President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has issued Proclamation No. 270, institutionalizing the International Employers Awards (IEA) to honor foreign employers, principals, and companies who have promoted the employment of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and advanced their interest and welfare.

Under Proclamation No. 270, the President created the International Awards Committee to administer the conferment of the IEA on deserving employers.

The committee will be chaired by the secretary of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE). Committee members would include the administrators of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) and the Overseas Workers' Welfare Administration (OWWA), and a duly designated representative of land-based industry associations.

Earlier, DOLE Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas announced that the first awardees of the IEA would be accorded by the Philippine government to outstanding employers of OFWs at the opening of a two-day international gathering to be held at the Manila Peninsula on Nov. 21-22, 2002.

The President is expected to personally confer the presidential awards of distinction during the Grand Awards Night in ceremonies to be held in Malacaņang Palace on Nov. 22.

According to the President, the OFWs' continued employment abroad would not have been possible without the indispensable cooperation of foreign companies, principals, employers, and overseas employment providers (OEPs) who continue to recognize the proficiency, competence and skills of the Filipino workers.

The President said that her administration has already recognized the vital role both being played by the OFWs and OEPs, including their contribution in uplifting the lives of OFW families and in boosting the country's economic development.

While the government has given official recognition to OEPs, it has yet to recognize foreign companies, employers, and principals who have provided employment to thousands of OFWs, the President said.

The country’s transport groups, particularly operators and drivers of passenger buses and jeepneys, have agreed to defer the filing of fare hike petitions until the price of diesel fuel reaches P15.50 per liter, from their current self-imposed ceiling of P15.00 per liter.

Communications and Transportation Secretary Leandro Mendoza and Chairman Dante Lantin of the Land Transportation, Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) today reported to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and the Cabinet that members of the transport groups have agreed to defer their plan to seek a fare increase after Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) Chairman Michael Defensor offered them the "live now, pay later plan," in the Montalban Housing project.

According to Secretary Mendoza, some 300 units are now available under the HUDCC program.

The DOTC said that they are also acting and referring to other agencies for action the other measures suggested by the transport groups as alternative options to fare hike. These are:

• Reduce by P1.00 the tax on oil products for public utility vehicles (PUVs); freeze road users tax; increase in supervision fees, registration fees, common carrier tax, etc. for PUVS only. According to the Department of Finance, these measures would require legislations;

• Freeze exhorbitant fees charged by local government units on PUVs, like common terminal fees, parking fees, etc;

• Intensive drive against against colorum, out of line and illegal PUVs and illegal PUV operations, including FX;

• Identify provincial buses and other PUVs through markings, to prevent them from entering Metro Manila;

• Rationalize routes and operations of different modes of services so that they will complement and not compete with one another;

• Rationalize FX operations;

• Develop other sources of oil and use in research findings of Filipino scientists;

• Tax-free importation of spare parts;

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today lauded the police for the rescue of a 26-year-old kidnap-for-ransom victim Jimmy Ting along the boundary of Ilocos Norte and Ilocos Sur as well as the arrest of seven suspects in the kidnapping.

Among the items recovered were P679,000 in various denominations representing part of the total P1,680,000-ransom money paid to the kidnappers.

The rescue of Ting and the arrest of four suspects was made at the checkpoint in Badoc, Ilocos Norte, which had been set up to intercept the kidnappers who were riding a Mitsubishi Lancer GLXi with plate number UJH-480. Arrested with the victim were Fernando Gascon, Efren Gascon, Ricardo Salazar and Elmer Valenzuela.

Follow-up operations resulted in the arrest of the three other kidnap suspects on board a maroon Tamaraw FX with license plate TTE-334 at about 3 a.m. today at the Shell Station in Carmen, Rosales, Pangasinan.

The three suspects arrested in Pangasinan with the ransom money were Jay Gregorio, Rolando Estrella and Danilo Bergonia.

Police elements were able to track down the vehicle used during the pay-off.

The group of kidnappers arrested in Ilocos Norte was tasked as caretakers of the victim, while the three others negotiated and arranged for the ransom payment. Two of the suspects surnamed Gascon are brothers.

Aside from the ransom money, several high-powered firearms were also recovered from the suspects.

Appropriate charges against the suspects are being prepared. The suspects are currently being held at the Police Anti-Crime Emergency Response (PACER) Detention Center in Camp Crame.

In a statement released to the media, the President said the rescue of Ting and the arrest of his suspected kidnappers was the result of joint operations of PACER and the Ilocos Norte Police Provincial Office as they applied the three-tiered United Action Defense System, which has been used in the anti-kidnapping campaign since last year.

The President said this positive development is proof once more that the tried and proven formula (TTF) of community cooperation, professional police action and responsible media works well.

With the arrest of the seven suspects, the total number of arrested KFR suspects is now 104. The official figures show a clear downtrend in the number of KFR cases. As of today, there is a 32 percent decrease from the same period in 2001.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has expressed her sympathies to Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri in the aftermath of the Sunday bombing in Bali that left about 180 people dead, most of them foreign tourists and local residents.

In a telephone conversation Monday night, the President also informed the Indonesian leader that the Philippines is sending a four-man medical mission to Bali to help in attending to the medical needs of those injured. Most of the victims suffered severe burns in the worst bombing incident in Indonesia.

In his regular press briefing this afternoon in Malacanang, Press Secretary and Presidential Spokesman Ignacio R. Bunye said the President has also instructed the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to convey the Philippine government’s position supporting the United Nations resolution sponsored by Indonesia and Australia declaring the Jemaah Islamiyah as a terrorist group.

Although no group has yet claimed responsibility for the terrorist attack in Bali, Australia has identified the Jemaah Islamiyah, which has links with Usama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda terror group, as the prime suspect in the attack.

Bunye said that the medical team organized by the Department of Health would soon leave for Bali.

The medical team, Bunye said, will be flying to Denpasar international airport and will be met by Philippine Ambassador to Indonesia Rafael Seguis and the Indonesian minister of health.

Bunye said the medical team is composed of Dr. Hector Santos and Direck Demiar, consultant and nurse respectively of the burn unit of the East Avenue Medical Center; and Dr. Placido Calimag and Teresita Fernandez, plastic surgeon and nurse, respectively, of the Quirino Memorial Medical Center.

The Philippine medical team will be based in a government hospital in Denpasar and will attend to patients in about 12 surrounding hospitals, Bunye said.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today directed several government agencies to act on the proposals of transport groups that they have forwarded in lieu of filing fare hike petitions.

In his regular press briefing this afternoon in Malacanang, Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said the President has ordered Secretary Leandro Mendoza of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) to submit to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) a list of spare parts requested by operators of public utility vehicles (PUVs) that may be granted reduced tariffs.

Bunye said that the President likewise directed Secretary Jose Lina, Jr. of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to use his "moral suasion" in convincing local government units to freeze exhorbitant terminal and parking fees being charged by local government units (LGUs).

The President also directed the Land Transportation, Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) to study the proposal to stop the rerouting of PUVs, Bunye said.

"Also, the Department of Energy was asked to encourage different bus companies to coordinate with oil companies on the possibility of putting up gas stations and pumps within bus terminals to avail of savings," Bunye said.

During the Cabinet meeting, Mendoza also informed the President that the transport operators and drivers have agreed to defer the filing of fare increase petitions for as long as the price of diesel fuel remains below P15.50 per liter.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today designated Justice Undersecretary Manuel Antonio J. Teehankee as Acting Government Corporate Counsel in the Department of Justice vice Amado D. Valdez.

Press Secretary Ignacio "Toting" Bunye announced Teehankee’s designation in a press briefing this afternoon at Malacanang.

A lawyer by profession, Teehankee joined the government service after 16 years of private practice.

He obtained his Bachelor of Laws degree from the Ateneo Law School in 1983 . He finished his Bachelor of Arts in Economics also at the Ateneo de Manila in 1979.

After his graduate studies in Michigan and the London School of Economics, Teehankee spent 10 years in New York with the international litigation departments of Baker and McKenzle and LeBoeuf Lamb Greene and MacRae.

Teehankee also participated in major arbitrations before the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal in The Hague and before the International Court of Arbitration of the ICC in Paris.

The Philippine diplomatic mission to the European Union (EU) has reported to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo that Germany will support efforts within the EU to include the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) in the list of foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs) maintained by the United Nations.

In his regular press briefing, Press Secretary Ignacio R. Bunye said the Philippine diplomatic mission headed by Foreign Secretary Blas F. Ople held talks in Berlin Monday with German State Minister for Foreign Affairs Christoph Zoepel and Fritz Rudolf Kopper of the German Ministry of the Interior.

"The German government has given the assurance to the Philippine mission that Berlin would assist the Philippines in persuading other EU countries to declare the CPP-NPA as a terrorist group," Bunye said.

In his report to the President, Ople said that Germany itself does not have an FTO list but submits the names of terrorist organizations, along with that of the EU, to the UN.

"What is significant is that Germany does, in fact, and by its action recognizes the CPP-NPA as a terrorist organization," Ople said.

Bunye said that from Berlin, the Philippine group would also be visiting Oslo, Norway and then Denmark and finally Brussels to meet with the foreign ministers of these countries and officials of the EU.

Aside from Ople, the Philippine mission is composed of Ermita, Presidential Adviser on Special Concerns Norberto Gonzales, and Presidential Management Staff Head Silvestre Afable Jr. who is in charge of back-channel negotiations with the CPP-NPA and its political organization, the National Democratic Front (NDF).

According to a Palace statement, the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) mission is based on the principle that terrorism is a universal threat that must be countered and contained by the collective actions of all democratic and freedom-loving nations.

In his report to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, through Executive Secretary Alberto G. Romulo, Ople said the highlights of his discussions with the German officials are as follows:

"In response to my representations for Germany not to give asylum to CPP-NPA-NDF members, including Jose Luneta, Germany said that it is more than willing to expel or extradite terrorists as long as there is no death penalty in the country of destination. It appears that, in many cases, Germany would have wanted to expel or extradite terrorists but were unable to do so because their constitution prohibits the transfer of terrorists to countries with death penalties. I told them that I fully understand their situation and said that in the future, with regard to the Philippines, Germany may not have to face the same dilemma.

"Germany is very interested in any possible linkage between the CPP-NPA-NDF and Islamic extremists in the Philippines. I told them that there has been a tactical and battlefield alliance between the two, implying that they cooperate on an operational level in their terrorist activities.