President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today signed into law a bill amending the Balikbayan law, granting special privileges to overseas Filipino workers and former Filipinos and their families, and four other measures of national interest.

The new Balikbayan law, Republic Act No. 9174, acknowledges the contribution of the overseas Filipino workers and former Filipino citizens to the Philippine economy through the foreign exchange inflows and revenues they generate.

The new law also provides additional benefits and privileges to all overseas Filipino once they come and visit their motherland.

Among the perks is the "kabuhayan shopping privilege" allowing tax-exempt purchase of livelihood tools that would enable them to become economically self-reliant members of society upon their return to the country.

Such tools refer to instruments, including computers and accessories, necessary in the practice of one’s trade or profession.

The law also entitles the balikbayan and his or her family to tax-exempt purchases in the amount of $1,500 at duty-free shops; discounted rates in domestic carriers; and visa-free entry to the Philippines for a period of one year for foreign passport holders, among others.

The President also signed Republic Act No. 9175, also known as the Chain Saw Act of 2002, which regulates the ownership, possession, unlawful importation or manufacturing and use of chain saws to prevent them from being used in illegal logging or unauthorized clearing of forest.

The Chain Saw Act shall impose a stiff penalty on any person who sells, purchases, transfers the ownership, engages in the unlawful importation or manufacturing and distribution or otherwise disposes or possesses a chain saw without first securing the necessary permit from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

She also signed Republic Act No. 9176, or Free Patent Law, extending until December 31, 2020 the period for the filing of applications for administrative legalization and judicial confirmation of imperfect and incomplete titles to alienable and disposable lands of the public domain.

The President also signed Republic Act No. 9177, declaring the first day of Shawwal, the tenth month of the Islamic Calendar, as a national holiday for the observance of Eidul Fitr; and the tenth day of Zhul Hijja, the twelfth month of the Islamic Calendar, as a regional holiday in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) for the observance of Eidul Dha.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today directed Transportation and Communications Secretary Leandro Mendoza to conduct a separate investigation at the department level on the Laoag International Airline (LIA) Fokker 27 plane that crashed Monday into the Manila Bay.

"I have asked Larry Mendoza that the investigation must be elevated to him. I talked to him this morning. So, he is constituting a board at the level of the department to investigate the accident," the Chief Executive said in her regular meeting with members of the Malacaņang Press Corps.

The President said that while it is automatic for the Air Transportation Office (ATO) to investigate the accident, she had also asked Mendoza to "conduct an investigation at the department level."

"People want to know what happened. Praise God our plane accidents are quite rare. So that when it happens people really want to know as soon as possible what happened and they want as much as possible an objective investigation," she said.

The President pointed out that a C-130 of the Philippine Air Force will be used to transport the victims and their families to Batanes because now that the LIA planes are grounded, there are no flights to Batanes.

She stressed that even before the plane accident, she had released additional funds to the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) so that it can conduct more trainings for the country’s air safety inspectors.

"That’s why it is a coincidence or may be providential. I am not saying that there is a failure of inspection here. But what I am saying is that we are continuously upgrading the capability of the regulatory framework for air safety especially at the time when we have a terrorist threat," she said.

President Gloria Macapaga-Arroyo today told reporters not to expect Cabinet changes on November 30 but rather major policy directions for the coming year.

In her regular luncheon meeting with members of the Malacaņang Press Corps, the President gave a hint of what to expect: "I want to form a Council of Economic Advisers made up of professional economists who are not in the executive."

The President said changes in the Cabinet have been a continuing thing. "It is not exactly the same Cabinet I started with," the President said.

She said here is nothing unusual to expect on November 30 with regard to the Cabinet. "Right now, I have nobody in mind for announcing on November 30," the President said.

In revealing her plans for the formation of a Council of Economic Advisers, the President stressed the importance of having people who are not in government provide a different outlook.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today signed Republic Act No. 9176, known as the Free Patent Law, extending until December 31, 2020 the period for the filing of applications for administrative legalization and judicial confirmation of imperfect and incomplete titles to alienable and disposable public lands.

The law, signed in the presence of members of the Senate and the House of Representatives at Malacaņang’s Ceremonial Hall this morning, gives impetus to the President’s campaign for agricultural modernization and the empowerment of the people.

The President said this law will enable landowners to secure financing for business ventures that they may wish to go into.

Landowners and claimants to the alienable and public domain lands will now have enough time to register their land.

However, the law provides that the extension period shall apply only where the area applied for does not exceed twelve hectares.

The applications for the free patents may be filed in the DENR - Community Environment and Natural Resources Office in every region.

After the establishment of the American government in the Philippines, the United States Congress passed the Philippine Bill of July 1, 1902 for the methods of disposing of the public domain ceded to the United States by Spain.

It authorized the Philippine government to dispose of the public agricultural lands in the country by means of free patent, among others.

In accordance with said authority, the Philippine Commission passed Public Land Law No. 926 which was later superseded by Act No. 2874 which in turn has been superseded by the present Public Land Law known as Commonwealth Act No. 141.