President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today vowed to further reduce the cost of electricity as she stressed that cheaper power would result in a more competitive economy and thus attract both local and foreign investments.

In her second State of the Nation Address (SONA) delivered this afternoon before a joint session of Congress, the President said she was elated to learn that electricity bills of consumers for the month of July have gone down because of the reduced purchased power adjustment (PPA) that she has ordered the National Power Corporation (Napocor) to implement.

She said that when she first became president, the Philippines had the second most expensive power rate in Asia but now we have gone down to number 6.

According to the President, this was the result of the comprehensive 10-point program that her administration has put in place to reduce power costs.

The President said that after studying the results of the review on the contracts of independent power producers (IPP), some concrete moves would be undertaken by the government to further ease the burden of our people.

She said that soon the Philippines will have the first-ever wholesale electricity spot market in Asia but without the pitfalls of the spot market in California.

Through this scheme, the consumers, especially the larger ones, will be able to choose their electricity suppliers.

The President also called on the Napocor and the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) to stop bickering and instead work together to give price incentives to large users so that excess power can be utilized.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today called on the two houses of Congress to immediately pass the anti-terrorism bill and other measures aimed at spurring the economy and empowering Filipinos working or residing abroad.

In her second State of the Nation Address (SONA) delivered this afternoon before a joint session of Congress at the Batasan Pambansa, the President said the anti-terrorism bill would strengthen the country’s legal armory in the war against terrorism.

She said that if passed into law, the anti-terrorism bill would plug the loopholes by which crimes spread and democracy is undermined under the protection of the laws.

The President said that she would hold more meetings with the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) to push for more social, economic and political reforms.

She specifically cited the need for a law that would make farmlands acceptable as loan collaterals to remove a big deterrent to investments in agriculture.

Other measures that the President asked the House of Representatives and the Senate to pass include the following:

• Special Purpose Vehicle Act to encourage asset management companies to put back into productive circulation assets now tied up in problematic loans;

• Absentee voting to give overseas Filipino workers the right to vote, consistent with the provisions of the Constitution, but with all the safeguards;

• Dual citizenship to give Filipinos abroad equal respect and recognition, consistent with our national honor; and

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today vowed to take "a direct hand in the war against the enemies of the Republic."

"This is how I did it with the Abu Sayyaf … This is how I will do it with the criminal gangs," the President said, as she resolved "to build a strong Republic by breaking the back of terrorism and criminality."

In her second State of the Nation (SONA) Address before the joint session of Congress at the Batasang Pambansa in Quezon City, the President outlined the state’s sterling performance in assuring peace and security in the homeland.

She cited the gallant soldiers who rescued American missionary Gracia Burnham from the hands of the notorious kidnap-for-ransom (KFR) band and terrorist Abu Sayyaf and who killed Abu Sayyaf spokesman Aldam Tilao a.k.a. Abu Sabaya in a sea encounter last June.

This year, Camp Abubakar, the main lair and training site of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), had been transformed into an "authentic community of new hopes and dreams" where the Philippine tricolor flies and where Filipino soldiers protect conflict-affected civilians who have returned to their homes.

Just recently, the President and United States Ambassador Francis Ricciardone visited Camp Abubakar, which she renamed Camp Datu Duma Sinsuat, to launch the Iranun Development Project for the people in the 10,000-hectare former rebel camp that borders the towns of Barira, Buldon and Matanog, all in Maguindanao.

The President, in her speech, saluted the men and women of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) who continued to be "at the forefront of our Republic’s efforts to fight terror and enforce peace."

Last Sunday, "we captured the mastermind of the General Santos bombings that killed and maimed 80 persons a few months ago," she disclosed. The captured terrorist is considered as a top bomber.

She also noted ongoing efforts, "energized by the invaluable initiative of Speaker Jose de Venecia," to seal a peace pact with the MILF, as well as to continue the road to peace signed by the Philippine government and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in 1996.

Going farther, she said the government had "gained powerful allies (from around the world) in the domestic war against terrorism, because of its decisive action after September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the US.

"The President of the Philippines was the first head of government to emphasize the interconnection between the war against terrorism and the war against poverty. Nations, large and small, now embrace this interconnection," she said.

"We shall enhance our strategic relationship with the US through continuing training exercises to sharpen the Filipino soldiers’ capability to move and communicate to fix and finish off their targets," she added.

The no-nonsense, all-out war against criminal syndicates, which remained direct threats to national security, had also gained ground with all the weapons of the country’s democratic arsenal brought to bear on them.

She had ordered the AFP and the PNP to treat criminal syndicates "as what they are, direct threats to national security," and wage a no-compromise war against these social menaces.

"Within a month, we shall organize the New Dangerous Drugs Board and the Philippines Drug Enforcement Agency which Congress has just created," the she said.

With the drug menace elevated to the level of a national security problem, the President further ordered the AFP "to field military resources for intelligence and to field soldiers in drug raids in support of civilian law enforcement."

She called on the newly elected barangay officials "to take an active role in this war, to be the frontliners in this fight in your communities."

"Criminals are criminals, whether of the common kind or the kind that kill in the name of political advocacies. They will feel the full brunt of the arsenal of democracy. Freedom, too, is entitled to self-defense," she said.

"I have given very clear orders to spare nothing in hunting down kidnappers," she added.

The Chief Executive said major KFR groups have been neutralized, with police and military operations claiming 170 kidnappers, either killed in various encounters or arrested.

But she pointed out that she wanted smashed the 21 remaining KFR syndicates, to include the two biggest – the Bucala and Fajardo groups.

She earlier dared the PNP to eliminate kidnappings within a year, a challenge that PNP Chief Deputy Director General Hermogenes Ebdane, Jr. readily accepted.

Just last Saturday, the newly-created PNP Police Anti-Crime Emergency Response (PACER) unit killed three members of the Villaver KFR group, a sub-group of the Fajardo KFR gang in an encounter in Marilao, Bulacan.

Last Sunday, Ebdane presented to the President in Malacaņang another three Fajardo group members tagged as suspects in a string of kidnapping and robbery-holdup cases in Bulacan.

More than anything else, the President urged the PNP "to start with the cleansing of their own ranks" of rascals who disgrace the uniform.

But she stressed that there were more heroes than rascals within the PNP – heroes who "scorned to be bribed" and seized almost P5 billion worth of illegal drugs and equipment in various raids in the provinces of Quezon, Batangas and Zambales, among others.

This included last Friday’s raid on a drug laboratory in Quezon City that netted for the PNP shabu and drug paraphernalia worth some P118 million

"We cannot afford to lose (in the war against terror and criminality). Even a stalemate will be a defeat. For what is at stake is our country as a viable proposition in the world economy. And we must be viable if we are to win the most fundamental war, the war against poverty," The President pointed out.

President Gloria Macapagal- Arroyo today spelled out the tangible results of her administration particularly in the delivery of basic services to the Filipino people which she enunciated in her first State of the Nation Address (SONA) in July 2001.

In her second SONA delivered this afternoon before the joint session of Congress at the Batasan Pambansa in Quezon City, the Chief Executive said that her administration has exceeded the desired targets despite the turbulent state of domestic and global affairs.

For example, the President said a total of 250,000 hectares of land have been distributed by the government compared to the administration’s target of a 200,000 hectares for land reform.

The President also said that with the P20 billion earmarked for the country’s agricultural modernization, a total of P24 billion was spent for the project by her administration.

On her promise to provide security of land tenure to 150,000 urban families nationwide, the President said that a total of 180,000 urban poor households were provided with shelter security.

At the same time, she declared that a total of 150,000 housing units were provided for workers and the very poor.

She noted that some 1,500 rolling stores have been deployed to sell rice at P14 per kilo and other basic commodities from the 1,000 rolling stores she promised for deployment.

The President likewise stressed that cheap medicines not only for the poor but for all the citizenry are now available in all the pharmacy of government hospitals as well as in all outlets of the United Laboratories or Unilab.

She expressed sadness over the fact that except for Unilab, the wider distribution network of commercial drug stores – under pressure from the multinational drug companies – will not sell cheaper medicines.

The President stressed that her administration is in the process of studying punitive measures to correct this unfair, unjust, and heartless situation being inflicted by other commercial drug stores to the Filipino people particularly the poor.

On health insurance, the President said that a total of 4 million urban poor families have been enrolled or insured under the National Health Insurance Program or NHIP.

The President also said that the first year target of a three-year program to construct 1,612 schoolbuildings in barangays unserved by nearby classrooms, was met – 555 school houses were completed or are due to be completed from the government side while 450 from the private sector.

Aside from this, the President also mentioned the 285 school buildings amounting to P100 million which was allocated by Senate President Franklin Drilon for the project.

The President said that for the past year, her administration was able to procure 54 million textbooks for all grade and year levels in five core subjects for 16 million public school students for the current school year.

On her promise to make mathematics a primary concern in all schools in the country, the President underscored the need to increase the number of hours for teaching mathematics.

On the need to increase the number of teachers in schools, the President said a total of 15,000 school teachers have been employed to teach.

On her target to provide emergency employment for 20,000 out-of-school-youth, the President said that a total of 30,000 OSYs have been provided jobs.

On the three poor children from Payatas, namely Jayson, Erwin, and Jomar, the President said they were given scholarships by her government their respective families were given livelihood assistance.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today said her administration is determined to win the war against drug trafficking as she announced that the drug menace is now a national security problem and not just a police matter.

In her second State of the Nation Address (SONA) delivered this afternoon before a joint session of Congress at the Batasan Pambansa, the President said there will be no compromise and no quarters given in the war with the drug trade.

"Drug lords will be treated as enemies of the state," the President said.

The President thus ordered the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to field military resources for intelligence and soldiers for operations in support of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and other civilian law enforcement agencies.

According to the President, this year alone the PNP was able to confiscate almost P5 billion worth of illegal drugs and laboratory equipment.

The President also lauded the members of the National Capital Regional Police Office-Metro Manila Drug Enforcement Group who recently raided a drug laboratory in Quezon City and seized some P118 million worth of high-grade shabu, chemicals and paraphernalia used in producing illegal drugs.

The police also arrested seven Chinese nationals and three Filipinos, said to be operating the laboratory, in a house at Loyola Heights, Quezon City.

The Chief Executive described the manufacture and trafficking of illegal drugs as a big social menace victimizing not only adults but also thousands of young Filipinos.

She said many homes have been broken and lives destroyed because of the use of and addiction to illegal drugs. Many families continue to live in fear over the threat of drug abuse by a family member.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today said her administration’s efforts to build a strong Republic have been difficult in the last 18 months since she was sworn in as the country’s Chief Executive.

"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 48-minute second State of the Nation Address (SONA) before the joint session of Congress this afternoon.

The President’s SONA was interrupted 75 times by applause from those who filled the halls of the Batasang Pambansa in Quezon City.

"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 Chief Executive noted the two essential features that 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," she said.

The two features would result in good policies and empowered institutions and would propel faster economic development and social reforms, she added.

"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.

The President recalled that during the past 18 months, "our efforts to build the strong Republic have been difficult, with both domestic and global conditions extremely harsh."

She said that at home, the poor were pitted against the rich to further inflame the nation’s social divisions. Abroad, the contracting economies of the country’s main trading partners were further aggravated by the tensions generated by the global war against terrorism.

Meanwhile, a shocking corporate scandal after another severely eroded public faith in the most promising system for conducting economic activity -- the free market.

The Chief Executive said these were the large long-term crises of social justice and the capitalist system itself, whose resolution awaited events well beyond one small nation’s ability to influence in the short term.

But she noted that the immediate crises have been resolved by the tangible results obtained in the delivery of government services, particularly to the country’s poor; the resolution of problems brought about by terrorism and criminality; and the successful efforts to bring down the cost of electricity nationwide.

"For a country to be as good as it can get, many of the right decisions are tough decisions. I have made some of the toughest. And I will make even more tough decisions in the year to come," she said.

"Because the easy way out may postpone the pain but will prolong the problem. But the tough decisions which are the right decisions, because they serve the people, are the source of our hope for the future," she added.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today said that big-time smugglers will now be charged not just with smuggling but with economic sabotage, a non-bailable capital offense.

In her second State of the Nation Address (SONA) delivered this afternoon before a joint session of Congress at the Batasan Pambansa, the President said she has instructed the Customs Commissioner not just to seize smuggled goods but to arrest big-time smugglers.

The President described tax evasion as a "white-collar crime" and the government’s response should also be white collar, like systems improvement, audit, and prosecution.

"But smuggling is something else. It is done by hoodlums and criminal gangs," the President said.

The President said that she will also invoke the rule of command responsibility in the campaign against rampant smuggling.

"You have seen political will in the harsh interpretation of command responsibility with regard to illegal gambling. That draconian application was a dress rehearsal for endorsing command responsibility in the even more difficult challenges of kidnapping, drug-dealing and smuggling," the President said, referring to the relief of seven ranking police officials found ineffective in the campaign against ‘jueteng’ in their areas of jurisdiction.

According to the President in the year 2000, despite all reports of rampant smuggling, only P16 million worth of smuggled goods were confiscated.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today proudly proclaimed that the "Philippines is back on the map," internationally.

"We are the third best performing economy in Asia and the best in Southeast Asia," the President said in her Second State of the Nation Address before the joint session of Congress at the Batasang Pambansa in Quezon City.

The speech was interrupted at least 75 times by applause.

She said: "As a result of our decisive action after (the) September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States), the Philippines is now a recognized player in world affairs."

She noted that "the President of the Philippines was the first head of government to emphasize the interconnection between the war against terrorism and the war against poverty. Nations large and small now embrace this interconnection."

"We have gained powerful allies in our domestic war against terrorism. I am certain that our increased international visibility will continue generating capital inflows for the Philippines," she said.

The President pointed out that it was imperative for the country to restore macroeconomic stability and win back investor confidence.

She said the "linchpin was to control our fiscal deficit. If EDSA 2 had not happened, the government would simply have gone bankrupt with a deficit of P245 billion."

"But we controlled it, brought it down to P147 billion and against all odds, turned our international credit rating from risky to stable.." she added.

"It was hard work, here and abroad, to rekindle global interest in our country, but we did it," she said.

She also took note of efforts to adopt strong administrative measures, including fighting smuggling and graft and corruption. These measures would "enable us to close the gap in our revenue targets."

Recent basic macroeconomic signs showed that things were under control. Inflation is at a low, driven down by stable food prices and by declining power costs.

"Nang ako ay naging Pangulo, ang presyo ng galunggong ay otsenta pesos ang kilo. Noong isang linggo, nakabili ako sa palengke ng sesenta pesos lamang. Ang presyo rin ng bigas na binibili ng mahihirap ay nananatiling P16 ang kilo sa palengke, gaya pa rin nang isang taon (When I became President, galunggong was P80 a kilo. Last week, I bought a kilo of galunggong at P70. The price of a kilo of rice remained at P16, similar to that of last year)," she said.

Interest rates are also at a low, and the peso is stable. From P56 to the dollar, the foreign exchange rate is a little over P50.

"Where we have fallen short of achieving what we intended, it has not been from misdirection or a lack of trying. After all, it has really been only one year and a half," the President said.

"In any event, I promise to work even harder if that is possible, and do even better because I believe that there is always room for improvement. I cannot grow taller but I can always get better," she added.

She disclosed that her working agenda for the coming year would focus on creating and improving job opportunities.

"Citizens with rewarding jobs paying decent wages constitute not just a stone in the edifice but the very foundation of a strong Republic," she stressed.

"We need investments to generate jobs. To draw in investments, we will address certain problems in the short term: katiwalian (corruption), peace and order, and the cost of power," she said.

"Now, we have gone down to 6th. This is first fruit of a comprehensive ten-point plan we have put in place to reduce power costs," she said.

With cheaper power would come a more competitive economy, and more investors, the President noted.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today earned commendations from various leaders of the country when she clearly spelled out in her

Second State of the Nation Address (SONA) the need to build a strong Republic as well as address two important issues – peace and order and power rates.

The President’s SONA was interrupted 75 times by applause from the jampack crowd at the session hall of the House of Representatives in Quezon City which included top government officials, members of the diplomatic corps and various representatives of the private sector.

In an interview with reporters, Senate President Franklin Drilon said the theme of building a strong Republic is good and will be most welcome to many sectors of the society.

Senate President Pro Tempore Manuel Villar said the President’s second SONA is far more specific than last year’s address, focusing more on the fight against criminality and the lowering of electricity rates.

"It’s a good challenge and I think we have a clearer picture of what we will have to do this time around," Villar said.

For his part, Sen.Renato Cayetano stressed that the President’s campaign against criminality can be achieved with the cooperation of all sectors, including both houses of Congress.

"I am very happy for that because I understand the problem of law and order that is the very foundation of the stability of the Republic," he said.

Cayetano said he is happy to hear the President’s SONA, saying that "it went beyond motherhood statements with so many details."

"It was not only a statement of principles but a statement of what should be done, specially in the area of peace and order, judicial reform and, of course, lowering of electricity rates," Cayetano said.

Meanwhile, Interior and Local Government Secretary Jose Lina, Jr. expressed confidence that the Philippine National Police (PNP) will be able to meet its one-year ultimatum to dismantle kidnap-for-ransom syndicates.

"We also learned from our experience last year and we have already identified the kidnap-for-ransom syndicates and their modus operandi," Lina said.

On the power rates issue, Energy Secretary Vicente S. Perez said he will immediately meet with the National Power Corporation (Napocor) and Meralco representatives in compliance to the President’s call for them to settle their differences and find ways to provide a program that would increase the power consumption and further reduce the price of electricity.