President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today distributed livelihood assistance, certificates of awards, PhilHealth cards as well as certificates of scholarship and other government assistance to qualified indigent beneficiaries of the various programs and projects of the Macapagal-Arroyo administration in various parts of Metro Manila.

The Chief Executive, assisted by Social Welfare and Development Secretary Corazon Juliano-Soliman, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Chairman Bayani Fernando, and Manila City Mayor Lito Atienza, personally handed out the different forms of government assistance during ceremonies held this morning at the Quirino Grandstand at the Luneta.

From the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), the President distributed loan checks for P100,000 each to the following recipients under the livelihood program of the Overseas Filipino Workers: Renerio Sarusal, Daniel Layno, and Giovanni Solidum.

She also awarded certificates of scholarship from KALAHI (Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan) areas around the National Capital Region under the Petron Tulong-Aral Project (or the Petron Send-A-Child to School Program) to 1,000 Elementary School students as follows:

Caloocan 132, Las Pinas 129, Malabon City 35, Mandaluyong City 95, Manila 166, Navotas 29, Pasay City 37, Paranaque 48, Pateros 93, Quezon City 118, Taguig 51, and Valenzuela 67.

The Petron Tulong-Aral Project is aimed at sending 1,000 children to public elementary schools every year in support of the poverty alleviation program of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. It offers educational scholarship to school children which includes uniforms, books, school supplies, school projects and daily meal allowance. Its beneficiaries are children belonging to KALAHI areas.

The President likewise distributed the following from the National Housing Authority:

• certificates of award to 48 Kapitbahayan Project Awardees from leasehold of 25 years to ownership (recipient: 48 Kapitbahayan leases from Navotas);

• certificates of award for Mandaluyong Medium-Rise Housing Project Awardees (awardees: local government unit employees and bonafide residents of mandaluyong City);

• certificates of award for 129 resettlement affected by the CAMANAVA (Caloocan-Malabon-Navotas-Valenzuela) Flood Control Project to halfway houses located in Vitas, Tondo, Manila;

• certificate of award for Kasiglahan Village (awardees: relocatees from Pasig River and along Makati area);

• certificates of award to the awardees of TBC Medium Rise Housing Project (awardees: formal beneficiaries from Quezon City)

• titles to various beneficiaries of Pasay, Paranaque and Las Pinas Slum Upgrading Project; and

• titles to various beneficiaries of the Bagong Silang Resettlement Project in Bagong Silang, Caloocan.

From the National Home Mortgage Finance Corporation, the President presented the take-out payment check to the landowners of the following Community Mortgage Program: Resurreccion Ville Homeowners Association Inc. (landowner: Ligaya Bigalang-Awa); and Presidential Pigeon Homewoners Association Inc. (landowner: Cresencia Masiclat Lansang).

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today said the most effective and most successful program of her 18-month-old administration is the enrollment of some 4.5-million urban poor beneficiaries under the PhilHealth insurance, exceeding the original target of 500,000 she set during her first State of the Nation Address last year.

In brief remarks after presenting various forms of government assistance to the urban poor of Metropolitan Manila during ceremonies held at the Quirino Grandstand at the Luneta, the President said that not only were the targets she set in her first SONA met. Some of them, including the Philhealth insurance for the urban poor, were even exceeded, she said.

"Ang pinakamabisa, pinaka-successful na programa para sa mga mahihirap ay walang iba kung hindi iyong ating health insurance para sa mahihirap (The most effective, and most successful program of our government for the poor is none other than our health insurance)," she said.

The President recalled that in her first SONA, she had said that the most difficult situation that poor Filipinos will encounter in their lives is when they get sick -- due to the high price of medicines, high doctor fees, and high hospitalization costs.

She noted that as far as the affluent, the well-off and even employees and workers are concerned, they have no problems when they get sick because their medical bills are shouldered by their respective private insurance companies.

What concerns her most, the President said, are those who are unemployed, the self-employed and the urban poor themselves.

It was for this reason, she said, why she pledged to give health insurance cards to 500,000 deserving indigent members of society during her first SONA last year.

After a year, the President said, the administration, instead of providing health cards to the targeted 500,000, was able to enroll a total of 4.5 million indigent residents in the urban areas all over the country.

The President underscored the advantages of having health insurance cards.

For instance, when a health insurance card holder or any member of the family gets sick, all he or she has to do is go to a government hospital and present the said card.

"Libre lahat. Libre ang doctor, libre ang operasyon at pati gamut ay libre basta’t dala ng parmasya ng hospital. Kaya wala na kayong babayaran basta’t national government hospital ang pupuntahan (Everything is free. The doctor’s fee, the cost of any operation, even the medicines in the government hospital pharmacy are free. You don’t have to pay for anything if you go to a national government hospital)," she explained.

The President said that health cards can also be used in private hospitals. For tertiary hospitals, the government will contribute at least P16,000 while for secondary hospitals, only P11,000 will be contributed by the government to a health card holder.

Malacanang today said that contrary to the fears expressed by some sectors, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo would not resort to extra-constitutional means in waging a total war against all forms of criminality and corruption in order to build a strong Republic.

In his regular press briefing this afternoon, Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said definitely there will be no return to the dictatorship of the Marcos era.

Bunye said that if one would look closely at the President’s second State of the Nation Address (SONA), she emphasized that in the total war against criminality and terrorism she will use "all the weapons in our democratic arsenal."

"In other words, the action that will be taken by the strong Republic will all be within the democratic framework," Bunye said.

In her SONA, the President declared that wiping out all forms of terrorism and criminality would lay the foundation of a "strong Republic."

"I am determined to build a strong Republic by breaking the back of terrorism and criminality," the President said.

Bunye also said the President would leave it to the two houses of Congress to decide on which anti-terrorism bill would be adopted.

A cooperative in Northern Luzon has expressed gratitude to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for the administration’s programs to "win the war against poverty."

In a letter to the President, the Claveria Agri-based Multi-Purpose Cooperative, Inc. based in Claveria, Cagayan thanked the President for initiatives of the government to win the war against poverty within the decade.

Cooperative General Manager Petra Martinez said that their cooperative has been proud in making significant progress in alleviating the plight of the poor because of the close cooperation between them and other local and national agencies, particularly with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

Martinez said the initiatives of the department, including the issuance of land patents, delineation of municipal waters (through Department Administrative Order (DAO) 17 and the community livelihood assistance programs, were vital instruments in the administration’s war against poverty.

"The land patents allow the small-scale farmers, entrepreneurs and other beneficiaries to peacefully develop their land and use the same instrument as collateral to borrow much needed capital from cooperatives or other banking institutions to increase their scale of production," Martinez said.

Martinez further said the cooperative acknowledges the government efforts to actively disseminate to the people the importance of conserving and guarding our coastal and marine resources so "that we continue to have environment-friendly and sustainable livelihood."

Department Administrative Order 17 likewise prohibits commercial fishing within 15 kilometers from the shoreline, increasing fish yield and lowering the cost of the "poor man’s" protein source.

The membership of the Claveria Agri-based Multi-Purpose Cooperative, Inc. has increased from an original 450 in 1987 to 10, 000, covering three municipalities in Cagayan.

Its capital started with less than P500,000 and, as of December 2001, has increased to P212 million in assets.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was elated by the positive reactions to her second State of the Nation Address (SONA), especially those coming from the business community, Malacaņang said today.

In his regular press briefing this afternoon, Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said that based on the comments aired in broadcast outlets and published in newspapers, more people reacted positively to the President’s SONA.

"If you are the one delivering the speech, you would certainly be elated, especially if you are interrupted 77 times in the course of 55 minutes," Bunye said.

But Bunye also acknowledged that some sectors, especially those from the political opposition, have criticized the President’s speech.

The President, according to Bunye, expected to hear negative comments from these groups.

"But the President is more comforted by the fact that there are more people who approved of the SONA," Bunye said.

On a related topic, Bunye took exception to the comments of opposition Sen. Edgardo Angara that the administration is engaged in a "politics of piracy" when Sen. Robert Jaworski switched over to the administration side.

Bunye said Senator Angara did not raise the issue of piracy when then administration Sen. John Osmena moved over to the opposition, thus triggering an impasse in the Senate.

A day after delivering her State of the Nation Address (SONA), President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo conferred with 13 heads of Philippine missions abroad to apprise them on how they could aid in accomplishing the aspirations in her second SONA.

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said the 45-minute teleconference, held at the State Dining Room in Malacaņang, touched on, among other things, how to further attract Chinese tourists and how to work out the trade irritants of Philippine products such as with Australia and other countries.

Bunye said that while the government is prepared to waive the processing of visas to Chinese tourists, "we’ll have to work out a way by which only the bonafide tourists come in."

He noted the President’s observation that more and more Chinese nationals figure in the drug trade.

Bunye said the President also encouraged the Philippine ambassadors to take advantage of the available technology such as the Philippine government web sites "so that they can explain to their respective host countries the various policies of the government, as well as our interpretation of ongoing events."

The envoys who took part in the teleconference were Ambassadors Josue Villa (Beijing, China), Willy Gaa (Canberra, Australia), Rafael Seguis (Jakarta, Indonesia), Ernesto Llamas Jr. (Singapore), Domingo Siazon Jr. (Tokyo, Japan), Clemencio Montessa (Brussels, Belgium), Joseph Bernardo (Madrid, Spain), Hector Villaroel (Paris, France), Albert del Rosario (Washington, United States), Justo Orros (Mexico, Mexico), Bahnarim Guinomla (Riyadh, Saudia Arabia), Samuel Ramel (Geneva, Switzerland) and Edsel Custodio (World Trade Organization).

Bunye said the President also issued orders to Ambassador Gaa to work out the trade irritants with the Australian government "as far as our products are concerned," referring to the entry problems experienced by Philippine mangoes.

In the case of United States, the President wanted the Philippines to supply a bigger share of the canned tuna market, Bunye said.

Bunye added that the President also gave notice to the envoys of the government efforts in passing the absentee voting bill, on the continuous efforts for the welfare of overseas Filipinos, global terrorism, developments in the Organization of the Islamic Conference, ASEAN-Europe Meeting (ASEAM), and APEC.

Bunye noted that the President received a report from Ambassador Siazon that the Japan External Trade Organization will be coming out with a positive report on the Philippine economy.