President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo last night received the assurance of United States President George W. Bush of continued US support for the Philippine government’s efforts to combat terrorism.

The US President pledged US assistance during a telephone call to Manila to discuss with the Philippine leader the current situation in the war on terrorism.

Mr. Bush "expressed appreciation for President Arroyo’s leadership in combating terrorism in the Philippines, and pledged continued US support for her government’s effort," White House Deputy Press Secretary Scott McClellan told White House reporters during his daily briefing in Washington.

The Philippine President has been at the forefront of regional efforts to combat terrorism in the Southeast Asian region.

She was among the first world leaders to support the US President’s call for a global coalition to fight international terrorism.

The White House spokesman said "we are making tremendous progress" in the global war against terrorism.

There is a global coalition of 90 countries in the war against terrorism working to find, to hunt down and bring terrorists to justice, wherever they are, McClellan said.

Some 167 countries are also working closely together to block terrorist assets, cutting the flow of terrorist money through a number of funding pipelines.

BARAS, Rizal – President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today welcomed back to the fold of the law some 150 former members and sympathizers of the New People’s Army (NPA) from Rizal province who were presented to her at the Multi-Purpose Gym of Barangay Pinugay here.

"Welcome back, my countrymen and countrywomen. Hindi kayo magsisi na kayo ay nagbalik-loob (You will not regret your coming back to the fold of the law)," the President said.

The rebel returnees were mostly members of the urban poor communities in 17 barangays in six towns of Rizal, namely, Rodriguez, Tanay, Baras, Pililia, Morong and Antipolo.

The President said the national government will be giving to the surrenderees and others who are planning to come down from the mountains core shelters, or munting pabahay located at Barangay Pinugay here. The land was donated by the provincial government of Rizal.

"So isasama natin sa Kalahi program ang munting pabahay for the rebel returnees (We will include in the Kalahi program the construction of small houses for the rebel returnees), the President said, citing as a model the government’s housing program in Baseco in Port Area, Manila.

The core shelters, the President said, were meant to be temporary homes for the residents in Baseco until the government could find another place for them.

The President, however, said the residents were satisfied with the beautiful but small "bahay-kubos" or huts which were bigger and better than their old dwellings.

"So, okay na ito, bahala na kaming magpalaki pag umunlad ang aming kabuhayan (This is all right. We will rebuild and make extensions as our income grows)," the President quoted the residents of Baseco as saying.

Aside from the housing program, each rebel returnee received cash assistance of P2,500 from the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, a check for P2,000 from the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, one-year free medical assistance from PhilHealth Insurance Corporation and food packages from the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

The former NPA rebels surrendered to the officers and men of the 2^nd Infantry Division under the command of Maj. Gen. Efren Abu.

According to the surrenderees, life is hard in the mountains. There is no source of income, and even if they plant vegetables, there is no market since the marketplace is too far away.

General Abu said these rebels came to recognize that the government was sincere in helping those who wish to go back to the folds of the law and lead normal, productive lives.

The former NPAs took their oath of allegiance to the Philippine Constitution before the President.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today thanked the Philippine National Railways (PNR) and two major companies in China for their effort to finance the rehabilitation of Mainline South railways from Calamba, Laguna to Albay and the extension of Mainline South to Matnog, Sorsogon.

The President made the statement after she witnessed the signing of Memorandum of Understanding held at Malacaņang’s Ceremonial Hall this afternoon between the PNR and China National Technical Import-Export Corporation (CNTIC) and the China National Machinery Import & Export Corporation (CMC).

This project will constitutes a key component of the President’s vision of a national railway system under an integrated Philippine National Rail Authority (PNRA).

The MOU was signed in the presence of the President together with House Speaker Jose de Venecia, Jr., Transportation Secretary Leandro Mendoza and Chinese Ambassador Wang Chungui.

PNR Chairperson Josefa Aquino and Jose Ma. I. Sarasola, general manager of PNR, were the signatories on behalf of PNR while Jiang Xinsheng, president of CNTIC, and Li Bin, president of CMC, signed for the Chinese companies.

Also present during the signing ceremony were Zhang Ru En, vice president of China General Technology (Group) Holding, Ltd., parent company of CNTIC and CMC; and Yu Shizong, Economic and Commercial Counsellor of China.

The Chinese group is committed to complete the project study within 120 days and subsequently develop a firm, fast-track implementation of the schedule with 100% financing under the most favorable obtainable terms available from the People’s Republic of China.

The completion of Mainline South will kick-start the economic development of the entire Southern Luzon region.

Changes in Cabinet posts are undertaken through presidential actions, not through media speculations, and will be undertaken at any time there is a need to do so.

So-called "courtesy resignations" are neither necessary nor relevant for the President’s decision to make Cabinet changes. She will make changes the moment there is a need to do so, with or without courtesy resignations.

All Cabinet members have individually expressed to the President that they have the fullest confidence in her judgment to make Cabinet changes. They all have emphasized that they serve at the pleasure of the President, and that they will leave government the minute the President thinks they are or can no longer be effective in their posts.

It is deplorable that one newspaper has been persistent for several days now in claiming –always quoting unnamed sources—a plan for a Cabinet "revamp". There is simply no such plan.

The Meralco controversy which started way back in 1994 involving whether or not the company overcharged customers since that year has been decided upon by the Third Division of the Supreme Court, appealable to the Court en banc.

The Executive branch of the government is mandated by the Constitution to implement all the decisions of the judicial branch of government.

We take exception to the bleak economic scenario Meralco’s lawyers have foisted before the Supreme Court and the media, if their client loses its case. Meralco’s lawyers should not spread in the media unfounded fears and claims intended to influence the justices’ decision.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today urged foreign business leaders to continue to share her vision of building a strong Republic.

In her speech before a luncheon meeting of the joint foreign chambers of commerce at the Shangri-La Hotel in Makati City, the President said her administration has done things nobody was able to do for many years.

She said that the government has worked hard to deliver a stable economy.

"In moving towards a strong Republic, when you are starting from what many have considered for a long time as a soft state, you often have to wait a while before you get the dividend of economic reform," she said.

"Let me remind you that I have been in office 21 months. It takes three years to construct your factory from the time you conceptualized it. When I say I am moving towards a strong Republic, don’t expect that it should be there the next day," she said.

"Before you get there, you go through all of these economic and political difficulties. I am willing to go through them but I ask you, the members of the international business community, let us share this vision together," the President added.

In stressing the need for cooperation and unity, the President enumerated eight points that she intends to tackle in the six months. These are:

• promote the growth of the small and medium enterprises, which are the most effective and efficient leaders of capital.

• jumpstart housing, a sector considered to effect the biggest multiplier.

• reduce transport costs from Mindanao to Luzon through a P30- billion roll on-roll off port and ferry system to be funded by the Development Bank of the Philippines.

• infrastructure to decongest Metro Manila, with focus on the North Rail between Metro Manila and Clark and the continuation of the South Toll Road all the way to Batangas Port.

• mobilize the contribution of the Presidential Commission on Good Government to the fiscal resources of the government, particularly the $600-million Marcos deposits with the Philippine National Bank and liquefy the coconut levy’s remaining 27 percent share of San Miguel Corp.

• make Makati a specific urban tourist destination with its compact, easy to secure location, world-class mall and entertainment facilities and internationally considered cheap shopping

• stimulate private investment in agriculture by pursuing legislation to enable banks to accept agricultural land as collateral

• Begin the complete staff work to make the reclamation area in Roxas Boulevard a tourism complex to be called the Bagong Nayong Pilipino Tourism Estate.

The President noted that her administration is an active reformist government. "I would be the last person to pretend that we’re always 100 percent right but we have a strong record to look to. We offer it at a time of intense international uncertainty and concern. We offer a capacity as well, a record of stability, of predictability and of knowing what we believe in a what we stand for," she said.