Death of Salamat

It is unfortunate for the peace process since Salamat is supposed to lead the MILF panel in the GRP-MILF peace negotiations. Nevertheless, this does not affect the basic policy of the Government to pursue a just, comprehensive and durable solution to the conflict in Mindanao. We are prepared for the opening of the talks as scheduled.

Olivarez Libel Case

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today administered the oath to the last three members of the independent fact-finding commission on the Makati rebellion, saying the six-member body can now start its separate and thorough investigation into the root cause of the July 27 coup attempt and the provocations that inspired it.

The President said "I would have preferred to have the independent fact-finding commission undertake the sole inquiry for purposes of public focus, but I respect the decision of the Senate to proceed with its own."

Sworn in by the President in ceremonies held at the Study Room of Malacaņang this morning were Jesuit Fr. Joaquin Bernas, university professor Carolina Hernandez and retired Commodore Rex Robles.

Earlier, she swore in retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Florentino Feliciano as the commission’s chairman and retired Justice Minerva Gonzaga-Reyes and retired Air Force Capt. Roland Narciso as members of the commission.

Narciso, a classmate of the rebellion leaders at the Philippine Military Academy class of 1995, replaced Capt. Rex Banjo Q. Bumanlag, who is still undergoing schooling and is thus still under the military payroll.

In a statement issued after the oath-taking, the President said parallel inquiries could exist in the Makati rebellion case focusing on prospective legislation and on policy matters.

The President also said the investigation will allow Sen. Gregorio Honasan two fora to air his side, "the forum of his peers and the forum of the bench."

"I am for giving the people the full, unadulterated and unabridged story about this misadventure and I welcome all responsible efforts towards this end. The truth will prevail. Democracy will prevail," the President said.

Fr. Bernas was one-time provincial of the Society of Jesus in the Philippines and is the dean of the Ateneo de Manila University Law School. He is a noted theologian and constitutional expert, and one of the framers of the 1987 constitution. He teaches constitutional and international law at Ateneo.

Hernandez is a professor of political science at the University of the Philippines and is the holder of its Carlos P. Romulo Professorial Chair in International Relations.

She is founder and president of the Institute for Strategic and Development Studies, an independent, non-profit think-tank on foreign policy, domestic politics, and security concerns and development issues.

In 1989-1990, she served as a member of the Commission that investigated the failed coup of 1989, a body appointed by former President Corazon Aquino that produced the Final Report that is seen as a critically important document in the country’s march to re-democratization.

Dr. Hernandez is widely published in international, regional and Philippine academic journals in the fields of regional security and foreign relations, military politics, democracy and development, and Philippine domestic politics and foreign policy.

She holds a B.S. in Foreign Service, cum laude from UP, and M.A. in International Relations from the University of Karachi where she finished in her first class.

Dr. Hernandez also holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the State University of New York at Buffalo where she wrote a pioneering study on Philippine civil-military relations.

Commodore Rex Robles is one of the founders of the Reform the AFP Movement that spearheaded the EDSA People Power Revolution, in which he also took part. He is a member of the Philippine Military Academy Class of 1965 and earned his M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the US Naval Postgraduate School in 1974. He also graduated at the top of his class at the Command and General Staff College in 1984 and was a United Nations Fellow (Geneva, Stockholm and New York, 1980-1981) on International Security and Disarmament.

He is a security consultant, serving as Senior Adviser to MAA Consultants (Manila) and Consultant to the Quantum Capital and Consultants (Hong Kong). He is also president of RCR Consultancy, Security Risk Management and of RCR Security and Investigative Services. He was Senior Vice President for Security and Safety of PASAR from June 1999 to December 2001 and Security Consultant and Project Manager for Philnico from January 1999 to May 2002.

Robles was Senior Military Adviser to the Minister of National Defense in 1985-1986; Chairman of Special Study Group of the Ministry of National Defense from 1982-1985; and Chief of the Domestic Section, Production Branch, J2, of the Armed Forces of the Philippines from 1969 to 1972.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today hinted that the democratic processes are at work, particularly in the investigation on the involvement of Senator Gregorio "Gringo" Honasan in the failed Oakwood mutiny in Makati City last week.

In a statement read during oathtaking rites of three other members of the six-man fact-finding commission on the mutiny, the President said "three parallel inquiries could co-exist in this case, one focused on prospective legislation and the other on policy matters."

She referred to the separate inquiries being conducted by the House of Representatives and the Senate and the investigation of the independent commission.

She said this would "allow Senator Honasan two fora in which to air his side, the forum of his peers and the forum of the bench."

The President said Honasan should "welcome the charges against him as an opportunity to prove his claimed innocence."

She lauded "all responsible efforts" to get to the roots of the Oakwood mutiny.

"I am for giving the people the full, unadulterated and unabridged story about this notorious misadventure," she said.

She enjoined everyone to stop making the case "a media spectacle," as the "battle is now between evidence and conjecture, between fact and fiction."

An American firm that won a US Agency for International Development (USAID) contract for developments in post-war Iraq today assured President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo that it would give priority to Filipino workers in their projects.

The assurance was given by Asif M. Shaikh, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of IRG, during a courtesy call in Malacanang.

IRG is a US company that won a USAID contract to provide personnel support for Iraqi reconstruction and humanitarian efforts.

Shaikh informed the President that in his meeting with the Public-Private Sector Task Force on the Reconstruction of Iraq chaired by Roberto Romulo, he reiterated the participation of Philippine companies and experts in the implementation of IRG’s contracts.

The Public-Private Sector Task force was created by the President to coordinate Philippine participation in the reconstruction and rehabilitation of post-war Iraq.

Under its contract with the US government, the IRG is tasked to provide support to the USAID in the overall planning, monitoring, coordination, management and reporting on reconstruction and rehabilitation activities across a variety of sectors including education, health, agriculture, civil society strengthening, and infrastructure.

The contract base period covers 90 days with two additional one-year option periods.

The IRG has been involved in various World Bank and USAID funded projects in the Philippines that include work on environmental income accounting, national forestry action plan, rural electrification and urban pollution control.

Romulo said that sub-contracts are beginning to come in, adding that IRG’s contract falls squarely within our capability to help execute since the Philippines has a number of world-class experts on various fields.

After her brief meeting with Shaikh, the President warmly welcomed at the Ceremonial Hall some 240 Lakbay-Aral participants from Sasmuan, Pampanga led by Mayor Catalina Bagasina.

The President shook hands with her cabalens and even posed for a souvenir photograph with them.

The participants were composed of barangay captains, kagawads and personnel from the fourteen barangays of Sasmuan who were on a one-day Lakbay-Aral trip to Manila.

Consumers in the National Capital Region (NCR) should be glad that prices in the area have remained either stable or are generally going down.

This is the good news from the National Statistics Office (NSO), which today said that inflation in the region dipped by 0.5 percent in July from 1.3 percent in June.

Year-on-year inflation in the NCR also slowed down by 0.5 percentage point to 4.0 percent in July from 4.5 percent in June.

Inflation is any sustained or continuous increase in the prices of goods.

NSO Administrator Carmelita Ericta attributed the lower month-on-month inflation rate in July to the 1.6-percent reduction in the prices of food, beverages and tobacco items, from a 1.6-percent increase in June.

Ericta said all other commodity groups registered either slower rates or zero growth.

Prices of clothing eased 0.4 percent from 1.0 percent; service items, 0.3 percent from 2.5 percent; miscellaneous items, 0.1 percent from 0.7 percent; and fuel, light and water, zero growth from 1.2 percent, she said.

But housing and repairs costs slightly grew to 0.2 percent from 0.1 percent, she added.

Ericta noted that vegetables were abundantly supplied to markets in the NCR, enough to meet consumer demand in July. Fruits also teemed and commanded lower prices.

The same supply situation was noted in areas outside the NCR despite heavy rains and floods spawned by Typhoon Harurot that hit the country later in the month. The national index fell to –1.7 percent in July from 5.5 percent in June.

There was also abundant supply of fish nationwide. The volume of rice traded in the NCR was sufficient, although it was noted that the price of rice slightly rose in at least eight regions.

While slight increases were noted in the prices of selected school supplies, medicines, medical and health goods, this was slower than their corresponding June rates.

Ericta said higher rental rates in many regions pushed up the country’s housing and repairs index by 0.7 percent.

Tourism Secretary Richard Gordon appealed to the public yesterday to stop engaging in unnecessary talk or rumors about coups, saying this could only hurt the country in the long run.

Gordon made the appeal in a press briefing that followed a Cabinet meeting in Malacaņang wherein he discussed the impact of the failed mutiny on the country’s tourism industry.

Instead of engaging in unfounded talk, Gordon encouraged the people to go on with the following facts in mind: "We are a safe country, we had a bloodless mutiny which was resolved Philippine style. The problems are being addressed but there will be justice for the mutiny’s officers and that is a fact they will have to face."

"Even if they seem to have legitimate grievances which have already been addressed by the President, we want to send a message to the whole world that justice will be meted out firmly and fairly," he said.

The Tourism Secretary expressed elation over the favorable feedback he got from tourists who were in the country during the aborted mutiny in Makati. He said they were impressed with the way President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo handled the crisis and the whole thing didn’t make a difference with them.

He reported that the World Tourism Organization has extended the Visit Philippines 2003 to June 2004 largely because of the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) scare that hit the country some months back and brought tourism down.

Gordon stressed that the country cannot afford to have more "bad news" as it may really hurt this time.

"The more bad news we generate, the more the Philippines will have to spend valuable resources on advertising and we cannot afford that," he said. "We cannot match Singapore which is spending about $180 million in terms of promotional effort to recover or Hong Kong which is spending an equal amount."

He added that the country cannot get tourism back into radical jumps especially in an atmosphere "where things are popping up all over the place."

"Hopefully, it should not hurt us."

Gordon revealed that the Tourism Department is now in the process of preparing commercials with Hollywood stars Lou Diamond Phillips and Tia Carrere in connection with its WOW Philippines campaign.

Philips and Carrere have Filipino lineages.

Phillips, he said, arrived this morning while Carrere is in Palawan "enjoying herself."

Malacaņang today said the death of Chairman Hashim Salamat of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) would not affect the scheduled resumption of the peace talks between the government and the MILF being brokered by the Malaysian government.

In a briefing in Malacanang this afternoon, Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Eduardo Ermita said that since 2001 Al Haj Murad, who has succeeded Salamat as MILF chairman, has always headed the MILF panel to the talks.

"So the negotiations will resume with Al Haj Murad as chairman because, in the first place, he was designated chairman from the beginning in year 2001 and continues to be the chairman of the panel up to the present," Ermita said.

Earlier in a formal statement, Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said Salamat’s death would not affect the basic policy of the government to pursue a just, comprehensive and durable solution to the conflict in Mindanao.

"We are prepared for the opening of the talks in Kuala Lumpur as scheduled," Bunye said.

Ermita explained that before his death, Salamat signified his intention to be present at the opening of the formal talks in Kuala Lumpur.

Murad, formerly MILF vice chairman for military affairs, was chosen by the MILF central committee to take over as MILF chairman after Salamat’s death last July 13.

When asked when the formal talks between the two sides would resume, Ermita said that this would depend on the advice coming from the Malaysian government.

He said that the formal talks would be preceded by a preparatory meeting to be arranged by Malaysia and attended by a small group from each panel.

After the preparatory meeting, Ermita said the formal reopening of the stalled peace negotiations, would hopefully be held "on or about August 10."

"But all these are dependent on the disposition of the Malaysian authorities. I repeat that we are only guests of the Malaysian government which is hosting these talks," Ermita said.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has approved the increase in salaries of the officers and enlisted men of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) long before the Makati mutiny happened last July 27.

In his report presented to the President during the Cabinet meeting today, Admiral Matt Mayuga, AFP deputy chief of staff for personnel, said the government has been implementing the three-phase increase of the soldier’s salaries under Republic Act 9166 which was signed into law by the President last June 7, 2002, or more than a year before the Makati incident.

R.A. 9166 rectified the disparity in the salary of soldiers by increasing the rate of their base pay to make it at par with their counterparts in the Philippine National Police (PNP) and other benefits.

The law provides a salary grade of 30 to the AFP Chief-of-Staff while a private is given a salary grade of 10, comparable to that of an Officer I in the second level in the Civil Service.

The new pay scale for soldiers was carried out on a staggered basis but not to exceed two years.

Mayuga said its implementation began in October 2002 by increasing the soldiers’ salaries by 20 percent. Another 30 percent was provided in January this year. He said the other half, or 50 percent, is scheduled for release January next year.

In her speech during the Manila Overseas Press Club (MOPC) President’s Night last July 31 in Makati City, the President said the soldiers were lucky to have their increase implemented in just two years.

"In fact, the policemen tell me the soldiers are lucky because the policemen’s pay to make it equal to the teachers was legislated way back in 1992. It took me in 2002 to implement it fully," she said.

We condole with the government of Indonesia and with the families and friends of the victims. We pray for the safe recovery of those injured.

This attack does not and cannot alter the resolve of the international community to fight terror.

We stand by the brave people of Indonesia at this moment of sorrow and indignation.