President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today issued Proclamation No. 217 declaring Monday, July 15, 2002, as a special non-working holiday throughout the country.

The Sangguniang Kabataan and Barangay Elections will be held on that day.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said today she will continue to meet with local government officials, particularly the governors, and personally look at the implementation of projects on the ground.

"I must look at the implementation (of projects and directives) not at the Cabinet level any more but at the level of local governments," the President told members of the Malacaņang Press Corps during a luncheon meeting.

The President shifted her system of governance and turned to joint Regional Development Council-Regional Peace and Order Council (RDC-RPOC) meetings in the provinces on May 2 in Tuguegarao, Cagayan.

But even before that, the President had been conducting frequent trips to remote areas in the provinces to bring the government closer to the people and to personally heed the concerns of the people and act on them on the spot, whenever possible.

She said she intends to carry on these provincial consultations and project inspections even after she delivers her State of the Nation address before Congress on July 22.

The President said she has still two more Regional Development Council meetings to attend before she delivers her second State of the Nation address. These are in Metro Manila on July 16 and in Bohol on July 17.

The President explained that in the RDC meetings, a lot of problem solving is being done when major projects are presented and their implementation discussed, including bottlenecks and prioritization of projects.

"So I think that these were very, very useful," she said, stressing that she will continue meeting with the governors regularly, as regularly as she would be meeting with members of her Cabinet.

The President also said that Cabinet members concerned with the "issues on the ground" take part in these RDC-RPOC meetings.

Before the RDC-RPOC joint meetings in the provinces, the President pointed out that a program usually consisted of a pattern of Cabinet members distributing the benefits to the poor such as Philhealth cards, hybrid seedlings, and livelihood assistance.

During lunch with the Malacaņang reporters, the President also disclosed that she will inaugurate the Basilan Airport on July 31, when the joint Balikatan exercises in Basilan and Zamboanga are scheduled to be terminated.

"It is very important that the people see the airport in Basilan, because that is very obviously a fruit of the Balikatan," she said.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will be attending the "Order of Battle" workshop organized by the Philippine National Police (PNP) at Camp Crame tomorrow, July 11.

"I will not make a speech, but I will sit down with them and work out the order of battle," the President told the members of the Malacaņang Press Corps during lunch at Malacaņang.

The President, however, emphasized that she will not tell them (PNP officers and men) the order of battle "but I will listen to their order of battle so that we can trace the progress."

The President said the workshop is a follow-up on the Summit on Illegal Drugs, Kidnapping and Command Responsibility held yesterday at the Manila Hotel.

During the summit, the President ordered an all-out war against 21 kidnap-for-ransom (KFR) syndicates operating in the country, three of which will be the biggest targets.

The President ordered the all-out war against these KFR syndicates in an effort to ensure peace and order in the country, attract more investments, generate more jobs for the people and, ultimately, win the war against poverty.

The Chief Executive said that the order of battle workshop tomorrow "is still part of the baseline."

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today stressed that a strong republic under her administration cannot afford to have "termites from within."

The President made this reaction following reports that Council for Philippine Affairs (COPA) head Pastor "Boy" Saycon had criticized her administration for the alleged recruitment of certain personalities closely identified with the previous dispensation.

"He (Saycon) will have to make his choice. A strong republic cannot afford termites from within," the President told reporters during an informal luncheon meeting in Malacaņang.

Saycon’s accusation came following a meeting last Monday between several Cabinet officials and certain members of the various civil society groups.

The President said she asked her Cabinet members to arrange the meeting with the civil society groups and other members of several non-government organizations.

She explained that the meeting is part of the new politics of institutionalized consultation with the people.

She added that those Cabinet members who attended the meeting were "quite disappointed" with the way media has played up the issues that evolved during the discussion.

Among the Cabinet members who were present in the consultation meeting were Executive Secretary Alberto Romulo, National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) chair Teresita Quintos-Deles, Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) chair Michael Defensor, Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas, Finance Secretary Jose Isidro Camacho, Energy Secretary Vicente Perez, Interior and Local Government Secretary Jose Lina, Jr. and Presidential Adviser Marita Magpili-Jimenez.

"They (Cabinet members) called me up and they were flustered. Basically, they would like to be able to be interviewed to give their version because they were all there and they called the meeting," the President said.

The President pointed out that Saycon was not in the meeting because his organization (COPA) was never invited.

Presidential Adviser on Culture Leticia Ramos-Shahani will represent the Philippines in the Roundtable of Ministers of Culture under the auspices of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) and the Government of Turkey in Istanbul on Sept. 16-17, 2002.

Shahani, along with the ministers of culture of other Unesco member-countries, will participate in the two-day meeting to share their views and discuss the themes, "Cultural Diversity and Sustainable Development: What Challenges for the Intangible Cultural Heritage"; and "Mobilizing International Solidarity to Safeguard, Transmit and Promote Intangible Cultural Heritage: Policies and Mechanisms for Implementation at the Local, National and International Level."

Intangible cultural heritage refers to music and oral literature, among otherthings, of which the Philippines, in view of its numerous ethno-linguistic groups, is particularly rich.

Shahani, a career ambassador and former undersecretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), has had a long experience in the United Nations.

She was formerly a member of the steering committee of the Unesco World Commission then headed by former UN Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar.

Unesco was established on November 16, 1945. It has its headquarters in Paris, France and 73 field offices and units in different parts of the world.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today said she has to wait for the Search Committee to come up with its recommendation for the position of the Secretary of Foreign Affairs to be vacated by Vice President Teofisto Guingona, Jr. on July 15, 2002.

During a luncheon meeting with members of the Malacanang Press Corps, the President clarified that the Search Committee helps her make a decision.

"It does not make a decision for me," the President.

The President ticked off the names of those she called "very good products" of the Search Committee – Jose Isidro Camacho of the Department of Finance, Manuel Dayrit of the Department of Health, Lina Alabastro of the Department of Science and Technology and Vicente Perez, Jr. of the Department of Energy.

The President also disclosed that all of the Chief Operation Officers (COOs) of the government financial institutions and banks are products of the Search Committee.

The President likewise said that her decisions to appoint individuals who were not the Search Committee’s recommendees, to several Cabinet posts, "turned out very well."

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today said some of the sophisticated equipment used by the United States soldiers in the Balikatan 02-1 in Basilan will be left behind when the current military exercise ends in July 31.

In an informal luncheon meeting with the members of the Malacaņang Press Corps, the President said she told the US government to make sure that some of the night-flying equipment will be left behind for the use of the Philippine military.

"That’s very, very valuable to us," the President told reporters.

She explained that the equipment to be left behind by the US soldiers will be part of the $10-million military assistance that US President George W. Bush recently announced.

The President recalled that in the year 1999-2000, the total amount of US military assistance to the Philippines was only about $1.9 million.

At the same time, she announced that the Basilan airport will be inaugurated at the expiration of the current Balikatan exercise on July 31.

During the luncheon meeting, the President said the construction of the circumferential road in Basilan is a US contribution and not part of the $10-million military assistance.

"I told them to make sure to build that circumferential road," she said.

Also on the Balikatan, the President stressed that the Sulu component in the next joint military exercise is an idea from the United States side.

She said there is nothing firm on the details of the Sulu component until they present to her the curriculum on the next Balikatan exercises.

The Mindanao Economic Development Council (MEDCo) and the Bureau of Immigration (BI) are jointly holding the First BIMP-EAGA (Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines-East ASEAN) Customs, Immigration, Quarantine and Security (CIQS) Conference today and tomorrow at the Marco Polo Hotel in Davao City.

MEDCo chairman Jesus Dureza said the two- day conference is in line with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s policy of revitalizing the BIMP-EAGA.

He said a total of 80 foreign delegates have confirmed their participation in the conference.

The conference aims to provide a venue for the discussion of CIQS-related issues and concerns to harmonize and streamline CIQS rules, regulations, and procedures to facilitate freer movement of people, goods and services within the sub-region.

Dureza also said that the gathering hopes to draw common action agenda on CIQS in collaboration with private sector leaders and representatives, to promote trade, investments and tourism initiatives within EAGA.

"The conference expects to gather a total of 250 participants composed of officials from CIQS agencies as well as heads and representatives of various private sector organizations from all over BIMP-EAGA," he said.

MEDCo is the Philippine Coordinating Office of BIMP-EAGA.