President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today expressed belief that the return of administrative control over the police to Metro Manila mayors is an effective way of stabilizing the peace and order situation in the metropolis.

In a live interview this morning with the Magandang Umaga Bayan segment of Channel 2’s Alas Singko y Medya, the President pointed out that the restoration will be experimental and limited to Metro Manila only.

The President said the move is in response to the complaint of Metro Manila mayors that they have not been able to contain illegal "jueteng" in their respective municipalities "because the police are not reporting to us (mayors)."

"The appeal of the Metro Manila mayors was to restore to them administrative supervision over the police to give them the opportunity to solve the peace and order problem," the President said.

The President also pointed out that issues such as peace and order, is part of the "state of the regional visits."

She said that these were the important issues discussed at the joint meeting of the Regional Development Council and the Regional Peace and Order Council of Metro Manila that need to be addressed.

The President said that Deputy Director Geneneral Hermogenes Ebdane, Jr., the new PNP chief, has no objection in principle to restoring administrative control over the police to Metro Manila mayors.

Ebdane, the President said, asked for two weeks to draft an Executive Order in coordination with Metro Manila mayors giving them limited administrative control over the police.

The Department of Energy today said 85 percent of all barangays nationwide now have electricity as a result of the intensified government program to promote rural development through electrification.

Energy Secretary Vicente Perez, Jr. said the electrification program is designed to encourage more economic activity in rural areas and create more jobs for Filipinos, which is a basic component of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s agenda to win the war against poverty within the decade.

Perez told a briefing for a media on the SONA 2001 Accomplishments at Malacaņang’s Heroes Hall that the energy department exceeded by four percent the target set the President Macapagal-Arroyo for the total number of barangays to be provided electricity.

From the time the President set the target during her SONA last year, a total of 1,513 barangays have been connected to electricity service. This leaves 6,536 barangays that remain to be provided electricity, he said.

It can be recalled that in her first SONA in July last year, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo unveiled the government’s national agenda to win the war against poverty within the decade. Part of the national agenda to fight poverty as mentioned by the President is a balanced economic development that has a bias towards the poor and the disadvantaged

Since electricity is a vital component of economic development, the President vowed to provide electricity to four unenergized barangays everyday for one whole year.

Perez admitted that given the geographical and economic constraints, rural electrification has made snail-paced progress in the previous years.

However, he stressed that the President’s strong commitment to wage war against poverty has made it clear that "we can no longer take this for granted."

"Electricity is a key component in improving the lives of our people especially our less privileged countrymen," Perez declared.

He pointed out that through the accelerated O-Ilaw Electrification program, some 522 barangays were given electricity in Luzon while another 598 barangays were also lighted in the Visayas.

In the Mindanao region, Perez reported that about 393 barangays were likewise energized particularly in rural-infested areas. These are the following: Region I (20), Region II (119), Region III (30), Region IV (189), Region V (130), Region VI (176), Region VII (153), Region VIII (269), Region IX (71), Region X (71), Region XI (56), Region XII (65), Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao or ARMM (78), CARAGA Region (52), and Cordillera Administrative Region or CAR (34).

Perez also cited the economic policies and structural reforms being vigorously implemented by the Macapagal-Arroyo administration which, he said, "further strengthen efforts towards attaining complete electrification of all the barangays in the country."

He mentioned the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) giving the DOE the power to consolidate all efforts by government agencies such as the National Power Corporation, National Electrification Administration and the Philippine National Oil Company and the private sector in the rural electrification program.

Perez said that at present, the DOE is busy preparing the Missionary Electrification Development Plan (MEDP), which outlines the government’s program in reaching out to the countryside.

He added that the MEDP also outlines capital investment, operations and generating capacity additions in existing missionary areas as well as the needed facilities to be constructed in areas not yet connected to the transmission system.

Perez also noted that while Napocor assets will be sold, "it will remain as a government-owned and controlled corporation that will specifically carry out the missionary electrification program of the administration, providing electricity in the far-flung areas such as those in the mountains and in the small islands that cannot be reached by the main electricity grid."

He also said that electricity rates for residential end-users were immediately reduced by 30 centavos per kilowatt hour when EPIRA took effect in June last year.

To give immediate relief to power consumers, the President had earlier ordered Napocor in May this year to reduce its Purchased Power Cost Adjustment (PPCA) and pegged it at a uniform rate of P0.40 per kilowatt hour.

Perez said the President’s order has resulted to a national average reduction of P0.85 per kilowatt hour, representing about 20 percent in the consumer’s electricity bills starting this month of July.

He also said that the completion of the inter-agency committee review of the 35 Independent Power Producers (IPP) contracts of Napocor by end of June this year and the renegotiations of these contracts are expected to further reduce stranded costs in the near future.

According to Perez, the enactment of EPIRA also constituted new bodies that will carry out the reforms stated in the law.

The Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) today said that the government had already provided security of tenure to almost 338,858 families as of end-June this year, exceeding the State of the Nation Address (SONA) target of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo by 113 percent.

In his report during the breakfast forum on SONA accomplishments held at the Malacaņang’s Heroes Hall, HUDCC Chairman Mike Defensor said that the housing sector surpassed its target of providing 300,000 families with housing rights.

He said that the target of 300,000 is broken down as follows: 150,000 land tenure for the urban poor; 70,000 socialized housing for the poorest of the poor; and 80,000 low-cost housing for low-salaried workers both in the private and public sectors.

Defensor admitted that the provision of the security of tenure to 183,026 urban poor families was largely achieved through the asset reform program, which involves declaring idle government lands for housing purposes, along with the Community Mortgage Program (CMP) and the National Government Center (NGC) projects.

Defensor said that more than 80,000 poorest of the poor families have already benefited from the various socialized housing programs of the National Housing Authority and the Pag-IBIG fund such as slum upgrading, sites and services, land tenurial assistance program, community loan acquisition support program, grants in aid for housing, and housing material assistance.

He also said that 72,375 households representing 90 percent of the targeted 80,000 low-salaried workers have already availed of the home lending programs of Pag-IBIG fund, Government Service Insurance System, Social Security System and Development Bank of the Philippines.

He added that another SONA related accomplishment of the housing sector includes the publication and implementation of reduction of signatures needed for the processing of housing permits is already in place and Executive Order 45 – the law that waged the "mother-of-all wars" against red tape in housing.

The EO 45 prescribes simplified requirements, procedures and timetables for issuance of housing related and imposes sanctions to agencies found not complying with it.

The Department of Agriculture, Department of Agrarian Reform, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Department of the Interior and Local Government and the HLURB involved now in the issuance of housing permits, have all come out with their respective complying orders to EO 45.

In another related accomplishment, Defensor said that the HLURB issued 2,819 Licenses to Sell for government and private sector with regards on the housing projects and this translates to 156,252 housing units while the NGC extended P17,798.68 million in guaranty equivalent to 42,879 housing units.

Defensor expressed optimism that the housing sector will continue to be bullish as may be gleaned from the licenses to sell issued by the HLURB, and indication of the housing units made available to the public.

Budget Secretary Emilia Boncodin today stressed that the government remains committed to carry out President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s national agenda of raising the moral standards in the bureaucracy and society in order to push socio-economic growth.

In a breakfast forum, Boncodin cited the implementation of electronic (E)-procurement, a major program on good governance.

She said all state departments have been linked to e-procurement, resulting in a system that would rid the bureaucracy of avenues for corrupt practices in the purchase of products for public use.

Also connected to e-procurement were 57 percent of sub-department offices, 91 percent of government owned and controlled corporations (GOCC) and 72 percent of state universities and colleges, she added.

Boncodin also cited moves to make the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Bureau of Customs (BoC) as showcases in the fight against corruption.

The BIR has filed administrative charges against erring personnel while reducing processing time on public documents.

The BoC, on the other hand, has bought an X-ray containing machine while automating its various procedures and systems.

The budget secretary disclosed that the state has continued to facilitate the fair and speedy trial of plunder cases against former President Joseph Estrada.

A Social Weather Station survey published in March showed that the Sandiganbayan has proceeded with fairness on the trial and that the Macapagal-Arroyo administration had been treating the former president fairly, she noted.

Boncodin said anti-red tape projects are also being undertaken in local government units. Different agencies have also brought down to the minimum the processing time for documents.

In high levels, the President has streamlined the executive department and had abolished 90 locally funded projects and task forces under Executive Order 72.

"We have also rationalized the compensation package of GOCC’s and government financing institutions (GFIs) that are exempted from the salary standardization law," she said.

"We are also involved in various governance related activities, essentially working with civil society to curb graft and corruption and uphold the rule of transparency in the government," she added.

Boncodin said the President is expected to sign soon an administrative order on corporate responsibilities of presidential appointees to the board of GOCCs and GFIs.

The Presidential Committee on Effective Governance has been reviewing the practice of gift-giving to public officials and agencies. She said civil society has been helping in the formulation of good governance policies.

Quoting President Macapagal-Arroyo, Boncodin said: "We will introduce a new culture in governance, a culture of plain talk and common sense."

She said Cabinet secretaries would do less cluster and inter-agency committee work so that they could concentrate on running their departments; less meetings, more action; more tangible results so that we can improve peace and order and fight graft.

When President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo delivers her second State of the Nation Address (SONA) on July 22, she will be specific and more focused on effecting solutions to the country’s major problems, particularly peace and order.

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye, in a radio interview this morning, said the President would give due attention to peace and order concerns to further gain the confidence of foreign investors to put their money in labor-intensive but competitive industries in the country.

"Kung walang peace and order ay hindi magkakaroon ng confidence ang ating mga investors. Kung walang confidence ang ating mga investors ay hindi tayo magkakaroon ng mga bagong negosyo (Without peace and order, investors tend to shy away from the country. Without investor confidence, we will not be able to have new businesses)," he said.

Bunye said new businesses would create new jobs. Subsequently, it would open economic opportunities for the people. They would have the money to buy their basic needs.

Another topic the President would tackle in her second SONA would be the power problem, he said.

The President would spell out measures that would be undertaken by her more than 18-month old administration to lower electricity and power rates, he added.

On May 8 this year, the President has ordered the National Power Corporation to reduce its Purchased Power Cost Adjustment by P0.40 per kilowatthour.

The government, in cooperation with the private sector, has released some P23.235 million for the relief and rehabilitation of families hard hit by typhoons and monsoon rains that lashed the country in the last two weeks.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), in an update this morning, said the amount was extended to flood victims through the combined resources of the DSWD, local government units (LGUs), non-government organizations (NGOs) and government organizations (GOs).

The National Disaster Coordinating Council and its provincial and municipal chapters coordinated the relief and rehabilitation efforts.

The DSWD said the government ably extended assistance to a total of 164,881 families or 768,804 individuals.

Of this number, 12,762 families or 59,024 persons were accommodated in 277 evacuation centers set up in Metro Manila and a number of provinces in Central and Southern Luzon.

With floods subsiding in most areas, only 73 evacuation centers have remained open to help typhoon and flood victims. At least 204 have been closed.

The 73 evacuation centers, located in Regions 1 and 3, have continued to serve 2,674 families or 12,795 individuals.

However, some 80,890 families or 397,729 persons are being served outside evacuation centers.

Since the start of the heavy rains and flooding, the number of affected families totaled 440,616 or 2,059,876 individuals. Most of the victims came from 2,194 barangays in 16 provinces.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo earlier ordered the Department of Budget and Management to release an initial P300 million for relief and rehabilitation efforts in calamity-stricken areas in Metro Manila and some parts of Luzon.