President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today went to the Commonwealth market in Quezon City to buy a kilo of fresh medium-sized galunggong at P60 a kilo.

The President went to the market to personally see for herself if the price of fresh galunggong, which she mentioned in State of the Nation Address (SONA) last Monday, is still selling at P60 a kilo. Her detractors say that one can buy the fish at P60 per kilo, but it is already bilasa (stale).

The President found out by going around the fish section of the market that indeed galunggong has an average price of P50 a kilo. Its smaller kind can be had at P40 a kilo and its medium and bigger size can be bought at P50 to P60.

The President stopped at one fish stand and bought a kilo of galunggong at P60. She even saw to it that the fish is fresh by inspecting its gills.

The President, who arrived at the market at around 9:10 this morning, went around the different sections of the market – fruit, fish and meat – and noted that their prices are stable.

The vendors replied that the prices are same as those of last week, when the President visited the Commonwealth Market at the height of the monsoon rains.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said today the Philippines’ contributions to the global campaign against terrorism continues to bear fruit as the Armed Forces chief of staff and Philippine National Police chief presented to her two suspects involved in the April 21, 2002 bombing at the Fitmart Mall in General Santos City.

"Our war against terrorism is pushing our targets up against the wall," the President said in a statement issued during the presentation in Malacañang of Abdulbasit Usman, the principal suspect, and Moamar Timbao Esmael, the identified bomb carrier in the General Santos bombing.

The two suspects were brought before the President by AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Roy Cimatu and the PNP Chief, Director General Hermogenes Ebdane, Jr.

The President added, however, that "the war (against terrorism) does not end with these two arrests."

While she congratulated "our men and women in uniform" for the "good work," the President exhorted the AFP and PNP officers and personnel involved in the nationwide campaign against terrorism: "I ask for more of what you have already accomplished."

The President said the General Santos terrorist bombers sought to "undermine our Republic, but we fought back."

She indicated that there will be no letup in the campaign against terrorism.

"No compromise, no quarter given…We will not be cowed, we will hunt them down and bring them to justice," the President said, reiterating her vow made during her second State of the Nation Address last Monday to take a "direct hand in the war against the enemies of the Republic."

The President said the united effort of the police and soldiers continues to deliver the much-needed security and peace that every Filipino looks for.

"We build our strong Republic every day with hard work and commitment to secure the peace," the President said.

The Philippines has one of the lowest lending rates in the Asian region, thus bolstering expectations of stronger domestic economic activity.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo last Monday cited the country’s interest rates that "are also at a low" during her second State of the Nation Address before the joint session of Congress at the Batasang Pambansa in Quezon City.

The President said this was one of the major factors that has put the Philippines back on the international map. "We are the third best performing economy is Asia and the best in Southeast Asia," she said.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) estimates as of July 15 showed that the country’s real lending rate, or lending rate adjusted for inflation, of 4.95 percent was the third lowest in a sample of 10 Asian countries.

This came after South Korea and Japan, which had real rates of 4.1 percent and 3.0 percent, respectively.

By contrast, the highest rates were recorded for Hong Kong at 8.2 percent and Taiwan at 7.8 percent, a result partly of negative inflation rates.

By country, the real lending rates are: Hong Kong, 8.23 percent; Taiwan, 7.84 percent; India, 6.80 percent; Thailand, 6.80 percent; Indonesia, 6.53 percent; Singapore, 5.70 percent; Malaysia, 4.98 percent; Philippines, 4.95 percent; South Korea, 4.10 percent and Japan, 3.00 percent.

The data reflected the current low-interest rate environment in the Philippines resulting from ample liquidity conditions following the substantial monetary easing undertaken by the BSP over the past year.

BSP Governor Rafael B. Buenaventura said this implied relatively lower cost of capital for business, which should augur well for economic activity in the near term.

Together with the benign outlook for inflation, the level of real interest rates is expected to continue and provide a supportive macroeconomic environment that would encourage stronger domestic consumption and investment activity over the coming months.

LUBAO, Pampanga --- Presidential son and Pampanga Vice Governor Juan Miguel "Mikey" Arroyo called on all registered voters of Pampanga and all members of the Sangguniang Kabataan to go out and vote on Sunday.

The young Arroyo made the calls as he hailed Commission on Elections Chairman Benjamin Abalos Sr. and the Comelec for setting the elections of barangay officials and SK officers in Pampanga on Sunday.

"We should all go out and vote whoever we want to vote as barangay of SK chairman or councilman on Sunday. This is our right and the right of every citizen in a democracy. We should exercise this right and exercise it judiciously," Arroyo said.

Arroyo said that the barangay and the SK are important cogs in the Philippine democracy, being the smallest political units of the country.

"The barangay is the best expression of people power because through the barangay, especially in elections like those on Sunday, we are free to support the officials who we think are doing good for the community and we are also free to boot out the bad eggs in our community," Arroyo said.

"We should learn and appreciate our duties and rights in the barangay democracy so we will have a better town, city, province and country," he added.

Arroyo, a graduate of the Ateneo de Manila University and the University of California in Berkeley, reminded the people in the barangays that "they get the barangay government that they deserve, so they should vote wisely in the barangay elections."

"Your decision on Sunday is a decision you will live with for several years and maybe in a lifetime. So let’s all vote wisely. Let’s make the elections peaceful, orderly and honest," Arroyo said.

The young Arroyo, his mother, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, and other members of the family will vote in their hometown of Lubao on Sunday.

The barangay elections in Pampanga and many parts of the country set last July 15 were postponed due to the heavy rains that flooded many towns of Pampanga and other provinces.

President Macapagal-Arroyo, assisted by Pampanga Gov. Manuel Lapid, Vice Gov. Arroyo and other national and provincial officials, distributed relief goods during the floods.

The President, at the same time, called for a review of the dike and flood control system in the province to avoid big floods in the future.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today said that under her administration, political ambassadors should constitute only one-third of all Filipino envoys assigned abroad and the rest would be come from the career service.

In her regular luncheon meeting with members of the Malacanang Press Corps held at Malacanang’s State Dining Room, the President said that her "self-imposed guideline" is in compliance with the provisions of the Foreign Service Act that her late father, President Diosdado Macapagal, had authored.

The President disclosed this foreign policy guideline when she pointed out that the replacement of Ambassador to Malaysia Jose Brillantes would come from the roster of career ambassadors at the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

"At least we are going to replace a political ambassador with a career ambassador," the President said.

Before joining the foreign service, Brillantes was an official of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), at one time even serving as acting DOLE secretary.

Brillantes served as labor attaché to Ottawa, Washington, D.C. and Bonn. He also became a DOLE undersecretary for employment promotion and manpower development from August l992 to May l995. He was also DOLE assistant secretary for regional operations and assistant secretary for legislative affairs from August 1991 to August l992.

The President, who is also the concurrent foreign secretary, explained that his appointment of Ambassador Brillantes as DFA undersecretary for overseas Filipinos was independent of her choice of a permanent foreign secretary.

The Chief Executive said she appointed Brillantes to the position because of the latter’s labor background and because he has been doing a very good job with the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Malaysia.

"He should be able to do that for the OFWs all over the world," the President said.

The President also said that she would like the DFA to work for the dignified treatment of OFWs while abroad and when they return home.

The Department of Finance (DoF) has been in a continuing discussions with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) on how to reconfigure the country’s fiscal incentives system to make the Philippines more competitive and attractive to foreign investments.

In a statement, the DoF said the objective in the review of the fiscal incentives system is to make the system clear and simple to administer, harmonious, time-bound, and performance-based.

The DoF said that at present, there are many tax incentives laws that extend diverse types of tax breaks, and a number of tax incentives administering agencies.

"Thus, streamlining of procedures, harmonizing the tax perks, and identifying promotable activities where the country has high comparative advantage are the objectives of the ongoing rationalization efforts," the DoF said.

The DoF also categorically denied that it was the source of news reports that said tax incentives cost the government about P187 billion in 2001.

Although tax incentives such as income tax holidays and import duty exemptions imply fiscal costs, the DoF said it recognizes the vital role of tax incentives to promote the country as an investment site.

For instance, the preferential tax treatment, one form of incentives offered at the country’s special economic zones, has contributed to the exports’ annual growth of 26.22 percent from 1996 to 2001, the DoF said.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today congratulated the Videogram Regulatory Board (VRB), the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Presidential Security Group (PSG) for their success in confiscating about 2 million pieces of pirated compact discs (CDs) in various parts of the country.

The President motored to Camp Crame at around 1:30 p.m. to witness the destruction of truckloads of video compact discs (VCDs) and digital video discs (DVDs) confiscated in a series of raids conducted by the combined government operatives.

In an interview with reporters, the President said the confiscation of the pirated CDs is part of the government effort to curb criminality and maintain law and order nationwide.

"The movie and recording industry has long been suffering because of this (piracy)," she said.

In a brief ceremony at the parade ground of Camp Crame, the truckloads of pirated CDs were crushed by three bulldozers in full view of the President and other government officials led by newly-installed VRB Chairman Ramon "Bong" Revilla, Jr.

In his speech during the ceremony, Revilla emphasized that the proliferation of pirated CDs has affected more than 200,000 workers from the film and music industry.

Since assuming office last July 1, Revilla, with the help of the men and women from the PNP-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and the PSG raided about 50 establishments suspected of peddling the hot items in Metro Manila and elsewhere in the country.

While forming a comprehensive program for preventive education and information dissemination against piracy, Revilla stressed that the operation against those peddling the illegal merchandise will continue.

"In the past two weeks alone, we have accumulated almost three million units of optical discs," he said.

On its first day of operation alone, the combined team of the VRB, PNP and the PSG has seized some 1.7 million pieces of CDs with an estimated street value of P85 million.

Among those who attended the ceremony were PNP chief Director General Hermogenes Ebdane, Jr., Philippine Association of Recording Industry (PARI) president Danny Olivarez, PNP-CIDG chief Director Nestorio Gualberto and PSG chief Brig. Gen. Hermogenes Esperon.

From Camp Crame, President Macapagal-Arroyo proceeded to the St. Luke’s Hospital in Quezon City where she visited the policemen who were wounded during the rally outside the Batasan Complex last Monday.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today lauded the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for the main launching the 2002 Human Development Report in the Philippines, saying it is a recognition of the Philippines’ emphasis on human development and the country’s pioneering adoption of the human development index as an official measure of the Filipino people’s welfare.

In her speech at the Global Launch of the 2002 Human Development Report this morning at Malacañang’s Ceremonial Hall, the Chief Executive cited the presence of Djibril Diallo, director for Communications Office of the Office of the UNDP Administrator in New York, who informed her that the global launch of the 2002 Human Development Report is being held simultaneously in 70 countries all over the world.

The President also recognized the attendance of UNDP Administrator Mark Malloch Brown and East Timor Foreign Minister Ramos Horta, the father of East Timor Independence, who have contributed much to the struggle for human freedom and democracy.

"Only in one country do we have the head of the UNDP presiding over the launching. This is the main launching of the Human Development Report in the Philippines," she said.

She told the UNDP officials and government officials attending the launching ceremonies of her administration’s efforts to build a strong Republic, which she enunciated in her second State of the Nation Address (SONA) last July 22 before the joint session of Congress.

One of the essential features of a strong Republic, the President said, is that it stands for the interest of the people rather than the powerful minority.

The President noted that a Republic must be so, in fact, in reality and as what the Human Development Reports stresses especially in the difference it makes for the better in the lives of citizens.

According to the President, her experience in governance during the last year and a half "tells me that my country needs a strong Republic to guarantee human development."

She stressed that a strong Republic involves a painstaking process of strengthening institutions and communities, a process that advances only on a broad platform of shared ethical values, a firm consensus to serve common interest and a common vision of a national future.

The President said that the idea that people should be at the center of development took root mainly through to the advocacy of the United Nations and its member states.

She congratulated the UNDP under the leadership of Mark Mallock Brown for giving flesh to this advocacy in the Human Development Report.

The President recalled that the last time she saw Brown was when they were both in Washington, D.C. when she was still the vice president.

The President also paid tribute to East Timor and its people which was represented by its foreign minister, "who knows the Philippines very well."

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today lauded the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) for the arrest of three suspected drug peddlers and the seizure of some P1.7 million worth of cocaine and methamphetamine hydrochloride or "shabu" during a joint operation in Barangay Bantilan, Infanta, Quezon.

In a brief ceremony at the parade ground of Camp Crame, Philippine National Police chief Director General Hermogenes Ebdane, Jr. presented to the President the three suspects who were identified as Radil Ramos, Belen Ortaliza and retired Philippine Army Staff Sergeant Mariano Ortaliza.

"Let there be no safe haven for the kidnappers, the drug traffickers or the terrorists," the President said in a statement to mediamen.

Among those recovered during the drug bust were eight pieces of heat-sealed plastic packets of yellowish powdery substance suspected to be high-grade cocaine with an estimated street value of P1.5 million and 42 plastic packets of white crystalline substance believed to be shabu with estimated value of P130,000.

The Chief Executive said both the police and soldiers are working together to stamp out all criminals who undermine the strong Republic that her administration is building.

She emphasized that the government’s priority in the all-out war against criminality are the kidnappers and drug traffickers.

"We are waging the war against drug traffickers without let-up," she said.

The President recalled that last October 13, the Quezon province police operatives seized 500 kilos of shabu, which she described as the "biggest drug haul in history."

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today said that she has been consistent in her policy of not interfering in the internal affairs of the Senate as she stressed that she had nothing to do with the decision of Sen. Robert Jaworski to join the administration coalition.

In a luncheon with members of the Malacanang Press Corps, the President said she talked to Jaworski only on the day that the senator made the announcement of his decision to bolt from the opposition and move to the administration party in the Senate.

"We talked because he has told me he would make the announcement, but we did not talk before that," the President said.

Before that, the President said Senator Ramon Revilla, Jaworski’s father-in-law, called her up to say that the latter would like to see her before he makes the announcement.

The President said that movements of members in the Senate are largely the result of their own efforts.

But the President admitted that if the senators need her help and if they ask for her support as President, or as president of the coalition or as chairman of the party, she will help. "That is my obligation," the President said.

The President also confirmed that Jaworski has received a warning that he will be subjected to black propaganda if he moves over to the administration party.

"If he moves over, they are going to do a black propaganda on him, and they are doing it," the President said.

The President said that Senator Jaworski was threatened, but despite the warning from his former camp, he still moved to the other side "for country and family."

The President also said that Senator Vicente Sotto III does not have to resign from the Senate when he chairs the Legislative-Executive Advisory Council (LEDAC) oversight committee for the Dangerous Drugs Board.

The President said he will ask Senate President Franklin Drilon and Speaker Jose de Venecia, Jr., her co-chairmen in the LEDAC, to create this LEDAC oversight committee as part of a stepped up campaign against illegal drug trade.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today cited the 2002 Human Development Report (HDR) commissioned by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) for giving due importance to the expanding role of civil society in deepening democracy.

This is very relevant to the Philippines, both as a nation and as a Republic, the President said in a speech at the Global Launch of the 2002 HDR at Malacañang’s Ceremonial Hall this morning.

But she said that amid globalization and the information revolution, people have been asking if wealth had been created and why poverty and inequality continued to pervade.

She added that advocates of free markets should put in place innovative and democratic political institutions "to allay apprehensions that globalization sets back social progress and deepens human misery."

She stressed that institutions for governance should fight illiteracy, disease, hunger and injustice.

The President agreed with United Nations Secretary General Koffi Anan who was quoted in the report as saying that "good governance is, perhaps, the single most important factor in eradicating poverty and promoting development."

"I agree with Secretary General Koffi Anan," she said, adding that good governance should rest on three pillars: a sound moral foundation to guide the leadership at all levels, a philosophy of transparency in all government actions, and an ethics of effective implementation throughout the bureaucracy.

She pointed out that the third pillar "is one of the essential features of strong Republic" that she enunciated in her second State of the Nation Address (SONA) before the joint session of Congress last July 22, 2002.

The strong Republic "must have effective institutions to protect the weak," she said in her SONA.

In her speech, the Chief Executive also commended the HDR for coming up with an updated scorecard on the progress of countries in meeting the millennium development goals of poverty reduction.

"It is a good way of keeping track of our shared obligations, not only as governments but as nations," she declared.

She gladly told UNDP officials and other development advocates that the Philippines was on track with its millennium development goals.

"Based on the established trend, we would be able to meet by 2015 the goals of, among others, cutting into half the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water, achieve universal primary education, achieve gender equality in primary schools and reduce under-five mortality by two-thirds," she said.

She disclosed that she told Economic Planning Secretary Dante Canlas that these were good indicators that "we must monitor in order to ensure that we stay on track in fighting poverty."

She also vowed to work with her Cabinet to develop policies and programs that would enable the Philippines to catch up with the goals of reducing the number of people suffering from hunger.

The President said her administration’s national ambition is to win the battle against poverty with the decade, "even earlier than the projection of the HDR 2015."

She also thanked the HDR for "providing us with the meaningful objectives that together spell victory against poverty."

President Macapagal-Arroyo recalled the Philippine Development Report (PDR) 2002 that was launched two weeks ago with the theme "Work and Well-Being."

Combined, the PDR and HDR themes would highlight the implications of politics and governance on jobs, poverty and human development. "They partner well with a strong Republic," she said.

The President expressed the hope that her administration would ably maintain its increasing human development index in the coming years.

"This, we hope to achieve with the help of the UNDP and the international development assistance community. UNDP is a trusted partner, and we look forward to continued cooperation in peace and development," she said.

The President called on the development assistance community not only to invest in the growth of the markets but also in the growth of democracy.

"At the same time, our common commitment to deepen democracy at the national levels should be mirrored in the practices of governance at the global level," she said.

She added that the Doha Round under the World Trade Organization must respond to the clamor of developing member countries for expanded market access stressing that this would empower developing countries to build strong Republics.

She urged the leaders of the developed world and the various agencies responsible for promoting international peace, freedom and prosperity to be exemplars and leaders.