President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today declared that our only weapon against the nation’s overdue struggle against foreign control and poverty is a strong Republic, one which can shield the country and set the Filipinos free from the shackles of over a hundred years of want.

In a policy speech delivered before the newly-installed officials of the National Youth Commission in Malacaņang and coinciding with today’s celebration of the birth of Andres Bonifacio, the President stressed " a state is weak if dominant classes or sectors control it or shape its policies, especially those dealing with the economy."

"This is our decades-old fundamental weakness. From Bonifacio at Balintawak to Cory Aquino at EDSA, we have struggled to correct this weakness by bringing power to the people," the President said

Saying she does not and will not make policy on the basis of baseless fears, the President announced the following:

• Cabinet changes: Agri-businessman and Presidential Adviser on Jobs Creation in Agriculture Luis "Cito" Lorenzo replaces Department of Agriculture Secretary Leonardo Montemayor and Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Heherson Alvarez is replaced by noted environment expert Elisea Gozun;

• PEA issue: "On the PEA issue, arising from another of its controversial projects began in the previous administration, let me make myself very clear: I’m abolishing the Public Estates Authority," the President said.

• PIATCO issue: "The Solicitor General has submitted to the Supreme Court the government position that all five agreements covering NAIA Terminal 3 are null and void."
• Meralco refund: "If the Supreme Court orders with finality that the refund be implemented, I will make sure that you, the consumers, get your refund."

• Budget deficit: The President said the Bureau of Customs, the Bureau of Internal Revenue, and the new Anti-Smuggling Intelligence and Investigation Commission, are tasked to work harder and bring to court tax cheats. On tax cheats, the President said: "…whether you are big business or small, forget the accounting tricks, just pay your taxes and duties-or see you in court."

• $2 Million Man: The President said if the charges are true everyone involved is going to jail at least for tax evasion, in addition to bribery. She advised Rep. Mark Jimenez to "show the evidence and file the case in court" and hurry up before he is extradited;

• Economic growth: The President said in the next six months, the following will become imminent:

1. A group of government officials will be formed to spruce up tax collection;
2. Banks will be tapped to finance housing, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and agriculture;
3. Substantive improvements to improve the quality of government workforce which will include affordable housing and establishments of new government centers;
4. For the urban dwellers, a modern transport system connecting the metropolis with its suburbs and new government centers outside Metro Manila;
5. For the rural dwellers, the new transport system will greatly reduced transportation cost of their products from their farms to urban centers;

"Other initiatives, including a program for youth empowerment, will soon reveal themselves in their implementation. I know that people have become cynical and will believe only what they see," the President said.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today announced the appointment of Presidential Adviser for Jobs Creation Luis Lorenzo, Jr. as the new Secretary of the Department of Agriculture.

The President likewise named noted environmentalist expert Elisea Gozon as Environment and Natural Resources Secretary in place of Heherson Alvarez.

The President said Alvarez, will be moving on and turning over the DENR to his successor in the next two weeks after firming up initiatives on environment, especially toxic and hazardous waste, watershed, and the social justice program of the Macapagal-Arroyo government to build a new Diwalwal.

The President thanked Secretary Leonardo Montemayor, who came from the ranks of non-governmental organizations, for having successfully raised the voices of the small farmers.

"Now, the new law on agricultural land as collateral will open up vast opportunities for the farmers to graduate from subsistence living advocates to modernizing business practitioners.

To initiate this transformation, the President said he is appointing agri-businessman Luis Lorenzo as the new Secretary of Agriculture.

As Presidential Adviser for Jobs Creation in Agriculture for the past 14 months, Lorenzo has brought government and the private sector movers together in viable agricultural activities throughout the country.

On the initiative of the President, Lorenzo spearheaded the one-million jobs program and wielded it under a two-pronged strategy on import substitution and export development.

Through collaboration with local government executives, farmer associations and industry leaders in the rural areas, thousands of additional jobs have been created especially in the major commodities of rice, corn and coffee. Most of the beneficiaries are marginal farmers who have experienced doubling their income after joining the hybrid rice program.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo announced today the permanent abolition of the controversial Public Estates Authority (PEA).

The President made the announcement in her keynote address during the 139^th birth anniversary celebration of country’s Great Plebeian Andres Bonifacio, at Malacaņang’s Ceremonial Hall this morning.

"Let me make myself very clear: I am abolishing the Public Estates Authority. I’m abolishing it through a bill I will submit to Congress next week," President said.

She said all assets, mostly public lands, owned by PEA shall be transferred to the appropriate agencies, which hold strictly to account the officials concerned.

The President noted that she already accepted the resignation papers of all the current members of the PEA Board, including the general manager.

"(And) now I’m dismissing the deputy general managers, the assistant general manager, and the senior corporate attorneys," President added referring to the PEA.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said she would form a group of government officials who will be tasked to increase the tariff and revenue collection of the government.

In a policy speech she delivered on the occasion of the celebration of the birth anniversary of Andres Bonifacio, the President said this is intended to increase government funds for her administration’s programs on housing, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and agriculture.

"In this country, people don’t pay the right taxes, especially those who can afford it. The Customs, the BIR, and the new Anti-Smuggling Intelligence and Investigation Commission, now led by new commissioners, must work harder so that, whether you are big business or small, forget the accounting tricks. Just pay your taxes and duties -- or see you in court," the President stressed.

Explaining the budget deficit, the President said in her first year in office, her administration was able to arrest the decline in government revenues, sustaining the ratio of 15% in 2001. "However, the decline has resumed this year as terrorism added its toll to the global recession."

Furthermore, the President noted that following the 1997 Asian currency crisis, public revenues steadily declined – from 19% in 1997 to 17% in 1998, to 16% in 1999 to 15% in 2000.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo assures the stakeholders in the Philippine International Air Terminals Company (PIATCO) that all their legitimate claims would be honored and will not affected by the ongoing inquiry to remove the objectionable, illegal and onerous provisions in the construction and operation of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 (NAIA 3).

"Let me, however, assure the stakeholders in PIATCO: your legitimate claims will be honored to the last peso and the terminal will open early next year," President said in her keynote speech during the 139^th birth anniversary of Andres Bonifacio at Malacaņang this morning.

In her remarks, President admitted that she already received the preliminary reports indicating a significant chunk of the airport cost of the $657-million NAIA 3 didn’t go to actual construction costs as the access tunnel that would connect to Terminal 3 and 2 is still missing.

"There’s not even a road," President said, which convinced her to defer the soft opening of the airport on December 15 and order the full-blast investigation and review of the contract of PIATCO.

She said that as Chief Executive, her duty is to uphold the law and not to violate and counter it.

"I am sworn to uphold the law. How then can I honor contracts contrary to law? What I can do is to order a criminal investigation into the PIATCO project with a view to the prosecution of the parties responsible for the gross irregularities," President said.

On Friday, President declared as null and void the five concession agreements with PIATCO and ordered the Department of Justice and the Presidential Anti-Graft Commission to prosecute those found culpable in giving the contracts to PIATCO.

The President said the PIATCO issue is not just a simple problem but a test-case of the integrity and efficiency of the Republic in building the infrastructure the nation requires.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today reiterated her assurance that the more than three-million customers of the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) will get their refund if the Supreme Court orders it with finality.

In a speech at a program commemorating the birth anniversary of Andres Bonifacio at the Ceremonial Hall of Malacaņang, the President said her concern will be exclusively "justice through full restitution for Meralco’s consumers as the Supreme Court rules."

"But without undermining the stability of the nation’s leading energy company," she added.

The President earlier ordered Energy Secretary Vicente S. Perez to immediately review the country’s power policies and programs, as well as the changing of legal frameworks to ensure that the energy sector would continue to attract private investments.

The order to Perez was aimed at ensuring that the energy requirements of the people would be served.

The President’s order to Perez came on the heels of the Supreme Court decision ordering Meralco to refund its customers for overbilling dating back to 1994.

In her speech, the President said the passage of the Special Asset Management Company Bill, now in bicameral conference committee in Congress, should free up more bank resources for housing and other developmental projects that the government is not in a fiscal position to fund.

She also underscored the need to privatize TRANSCO, the operation of the National Power Corporation in the distribution of electricity, to use the money spent for the losses.

The President said government will be earning no less than $3 billion for the privatization of TRANSCO, and more than P100 billion for the effective electricity service.