President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today took a swipe at critics who have been harping on the financial aspect of the humanitarian and peace- keeping mission that the government is sending to Iraq.

"Let’s not frontload the issue of money as if this is a market sale. This is about international goodwill and democracy," the President said in her speech at the mass graduation of barangay tanods of the National Capital Region held this morning at the Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay City.

The President called on the barangay tanods to help explain to their respective communities that the Philippine participation in the humanitarian peacekeeping activities in the post-war Iraq must be viewed within the framework of international collaboration.

The Chief Executive said the terms of reference will be ironed out in due time.

"We are hoping for funding assistance but we are determined to move on with whatever we have initially," the President said.

The President reiterated that she is committed to help the people of Iraq heal the wounds of war and restore peace and stability to the country.

She stressed that this is also what she is doing in the country, especially in the former conflict areas in Mindanao.

Yesterday, the President visited Pikit in North Cotabato to personally look after the conditions of the thousands of evacuees there. While in Pikit, the President formally opened a 38-kilometer road in Barangay Bagoinged.

She said that she wanted to show to the people of Pikit that the government has fulfilled its promise to complete the road that the people of Pikit have been waiting for the past ten years.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today mobilized the barangay tanods in the campaign to inform and educate the people, down to the community level, on the severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, and their responsibilities in preventing the spread of the killer disease.

"I ask you barangay tanods – let’s appeal to those who feel they are at risk of having SARS to voluntarily quarantine themselves and seek assistance from health authorities," the President during the mass graduation of the barangay tanods in the National Capitol Region (NCR, or Metro Manila) during rites held at the Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay City.

"Kung sakaling kailangan – huwag namang sanang mangyari – na isang barangay dito sa Metro Manila ay ma-quarantine (If it should become necessary – and I hope it doesn’t come to that – to quarantine a village in Metro Manila), please explain to the people that the quarantine of a barangay does not mean that its residents are SARS carriers. It is merely a standard precaution in the meantime that our health authorities determine the facts which shall be made available," the President told the more than 30,000 barangay watchmen gathered for their graduation from a skills and professionalism program.

The President also took the opportunity to thank the barangay residents of Alcala town in Pangasinan for submitting themselves to quarantine.

She said she appreciates their discipline and self sacrifice for the greater good of the public. The President, however, said she regretted the tragedy that has befallen the Catalon family.

The President said that next week, she will attend the summit meeting of the leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) to discuss the SARS crisis and its effects on the region’s economy.

She also said she will try to find ways to safeguard the health of Filipino workers in other countries and to preserve their jobs.

The Chief Executive said that throughout the stressful period in the runup to the Holy Week, the local government units, including the barangays, kept in step with all the needed efforts to allay the concerns and anxieties of the people and to give the people peace of mind.

"Kaya ako ay nagpapasalamat sa inyong lahat, dahil mapayapa ang ating Holy Week sa kabila ng pagbabanta ng terrorista. Salamat sa inyong pagsusubaybay," she said.

A total of 33,840 regulars, exclusive of auxiliary brigades, in the NCR graduated in a program that aims to professionalize the barangay tanods as key participants in the maintenance of public safety in the barangays.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today ordered the Presidential Committee on Human Rights, headed by Justice Secretary Simeon Datumanong, to investigate the alleged vigilante killing in Oriental Mindoro.

Speaking at the mass graduation of barangay tanods of the National Capitol Region at the Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay City, the President said that if there are charges of vigilantism in relation to the killings of two activists in Mindoro Oriental, the authorities must step in to investigate the charges.

"When there are such charges, the authorities must get to the root of the matter soonest," the President said.

Reports said that two officials of a human rights group and a militant farmers’ organization investigating the murders of farmers, community leaders and activists in Oriental Mindoro have themselves been murdered.

The victims were identified as Eden Marcellana, secretary general of the Alyansa sa Pagsulong ng Karapatang Pantao in Southern Tagalog and Eddie Guimanoy, chair of the Kasapian ng mga Samahang Magbubukid sa Timog Katagalugan.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today signed into law Republic Act No. 9206, the P804-billion national budget for this year, also known as the General Appropriations Act (GAA) of 2003.

The approved budget was 2.9 percent bigger than the P780.8-billion budget last year.

The approved budget is equivalent to 18.6 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which compares with the 19.4 percent of GDP last year.

Getting the biggest share of the budget pie is the Social Services sector with P237.3 billion or 29.5 percent of the total budget. This is followed by the Economic Services sector with some P162.3 billion or 20.2 percent, the General Services sector with P135 billion or 16.8 percent, and the Defense sector with P40.6 billion or 5.1 percent.

Interest Payments and Net Lending is projected to amount to P228.7 billion or 28.4 percent of the total budget.

To support the 2003 budget, Budget Secretary Emilia Boncodin said the government is projecting a revenue collection of P584.1 billion which is 13.5 percent of GDP. This is higher than last year’s actual collection of P567.1 billion by 3 percent. As of end of March, revenue collections already amounted to P136.6 billion or 9.2 percent higher than last year.

Out of the P584.1-billion revenue target, P530.6 billion or 90.8 percent will come from tax sources – P424 billion from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and P100 billion from the Bureau of Customs (BOC). The remaining 9.2 percent or P53.4 billion will be generated from non-tax sources.

As in previous years, the 2003 budget is anchored on fiscal discipline to reverse the growth of deficit spending that casts the only shadow to the government’s otherwise commendable economic performance.

"We thank Congress for the passage of this budget. This year, we will limit the deficit to 4.6 percent of GDP, a clear signal of our resolve to break the deficit growth path, and return our house to fiscal health. We will do this by judiciously sorting out our fiscal policies and implementing an aggressive revenue collection strategy and constientious spending," Boncodin said.

Boncodin said the projected P202-billion deficit this year will be financed by 52 percent from domestic sources through treasury bills and fixed rate treasury bonds and 48 percent from foreign sources.

She added the government will implement a deficit reduction strategy over the medium term to balance the budget by 2009 and bring down the national government’s debt from the present 67 percent to 52 percent of GDP. Boncodin said this will be done through reforms in the tax structure as well as efficient collection systems in the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC), and through prudent spending of government’s meager resources to address only the most critical and urgent needs.

Although Finance Secretary Isidro Camacho announced Tuesday the deficit of P3.7 billion in the first three months of this year, Boncodin is confident the country would recover in the second quarter.

"The biggest collection month is April," Boncodin said.

Last August 21, the President submitted the proposed 2003 budget to Congress to sustain the pursuit of a more purposive governance to fight criminality, stamp out graft and corruption and to continue the provision of essential public services.

Several expenditure policies and reform measures were incorporated in the budget to promote greater transparency and provide greater flexibility in the face of tight budgetary constraints.

Earlier, Boncodin said the P804-billion budget was crafted assuming the domestic economy will grow by 5 to 5.5 percent this year, from the 4 to 4.5 percent in 2002; and a lower inflation rate of 4 to 5 percent from the 4.5 to 5.5 percent inflation level last year.

The major departments that got the biggest chunks of the 2003 budget were the Department of Education (DepEd) with P106.5 billion, Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) with P53.2 billion, Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) with P44.2 billion, Department of National Defense (DND) with 42.6 billion, Department of Agriculture (DA) with 16.5 billion, Department of Health (DOH) with 10.4 billion, Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) with P9.5 billion, the Judiciary with P7.6 billion, Department of Finance with P6.7 billion, and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) with P6.2 billion.

PIKIT, Cotabato – In the next several weeks, the war-ravaged and deserted village of Bagoinged and neighboring barangays here will once more be beehives of productive community and agricultural activity.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo assured this Tuesday in a late afternoon dialogue with residents of Bagoinged, as she led national and local government officials in visiting the small village by the side of Pagalungan River.

Bagoinged suffered backlashes from ongoing fighting between the military and the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which once controlled the environs of nearby Liguasan Marsh until the marsh was retaken by government forces last February.

A cluster of wooden houses with sawali rooftops serves as home to Bagoinged residents. A day-care center, a multi-purpose center and a mosque lie at the center of the village, rebuilt in 2000 after being destroyed during military operations against the MILF.

During the dialogue at the day-care center, the President noted the concern of the Bagoinged residents over continuing threats from MILF rebels, particularly at night when they are forced to leave the area for safer grounds.

But local barangay officials told the President that they desired to return to and permanently stay in their homes and attend to their farms, citing the presence of army soldiers who could provide them protection from threats to their safety.

"Mas masarap dito kaysa sa evacuation camps (It is better to stay in one’s home than to live it out in evacuation camps)," the President said.

In the course of the 25-minute dialogue, steps to return normalcy to Bagoinged and 14 other war-affected villages in Pikit were discussed, and the Chief Executive acceded to requests for government help that had to do with the delivery of basic social and economic services.

Among the services she sought to be provided immediately to Bagoinged residents included the:

-- Restoration of electric power. Residents said power lines supplying electricity to the village were cut at the height of the conflict in nearby Buliok complex, once an MILF lair.

-- Installation of potable water and toilet facilities and implementation of sanitation programs.

-- Rehabilitation of a war-damaged five-classroom school building that used to provide elementary education to more than 200 pupils, and

-- Establishment of a rural health center stocked with medicine and medical supplies.

The sudden announcement of the President that she would order the titling of farmlands in Bagoinged drew applause from the local officials led by Pikit Mayor Farida Malingco.

The President said Office of Muslim Affairs Administrator Zamzamin Ampatuan would facilitate the titling, in cooperation with other concerned state agencies.

She noted that the titling would go hand in hand with the program of the provincial government of Cotabato to provide war-affected residents of Pikit with farm equipment and implements.

Cotabato Governor Emmanuel Piņol told the President that the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (provincial assembly) had approved a P50-million loan to buy 19 new tractors to spur Pikit’s agricultural growth.

Piņol, who met and welcomed the President when she arrived at about 3:30 p.m. in Bagoinged, said the new tractors would augment four others already in use in the town.

On top of this, the President approved the turnover of three more tractors to Pikit from the Southern Philippines Development Authority (SPDA), an agency under the Office of the President.

Presidential Adviser for Mindanao Jesus Dureza earlier recommended the distribution of the SPDA tractors to Pikit.

President Macapagal-Arroyo likewise noted the big role the newly rehabilitated 7.8-kilometer Inug-ug – Talitay - Rajah Muda - Bagoinged road would play in assuring that fresh agricultural produce from Pikit’s villages would reach the markets and give farmers more revenues.

The P4.1-million road rehabilitation project was completed last March 15 under the auspices of the provincial government of Cotabato.

Further, the President cited the implementation of the P5-million Special Economic Enhancement and Development (SEED) program to boost agriculture in Pikit.

The SEED program provides social amelioration and livelihood development programs. It also includes agricultural infrastructure projects.

The President also gave her full support to the salaam (Arabic for zones of peace) program being initiated by the military in Pikit.

Maj. Gen. Generoso Senga, commander of the Army's 6th Infantry Division, told the President that soldiers were being trained to help develop the salaam program in Bagoinged.

Senga said four trained militarymen would be assigned to each salaam in every barangay of Pikit.

He hinted that this would push the Chief Executive’s thrust to promote cultural and religious solidarity in the country.

At the end of the dialogue, the President witnessed the turnover of P1 million in check from Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Corazon Juliano-Soliman to Pikit Mayor Malingco.

The check represented funds for the construction of 100 core shelters for family-victims of the conflict, or persons whose houses were burned and totally destroyed.

However, recipients of the core shelters have to be validated by the DSWD.

The President called on agency officials to fasttrack the implementation of programs and projects that would uplift the welfare of the people of Bagoinged and Pikit.

She said it was imperative that the victims of the conflict in Mindanao are immediately attended to and their needs given fast response.

An official of the World Health Organization (WHO), whose regional headquarters is in Manila, today said that if by April 28, those in close contact with Adela Catalon would not develop the symptoms of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), then the authorities can say that the Philippines is still SARS-free.

In a briefing in Malacanang this afternoon, WHO representative to the Philippines Jean Marc Olivier said that the longest incubation period of the killer pneumonia is two weeks.

Olivier said that since Catalon died on April 14, then if those who had close contact with her would not develop fever and the other symptoms of SARS, then "I think that we will be confident that there is no SARS in the Philippines."

The WHO official also asked people not to panic amidst all these reports about SARS as he appealed to the media to help in informing the people that to prevent infection, all one has to do is to observe simple hygiene measures, like washing one’s hands.

He said that SARS can be prevented from spreading with the proper hospital care. "It is a disease where we need to be very quick in the hospital environment when we deal with patients," Olivier said.

Olivier, however, cautioned that since there is so much travel between SARS-infected countries and the Philippines, there is no guarantee that the SARS threat would not come to the country.

"That is the reason why we need to have a very strong and quick hospital confinement and hospital infection prevention measure," Olivier said.

He also explained that Catalan, a nursing aide who worked in Toronto, Canada, had not been checked when she arrived in Manila because she passed by Japan, which is a SARS-free country.

Stay calm and banish those psychological fears about SARS.

This was the message imparted to the media by Secretary Manuel Dayrit of the Department of Health (DOH) on reports that some people are willing to wear protective mask to protect them from the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

"If you wear a (protective) mask now, it would really be more to match your psychological fears rather than to defend yourself biologically," Dayrit said during a press briefing in Malacanang this afternoon.

"Wear a mask if it’s going to make you feel better, but really, biologically speaking, you are not defending against SARS because we don’t have any SARS here," Dayrit said.

SARS, a biological disease that is believed to have originated from Guandong, China is now spreading to almost 20 countries.

Dayrit, who heads the SARS crisis management committee, said that people should not over react to their possible infection of SARS because the biological disease has not directly infected public places in the country.

"We don’t have SARS in our streets, we don’t have SARS in our malls, we don’t have SARS in our schools," Dayrit stressed.

Dayrit also admitted that there is still no diagnostic test perfected anywhere in the world to detect SARS, adding that that is the reason why supposed victims are always described as "probable" victims of the killer pneumonia.

The health secretary lamented that the media has a penchant for dropping the world "probable" and this has caused the confusion and the anxiety of the public.

Based on their monitoring, Dayrit said, they already identified two probable cases and one of them is Adela Catalon, who died last April 14. .

The Department of Health (DOH) today stressed the need to strengthen public awareness on effective severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) prevention and to manage public anxiety on the killer pneumonia.

The DOH said there is a need for a psychosocial management of public fear and panic over the disease.

In a press conference in Malacanang this noon, Dr. Concorcia Lim-Quizon, an epidemiologist and Chief Executive Assistant of the DOH, revealed their six-point agenda on SARS awareness.

She said initially it is important to strengthen communication lines via communication gadgets and equipment like cellular phones, fax machines and the internet.

Quizon said the DOH has already installed its own website, telephone and text hotlines to reach out to the public locally and globally on SARS awareness.

She added that they have already coordinated with Globe and Smart companies for functional information text servicing.

Quizon said that in order to manage public fear and panic on SARS infection, the DOH has conducted regular press teleconferences along with WHO representatives, and distributed press releases, advisories, lectures and other means of information dissemination.

She said that some DOH officers have conducted community assemblies to inform the local residents on SARS prevention.

Dr. Quizon said there is also a need for collaboration and networking with some media outfits and various government agencies.

Health Secretary Manuel Dayrit today said Thailand is still free from the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and there is no need to quarantine Philippine officials, including President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, when they return to the Philippines after the April 29 summit in Bangkok.

The President, along with other Philippine officials, will attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Summit on SARS scheduled April 29 in Bangkok to discuss the SARS crisis and its effects on the region.

The President will stay overnight in the Thai capital along with other leaders of the 10-member Asean including officials of the World Health Organization (WHO).

Saying that the trip to Bangkok is necessary, Dayrit stressed that there is a lot to gain by the President’s trip because the leaders of ASEAN are going to collaborate beyond the health issues and discussions would include tourism and investments.

He said that the countries in the region could also unilaterally create policies and sanctions that could adversely affect other countries. "And so this is the reason why this meeting is important," Dayrit said.

Dayrit said although Thailand has seven "imported" cases and two deaths, none of these imported cases resulted in local transmission.

"That is why Thailand is considered SARS-free," the health chief said.

Earlier, the President said she would attend the summit to join other Asean leaders in sharing best practices, common policies and procedure to check SARS across borders.

"The most effective way to beat this menace is through transnational effort," she said.