La Union.

The bridge, formerly called Dayacos Bridge, was originally a 40-meter long timber bridge. Now, it is 60-meter long and 7.35 meter wide steel bridge.

The President said the original Timber Bridge was first replaced in 1974 with a Reinforced Concrete Girder bridge. But, according to her, the western edge of the bridge eroded as a result of destructive typhoons in the early 1980s, resulting in the diversion of the riverflow from its original waterway.

As such, to fill the gap between both banks, a 20-meter Bailey bridge was constructed. Since then, the Dayacos Bridge became a mere composite bridge necessitating regular repair, particularly after every typhoon.

However, through the President’s Bridge Program Phase II and with Austrian government assistance, the bridge was recently reconstructed.

"I thank the Austrian government for providing the official development assistance (ODA) funds for this President’s Bridge Program. Before, the old bridge was called the Dayacos, after the Dayacos River. It used to be a timber bridge, then a reinforced concrete deck girder bridge, which was continually eroded by typhoons," she said.

According to local officials, the decision to name the bridge after the President’s father came from the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of La Union, in their appreciation of the Chief Executive’s support to the province.

The President’s Bridge Program is part of her administration’s efforts to link the different communities all over the country, hastening the development of barangays, towns, cities and provinces.

These bridges provide the vital link that speed up development activities and facilitate the transport of agricultural produce from the farms to the markets.

The modernization of roads and bridges and intensified economic activity are expected to lead to the improvement of the quality of life of the people in the countryside.

In emphasizing the benefits of the bridge to the common folk, the President said she continues to lift up the poor as "the task of the nation is to fight poverty."

"We must be concerned with the plight of the common man as an imperative of justice. We must help bridge the wide gap between the poor man and the man of wealth not by pulling down the rich to the level of the poor but by raising the poor towards the more abundant life," she said.

She further noted that the mission of her administration is to strengthen the Philippine Republic so it could bring a better life to the greatest number of our people.

Among those who attended the occasion were Interior and Local Government Undersecretary Alipio Fernandez, La Union Gov. Victor Ortega, Rep. Manuel Ortega, Philippine Ambassador to Mexico and former Gov. Justo Orros, San Juan Mayor Arthur Valdriz, San Gabriel Mayor Alfredo Alew, San Fernando Mayor, and Presidential Assistant for Northern Luzon Renato Diaz, and PNP Regional Director Gen. Arturo Lomibao.

"As long as I am the Chief Executive, I will act for the interest of the country and cannot be swayed by power politics. I shall not be swayed by populist politics or by power play. I shall not please the poor by tearing down the rich nor please the rich by ignoring the poor, because there is nothing more important to me than the future of this country."

With this declaration, made during the general alumni homecoming of the University of the Philippines College of Law last November 21, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo sought to smash the wall being built around her by the various political blocs and social coalitions in the country.

The setting and timing couldn’t have been more appropriate: the Supreme Court had just then come out with the decision on the overcharging case against the Manila Electric Company (Meralco).

Exactly a week later, during the handover of command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines from Gen. General Benjamin Defensor to Gen. Dionisio Santiago, the President called on the people to do away with too much politics.

She said Philippine political system, which is based on patronage, is largely to blame for the country’s economic woes, at the same time listing the three symptoms of a weak state that her administration has tried to correct.

First, she said, is the large gap between the rich and the poor, a gap that has been exploited for political ends.

The second is that the country’s political system is based on patronage and ultimately corruption to support patronage, the President added.

She also said that in recent years, destabilization, black propaganda and character assassination have been used as political tools by some unscrupulous individuals or groups.

"The common word in this is politics, too much politics," the President said.

The President recalled that in her first State of the Nation Address (SONA), she said that the ultimate goal of great revolutions from Bonifacio to EDSA was to transfer power from the traditional economic and political bosses to the people.

"Our task is to complete this revolution. The enemy to beat is ourselves, when we spread division rather than unity, when we put ourselves above country and profit above fairness, when we make politics replace patriotism in our country’s hour of need," the President said.

During her second State of the Nation Address last July 22, the President defined yet another course to press ahead with her determination to win the war against poverty within the decade.

"It has been 18 months of putting out small fires and soothing hurt feelings, while taking what I hope have been giant steps forward in the economy," the President said in her second State of the Nation Address.

"But now the time has come. We must devote ourselves entirely to taking more of those giant steps towards the achievement of the strong Republic. I will lead our country towards the strong Republic," she vowed.

The President said two essential features mark out a strong Republic: "The first is independence from class and sectoral interests so that it stands for the interests of the people rather than of a powerful minority. The second is the capacity, represented through strong institutions and a strong bureaucracy, to execute good policy and deliver essential services —the things that only governments can do."

"A strong Republic takes care of the people and takes care of their future. Thus, a strong Republic is the bedrock of the victory we seek over poverty within the decade," she said.