BARIRA, Maguindanao -- Camp Abubakar is history. So is its image of being an impregnable camp of the secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Retaken by government troops in July 2000, this sprawling 10,000-hectare mix of clearings and thick forests shall be called by its geographical name: Sitio Tugaig, Barangay Bambaran, Barira town, Maguindanao province in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Since the camp’s recapture and henceforth, no other flag except the Philippine tricolors will be hoisted in the area, which is bounded by the towns of Barira, Matanog and Buldon in Maguindanao.

Further, the former MILF camp will be known as Camp Duma Sinsuat, in honor of the first Muslim member of the Cabinet who served during the term of former President Diosdado Macapagal and who distinguished himself as a man of honor and integrity in the public service.

The infamous Bedis Academy, a two-hectare camp clearing where the MILF trained its armed forces and where MILF Chairman Salamat Hashim and his lieutenants used to live in and hold office, shall soon be the springboard for peace and development in the area.

The academy complex will permanently host the headquarters of the Philippine Army’s 603rd Brigade under Col. Antonio Romero. The brigade headquarters is located in Pigkalagan, Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao.

Thus ordered President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who braved intermittent heavy rains as she motored through a long stretch of bad muddy roads and crossed two bridgeless rivers to visit this town Tuesday.

The President’s move, a local official here said, would totally renew the image of the former MILF camp.

From being a rebel training center, the area will be transformed to a Philippine civilian-military camp with twin goals -- that of maintaining peace and pushing development in the area.

The President had earlier considered asking the Army’s 54th Engineering Brigade under Col. Eduardo Lena to move in with the 603rd Brigade.

But she noted that the military’s engineering group -- which has done so much in building and improving infrastructure support facilities like roads and bridges in the area in the last two years -- is based in Manaoag, Pangasinan.

During her recent visit to the engineering camp in Pangasinan, the families of the builder-troopers asked the Chief Executive when she would recall their loved ones back to their home base, she recounted.

The move to put the military permanently in the Camp Abubakar area, for all its worth, outweighs perceived disadvantages.

For one, this will finally "tell the whole country and the world" that the MILF main camp is wholly "nasa kamay ng pamahalaan (in the hands of the government)."

Secondly, the presence of the military in the former MILF stronghold will finally make its imprint that the government has no intention to return any captured lair to any rebel group.

This thus dispels the notions and claims of critics and detractors that the government is returning to the rebels the latter’s self-proclaimed territories.

Thirdly, it will reassure that Filipino civilians affected by the Mindanao conflict will get immediate government help.

"Hindi natin ibinabalik ang mga kampo sa MILF. Ang ginagawa natin ay kaunlaran (We do not return camps. What we do is development)," the President stressed.

The Iranon and other communities in the area will settle in the perimeters of Camp Duma Sinsuat.

The President took note of the sacrifices of the people of Barira, Matanog and Buldon during the conflict. She said the Iranons claimed the former MILF stronghold as their ancestral land.

"Itinatayo natin ang mga bahay ng mga naapektuhang mamamayan (We are rebuilding the houses of conflict-hit Filipinos)," she said, adding that more efforts would be made to also rebuild their lives.

Fourthly, it will push forward ongoing peace talks between the government and the MILF in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Just recently, the peace panels of both sides signed an agreement to push the development of the area and the soonest reintegration of conflict-affected civilians to the mainstream of Philippine society.

But people do not have to wait for signings to bring about development.

It is the government’s duty to promote and see to it that the people, especially the poor, get the most out of government social services and economic opportunities, the President stressed.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has authorized the Department of Transportation and Communications, through the Land Transportation Office, to issue optional motor vehicle plates bearing preferred inscriptions through a system of public auction.

The President issued Memorandum Order No. 65, dated June 20, 2002, upon the recommendation of the Land Transportation Office (LTO), to address the need to regulate the issuance of motor vehicle plates bearing preferred inscriptions.

Under this order, all proceeds received by the LTO in excess of the cost incurred in issuing and processing these special vehicle plates shall accrue to the general unappropriated funds of the national government.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has issued Executive Order No. 11 closing down the Nayong Pilipino and authorizing the transfer of 8.6 hectares of the Nayong Pilipino Foundation property in Pasay City to the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA).

The foundation and the MIAA earlier entered into a memorandum of agreement to effect the transfer of a portion of the land occupied by the Nayong Pilipino park for redevelopment as part of the new passenger terminal at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport known as the International Passenger Terminal 3.

In the executive order, the President explained that the construction of an additional parallel taxiway and surface road connection between NAIA Terminal 2 and Terminal 3 requires the 8.6 hectares of land, covered by TCT No. 18445 of the Register of Deeds of Pasay City, and the closure of the park for the safety of the general public and the security of the premises.

The construction of the taxiway and road link is in compliance with International Civil Aviation Organization flight standards to ensure the safe and efficient movement of passenger, baggage and cargo at the NAIA.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today underscored the need for a continued partnership between the government and the private sector in the country’s total fight against poverty.

"I would especially like to seek your support in increasing employment opportunities for the poor," the Chief Executive said in her speech at the Asian Forum on Corporate Social Responsibility held this morning at the Dusit Nikko Hotel in Makati City.

The President said more than 24 million of the 75 million Filipinos, or one out of every three, are poor. "And they will likely remain poor unless we and they themselves do something about it," she said.

The philosophy behind the corporate citizenship is that the Filipino people are more than consumers, more than laborers, more than hired help but part of one society and that "we are all responsible for the well-being of one another beyond business and beyond politics."

The President thanked the organizers for initiating the Asia Forum on Corporate Social Responsibility and for advancing positive approaches to solve the country’s social problems.

"Your consolidated program is an appropriate strategy as we in government are also seeking to converge our own social programs. This assures us of maximum reach and cost effectiveness," she declared.

According to the President, the single biggest problem of the country today is unemployment, saying that 13 percent of the country’s work force, or almost five million people in absolute number, is out of work.

"I believe that the most important imperative for corporate social responsibility today, and for government programs for that matter, is to attend to this army of unemployed. Either providing them with emergency employment or empowering them to become self-employed or re-engineering them to qualify for the jobs available or providing them maximum basic needs if they absolutely cannot find work," the President said.

The President also said that the specific pledges made by the members of the corporate community can help push forward the "Kapit-bisig Laban sa Kahirapan" (KALAHI) and it can also inspire similar acts of generosity from the private enterprise.

"We are bent on working closely with the private sector and with the people’s organization and non-government organizations (NGOs) to make a dent in finding jobs and livelihood for our people so as to fight poverty," she said.

In her meetings with the Regional Development Councils in the country, the President said she discovered "an irony that the most progressive regions in our country are the ones with the highest unemployment."

The President expressed the hope that the members of the corporate community in the country will "help fund or even run the KALAHI programs for some 1,000 communist-influenced or infiltrated barangays in Regions 3, 4 and even 5.

"Our KALAHI programs must enter those barangays immediately because KALAHI is the face of the government for those deprived areas," the President said

The President said that if KALAHI fails to come in immediately for lack of funds, or lack of manpower or lack of machinery, a vacuum will be created once again and the insurgents will just return. "So, this is where, I hope, corporate social responsibility will be directed at this time," she added.

Acting Press Secretary Silvestre Afable, Jr. today said that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will assume the post of foreign secretary in a concurrent capacity if by July 15, the date when the resignation of Vice President Teofisto Guingona, Jr. as foreign secretary takes effect, no replacement has been named yet.

In his regular press briefing, Afable said the President will assume the post until such time that the special search committee she has formed has finally recommended a nominee and appointed to the vital post.

"With the kind of communication facilities that the Office of the President has, she can run DFA from here," Afable said.

In a separate interview, Joey Rufino, presidential adviser for political affairs, also said there would be no problem with the President assuming the foreign affairs portfolio since she is, after all, the chief architect of the country’s foreign policy.

But Rufino said he is confident before July 15, the President would be able to appoint the new foreign secretary.

A joint press statement issued Tuesday by the President and Guingona said that the latter’s decision to leave the Cabinet stemmed from "an honest difference of opinion concerning policy."

"Since the President is the chief architect of foreign policy, the Vice President yields," the statement said.

According to Afable, the special search committee created by the President is different from the regular search committee in the Office of the President that screens presidential appointees.

The function of this special search committee is specifically to go over the qualifications of nominees for the post soon to be vacated by Guingona, Afable said.