NAGA CITY – Most of the programs and projects in Region 5 (Bicol) covered by the State of the Nation Address (SONA) of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo have been accomplished.

This is based on the report submitted to the President by Presidential Management Staff Undersecretary Ricardo L. Saludo during the joint meeting of the Regional Development Council (RDC) and Regional Peace and Order Council (RPOC) yesterday held at the Magic Splash Resort in Barangay Carolina here.

In his report, Saludo revealed that as of May 31, 2002, some 2,062 households in Region 5 have been provided housing assistance through slum upgrading, resettlement, sites and services, cooperative housing, Community Land Acquisition Program and other socialized housing programs from January 2001 to February 2002.

As of February 28 this year, a total of 4,700 households have also been provided security of land tenure in Legaspi City, Albay.

Since May 15, 2002, a total of 93 rolling stores have been deployed to 115 cities and municipalities and 3,537 barangays in the six provinces of the region and were patronized by 3,939,603 consumers, the PMS report said.

Saludo also reported that some 8,007 women borrowers in Region 5 have been provided micro-finance and livelihood assistance from July 2001 to March 2002.

Also, a total of 104,029 beneficiaries from 22,615 rural poor households in the region were provided health insurance and some 65,683 beneficiaries from 14,279 urban poor families have been enrolled under the National Health Insurance Program.

At least 60,000 jobs were created in the agriculture sector in the region last year, including 13,473 jobs generated in credit and 626 jobs in irrigation.

He added that under the implementation of Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act (AFMA), a total of P96.95 million was allocated for Bicol region. Of this amount, P90.34 million has been utilized for the GMA rice and corn, high value crops and livestock programs.

He also said that from January to March this year, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) distributed 1,319 hectares of land. Last year, a total of 9,874 hectares were also distributed by the DAR.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources, meanwhile, issued Certificates of Allocation covering 8,106 hectares from July 2001 to May 2002 to farmers beneficiaries from Albay, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Catanduanes, Masbate and Sorsogon.

As of May 14, 2002, exactly 1,614,383 textbooks were delivered to the region.

The Department of Public Works and Highways and Department of Education are also constructing school building in 15 barangays in the six provinces in the region.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today announced the creation of a an Anti-Professional Squatting Task Force which would identify the genuine landless individuals from the professional squatters who make use of squatting for business purposes.

The Chief Executive made the announcement in her speech before some 1,000 urban poor leaders during the celebration of the Third Social Housing Week initiated by the Social Housing Movement, Inc. (SHMI) at the Amoranto Stadium on Roces Avenue, Quezon City.

The President appointed Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) Chairman Michael Defensor as chairman of the task force.

She said that some non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have been reporting about noted professional squatters. "We have already apprehended and filed charges against some of them," the President said.

According to the President, professional squatters are making it difficult for the administration to give the genuine landless individuals shelter security for their families.

The President said that she formed the Anti-Professional Squatting Task Force in response to the proposal of the SHMI, an NGO, which has been an active advocate of the social housing program. The SHMI has also been the proponent of more than 120 housing and livelihood projects in the urban poor communities.

She said that her decision to create the task force is part of the government’s institutionalized consultations with the Filipino citizenry.

"Ito ay ginagawa ko dahil kayo at iba pang mga NGO ay nagpapanukala na dapat ihiwalay iyong genuine na naghahanap ng lupa sa mga professional squatters (I decide to create the task force because the SHMI and other NGOs made the proposal that would separate the genuine landless individuals to the professional squatters)," the President said.

The President asked the SHMI to be part of the task force and work with Defensor in arresting and filing charges against the members of the professional squatting syndicates.

When she was not yet president, the Chief Executive said, whenever she moved around, the urban poor used to tell her about their primary concern, which is to have shelter security.

It is for this reason, the President added, that she wants 150,000 families to have shelter security every year.

NAGA CITY—President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo yesterday said that her administration would extend full budgetary support to projects and programs in the Bicol Region, especially on energy generation and agriculture.

The President, who made the announcement during the joint meeting of the Regional Development Council (RDC) and the Regional Peace and Order Council (RPOC) held Monday at the Magic Splash Resort here, noted that Bicol is one of the poorest regions in the country.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary and National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary-General Dante Canlas, in his briefing to the President and the joint meeting, said that poverty incidence in the region was 55.4 percent in the year 2000, making Bicol the second poorest region in the country.

In terms of magnitude, the region has the most number of poor families with 608,000, more than 60 percent of whom live in the rural areas. Canlas said these areas where poverty is most prevalent are also the most vulnerable to the influence of communist insurgents.

Unemployment in the region was 10.2 percent in 2000 and 9.2 percent in 2001, lower than the country’s unemployment rate of 11.2 and 11.3 percent in the two respective years.

However, Bicol has the highest unemployment rate in the country with 38.9 percent in 2000. Labor productivity in the same year was 53,340, second to the lowest (Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao) in the country and far below the national average of P116,752.

Gross regional domestic product (GDP) in the region in 2000 was about P89.7 billion, or 2.7 percent of the national GDP. The regional economy contracted by 0.1 percent during the year, primarily due to the slump in agriculture.

To confront these, Canlas said the Bicol region should focus on improving labor productivity, employment generation, local governance and its peace and order condition.

The government, he said, will address poverty through the provision of basic services. "Areas with high poverty incidence and peace and order problems shall be given priority in the delivery of these services," Canlas added.

The region’s endowments in the agriculture, mining and tourism sectors shall be harnessed to enhance the region’s growth, he said.

In agriculture, the NEDA secretary general said key agribusiness commodity systems shall be developed for strategic commodities such as pili, abaca, coconut, rice, queen pineapple, tiger grass, mango, livestock and fisheries.

Canlas said these will be provided with technical support, microfinancing assistance and infrastructure.

The government will also further develop the region’s mineral industry, especially its major resources such as gold, marble, clay, perlite, limestone, bentonite and diatomite.

In tourism, historical sites and cultural activities shall be aggressively promoted, and areas of outstanding natural beauty such as the Mayon View Park, Catanduanes Canopy Walk, Malabsay Falls, Bulusan and Mt. Isarog will be developed for eco-tourism.

The President checked the status of government and official development aid projects in the region, including those that involved other regions as well.

At present, there are 42 projects in the region that mostly involved infrastructure, agriculture and energy generation, including technical and livelihood projects.

The President was also briefed on the major projects with a total cost of P3.047 billion that the national government is implementing.

Malacaņang today said that the realignment of forces in the Senate that resulted in the so-called reorganization last Monday is an internal affair of that legislative body and the Executive Department would not interfere.

"This is really, and we do emphasize this, this is an internal matter affecting the organization and membership of the Senate, which in due time, we hope and we know, they will be able to resolve among themselves," Chief Presidential Legislative Liaison Officer Gabriel Claudio said in a press conference in Malacaņang.

Claudio also said that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who was in Naga City Monday where she opened the Palarong Pambansa, took the developments in the Senate "very calmly and matter-of-factly."

"There was no sign whatsoever of any agitation of any anxiety on her part," Claudio said.

Aside from opening the Palarong Pambansa, the President also presided over the joint meeting of the Regional Development Council and Regional Peace and Order Council (RDC-RPOC) for the Bicol Region.

Claudio said that Malacanang will continue to monitor the developments in the Senate "as closely as we can" although he stressed that the position of Senate President Franklin Drilon remains intact and which the opposition is not even contesting.

"For all intents and purposes, as far as we are concerned, as far as the nation is concerned, Senate President Drilon continues to be the Senate president, the leader of the Senate," Claudio said.

He said that Malacaņang and the nation will have to be guided by the pronouncements by the Senate President Drilon on the matter of interpreting the meaning of what happened last Monday and the efforts to reorganize the Senate.

Claudio also described as "not such a bad day" the first regular session of the 12^th Congress, saying that at least five important measures have been approved by the first regular session.

These are the 2002 Appropriations Act, the Anti-Money Laundering Act, the Rent Control Law, the National Service Training Program or the ROTC alternative law, and the synchronized barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections next month.

Claudio also said that among the major bills that have been passed by the first regular session and are ready for signature by the President are the Dangerous Drugs Act, the AFP Salary Base Pay, the Plant Variety Act, and the bill creating the Council of the Philippines.

"So it has not been such a bad day for Congress, whether in the Senate or the House of Representatives," Claudio said.

Claudio admitted, however, said that there will be a "slight delay" on several measures that the administration would have wanted the two houses of Congress to approve, notably the franchise bill for the National Transmission Corp. (Transco) and the Special Purpose Assets Vehicle.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today cited the importance of shelter security not only as a component of her administration’s massive housing program but also to the country’s economic development in general.

Speaking before some 1,000 urban poor leaders during the celebration of the Third Social Housing Week organized by the Social Housing Movement, Inc. (SHMI) at the Amoranto Stadium in Quezon City, the Chief Executive said the acquisition of shelter security by an individual could be used as collateral for loans for livelihood projects.

The President said that this practice has been proven a success in many countries all over the world based from studies made by Hernando de Soto, a noted proponent of empowerment of the ordinary people so that they can improve their living conditions.

De Soto, a Peruvian economist and author of the best-selling book, "The Other Path," holds that the problem of underdeveloped countries is not that their poor, who make up most of the population, have no estates. "The poor," de Soto said, "have their little business and living spaces somewhere in our blighted land."

"Gusto nating lumawak itong sistema para iyong mga maralita na taga-lungsod ay magamit ang lupang tinitirikan hindi lamang para makatira doon kung hindi para maging kolateral para magkaroon ng puhunang pangkabuhayan (We want to promote this system so that the urban poor will not only be able to use the house and lot but also to use it as collateral for loans to be used as seed capital for livelihood projects)," the President stressed.

According to the President, this system will also help improve the country’s unemployment rate. "This is one of the reasons why our government is giving importance to the need for our urban poor to have shelter security," she stressed.

The President also expressed confidence that if the government can provide shelter security to 150,000 families every year as she pledged in her first State of the Nation Address (SONA), then it will serve as a testimony to the entire Filipino citizenry about her administration’s sincerity in implementing a really socialized housing program.

As part of the government’s move to provide socialized housing affordable by the poor, the President also directed the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) through its chairman Michael Defensor to collaborate with the SHMI in disposing of the thousands of vacant housing units inherited from the previous administration.