Nov 02 2002

GMA arrives from successful trip to Mexico, US

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today arrived from a successful trip to Los Cabos, Mexico for the 10^th Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders’ Meeting and the United States.

The President, on board a Philippine Airlines commercial flight from San Francisco, arrived at 4:05 in the morning. First Gentleman Atty. Jose Miguel "Mike" Arroyo accompanied her.

On hand to welcome her during simple arrival honors were Vice President Teofisto Guingona, Jr. Executive Secretary Alberto Romulo and Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Eduardo Ermita. Presidential daughter Evangeline Lourdes "Luli" was also present to welcome her parents.

During her trip, the President was able to accomplish her mission while attending the 10^th APEC and was able to meet with American investors as well as Filipino communities in the U.S.

At the APEC summit, the President stated the strong commitment of the Philippines in supporting the U.S. in the fight against global terrorism.

During the summit the President has also successfully brought forward her stand that there is a link between terrorism and poverty, saying the poor countries can be an ideal breeding ground for terrorist activities.

In her meetings with members of the Filipino community, first in Honolulu, and later in San Diego and in San Francisco, California, the President was warmly greeted by Filipinos, especially when she announced the passage by both houses of Congress of the absentee voting bill and the dual citizenship bill.

At Silicon Valley, leading manufacturers of electronics and information and communications technology products have also assured the President of their continued confidence in the Philippine economy.

One of the chief executive officers of Silicon Valley, Richard Swanson, president of Sunpower Corp., promised to establish a $ 200-million solar cell manufacturing company in the country, which would be fully operational by 2004.

It is expected to generate at least 1, 400 jobs in four years.

Aside from Sunpower Corp, Cypress Semiconductor Corp., also informed the President of its plans to put up a silicon wafer fabrication plant in the Philippines.

Cypress, a company that specializes in high-volume manufacturing of silicon cells at very low cost, is a major partner of Sunpower, a premier manufacturer of ultra high-efficiency silicon solar cells.

Other major Silicon Valley investors in the country include PeopleSoft, Cisco, HP-Compaq, Oracle, Sun Microsystems, Sybase and Agilent Technologies.

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GMA leaves tomorrow for Cambodia to attend eight ASEAN summit

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will leave on Sunday (November 3) for Cambodia to attend the 8^th ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) summit.

The Chief Executive will be in Cambodia from November 3 to 6 for the summit to further Philippine interests in the multilateral gathering. After her three-day trip to Cambodia, the President will proceed to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam for a state visit on November 6 and 7.

The President, fresh from her successful trip to attend the 10^th Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders Meeting in Los Cabos, Mexico, will be accompanied by a small group of Cabinet members.

The President’s five-day trip to Cambodia and Vietnam will be her first since she assumed the presidency in January 2001. Her attendance in the ASEAN summit will be her second. The first was in Brunei Darussalam during the Seventh ASEAN summit last year.

Upon arrival at the Pochentong International Airport in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, the President will be accorded simple arrival honors.

After the arrival ceremonies, the President and her official delegation will immediately be motored to Hotel Cambodiana, where they are going to be billeted.

The first official activity of the President in Cambodia will be a meeting with the Filipino community at the Hotel Cambodiana’s Ballroom.

Based on a fact sheet released by the Department of Foreign Affairs, there are some 680 Filipinos living in Cambodia.

Most of the Filipinos in Cambodia work for non-government organizations, the United Nations and other international organizations. Others work as missionaries, engineers, factory workers, and in service works as singers and entertainers, teachers and restaurant workers.

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Statement of Presidential Spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao

We welcome the revision yesterday by the US State Department of its Oct. 23 ‘travel advisory" to the Philippines, which acknowledged our government’s efforts to deter terrorist attacks in our country. American intelligence warned that such attacks would be launched, in the aftermath of the Bali, Indonesia bombings, in Southeast Asia by Jemaah islamiyah and other terrorists cells linked to the Al Qaeda.

The US State Department’s Public Announcement released yesterday, and which superseded its Oct. 23 announcement noted:

"Philippine authorities have confirmed that they have put into place extra security measures…to deter possible terrorists attacks and to protect the public, including resident and traveling foreigners."

There are actually two types of what are informally called "travel advisories" by the State Department. Travel warnings are issued by the State Department "to recommend that Americans avoid travel to a certain country. Public Announcement are issued "to disseminate information about terrorist threats and other relatively short-term and/or trans-national conditions posing significant risks to the security of American travelers."

As of today there are 25 countries in the US State Department’s list of "Travel Warnings", or countries which it advises Americans to avoid travel to. The Philippines is not in this list.

The Philippines however is in the list of 17 countries, which the US has issued Public Announcements on. A US Public Announcement on a particular country essentially advises its citizens to exercise caution and vigilance when traveling to that country in the face of short-term terrorists or other threats.

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