The Macapagal-Arroyo administration has taken concrete steps to promote good governance so that the Philippines can catch up with its neighbors in economic growth, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).

In a report to Malacaņang, NEDA Acting Director General Raphael P.M. Lotilla said the government has taken full cognizance of the damaging effects of corruption on economic growth and public perception of the government’s will and capacity to serve the people, particularly the poor.

"It is precisely for this reason that the Macapagal-Arroyo administration made good governance one of the banner programs under its Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan (MTPDP) and even highlighted anew its importance in the recent State of the Nation Address (SONA)," Lotilla said.

Lotilla was reacting to an analysis by Peter Wallace of the Economist Intelligence Unit, which described the Philippines as having lagged behind most countries in the region in economic development during the past 25 years.

According to Wallace, the Philippines posted only an average of 3.1 percent gross domestic product (GDP) growth yearly, which is half or less the rates achieved by other Asian nations.

Lotilla said that progress has been made in eradicating graft in public offices but at a pace that is in accordance with the government’s absorptive capacity for change.

"The government is now gearing to take a more aggressive stance in implementing the more difficult but necessary reforms," Lotilla said.

He said this was, in fact, the central message conveyed by Wallace in his article although Wallace stated it in a less optimistic manner. Lotilla added that in his article, Wallace focused more on the problems at hand and missed out the more important reforms that have already been put into operation.

The NEDA official said that key oversight agencies are now involved in planning, programming, budgeting and auditing to enhance the quality of governance at the national and local levels.

Lotilla said that through the development of the electronic procurement system (EPS), there had been substantial gains in expenditure management in key government agencies.

"The program is actually an offshoot of the recognition by government of the pervading dysfunctions in the procurement of goods and services such as graft and corruption and unnecessary high transaction costs for the government and the private sector," Lotilla said.

Lotilla said that in order to simplify complex government accounting system, the Commission on Audit (COA) has already pilot-tested the new government accounting system to ensure correctness, completeness and timeliness in record-keeping of government financial transactions.

He said that the COA has also started enforcing a simpler auditing code in preparation for the full computerization of the national audit system.

Another institutional reform cited by Lotilla was the creation of the Presidential Commission of Effective Governance (PCEG) whose task is to streamline the operations of offices under the Office of the President.

But more importantly, Lotilla said, the administration has encouraged the civil society and the private sector to take an active role in carrying out oversight functions to further improve governance policies and processes.

We reviewed today with members of the National Security Council a whole range of contingency measures designed to ensure the safety of our compatriots in the Middle East and to ensure that we have a steady supply of oil in the event war erupts.

Based on an evaluation of various scenarios, we believe there is no cause for undue alarm.

The Cimatu Team is now in the Middle East and preliminary reports indicate that a possible relocation to safer grounds, not a massive evacuation, would be sufficient. Nonetheless, we will prepared to process our countrymen who would wish to return home.

We are exploring ways and means to increase our in-country inventory of fuel, including the activation and utilization of additional storage facilities. Also, we are looking at non-traditional supplemental sources of oil to augment our supply. Likewise, we are seeking the cooperation of the transport sector in controlling fare rates.

We reiterate our call for adoption of energy saving measures. It is always best to conserve our previous fuel, crisis or no crisis.

Death Penalty

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today presided over a joint meeting of the National Security Council (NSC) and the Cabinet to discuss the most-likely scenarios of a Middle East crisis and a whole range of contingency measures the government has set in motion and will implement in the event of a United States-Iraq flare-up.

National Security Adviser J. Roilo Golez, in a press briefing after the joint NSC-Cabinet meeting, said the consensus is "that it is very unlikely that there is going to be an actual conflict in the months of October and November."

"If the conflict arises, it is expected that the war is going to be very swift because of the use of high technology and because of the expected use of overwhelming force by the United States," Golez said.

Aside from the Cabinet members, among those present during the joint meeting NSC-Cabinet were Vice President Teofisto Guingona, Jr., Senate President Franklin Drilon, Speaker Jose de Venecia, Jr., Senators Robert Barbers, Ramon Magsaysay, Jr., Manuel Villar and Loren Legarda-Leviste; Congressmen Florencio Abad, Raul Gonzales, Gerry Salapuddin, Francis Escudero, Agapito Aquino, Apolinario Lozada; Philippine National Police chief Director General Hermogenes Ebdane, Jr. and former President Corazon C. Aquino.

As far as Filipino overseas workers are concerned, Golez said the situation is not as serious as in 1991 because there are only about 180 Filipinos living in and around Baghdad, the Iraqi capital.

"We are not talking of a massive evacuation like what happened in 1991 and it is very unlikely that the conflict will spread to neighboring countries like Saudi Arabia where we have close to a million Filipinos," Golez said.

Earlier during the joint NSC-Cabinet meeting, the President said that if families in the Philippines insist that their loved ones come home and if the workers agree, "then they will be brought back here."

Golez said the government is not contemplating a general evacuation of Filipinos in the Middle East but only of "relocation" as contained in the contingency plans detailed by the Department of Foreign Affairs in cooperation with the other concerned departments.

Golez also said that the government is asking private oil companies to increase their individual in-country reserves to 40 days instead of the usual 12 days.

The President said the government is also looking at non-traditional supplemental sources of oil to augment the oil supply. "Likewise, we are seeking the cooperation of the transport sector in controlling fare rates."

The President also reiterated the government’s call for adoption of energy-saving measures. "It is always best to conserve our previous fuel, crisis or no crisis," she said.

The National Security Council was established principally to address national security concerns, resolve national security issues, formulate policies, and oversee the maintenance of national security.

The NSC Proper is the principal advisory body to the President on the proper coordination and integration of plans and policies affecting national security.

The Saudi Arabian Oil Company (ARAMCO), the world’s No. 1 oil producer, has assured the Philippines of continued oil supply in the event hostilities break out between the United States and Iraq.

This was disclosed today by retired Gen. Roy A. Cimatu, head of the Middle East Crisis Preparedness Team (MEPT), who is now in Saudi Arabia on orders of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to make sure that Filipino workers in Arab countries are safe, and oil supply continues to flow to the country.

In a telephone interview, Cimatu said he was assured by ARAMCO officials during their talks Monday that they would provide the Philippines with oil even if war breaks out between Iraq and the United States.

Cimatu said he went Monday to the eastern sector of Saudi Arabia, the most affected because it is near the border of Iraq, where there are thousands of Filipino workers.

He said he was briefed on the contingency plans now in place in case war breaks out.

"The contingency plan is okay," Cimatu said.

There are many Filipinos working with ARAMCO and the oil firm has prepared a contingency plan, he said.

"There is no need for evacuation at the moment, but we will relocate our countrymen in the event of war," said Cimatu, a retired four-star general.

ARAMCO supplies 11% of the world’s oil demand. The firm controls proven oil reserves of about 264.3 billion barrels or more than 25% of the world’s total and 12 times that of the US reserves.

It extracts eight million barrels a day and sells them around the world.

The Philippines has been building up its oil buffer stocks as tension in the Middle East grows by the day.

Energy Secretary Vicente Perez has required local oil firms to maintain a higher inventory in the country.

The Philippines gets 32 percent of its oil requirements from Saudi Arabia.

Other countries supplying oil to the Philippines are Iran (26 percent), United Arab Emirates (20 percent), Oman (9 percent), Qatar (7 percent), and the rest from Indonesia, Malaysia and Australia.

Over the years, the Philippines has gradually cut down its dependence on oil for its power needs.

From a high of 60 percent ten years ago, it is now 11.75 percent today.

But the country remains heavily dependent on oil for transportation and cooking needs.

With the opening of the Malampaya in Palawan recently, the country has further cut down the importation of gas.

Cimatu said he will go to Kuwait Wednesday to visit Filipino workers in the oil-rich country.

National Security Adviser J. Roilo Golez today said the attacks of the New People’s Army (NPA) at police detachments last week in Lopez, Quezon and now, in Bulacan only show that the NPA is indeed a terrorist group.

In a press briefing in Malacanang after the National Security Council meeting convened by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Golez said that police stations attacked by the NPA are civilian targets.

"Let me stress that a police station is a civilian target; therefore, under the international definition of terrorism, an attack on the police station may be considered a terrorist attack," Golez said.

Golez said that the successive attacks of the NPA against police outposts are a reaction to their being classified as terrorists.

He noted that the NPA has been dealt a very serious psychological and moral blow when the United States declared it a foreign terrorist organization.

"All of a sudden, they lost their so-called moral ascendancy and this is backed by terrorist attacks," Golez said, enumerating the liquidation of some officials that included a congressman, local executives and barangay officials.

Golez also said the attacks are NPA’s response to the fact that they have been losing militarily after the President declared an intensive campaign in terms of military and socio-economic sanctions against them early this year.

"They lost a lot of ground. They lost some barangays where they used to have their presence felt," he said.

In terms of manpower, the NPA lost a total of 539 members by apprehension and surrender this year, a considerable increase from 420 members in 2001, Golez said.

Golez also said NPA members are being killed by as much as 30 percent more compared to the combined casualties of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Philippine National Police and the Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit (CAFGU).

He further noted that the AFP is ahead three to one in terms of firearms ratio with the NPA.

"These are the very clear scores and now, what the CPP-NPA is doing is trying to reverse the actual situation by portraying that they’re very active," Golez said.

"But they’re not going to be able to sustain this. They cannot move around in forces of 50, for example, and repeat what they did in broad daylight in Lopez, Quezon," Golez added.

Earlier, the NPA Apolonia Mendoza Command raided the police station in Lopez, resulting in the death of the police chief and a junior officer.

ANTIPOLO CITY – President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today ordered the provincial government of Rizal and the Philippine National Police (PNP) to organize an Area Coordinating Center (ACC) in all the towns of the province to strengthen the government’s campaign against crime and terrorism.

In her impromptu speech, the President directed Rizal Governor Rebecca "Nini" Ynares and Rizal Police Provincial Office (RPPO) Director Senior Superintendent Carlito Dimaano to immediately organize the ACCs in the province.

The President explained that the ACC is similar to the Peace and Order Council (POC) which conducts a meeting regularly but the difference is that the ACC operates for 24 hours and is ready to respond to any problem arising in a particular area.

The President said that officers and members of ACCs should be local government executives in the different barangays and municipalities in Rizal.

According to President, the ACC has been very successful in Mindanao, particularly in Zamboanga City and Maguindanao.

The President motored here before proceeding to Clark Air Base in Pampanga for a two-day Cabinet workshop. She personally presented to media the two kidnappers of German national Fritz Walter Lange.

The President lauded the Teresa, Rizal Police Force for the arrest of the two abductors of Lange.

"Congratulations and keep up the good work," the President told Teresa Police Chief Senior Inspector Jesus Fetalino.

The President identified the suspects as Reynaldo Ablay, leader of the Ablay kidnap-for-ransom gang, and Ronaldo Enteroso, both residents of Antipolo City.

The President also said that she was very saddened about the death of Chief of Police of Lopez, Quezon--Superintendent Cesar Santander, who was killed during the New People’s Army (NPA) attack on the municipal police station.

She also announced that she already asked her husband, First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo, to finance the education of the five children of Superintendent Santander.