President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has said that good governance is the single most important factor in eradicating poverty and promoting development in the country

In her speech at the recent launching in Malacaņang of the 2002 Human Development Report (HDR) of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the President said she also agreed with UN Secretary General Koffi Anan that good governance rests 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.

The President 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.

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

She said that amid globalization and the information revolution, people have kept on asking why poverty and inequality continue to prevail in developing countries like the Philippines.

The President said that advocates of the free market 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.

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 told UNDP officials and other development advocates that the Philippines is 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.

The President 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 in 2015."

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

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.

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

Malacanang today said that the war against terrorism and criminality that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo had pledged to wage in her second State of the Nation Address (SONA) is gaining headway.

Press Secretary and Acting Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said that recent apprehensions made through the combined efforts of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) have proved that the President’s vow to have "a direct hand in the war against the enemies of the state" is bearing fruit.

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

For example, Bunye said, on Thursday, or on the eve of the visit of the President to General Santos City, a notorious kidnap-for-ransom (KFR) gang leader in Mindanao was killed after a brief shootout in Isulan, Sultan Kudarat.

Bunye said that the PNP Central Mindanao Regional Special Operations Group has identified the KFR gang leader as Tungko Abdulrahman, alias Commander Tropical.

Abdulrahman was tagged as the leader of the Abu Sufia KFR group that abducted a Korean national and a local businessman in February this year, Bunye said.

According to Police Superintendent Willie Danggane, Region 12 police chief, they have also taken in for questioning three people suspected to be Abdulrahman's men.

Bunye said Abu Sufia KFR is a breakaway faction of the Pentagon KFR gang led by Tahir Alonto and Faisal Marohombsar.

Abdulrahman, Bunye said, was facing formal charges in court for kidnapping and serious illegal detention in connection with the abduction of Korean national Jae Kwoon Yon and local hotelier Carlos Belonio.

Danggane also headed the police group that nabbed suspected General Santos City bombers Abdulbassit Usman and Muammar Esmael who were presented to the President in Malacanang last Wednesday.

The two suspects were brought to Malacanang by AFP Chief Gen. Roy Cimatu and PNP chief, Director General Hermogenes Ebdane.

Bunye said that because of these recent arrests of Mindanao terrorists, businessmen and local officials of General Santos City have lauded the President for her tenacity in going after syndicated criminals and terrorists who have, for some time, eroded investor confidence in the bustling southern city.

Manuel Yaphucon, acting chairman of the General Santos City Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said business and investment climate in General Santos City had greatly improved since the neutralization of a terrorist band tagged as responsible in the burning of two malls and the bombing of another in the city early this year.

Yaphucon said many businessmen in General Santos City hailed the arrest of two of those believed responsible in the bombing of the Fitmart Department Store last April 21. At least 15 people were killed and over 60 hurt during the bombing.

After President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has declared that the drug menace is no longer just a police matter but a national security problem, government law enforcement authorities, including those from the military, have stepped up their campaign against drug trafficking and manufacturing throughout the county, Malacanang said today.

In her second State of the National Address (SONA), the President said that henceforth, drug lords will be treated as enemies of the state.

"In this war with the drug trade, there will be no compromise and no quarter, not for fear or favor," the President stressed.

Press Secretary and Acting Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said that to show that she meant business, the President herself last Friday led officials in burning part of some 20,000 fully-grown marijuana plants and seedlings uprooted in a 60-hectare plantation bounding Sarangani Province, Davao del Sur and South Cotabato.

"Ituloy ang laban sa krimen at bawal na gamut (On with the war against criminality and illegal drugs)," the President said in a brief statement during the burning of four stacks of some 5,000 fully-grown marijuana plants immediately upon her arrival at General Santos City airport Friday morning.

Bunye said that the confiscation and the burning of marijuana leaves were the result of joint efforts of police and military authorities who raided and destroyed the plantation located in the mountains of Malungon, Sarangani Province, Kiblawan, Davao del Sur, and parts of South Cotabato.

In fact, Bunye said, an earlier report has said that Philippine Air Force personnel and militiamen backed up the NBI agents who have participated in the raid.

No one has yet been arrested in the raid, but the National Bureau of Investigation, the lead agency, has identified the plantation owner and his cohorts, Bunye said.

On Wednesday, or just two days after her SONA, the President was presented with three suspected drug peddlers who were apprehended with some P1.7 million worth of cocaine and methamphetamine hydrochloride or "shabu" during a joint operation made by the police and the military in Barangay Bantilan, Infanta, Quezon.

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

Just two days before her SONA, on July 20, the President also personally inspected the shabu worth about P118 million during a raid conducted by the police in a drug laboratory in Quezon City.

Last October 13, Quezon province police operatives have also seized 500 kilos of shabu, which the President described in her SONA as the "biggest drug haul in history."

Bunye said that joint operations by the PNP and the military against drug traffickers are in compliance with the President’s directive not to allow any safe haven to kidnappers, drug traffickers and terrorists.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has said that her administration cannot afford to go "wishy-washy" but will do whatever is right for the good of the country in line with her policy of building a strong Republic as she vowed in her State of the Nation Address (SONA) last Monday.

The President stressed this point during an informal dinner with Region VII-based mediamen in Dumaguete City on Thursday (July 25).

"Nobody will ever be completely happy with whatever I do. I just have to do what I think is right for our country," the President said.

In introducing reforms under a strong Republic, the President noted the need to file charges against any erring member of the judiciary that include government prosecutors.

She said building a strong republic includes strengthening of the institutions and how to make the government not captive to vested interests and pressure groups.

"Why do I need a strong Republic? Because you can have beautiful programs to create jobs. But you can’t totally succeed unless you have strong institutions and unless you have a government that does not cower under the pressure of pressure groups," the President told reporters.

In her SONA, the President said 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 years to come because the easy way out may postpone the pain but only prolong the problem," the President said in her SONA.

A Republic, according to her, "is like as shield that needs a strong arm to hold it up" and a "roof and walls that need to be constructed."

MARAWI CITY -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today said the intense campaign undertaken by her administration to protect the country’s tuna industry and keep its preferential treatment in the United States market has paid off.

In her remarks at the 3rd National Conference of the Ulama League of the Philippines held at Barangay Matampay here, the President said that she was informed this morning by Executive Secretary Alberto Romulo that the US Congress did not pass a bill that would allow duty-free entry of tuna from the countries that constitute the Andes mountain ranges in Latin America.

"Our fears that we will lose our preferential treatment for tuna in the US market has been put to rest," the President said.

According to the President, it was important for her administration to keep the preferential treatment of the tuna exports to the US since the industry is the lifeblood of Muslims, Christian and Lumads in Mindanao.

The President said that she has written directly to US President George W. Bush to help in maintaining the preferential treatment for Philippine tuna in the American market.

She said she was glad to learn that instead of removing this advantage through the passage of a legislation that would allow the duty-free entry of tuna from South America, the US government has even increased its financial assistance to the Philippines by an additional $70 million.

The President said the bulk of this new American financial package will go to Mindanao.

It can be recalled that in late May this year, the President expressed her appreciation to American Senators Ted Stevens and Daniel Inouye for protecting the Philippine share of the canned tuna market in the United States.

The senators, during a courtesy call in Malacanang, assured the President that they would exert efforts in convincing members of both houses of the US Congress to maintain the present duties on the South American Andean tuna.

Several bills seeking to make Andean tuna duty free were pending in the US Congress.

If these bills will be passed in the US Congress, these will be very prejudicial to our canned tuna from Mindanao, the President then said.

In a letter to the US Congress, the two senators said one of their major concerns is the Philippines, particularly Mindanao "where the notorious Abu Sayyaf is kidnapping innocent people, seeking ransom and wreaking havoc through bombings and murders."

Mindanao’s major employer is the canned tuna industry, the two senators added.

"The Andean trade preference expansion, which will be before us in a few days in its current form, will do extreme harm to the tuna industry in Mindanao," the senators’ letter said.

The two US senators said the proposed duty-free treatment of canned tuna from the Andean region would put the canneries in Mindanao out of business.

MARAWI CITY--President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today emphasized the three main components of her administration's quest for peace in Mindanao: one, that peace and development should go hand in hand; two, that peace should be pursued with due consideration to constitutionality, national sovereignty, and territorial integrity; and three, that Filipinos should recognize that we have a multi-ethnic society.

In her speech before the 3rd National Congress of the Ulamas League of the Philippines here, the President noted that peace could not be sustained without development while development without peace will not flourish.

The President said "there is no sense to buy peace by dividing the country's property and territory."

According to the President, Filipinos should realize that Philippine society is a multi-ethnic one which should be founded on social justice for all.

The President said Filipinos respond to many names such as Maranao, Maguindanao, Tausug, Ilocano, Cebuano, Tagalog, and mestizo. "This is a wondrous testimony to our rich and varied heritage as a nation," she said.

The President said that while she seeks peace, she would like to emphasize that there is no room for terrorism and inhuman brutality.

"We must condemn and address decisively these two acts," the President said as she noted the relevance of the conference theme which was "Islam: Its Contribution to Peace in the Philippines."

The President said there is no better time than now to emphasize that Islam, like the other great religions of the world, is founded on peace. "Islam is a religion of peace and forgiveness," the President said.

As a child, the President said, she was exposed to various races and religious practices, adding that she has Muslim lineage, as well as Cebuano, Ilocano and Iliganon.

MARAWI CITY--President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today said the government has fully implemented the provisions of the peace agreement that it signed in l996 with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).

In her speech at the 3rd National Conference of the Ulamas League of the Philippines, the President noted that Republic Act 9054 has enabled the conduct of the plebiscite that defined the areas that would comprise the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Five provinces: Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Tawi-tawi, Sulu and Basilan, and the Islamic city of Marawi now constitute the ARMM as a result of that plebiscite held in November last year, the President said.

Also elected during that plebiscite was ARMM Governor Parouk Hussin and Vice Governor Mahid Mutilan.

"The 1996 peace agreement is being fully implemented, funds are being spent for development and not dissipated in curious lifestyles," the President said.

The President also noted that the MNLF forces are now almost completely integrated into the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP).

The last batch of 500 MNLF forces for integration in the AFP, and 250 for integration into the PNP are now undergoing processing and training, she related.

The ARMM now has its regional security force of almost 1,500 integrees to keep the peace in the autonomous region.

The President said she issued specific instructions that all development rehabilitation efforts in conflict-affected areas at the ARMM will be spearheaded by or synchronized with the ARMM government.

Meanwhile, efforts in the non-ARMM areas affected by the conflict will be synchronized by the Southern Philippines Development Authority (SPDA) in tandem with concerned national agencies and local government units (LGUs).

"With peace now prevailing in Central Mindanao, our projects here can resume at a faster pace," the President said.

Last Friday, the President ceremoniously turned on the main switch of a house in Barangay Barimbingan, signifying the electrification of 21 barangays and eight municipalities around Lake Lanao.

"They have been waiting for this since the time of Adam and Eve," the President said, referring the long-delayed electrification of the barangays and towns.