President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today announced the appointment of former Marikina City Mayor Bayani Fernando as the new chairman of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority replacing Benjamin Abalos who is now Chairman of the Commission on Elections.

The President made the announcement during her speech at the opening ceremonies of the two-day Culture and the Arts Conference held this morning at the Pearl Manila Hotel along Gen. Luna St, corner Taft and United Nations Avenues in Ermita, Manila.

The President first issued a series of directives, including the revival of the Metropolitan Theater in Manila to give the masses access to cultural activities and a review by the new MMDA chairman of the allocation of the proceeds of the ongoing Metro Manila Film Festival.

"Incidentally, you might want to know to whom I will give the instructions. You might want to know who will be the new MMDA chairman. It is Bayani Fernando, the former mayor of Marikina City," she declared.

The President noted that when she asked former chairman Richard Gordon of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority to be Secretary of Tourism, she told him that what he did in Subic "you’ve got to do for the country."

"When I called Bayani, I said, ‘BF, what you did for Marikina, you must for the whole country’," she added.

The President said that in the review of the allocation of the proceeds from the film festival, "they should ensure that the endowment or the production subsidy contributed by the National Commission on Culture and the Arts (NCCA) to the semi-finalists or the qualifying scripts should become a permanent fund. So therefore, it should keep returning as much as possible to the NCCA so that you have the money again for next year’s subsidy."

The President said that she began advancing money from the President’s Social Fund "not to give an award to the best movies at the end of the Metropolitan Film Festival but near the start."

In other words, she said, there is a preliminary judging on the best scripts.

In this connection, the President announced that she has also allocated an initial P50 million to spread out as a subsidy for the production of the best scripts that will be chosen by the Metro Film Festival committee.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today said that the national government will help in the preservation of the world famous rice terraces in Ifugao but the initiative should come from local officials.

"I am very happy that we are going to be preserving the Ifugao rice terraces," the Chief Executive said in her speech at the two-day Culture and Arts Conference 2002 held this morning at the Pearl Manila Hotel located at the General Luna St. corner Taft and United Nations Avenues in Ermita, Manila.

The President asked the officers and members of the National Commission on Culture and Arts (NCCA) and other artists present during the conference to support Ifugao Governor Teodoro Baguilat, Jr., who, she described as "a very young Ifugao, educated, dynamic and dedicated."

"Let’s empower the people of Ifugao to preserve their cultural heritage," the President said.

The President recalled that when she was still vice president, there was an Ifugao Rice Terraces Task Force that was organized to handle the preservation of the terraces where she was a member.

But after a while, the President said, she saw that she was the only one taking the job seriously.

As a member of the task force, President Macapagal-Arroyo said, she was responsible for organizing development projects for the poor in the various towns that had rice terraces community. This was in the form of food for work but the actual work was to preserve the rice terraces.

Since this was the only specific activity that was being put forward by the task force, the President said that when she assumed the presidency in January 2001, she abolished the task force.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today stressed the need to cultivate a culture of inter-faith dialogue even as the fight against the twin evils of poverty and terrorism continues.

During a courtesy call of the participants of the four-day Fifth World Congress of the International Religious Liberty Association (IRLA) in Malacanang, the President noted that inter-faith understanding holds the key to a better world, "not just to live and let live."

The President conferred with IRLA leaders who include Denton Lotz, president of the IRLA and general secretary of the Baptist World Alliance, and John Graz, secretary general of the International Religious Liberty Association and coordinator of the Fifth World Congress on Religious Freedom. IRLA concluded their conference today.

In their brief conversation, the President recalled to the delegates her meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair during a visit to London last January, wherein they discussed the importance of religious tolerance and understanding.

The President noted that just as important as the link between terrorism and poverty, which she always emphasized, is "the relation between terrorism and religious understanding," which Blair has always stressed.

With the President to receive the IRLA delegates were Secretary Gabriel Claudio, chief of the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office, Northern Samar Rep. Hardin Abayan and Ambassador Bienvenido Tejano.

Chartered in 1893, the IRLA has advocated religious freedom for 105 years.

It does not identify with any political party anywhere, nor does it endorse candidates for political office. Leaders of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church originally organized the IRLA, but its purpose is universal and non-sectarian. Various religious traditions are represented on the Board of Directors.

The presidency rotates annually among a panel of vice presidents. The president in 1989 was the former general secretary of the Lutheran World Federation; in 1991, the general secretary of the Baptist World Alliance.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today called for the revival of the Manila Metropolitan Theater and make it a new home of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA).

In her speech before experts, artists, cultural workers and heads of government and non-government agencies attending the two-day Culture and Arts Conference which opened this morning at the Pearl Manila Hotel in Ermita, Manila, the Chief Executive said it is a good idea investments for the NCCA to use part of its income from the endowment fund to revive the Metropolitan Theater.

"This is one specific operational instruction that I would like to give to our government representatives," the President said.

In her speech, the President also underscored the need to make culture, including the movies, attractive and available to the masses.

A great movie fan herself, the President said she grew up in Iligan City and movies were the only "culture available to us." She added that she loved to watched the movies of the late actress Nida Blanca and Nestor de Villa when she was a child in Iligan City.

She said her grandmother used to bring her to the theater, and they would watch movies over and over again.

"That’s mass culture. Let’s make it available to everyone," she said, adding that is what she wants the Metropolitan Theater to offer to the masses.

The Metropolitan Theater is jointly owned by the Government Service Insurance System and the City of Manila.

The President underscored the need to use cultural establishments to be able to offer movies that would bring out "those beautiful values that we must preserve in our society."

That is the reason why the President said she was advancing money from her Social Fund -- not to give an award to the best movies at the end of the Metropolitan Film Festival but at the start.

The World Bank (WB) is launching a three-year strategic program to assist the administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo achieve poverty reducing growth and ensure that the poor participate and benefit fully from development.

Dubbed as the new Country Assistance Strategy for the Philippines, the World Bank plans to provide about US$1 billion in loans to the Philippines over the next three years beginning this coming July 1.

The World Bank has said that the amount of lending could go as high as US$1.7 billion depending on the pace of policy and institutional reforms, government revenue mobilization and budget management, and portfolio performance.

In addition, the World Bank will provide analysis and technical assistance to improve delivery of services to the poor, strengthen the business environment and support peace and development in Mindanao.

According to Robert Vance Pulley, WB Country Director for the Philippines, it is more important than ever that the World Bank support actions of Filipinos, especially the poor, as the country emerges from the period of modest economic growth.

Pulley cited in particular the recent actions of the Macapagal-Arroyo administration to restore fiscal discipline by meeting the country’s deficit target and commitment to fiscal consolidation by 2006, implement key structural reforms such as passage of the Power Sector Restructuring Bill, the Anti-Money Laundering law, and continue government revenues and strengthen the banking sector.

He likewise stated the need to improve government revenues and strengthen the banking sector.

Pulley explained that a high priority is to spur investment and job creation and mobilize adequate public resources for education, health, rural infrastructure and agricultural modernization.

To ensure that the poor participate and benefit fully from development, the strategy also calls for the focusing on efficient provision of other basic services such as shelter, water supply and sanitation, rural power and other infrastructure.

Malacaņang announced today that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has accepted the resignation of Secretary Pantaleon Alvarez of the Department Transportation and Communications (DOTC).

In a regular press briefing in Malacaņang, Acting Press Secretary Silvestre Afable, Jr. said Alvarez submitted his resignation after June 5 when the President re-appointed him.

Afable said Director General Leandro Mendoza, chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP), is expected to take over the DOTC top post as earlier announced by the President.

He said that Alvarez wanted to free the President from the burden arising from unfair and unfounded charges hurled against him, which, he said, have no basis in fact.

Alvarez felt it is his duty to help resolve the problem rather than be part of it, Afable said.

While admitting that the appointment of Mendoza has already been signed, Afable said he did not know the exact effectivity date of the appointment because "there are some transition matters that have to be taken up."

But Afable added that the appointment of Mendoza is already a done deal and he will step in as DOTC chief soon.

Afable also said that the President has found Mendoza to be very well qualified to fill the top position at the DOTC.

"General Mendoza has a good track record as PNP chief. He has seen through important reforms in the PNP and he has shown his skills as a manager. And I guess these are the things that, and of course his accomplishment as PNP chief, have figured greatly in the President’s decision," Afable said.

Malacanang today categorically denied reports that the Abu Sayyaf bandits led by Abu Sabaya had taken new hostages in the vicinity of Sirawai in Zamboanga del Norte.

In his press briefing this afternoon in Malacanang, Acting Press Secretary Silvestre Afable, Jr. said he had checked with the Southern Command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in Zamboanga City and with Camp Aguinaldo and reports about new hostages taken by any group are negative.

"There are no such hostages that are now being held by any armed group in Mindanao," Afable said.

Afable also debunked the reported claim of a certain Ustadz Shariff Julabbi that the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is now training some 50,000 new guerrillas as a preparatory move to retake Camp Abubakar, MILF’s erstwhile main headquarters in Central Mindanao.

According to Afable, the report has been strongly denied by Al Haj Murad, MILF vice chairman for military affairs, in a conversation this afternoon with Secretary Norberto Gonzales, presidential adviser for special concerns.

Gonzales has been doing back-channeling efforts with the MILF to put in place confidence-building measures in the former conflict areas in Mindanao.

Quoting Gonzales, Afable said that Murad would be issuing an official MILF statement denying the report.

Afable said that Julabbi, who was reportedly the source of the report, is not involved in the negotiations with the MILF either in the formal negotiations or through the back-channeling efforts.