President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo donated last night the equivalent of one month of her salary to Children’s Hour, a fund-raising program to champion the cause of less fortunate children and youth.

Presidential Daughter Evangeline Lourdes "Luli" Arroyo also made a donation to the program which invests funds in carefully selected projects addressing child abuse and deprivation as well as health care and education.

The President led government and business leaders in the Children’s Hour fund-raising dinner held at the Le Souffle at the Fort in Fort Bonifacio.

Among the other officials present during the affair were Executive Secretary Alberto Romulo, Social Welfare and Development Secretary Corazon Juliano-Soliman, Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Benjamin Defensor, and retired general and former Executive Secretary Renato de Villa.

During the benefit dinner, the Children’s Hour raised P3 million, P1.2 million of which came from the employees of Globe Company who voluntarily donated one hour of their monthly salaries.

The global fund-raising campaign involves the donation of one hour’s worth of earnings to Children’s Hour, which, to date, has raised about P40 million from companies, employees and private individuals.

In his welcome remarks, Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala II, honorary chair of Children’s Hour, said the Children’s Hour Steering Committee is inviting more government and business leaders to champion the cause of the children and youth.

"We wish to build on the wellspring of generosity to re-launch the Children’s Hour to give them once again an opportunity to champion the cause of children among their employees and company executives. We can then advocate among other companies to come and join us in this campaign to save our children from illiteracy, homelessness, hunger and abuse," Zobel said.

Children’s Hour was launched in the Philippines in 1999 and again this year to assist millions of Filipino children in need.

Children’s Hour has helped over 88,000 Filipino children and youth through hospitals and organizations that provide preventive and rehabilitative services, temporary shelter, feeding and nutrition programs and education.

Organizations that have been supported by Children’s Hour include Bantay Bata, the Center of Excellence in Public Elementary Education, Tuloy sa Don Bosco Street Children Project, Tabang Mindanaw II, International Deaf Education Association, Kamalayan Development Foundation and the Bulig Foundation.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today ordered Energy Secretary Vicente Perez to immediately review the country’s power policies and programs, as well as the changing legal framework, to ensure that the energy sector would continue to attract private investments.

In a statement, Presidential Spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao said that the President’s directive to Perez was also aimed at ensuring that the energy requirements of the people would be served.

The President’s order came on the heels of the Supreme Court decision ordering the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) to refund its more than three million customers for over billing dating back to l994.

Tiglao said that the President’s efforts in the past several days are intended to ensure Meralco’s "stability to continue electricity distribution, and to undertake an orderly, yet strict compliance with the law the minute the Supreme Court orders the refund."

He stressed that "no refund can be made if Meralco is unable to continue its operations and ceases to exist."

According to Tiglao, for Meralco’s customers to be refunded, the moment the Supreme Court issues its final ruling and it becomes executory, there must be an entity that will handle the refunding.

The President has earlier directed Perez to form a working group, consisting of Meralco’s officials and creditors, including government stakeholders, to address the company’s problems and to formulate a plan to maintain the firm’s financial stability as a public utility.

This presidential directive for the formation of a working group represents one of the President’s efforts to find ways and means to ensure the stability of the public utility and its capability to comply with a Supreme Court final decision on the refund, Tiglao said.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today met with Ambassador Robert Zoellick, United States Trade Representative, and discussed with him the implementation of President George W. Bush’s initiative to further enhance Association of Southeast Asian Nations-United States (ASEAN-US) economic ties.

The Enterprise for ASEAN Initiative (EAI), launched by President Bush during the last APEC neeting in Los Cabos, Mexico, offered the prospect of bilateral free trade agreements between the United States and ASEAN countries that are committed to economic reforms and openness.

The President said that while she is "sticking her neck out" in her support of the US policies and decisions such as the fight against international terrorism and other US policies on trade, the President called on the US to give ASEAN countries, specially the Philippines, more access to the US market.

The President also said the Philippines must first address the perils of globalization by insisting on a rule-based multilateral trading system which ensures economic growth and employment for the people.

"There are barriers and sanctions that the Filipino people perceive to be adding to the poverty of the nation," she said, stressing that these must be removed, if not minimized.

The President also pointed out that the Philippines is moving toward its intellectual property rights. She cited the "substantial and dramatic" achievement in this field, saying that the government has closed down the big factories that manufactured pirated copies of films and CDs.

The President likewise reiterated his congratulations to President Bush for the latter’s recent victory in the passage of the United Nations Security Council Resolution on the inspecting for weapons of mass destruction, Iraq.

After the meeting of President Macapagal-Arroyo with Ambassador Zoellick at the State Dining Room of Malacaņang, the two proceeded to have lunch with five ASEAN Economic Ministers at the Music Room of Malacaņang wherein Ambassador Zoellick also discussed the Enterprise ASEAN Initiative.

Malacaņang announced today that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has ordered the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) to postpone the "soft opening" of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 on December 15 due to security and public safety issues that have not yet been addressed by PIATCO.

Presidential Spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao said the deferment of the opening of NAIA 3 was based on the recommendation of Transportation Secretary Leandro Mendoza.

"It was Secretary Mendoza’s recommendation, which means he provided arguments for that. Other officials and advisers of the President agreed on the recommendation," Tiglao said during a press briefing in Malacaņang this afternoon.

Tiglao said that once an independent audit body tells the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) that the terminal is ready to open, then the government will abide, Tiglao said.

"We have repeatedly said that this is not a kind of sari-sari store. This is an airport. You are risking the lives of the people here if you do not strictly comply with the contract requirements," Tiglao added.