BAIS CITY, Negros Oriental – President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today described as "good, clean fun" Tuesday night’s dancing at the world-renowned Boracay Island.

The President stressed this as she dismissed reports criticizing how she could dance the night away in Boracay in the face of various problems confronting the country.

"I prefer Boracay dancing than those politicians who love to bash me at every opportunity," she explained. "It was nothing but good, clean fun with the First Gentleman (Atty. Jose Miguel Arroyo)."

She noted that her official party and participants to the Strong Republic Nautical Highway caravan enjoyed the hospitality of islanders.

This and the island’s natural splendor have made Boracay a major tourist destination in the Philippines. Many have called it Paradise Island.

The President and her delegation spent the night in Boracay after ending the second day of a three-day Roll-on Roll-off (Ro-Ro) caravan that would showcase the country’s eastern seaboard route for Ro-Ro passenger and cargo transit and tourism potentials.

Today, the President went dolphin watching at the Bais City port in eastern Negros Island. The city is fast becoming another tourist attraction.

She was thrilled at the sight of dolphins breaching, spinning and riding the bow of the Presidential pumpboat that also had on board Atty. Arroyo and local officials led by Negros Oriental Governor George Arnaiz.

Meanwhile, Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said the President wanted to show domestic and foreign tourists that the places the caravan visited "are now easy to reach and safe."

Bunye also brushed aside criticisms on the President, saying that despite her hectic schedule, she continued to be on top of the situation.

"I hope they were only joking," Bunye said when asked to comment on calls for the President to stop the caravan and focus on other more important concerns.

BAIS CITY, Negros Oriental – President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today named Health Secretary Manuel Dayrit as Crisis Manager for the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) malady.

The President made the announcement in the course of a three-day Strong Republic Nautical Highway caravan that launched the government’s Roll-on Roll-off (Ro-Ro) program while promoting tourism in islands in the Visayas and Mindanao.

She said Dayrit’s team resembled that of the Middle East Preparedness Team (MEPT) under Ambassador Roy Cimatu.

While Cimatu’s MEPT are looking after the safety and welfare Filipino expatriates in the Middle East against acts of terrorism spawned by the Iraq war, Dayrit’s group will look after the safety and welfare of the people against the deadly SARS which has afflicted people in many countries, she added.

In a press briefing aboard a Ro-Ro vessel cruising the Iloilo City-Bacolod City route late Tuesday afternoon, the President directed the Department of Health (DOH) to coordinate with the Coast Guard and other agencies to protect seafarers coming in and going out of all major ports.

"We must try to lock out the disease as much as possible" and contain threats from SARS, she said.

The SARS should be dealt with in as much the same way as the government is dealing with the other crisis, she pointed out.

She also took the occasion to congratulate the DOH for doing its best to make the country SARS-free.

Meanwhile, the President ordered the police and the military to sustain heightened alert in the wake of continued threats from terrorists.

On Kuratong Baleleng Case

Instead of bashing the Supreme Court by innuendo, Senator Lacson should welcome the opportunity to clear himself once and for all. Falsely attributing political motives to the decision constitutes an assault against the integrity of the judicial system and is a disservice to our country.

On SARS

ON BOARD THE M/V DON RAMON DE BOHOL (from Dumaguete to Dapitan) – The Philippine Consul General in Hong Kong, Vicky Bataclan, informed President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo during a teleconference today that Filipino domestics have filed a case before the High Court of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) questioning the legality of the levy or wage cut imposed on foreign domestic workers by the HKSAR government.

Named respondents in the case filed yesterday, the day the wage cut took effect, were HKSAR chief executive in Council, the director of immigration and the Employees Retraining Board.

The case was filed by five Filipino and two Indonesian domestics, two migrant organizations and a Filipino lawyer residing in Hong Kong, who is an employer of a domestic worker.

The case is being handled pro bono by Massie and Clement Solicitors, and barristers Gerard McCoy SC (Queens Counsel), Philip Ross and Neil Thomson.

The case is seeking a court order to set aside and declare as illegal and unconstitutional the decision by the Chief Executive in Council on February 25, 2003 to reduce the minimum allowable wage of domestics by HK$400 per month and impose a levy of HK$400 on the employers. The lawyers also are filing for damages, on behalf of the plaintiffs, for money wrongly expropriated by the HKSAR government.

The President earlier announced that the Philippine government will fully support Filipino workers in Hong Kong who will avail themselves of all possible mechanism to contest the levy or wage cut even as efforts of Philippine official will continue to explore all means possible in calling upon the sense of fair play of the Hong Kong government for it to reconsider the implementation of this discriminatory policy.

First Gentleman Atty. Jose Miguel Arroyo visited Hong Kong recently and met with lawyers of Massie and Clement who have volunteered to assist and handle the case for free as an expression of their belief in the justness of the cause of the Filipino domestics.

The lawyers of the domestics claim that the decision of the HKSAR Chief Executive in Council imposing a wage cut is ultra vires (exceeded its authority) on technical grounds and based on "irrelevant consideration." They also said the levy on the employers is actually a tax imposed on the domestics which is illegal and unconstitutional.