Also on hand to welcome her were Western Visayas Regional Development Officer Rene Villa, Presidential Adviser on Western Visayas Franklin Fuentebella, Maj. Gen. Jacinto Ligot, Philippine National Police Regional Director Rolando Garcia, KGMA Provincial Coordinator Janet Oberio and Bigkis Pinoy Regional Coordinator Sonia Gemora.

Afterwards, the President proceeded to the Barcelo-Sarabia Manor Hotel for the 2002 National Congress of the Sangguniang Kabaataan (SK).

On hand to receive the President at the Kalantiao Hall were SK national president Richard Alvin Nalupta, SK Iloilo City president Julienne Baronda, and SK Iloilo Provincial Federation president Rosario Mediatriz Tupas.

The joint RDC-RPOC meeting will last the whole afternoon.

Afterwards, the President will have a working dinner with leaders of the local government units, provincial and city officials at a local restaurant.

ILOILO CITY -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today distributed here checks, livelihood projects and government programs amounting to almost P11 million.

At the awarding ceremony for multi-sectoral groups at the University of San Agustin (USA) gymnasium, the President also gave out 587 pieces of Certificates of Land Ownership Award (CLOAs) covering a total of 2, 407.75 hectares of land in the province of Iloilo that would benefit some 4,223 people or 700 families.

The President also distributed to 480 recipients the Social Health Insurance cards under Philhealth for the poor families enrolled in Iloilo City under the Greater Medicare Access (GMA) Para sa Masa Program, completing the SONA target of 5, 000 family beneficiaries. To date, more than 15, 000 health cards have been given out.

The breakdown of the checks and equipment distributed by the Chief Executive:

• checks worth P300, 000 for the Level II Water System under the Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan (Kalahi) rural projects in Barangays Botlog and Nipa in Concepcion, Iloilo;

• checks worth P2,007,419 for various projects under the Comprehensive Development and Integrated Social Services (CIDSS) for Iloilo province and Iloilo City. Projects include day-care centers, water systems, day-care materials, electrification projects, senior citizens centers, drainage system construction and capability-building seminars for the different barangays of Iloilo province;

• twenty-one checks amounting to P6.4 milliion under the Local Government Unit (LGU) Performance Program-Matching Grant Program funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for projects under the Integrated Family Planning Maternal Health Program for the cities and towns of Murcia, Sagay, San Carlos, E.B. Magalona, Kabankalan, Bacolod, Cadiz, (all in Negros Occidental); Jamindan, Cuartero, Dumarao in Capiz; Valderrama and Culasi in Antique; San Enrique, San Rafael, San Joaquin, Zaraga, Iloilo City, Anilao, Leganes and Barotac Viejo in Iloilo; and Buruanga in Aklan;

• two checks amounting to P400, 000 as financial assistance to qualified beneficiaries of the Local Project Desk Program (Sentrong Sigla Certification and Philippine Health Accreditation Program) to Roxas City and Capiz;

• checks worth P412,521 for various projects that include maternity and death benefits for sugar workers, livelihood assistance to disabled persons, workers scholarship fund, programs for the employment of students, disability assistance program to overseas Filipino workers and Overseas Workers Welfare Administration Insurance program;
  
• checks amounting to P431,077 for use in the acquisition of bamboo working tools, food processing equipment and kiln dryer for common service facilities supporting livelihood development in Iloilo (Maasin and Guimbal) and Jordan, Guimaras;

• seven checks amounting to P70, 000 as cash assistance from the Social Credit Revolving Fund to 10 families who are beneficiaries of the Australian Aid-funded Street and Urban Working Children program;
  
• one hundred bags of rice worth P85, 000 under the Australian Aid Food for Work Program to local partners for the uplift of the street children and working children of Iloilo City;

• various fishing/catching equipment worth P528, 850 for the livelihood projects of seven fishermen's organizations in Tigbauan, Barotac Nuevo, Barotac Viejo, Dumangas, Banate, Ajuy and Iloilo City;

• checks worth P200, 000 for the establishment of a tilapia hatchery in Balasan, Iloilo;

• checks amounting to P768,000 as house-and-lot purchase loan from Pag-IBIG to two families;

• checks amounting to P375,000 to 66 beneficiaries composed of tricycle drivers, labanderas, vendors and some professionals;

• 132 bags of 20-kilo hybrid rice seeds to farmers in 10 municipalities of Iloilo and Iloilo City;

ILOILO CITY—President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today approved the development thrust of Region 6 (Western Visayas), which is to make the region ecologically-balanced and gender-responsive with a globally competitive economy.

In a presentation to the President and members of the Cabinet in today’s 9^th Regional Development Council-Regional Peace and Order Council (RDC-RPOC) Joint Meeting held at the Jordan Hall of the Barcelo Sarabia Manor Hotel and Convention Center here, National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Assistant Director General Rolando Tungpalan said that the region’s development thrust is anchored on modernized agriculture, agro-based industries, tourism and small and medium enterprises.

Tungpalan enumerated the development objectives of the region as follows:

• Modernize the agricultural sector, promote its strong linkage with industry, and enhance its export potentials; and

• Develop and promote the region as a major tourist destination.

On sustainable agricultural development, Tungpalan emphasized the importance of modernizing, diversifying, and intensifying agriculture and fishery-based industries.

He also pointed out the importance of enhancing the economic viability of small and medium enterprises and the promotion of investments.

The NEDA proposed the expansion of the tourism industry through massive promotion, upgrading and improvement of tourist facilities, and enhancing cultural and ecological destinations.

Tungpalan outlined the following strategic interventions to complement the development thrusts of the region:

• Develop competent entrepreneurs and skilled human resources;

• Enhance natural resource endowments and promote ecological balance;

• Attract information and communication technology (ICT)-related enterprises and electronic industries to enhance their utilization in agri-industry and tourism development;

• Encourage and promote the clustering of urban communities through metropolitan arrangements and the formation of inter local cooperation;

• Provide adequate infrastructure facilities;

• Provide basic social services and improved their delivery; and

Malacaņang today announced the appointment of four new officials of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB), the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) and the Videogram Regulatory Board (VRB).

Acting Press Secretary and concurrent Presidential Management Staff Head Silvestre Afable, Jr. said President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo approved, as early as end-May, the appointments of the four.

Afable said that Mari-len Y. Dinglasan has taken over as the new MTRCB Chairperson effective May 30. Dinglasan replaced Alejandro Roces.

Also last May 30, the President named former Cavite Governor Jose Marie "Bong Revilla" Bautista as new VRB Chairman and Lualhati R. Buenafe as Bautista’s vice-chairperson and executive director.

Afable added that since June 14, former Quezon City Congressman Dante Liban has replaced Lucita S. Lazo as the new TESDA Director General.

Earlier on June 13, former Marikina City Mayor Bayani Fernando took over the helm of the Metro Manila Development Authority, replacing former judge and Mandaluyong City Mayor Benjamin Abalos.

ILOILO CITY—President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today said her visit to this city is part of the continuing regional consultations that she is conducting to find out the needs of the people and the local government executives.

In a lunch with members of the local media at the Barcelo Sarabia Hotel and Convention Center here, the President said that through her provincial trips, local officials can present their problems directly to her and other heads of national agencies so that solutions can be threshed out immediately.

She said feedbacks from these dialogues would be used as inputs on the state of the regions in her State of the Nation Address (SONA) that she will deliver before a joint session of Congress on July 22, 2002.

The President said the interaction between national officials and local executives from Region 6 is being made possible through the 9^th Regional Development Council and Regional Peace and Order (RDC-RPOC) joint meeting held here.

She said that an important item in the agenda at the RDC-RPOC joint meeting was agricultural modernization and the propagation of hybrid rice.

The President also said another relevant item discussed in the RDC-RPOC meeting was micro-financing for some 50,000 women throughout the country, wherein a housewife can borrow from P10,000 to P20,000 each for livelihood projects.

The government’s micro-finance program was launched recently in Barangay Holy Spirit in Quezon City with some 2,000 women from Metro Manila awarded P10,000 each in collateral loans.

Upon arrival at the SK Congress, the President witnessed a seven-minute video presentation of the SK accomplishments under the present administration.

She also inducted the new officers of the SK Alumni Association.

ILOILO CITY -- To sustain the competitiveness of the city and province of Iloilo, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today stressed the need for continued agricultural modernization and fisheries development based on social equity.

The President emphasized this in her speech before a multisectoral group at the University of San Agustin, where she led an awarding ceremony.

Speaking in fluent Ilonggo, the President also said that when she was still an undersecretary at the Department of Trade and Industry, she oversaw the creation of an agro-industrial zone in Pavia, Iloilo.

The President also lauded Region 6 for being a leader in implementing a genuine land reform program.

The President noted that during her administration, at least 2,000 hectares of land in Iloilo province have been distributed to farmer-beneficiaries of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

She also noted that Negros Occidental, which is also part of Region 6, is considered the valedictorian of land reform as it has already registered 7,000 hectares out of the 100,000 hectares targeted for distribution nationwide.

The President announced the release of the last batch of Philhealth or the Social Health Insurance Cards for poor families enrolled in the City of Iloilo under the Greater Medicare Access (GMA) Para sa Masa program, completing the SONA target of 5,000 family-beneficiaries.

Mindanao and Palawan will soon rise above the scars of a Moro rebellion and the scourge of Abu Sayyaf terrorism.

As government nears to dealing a final blow on the Abu Sayyaf and pocketsize kidnap-for-ransom gangs in Mindanao and while its peace panel engages the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in talks to find a lasting and meaningful end to the Mindanao conflict, Philippine officials have put back its Asean regional growth thrusts back on track.

In a report to Malacaņang, the Presidential Management Staff (PMS) said the government is on schedule in ably setting up the mechanisms, structures and policies to revitalize the Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East Asean Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA).

Besides spurring regional investments, trading and tourism, the BIMP-EAGA is proving itself as a venue to promote Mindanao and Palawan as the country’s gateway to the Asean region.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) is a regional development grouping composed of BIMP member-countries, Thailand, Singapore, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Myanmar.

The PMS report, which outlined the accomplishment of commitments President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo made during her July 2001 State of the Nation Address, reported the operation of various air and sea routes linking Mindanao and Palawan to trade and tourism centers in the BIMP-EAGA.

Since last year, the Mindanao Economic Development Council (Medco) and other state agencies have pushed confidence building measures with BIMP-EAGA counterparts that led to the opening of air and sea passenger and cargo services between Davao and Manado; Zamboanga, Tawi-Tawi and Sandakan; Zamboanga, Tawi-Tawi, and Tawau; and Manila and Brunei Darussalam.

Officials are in talks for the use of Brunei’s Muara Port as a transshipment point.

At the same time, business linkages and arrangements have been completed between and among the Brunei Malay Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Maguindanao Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Business Council of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

There are similar discussions with Malaysian investors on ventures in oil palm production and extraction in mainland Mindanao.

Other ongoing trade talks are on the BIMP-EAGA-China and North Asia Relations that include the establishment of an Asean Promotion Center in Seoul, South Korea and the EAGA food supply network for China and North Asia.

A request has also been submitted to extend until 2004 the Uniform Port Tariff Agreement between the Philippines and Brunei.

The PMS report noted that government has pursued joint tourism marketing and promotions through familiarization tours and the development of joint tourism packages.

It has also expanded exchange programs through technical training through the BIMP-EAGA-sponsored Vocational Exchange Program. A group of Indonesian students recently completed the program.

Further, BIMP-EAGA officials have entered into a memorandum of agreement (MOA) that harmonized customs, immigration, quarantine and security (CIQS) rules and policies.

The MOA created a CIQS Inter-Agency Committee and a One-Stop Action Center for CIQS.

More importantly, the BIMP-EAGA has brought about increased cooperation in border security between and among the BIMP member-countries.

A trilateral agreement on security information exchange has recently been signed between the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Under the Philippines-Malaysia Border Patrol Coordinating Group, an Air Border Patrol Operations has been delegated.

ILOILO CITY—President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today resolved several issues and concerns raised during the Western Visayas Regional Development Council meeting.

On the need to rehabilitate nine irrigation system to boost agricultural production in Western Visayas, the President instructed the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) to formulate an effective system to identify and prioritize irrigation facilities requiring urgent rehabilitation and work so that these could be immediately funded.

The President also tasked the Presidential Commission on Ecological Waste Management to facilitate the conversion of the Calajunan Dumpsite in Mandurriao, Iloilo City from open dumping to sanitary landfill.

On the Panay River Flood Control Project, the President said the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is planning to propose the project under the 27^th Regular Yen Loan Package (RYLP) in 2005.

The DPWH said the flood control project was proposed under the 26^th RYLP but was not accommodated because of the agency’s annual budget ceiling. But it may also be proposed under the new special yen loan package special term economic partnership.

The President also instructed PhilHealth officials to prepare a separate National Health Insurance package for indigenous peoples, as she noted their culture and way of life. The Local Government Units (LGUs) will fund this project.

She further instructed the DPWH to release funds to complete the Leon-Tubungan Remegio Road that will open the mountainous portions of the road and shorten travel time between Iloilo and Antique.

It will also open up new areas for development, enhance peace and order in the area and assure the delivery of vital social services.

Other issues raised during the RDC meeting today included:

• The need to speed up the implementation of socialized housing projects and the issuance of a proclamation reserving portions of Barangays Veterans Village and Sto. Rosario here. The areas were once under the United States military reservations turned over to the Armed Forces oft the Philippines (AFP). The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has endorsed the issuance of the proclamation, and the President has approved it.

• The non-approval of applications for land use conversion of agricultural lands to residential use in Barangay Balabag, Iloilo. The President instructed the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR)/PARC to fast-track the approval of applications to facilitate the final individual titling of the property and its eventual release to qualified beneficiaries of the resettlement site.

Malacaņang today announced that the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) has already enrolled 2.4-million beneficiaries or 440,828 families in urban areas nationwide as of June 1, 2002, surpassing President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s State-of-the-Nation Address (SONA) target of enrolling 500,000 urban poor beneficiaries in the National Health Insurance Program (NHIP) in a year’s time.

"As early as December 2001, Philhealth already reached its SONA target of 500,000 beneficiaries, almost seven months ahead of schedule," Dr. Francisco T. Duque III said in his report to the President shortly before he enplaned to the United States to attend a USAID conference.

"We are confident that before the President delivers her next SONA, Philhealth would have enrolled 2.4 million beneficiaries, which is more than five times its target," Duque said.

It will be recalled that in her first SONA, the President recognized the crucial role of social health insurance in the country’s development efforts as she committed the enrollment of 500,000 urban poor Filipinos in the NHIP.

Citing the need for universal health care to help the poor cope with the prohibitive costs of getting sick, the President directed the Philhealth to expand its network coverage to the poor, particularly those living in the urban areas.

Duque said that soon after the President pledged to expand Philhealth’s coverage, he created a team to push for plan 500 enrolment among the corporation’s regional offices.

One of the top performing government executives under the Macapagal-Arroyo administration, Duque is the son of the late Health Secretary Francisco Duque who served under former President Diosdado Macapagal and was regarded as the father of Medicare, the precursor of Philhealth.

He disclosed that a total of 402 urban local government units are currently participating in the NHIP-greater Medicare Access backed up with memoranda of agreements signed with the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), the League of Provinces, Cities and Municipalities, and the Liga ng mga Barangay.

As of June 1, 2002, the following Philhealth regional offices have posted the following enrollment records: NCR-Rizal, 40,675 families or 203,375 beneficiaries; PRO CAR, 7307 families with 36,535 beneficiaries; PRO 1, 22,551 or 112,755 beneficiaries; PRO II, 14251 or 71,255 beneficiaries, PRO III, 74,497 families or 372,485 beneficiaries, PRO IV A, 26,158 families or 130,790 beneficiaries; PRO IV B, 37,445 families or 187,225 beneficiaries; PRO V, 16,543 families or 82,715 beneficiaries; PRO VI, 48,282 or 241,410 beneficiaries, PRO VII, 4, 472 or 22, 360 beneficiaries; PRO VIII, 13,086 families or 65,430 beneficiaries; PRO IX, 9,433 families or 47,165 beneficiaries; PRO X, 81,372 families or 406,860 beneficiaries; PRO XI, 21,246 families or 106,230 families; PRO XII, 9,985 families or 49,925 beneficiaries; PRO CARAGA, 13,525 families of 67,625 beneficiaries.