The economy maintained its growth momentum in the third quarter of the year, expanding by 3.8 percent from a year earlier as growth in the non-agricultural sector offset the slight decline in agriculture.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Dante B. Canlas, who is also secretary general of the National Economic and Development Authority, said the real gross domestic product (GDP) in the first three quarters of the year expanded to 4.1 percent, taking into account the adjusted second quarter growth of 4.8 percent from an initial estimate of 4.5 percent. GDP is the value of all goods and services produced domestically.

"We are confident about realizing the government’s projections for the Philippine economy in 2002: 4.0-4.5 percent for GDP growth and 4.5 –5.0 percent for GNP," Canlas said.

The National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) said the GDP growth for the first three quarters of 2002 is 1.1 percentage points higher than its 3.0 percent performance in 2001.

With the Net Factor Income from Abroad (NFIA) showing a 6.0% improvement over its level last year, the country’s Gross National Product (GNP) increased by 4.2 percent.

The NCSB said per capita GDP rose by 1.9 percent, from 0.8 percent growth registered in the first nine months of last year. Similarly, per capita GNP moved up by 2.1 percent while per capita PCE (personal consumption expenditure) grew by 1.6 percent during the period.

The NCSB, an agency under NEDA, said the services sector maintained its economic strength, contributing 2.3 percentage points to the GDP growth. It posted a 5.1% increase in the first three quarters of the year, higher than its 4.2 percent upswing last year.

All of the services sectors showed improved growth during the period, except for the trade sector which maintained its growth of 5.5 percent, the NCSB added.

The statistical board said the growth rate of finance increased by 0.9 percentage points from 1.7 percent in 2001 to 2.6 percent in 2002 while ownership of dwellings and real state recovered from its negative performance last year, reflecting a positive 1.4 percent growth.

According to the NCSB, the industry sector posted a 3.8 percent increment in the first three quarters of 2002, 2.3 percentage points higher than its 1.5 percent growth recorded a year ago. The growth of the industry sector can be attributed to the recovery of mining and quarrying and construction sectors.

Canlas said the strong growth of industry and services indicates that the policies of the Macapagal-Arroyo administration designed for macroeconomic stability and long term industrial restructuring are working. These policies contribute to the recovery of industry and the self-sustaining growth in services, he added.

Canlas also said the administration’s commitment to the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act is transforming agriculture. The growth of poultry and livestock and fishery attests to this, Canlas added.

On the side of aggregate demand, the overall resilience of the economy is due to private consumption, which grew at its fastest rate of 4.1 percent in four and a half years, and robust investments in fixed capital, Canlas said.

Consumption also drew strength from stable income growth of overseas Filipino workers, Canlas said. However, government consumption retreated in line with the government’s efforts to curb the deficit, he added.

"We expect the fall in government spending to be temporary in view of the Administration’s enhanced tax collection efforts," the socioeconomic planning secretary said.

Moving forward, sustained growth of personal consumption spending, replenishment of reduced inventory levels, and continuing growth of the country’s external trade partners will maintain the economic growth momentum, Canlas said.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today ordered the immediate deactivation of the Southern Philippines Development Authority (SPDA) and declared vacant effective immediately all positions in the board of directors, board of advisers and the administrator.

The President, through Executive Order No. 149, created a Task Force to oversee the deactivation process of SPDA. Presidential Assistant for Mindanao Jesus Dureza has been designated head of the Task Force with representatives from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) and the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process as members.

The Task Force was tasked to recommend to the President not later than March 30, 2003 and, subsequently, implement the dispositive action with reference to the functions, personnel, assets and liabilities of SPDA. It was also asked to safeguard the assets of SPDA pending their final disposition.

The Task Force was also directed by the President to file criminal and administrative charges against any SPDA official or personnel who may be found liable for any wrongdoing in the course of the audit of its operations.

"Deactivation" is a winding up process within presidential prerogative, short of abolition. Only the Congress can abolish SPDA as it was created by legislative fiat, Presidential Decree 690, as amended. SPDA is an agency attached of the Office of the President.

SPDA personnel, except those who shall be needed for the skeletal force, whether permanent, contractual, consultant or job-hired, are deemed separated from the service effective December 30, 2002. SPDA personnel qualified for retirement may elect optional retirement.

All benefits, including payment of leave credits, will be paid within one month from the filing of the necessary clearances and other documents by SPDA personnel.

Displaced SPDA personnel shall be given priority in hiring for existing vacant positions in other government agencies, subject to compliance with established standards set by the receiving agencies. Said transfer or re-employment with other agencies shall be exempt from the prohibition on new hiring.

E.O. 149 said some of the functions of SPDA are also being performed by other existing agencies of the bureaucracy. It further noted that there is a need to constantly monitor the overlapping functions among the agencies of government to avoid duplication of work and in order to streamline the functions of the bureaucracy.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today said that the length of command in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is not the most relevant trait of a good military leadership.

In her speech during the AFP change of command ceremony in Camp Aguinaldo this morning, the President scored her critics for questioning the short terms of former Chiefs of Staff Generals Roy Cimatu and Benjamin Defensor.

"I am unperturbed by criticisms of the short terms of the last two chiefs of staff. For it is leadership, not time, that is the sole measure of command. And I shall continue to judge the command only by a high standard of merit and professionalism," the President said.

The President believes that there is no essential relationship between the brief stints of the last two chiefs of staff and the stability of the Armed Forces.

"Our last two chiefs of staff are our best argument that the length of command is not the most relevant trait of good military leadership," she said.

The President said that under General Defensor, the AFP started to untie the "Gordian knots" of local terrorism, insurgency and poverty through successful military operations against the Abu Sayyaf and the local communist movements.

The President then enjoined General Dionisio Santiago, the new AFP chief, to "continue untying that Gordian knot."

She assured the military organization that she would continue to judge the command of the AFP only by the high standard of merit and professionalism.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today presided over the change of command in the Armed Forces of the Philippines from the "Poet General" to the "Chuck Norris of the Delta Force of the country."

The President handed over the saber of command of the AFP from outgoing Gen. Benjamin Defensor, whom she called the Poet General, to General Dionisio R. Santiago, whom she described as the Chuck Norris of the Delta Force, during ceremonies held in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City, this morning.

In her speech, President said that in her 20 months of leadership, she has presided over the AFP change of command from the "Philosopher General," now Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes, to Gen. Diomedio Villanueva, to the "Thinking General," Roy Cimatu, to Defensor and Santiago.

The President said all her choices for AFP chief of staff have shown outstanding leadership, loyalty to the Constitution, and faith in the change of command and the Commander in Chief.

The President said General Santiago, who headed the Special Operations Command (Socom), put his career on the line for the people in the events leading to January 2001.

"And that is why I trust him with my life. I trust him, I entrust to him the leadership of the Armed Forces of the Philippines," the President added.

Two crucial moments stand out in the career of Santiago: January 2001 when he decided to support the people’s clamor for the restoration of moral ascendancy to the tarnished image of the presidency while he was in command of the Army’s Socom and May 1, 2001, his successful defense of Malacanang against groups attempting to wrest control of power while he was overall commander of Joint Task Force Libra.

As Socom chief, he was the overall leader of an elite group of Scout Rangers and Special Forces men.

The President said Santiago conceptualized the formation of Light Reaction Companies in all tactical units of the Philippine Army, which has become one of the most cost-effective strategies of counterinsurgency and counter-terrorism.

She said Santiago is comfortable in the field as in the boardroom, having served as assistant chief of staff for plans of the Philippine Army, director of the National Security Studies, trade attaché at the Philippine Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, and attaché at the Philippine Consulate in Seattle, Washington.

The President said: "To me, the greatest part of (Santiago’s) preparation for his present work is not really in his biodata. Most of all, to me, from what I have seen of him, I consider (Santiago) as the Socom Commander; that’s why I call him the Delta Force and the Chuck Norris."

General Santiago is a seasoned combat officer whose expertise was molded by the divergent threat environments in Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao. He has also had diverse postings in government agencies and diplomatic missions.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today called on the Filipino people to do away with too much politics as she said that our political system, which is based on patronage, is largely to be blamed for the country’s economic woes.

In her policy speech at the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) change of command ceremony held this morning at Camp Aquinaldo in Quezon City, the President said that too much politics that has contributed to a weak state is a collective blame "that we must all share in," admitting that she herself is a politician.

"What is important is the willingness to change. And over time, this can happen," the President said.

The President cited three symptoms of a weak state that her administration, as well as the administrations before hers, have tried to correct.

First, she said, is the large gap between the rich and the poor, a gap that has been exploited for political ends.

The second is that the country’s political system is based on patronage and ultimately corruption to support patronage, the President said.

She also said that in recent years, destabilization, black propaganda and character assassination have been used as political tools by some unscrupulous individuals or groups.

"The common word in this is politics, too much politics, and that’s why I am glad we have an Armed Forces that is above politics," the President said.

The President recalled that in her first State of the Nation Address (SONA), she said that the ultimate goal of great revolutions from Bonifacio to EDSA was to transfer power from the traditional economic and political bosses to the people.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is making a four-day state visit to Japan, the biggest official development assistance (ODA) provider to the Philippines, from December 2 to 5.

In a briefing during the 63^rd Cabinet Meeting in Malacanang, Philippine Ambassador to Japan Domingo Siazon, Jr. said the theme of the forthcoming state visit of the President is "Philippines-Japan Partnership for Peace and Prosperity."

Ambassador Siazon underscored the significance of the visit in terms of strengthening the bilateral relations between the Philippines and Japan and also in terms of the personal relations of the President with the present Emperor and Empress of Japan.

"This will be the first state visit by a Philippine President to Japan in the 21^st century, the last being that of President Fidel V. Ramos in 1993," Siazon said.

According to Siazon, Japan only accommodates four to five state visits a year.

The present Emperor and Empress visited the Philippines in 1962, when Diosdado Macapagal the President’s father, was President. At that time, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was a teenager.

The visit of then Crown Prince Akihito and Princess Michiko was a very difficult chapter in the Philippine-Japan relations, Siazon said.

He pointed out that the visit of the Crown Prince and Princess of Japan started a new phase of relations. "It was economic development, and Japan from that time on, assisted the Philippines’ various programs on economic development," he said.

This visit of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo also completes the cycle of relationship she has established with the Emperor and the Empress.

"Because now, she is going in her own right as head of state of the Philippines. It also marks the beginning of a new phase of relations between Japan and the Philippines wherein before we used to be recipient of mainly technical assistance from Japan," Siason said.

Siazon said that during the President’s visit, not only economic cooperation will be discussed. "We are also talking about peace, meaning security in the region, and prosperity, meaning not only our own economic development but contributing to the economic development in the region," he said.

Aside from the traditional state call on the Emperor and the Empress, the President will also give a speech before the Diet or Parliament where she will underscore the importance of Japanese relations with the Philippines.

Siazon said only selected world leaders are invited to address the Japanese parliament.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has issued Administrative Order No. 45 designating the Office of the Vice President (OVP) to oversee, supervise and implement agreed development programs.

In signing A.O No. 45, the Chief Executive said there exists a vital need to promote, accelerate and implement various socio-economic programs.

A joint statement issued by the President and Vice President Teofisto Guingona, Jr., on July 2, 2002 identified as vital programs the Overseas Filipino Investment Bond, the housing program for Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) and the establishment of an integrated steel plant in Mindanao.

The President said the establishment of a seafarer’s welfare program is another vital program, adding that there are other socio-economic programs, particularly those involving the development of Mindanao, that may hereafter be agreed to be covered within this A.O.

"The OVP shall oversee, supervise and implement all the aforementioned programs. The OVP shall be the representative of the government in the oversight and supervision of such programs until their completion," she said.

She added that the concerned government agencies institutionally in charge of the relevant projects under these programs shall be placed under the oversight and supervision of the OVP with respect to the relevant projects to ensure smooth, timely, effective implementation under the agreed programs.

Pursuant to its mandate, the President said, the OVP shall exercise the following powers and functions:

• Advise the President in matters concerning the aforementioned programs, and provide analysis and recommendations on policies and operational issues, particularly those relative to Mindanao development;

• Review all aspects related to the aforementioned programs, recommend short and long term measures and appropriate actions to address policy, institutional implementation, and operational issues and concerns, particularly those relative to Mindanao development. The OVP shall therefore oversee and supervise the implementation and completion of all relevant projects under these programs;

• Call upon any agency of the government for such assistance as may be necessary to address problems affecting the relevant projects;

• Promote foreign and local investment opportunities related to these programs, and as necessary, prioritize relevant projects in cooperation with national government agencies, local government units, and other stakeholders;

• Call for assistance of all presidential appointees, on areas that may be appropriate, to promote and accelerate the socio-economic development of the people in Mindanao;

• Enjoin all elected officials in areas affected by these programs to continue to perform their functions relative to the socio-economic projects covering their respective areas of responsibility as provided by law; and

• Perform all other functions that the President may direct.

Under A.O. No. 45, the OVP is authorized to formulate the organizational structure of its secretariat and engage the services of consultants, as may be approved by the President.

The President also said that funding shall be taken from such available resources as may be determined by the Department of Budget and Management. She added that appropriations for the succeeding years shall be incorporated in the budget proposal for the OVP.

She noted that all executive issuances, rules and regulations or parts thereof which are inconsistent with Administrative Order No. 45 are hereby revoked, amended, or modified accordingly.