A 104-page report the House of Representatives Committee on Oversight published last July 5 was "positive" on the government’s performance in accomplishing the commitments made by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in her July 2001 State of the Nation Address (SONA).

This Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight, stressed to clarify media accounts that the report gave or suggested a negative overall rating for the administration.

Salceda said committee findings showed "the Arroyo administration’s SONA accomplishment record, has been, on the whole, positive, contrary to some media accounts."

In a press statement, he said the committee "noted ‘technical or substantial compliance’ with 22 targets, while only 13 were underperforming, based on preliminary data" on the 35 SONA targets.

But more recent information from the Presidential Management Staff (PMS) noted that "several targets that seemed to be behind will now be achieved," he added.

The targets included the distribution of 100,000 hectares of public land, construction of classrooms in villages not served by nearby schools, distribution of textbooks in key subjects for Grades 1 to 4 and Years 1 to 2, emergency hiring of out-of-school youth, and the release of the P500-million Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) fund.

Salceda said the House committee "will continue to monitor the government’s compliance with the SONA targets."

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today congratulated the Philippine National Police (PNP) for the early resolution of the kidnapping of the principal of the Labasan Elementary School in Bongabong, Oriental Mindoro.

The President also commended the unwavering support of Bongabong Mayor Alex Enriquez and Vice Mayor Hercules Umali in the successful PNP operations against the kidnappers.

The five principal suspects in the kidnapping were presented to the President during the Order of Battle Workshop at Camp Crame.

The President called the feat another "buena mano" or first for newly- designated PNP chief Deputy Director General Hermogenes Ebdane, Jr. Just the other day, the President congratulated Ebdane for another "buena mano," the arrest of alleged terrorist bomb supplier Hussain Ramos.

The five kidnapping-for-ransom gang members were arrested by joint elements of the PNP intelligence group and Police Regional Office 4 through the active cooperation and assistance of local officials of Bongabong, led by Mayor Enriquez and Vice Mayor Umali.

The President likewise commended the officers and men of the PNP Intelligence Group and the Police Regional Office 4 for painstakingly following up several leads that led in the arrest of the five suspects.

The five suspects – Pepito Manago Iglecerio, Rico Mendoza Iglecerio, Rolando Soriano Labay, Redentor Bagaporo Paquita, and Sulpicio Murada Fajutag, were arrested on July 6 and 7 in the towns of Pinamalayan, Bansud and Bongabong, Oriental Mindoro.

According to Ebdane, the suspects were positively identified by witnesses as the ones who abducted Romeo Bayanay, principal of the Labasan Elementary School, on July 1 at Barangay Labasan, Bogabong.

The principal was released on July 4 after his family paid P1 million as ransom.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo approved today the creation of a new anti-kidnapping task force in the Philippine National Police (PNP) recommended during the one-day Order of Battle Workshop the PNP conducted at Camp Crame.

The President said the members of the new police task force, dubbed as the Police Anti-Crime Emergency Response (PACER), are those considered "magagaling sa dati" (better members of the former anti-kidnapping task force).

The President said PACER would go after kidnapping, drugs, and holdup and robbery syndicates.

The Order of Battle workshop, the President said, has already identified who the most active kidnap-for-ransom (KFR) syndicates are, where they are operating, and their probable headquarters and safe houses.

Of the 21 KFR syndicates, three are very active.

The President suggested that the operation against the KFR groups should be "military style."

"Neutralize the kidnapping syndicates, so that there will be no more kidnapping crimes in the future," the President said.

The specific plans on how to accelerate manhunts, the next step after identifying the kidnappers, would be presented to the President tomorrow, July 12, by PNP Chief Deputy Director General Hermogenes Ebdane, Jr.

"Huwag kayong mawalan ng pag-asa dahil itong gobyerno ninyo ay tinutupad ang sinasabi (Don’t lose hope; this administration will do its job and deliver on what it says)."

This was the assurance made today by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo during the launching of the United Laboratories’ RiteMED Philippines at Watsons Drugstore in SM Megamall, Mandaluyong City.

The President said the launching of pharmaceutical industries like RiteMED Philippines, Inc. exemplified the administration’s commitment to improve the health and welfare of the Filipinos, particularly the poor.

The President recalled that during her State of the Nation Address (SONA) in July last year, she pledged that her administration would bring down the price of medicines by half.

"Ito ay natutupad na sa mga botika ng government hospital dahil sa pagsisikap ni Mar Roxas na unang nag-pioneer niyan dahil sa DTI ginawa ito para sa probinsiya niya sa Capiz (Pharmacies in government hospitals now sell medicines at lower prices because of the efforts of Secretary Manuel Roxas II of the Department of Trade and Industry who initiated the move in his home province of Capiz)," she said.

A monitoring report of the Presidential Management Staff, headed in a concurrent capacity by Acting Press Secretary Silvestre Afable, Jr., said that as of July 6, at least 72 Department of Health (DOH)-retained hospitals were dispensing more brands of medicines at cheaper prices.

Some P22.4 million worth of medicines would be delivered to 61 local government unit hospitals by the 3^rd quarter of 2002. Herbal and selected over-the-counter drugs are also being sold in 990 rolling stores and 2,500 Botika sa Barangay (village drug stores) nationwide.

The President congratulated United Laboratories (Unilab) for the successful launching of RiteMED Philippines, which is in line with her administration’s vision to make health requirements such as medicines accessible to most Filipinos, especially the poor, at cheaper cost.

The President said that with RiteMED, even shoppers in malls and those who go to their private doctors can now avail themselves of medicines at half the price.

RiteMED Philippines, Inc. is a new pharmaceutical company specializing in high quality yet economical off-patent drugs.

In his remarks, Joselito Campos, Jr., chairman and chief executive officer of Unilab, expressed his profound thanks to the President for her presence in the launching rites of their new affiliate company, RiteMED Philippines.

"This new company will market nationwide affordable medicines of the highest quality," he told the President.

"We have spared nothing to ensure that RiteMED get the widest coverage and the strongest presence to reach as many end-users as possible," Campos said, adding that his company has assembled a portfolio of medicines that answers the most pressing health needs of our countrymen.

While RiteMED is a permanent commitment, Campos said, it is also a grand project that is made feasible primarily because of the vision and leadership of the Macapagal-Arroyo government.

"Our plan is to build on what we have right now by putting on stream off-patent drugs as quickly as possible to increase the people’s health benefits further," he said.

After her speech, the President, Health Secretary Manuel Dayrit, Secretary Roxas and RiteMED officials witnessed the dispensation of RiteMED medicines to the first lucky customer.

"So the President was saying that if you cannot stick to the policy or if you cannot support the policy, you really have no business being in the government," Afable said.