Malacaņang today said that Memorandum Order No. 77 that restored operational control and supervision over the police to city and municipal mayors, initially in Metro Manila, could help the government stamp out gambling, particularly the numbers game popularly called jueteng.

In an interview, Press Secretary and Presidential Spokesman Ignacio R. Bunye said that under the MO, it would be easy to pinpoint responsibility in the drive against illegal gambling in a certain locality unlike now when there is buck-passing as to who is really responsible in going after jueteng operators.

"Tingnan natin, we hope na itong ganitong sistema ay makatulong sa pagsawata ng jueteng (We will look into this, we hope this new system would help stop jueteng)," Bunye said.

In reply to criticisms from some sectors that MO 77 could be unconstitutional or illegal, Bunye appealed to them to give the new system a chance to work.

"Seguro ay bigyan na muna natin ng pagkakataon na mag-work iyong system bago natin i-question iyong legality (Perhaps we should give this system a chance before we question its legality)," Bunye said.

Earlier, Bunye said that MO 77 is based on the provisions of the Local Government Code of l991, also known as Republic Act No. 6975, and the Interior and Local Government Code of l990, as amended by the PNP Reform and Reorganization Act of l998.

"If it is pursuant to these two existing laws, we don’t see any reason why it should contravene the basic law," Bunye said.

Bunye said that MO 77 was a result of the clamor of the Metro Manila mayors to have more control of the police in their areas so that they would be more effective in fighting crime, including illegal gambling.

He said the Metro Manila mayors conveyed this desire during the joint Regional Development Council-Regional Peace and Order Council (RDC-RPOC) meeting held last July at the Manila Hotel.

The MO, which was signed by the President last October 1, directed the Napolcom to empower the mayors of the cities and municipalities of the NCR "to effectively carry out their responsibility of maintaining peace and order in their respective territorial jurisdictions."

Malacaņang today cited the importance of the setting up of Gabay sa Mamamayan Aksyon (GMA) Centers in all barangays, saying that this will make the members of the community well-informed of what their government is doing for them.

In an interview, Press Secretary and Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said that the GMA Centers are basically information and reading centers where people could go and read periodicals and other informative materials that would enrich their lives.

The setting up of these centers, as envisioned by Executive Order No. 130, is based on the principle that "an informed citizenry is an effective citizenry," Bunye said.

Bunye brushed off criticisms from the opposition that the setting up of these reading centers could be the start of the campaign for the presidential polls in 2004.

"Seguro ay hindi dapat bigyan ng malisya iyan dahil ito ay isang basic na gawain ng pamahalaan, to inform the citizenry (Perhaps, we should not inject some malice here since it is the basic function of the government to inform the citizenry)," Bunye said.

Bunye said that the Aksyon Centers would serve as the institutional link between the government and the people.

He said that under the EO, the Aksyon Centers would be a collaborative effort on the part of the national and local government and the private sector that would include people’s organizations (POs), non-government organizations (NGOs) and community-based civil groups.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today presented to the media a top-ranking official of the Marxist-Leninist Party of the Philippines-Rebolusyunaryong Hukbo ng Bayan (MLLP-RHB) who was captured last Saturday by combined elements of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP) and Philippine National Police (PNP).

The President motored to Camp Aguinaldo this afternoon to personally congratulate Armed Forces Chief of Staff General Benjamin Defensor and the PNP chief, Director General Hermogenes Ebdane, Jr. for their integrated efforts and swift action that led to arrest of Miel Gracilla Laurenaria.

Defensor told the President that Laurenaria was arrested at the periphery of Maypajo Market in Dagat-Dagatan, Caloocan City last Saturday afternoon on the basis of arrest order for kidnapping with serious illegal detention under Criminal Case Numbers 2258 and 90-293 filed in the Candelaria (Quezon) Municipal Trial Court and Lucena City Regional Trial Court, respectively.

Defensor informed the President that Laurenaria, 49, is a former executioner of Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Maria Sison when she was a regular central committee member of the CPP.

He said that the successful operation leading to the arrest of Laurenaria was an offshoot of the new Operations Plan "Gordian Knot," a coordinated effort of the AFP and the PNP, with the involvement of a vigilant citizenry, in pursuing members of the CPP-NPA.

Defensor said that during her stint as the Southern Tagalog Regional Party Committee (STRPC) Secretary, Laurenaria was ordered by Sison to implement the Operation Missing Link (OPML) which resulted in the torture and slaughter of hundreds of New People’s Army (NPA) regulars, sympathizers and ordinary citizens who were suspected by the CPP of being deep penetration agents of the government in the Southern Tagalog area.

The capture of Laurenaria is definitely a "big blow" to the CPP-NPA, which has recently been tagged as a foreign terrorist organization by the United States, Defensor said.

After the CPP split in 1993 because of the disillusionment of several old cadres over the leadership of Sison, Laurenaria remained with Sison. However, she felt betrayed that in spite of her dedication to the organization under Sison and having spent the best part of her life fighting for the CPP-NPA-NDF, she was continuously maligned by the party.

On February 1998, Laurenaria became executive committee member of MLPP-RHB, a breakaway group organized by Frank Pascual.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today called for a shift from a politics of personality and patronage to a politics of reform and institutionalized consultation with the people.

In inducting the national officers of the Liberal Party (LP) at the Rajah Sulayman Park in Malate, called on the members of the LP, whom she called political pioneers, to carry on the ideas of the party’s founding fathers, whether in government or in the promotion of the new politics.

"Let us continue to create together. Let us never fight. Let us win the future together for the people," said the President, who is honorary chairperson of the LP, which is aligned with the ruling coalition.

The country can never with the war against poverty unless the character of Philippine politics is changed, the President said.

The Chief Executive said that as a member of ruling coalition, she was calling on the members of the LP and other allied parties to lead the way towards a more productive 21^st century.

"We have to find a way of ending the decades-old adversarial but also often horse-trading relationship between Congress and the Presidency," she added.

The President also said that the first decade of the 21^st century should see the final demise of bossism, and the guns, goons and gold that characterized state politics of the last century.

"True democratic representation means rationality in the electoral process. Citizens must be given the tools for rationale choices and their votes must be precisely counted," she said.

She said electoral leaders must be more and more put to task whether they are truly representing the people or only their own or their friends’ interests.

The Liberal Party’s National Executive Council conferred the LP Honorary Chairmanship on the President during its meeting at the Club Filipino last July 24.

Rep. Florencio Abad of Batanes, who was inducted as LP president, said the LP named the President as honorary chairman in recognition of her ties with the party. Her father, the late President Diosdado Macapagal, served as LP president and was elected under the LP banner.

The other LP officers the President inducted included Manila Mayor Jose Atienza, Jr. as Executive Vice President; Rep. Benigno Aquino III as vice president for Luzon; Rep. Antonio Eduardo Nachura, vice president for Visayas; Rep. JR Nereus Acosta, vice president for Mindanao; Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council Chairman Michael Defensor, vice president for the National Capitol Region; Rep. Danton Buesser, vice president for sectors; Rep. Rodolfo Bacani as secretary general; Rep. Junie Cua as deputy general secretary; Rep. Rafael Nantes as treasurer; Rep. Joey Hizon as deputy treasurer; Eleazar Quinto as director general; Senator Francisco Pangilinan as chairperson of the parliamentary caucus and Samar Gov. Raul Daza as chairperson of the caucus of local chief executives.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today praised the two Filipina champions of the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Quiz, saying she hopes the two will be among the future experts of the region.

During the ASEAN Quiz finals in Bangkok, Thailand last October 3, 2002, Retchell Suratos Catambay, a fourth year student of St. Albert the Great School in Dagupan City, won first place in the individual competitions of the ASEAN Quiz Regional Finals while Glorian Saavedra Concepcion, who is in her senior year at the Zamboanga National High School, placed second in the individual competition.

Catambay was awarded $500 as champion while Concepcion got $400 as second placer. Concepcion also got part of the $1,500 as member of the Blue Team that bagged the first prize in the group competition.

The two bested all (Individual Level) participants from ASEAN, with two contestants from each country.

"This is a great day for the Philippines," the President told the two during their meeting.

She also encouraged the two to enter the Philippine Foreign Service in the future.

"So, you’re now our ASEAN experts," the President added.

The President asked the two on the categories used in the contest. Among the fields adopted in the regional test which the two answered were ASEAN treaties and declarations, ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA), Asean Regional Forum (ARF), Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines- East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) and the ASEAN Summit Meetings.

The two were accompanied to Malacaņang by their academic adviser, Vic Agbayani, and Catambay’s parents, Julian and Mary Catambay.

The ASEAN Quiz is a project of the Asean Committee on Culture and Information and is implemented in cooperation with the 10 ASEAN member-countries.

It is a competition on knowledge of ASEAN among fourth year students of both public and private high schools. Its aim is to elicit the spirit of healthy competition among ASEAN youth in a friendly quiz game that exposes them to ASEAN cultural, political, economic and social information.

Through ASEAN Quiz, it is envisioned that the ASEAN youth will be more aware of the organization and its member-countries.

The Philippine leg of the ASEAN Quiz was held at the NBN Studio in Quezon City last August 5 and 6 and was televised nationwide on August 7, ASEAN Day.