The country has had enough of political bickering and partisan strife.

Bitter memories of the past are hampering our goal to move forward.

We cannot have change before genuine reconciliation with justice.

As far as a potential resurgence of the SARS is concerned, we are on top of the situation.

The system is in place.

We have never let our guard down.

We have learned by experience.

Screening at our international airports continues.

The Department of Health has been strengthening health facilities for months and preparing SARS isolation rooms meeting international standards.

We would like to assure Japanese investors as well as other foreign investors, that we are meeting substantial gains in the anti-kidnapping campaign and in the general promulgation of law and order.

The intensified security measures being implemented by NAKTF, through checkpoints and police visibility program, have effectively deterred high crimes, especially kidnapping carnapping and robbery.

The government is fully prepared to cope with a potential resurgence of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo assured the nation today.

"The system is in place. We have never let our guard down. We have learned by experience. Screening at our international airports continues," the President said in a statement issued this morning.

She stressed that the Department of Health (DoH) has been strengthening health facilities for months and preparing SARS isolation rooms that meet international standards.

"Preparado tayo sa Pilipinas (We in the Philippines are prepared)," Health Secretary Manuel Dayrit said after Taiwan confirmed a researcher fell ill due to the deadly virus.

Procedures for surveillance, referral and management of cases remain in force, Dayrit added.

Dayrit said airport personnel continue to screen passengers’ temperatures, isolation facilities in hospitals had been upgraded and government health workers had been given enough supplies to protect them from SARS.

"We are on full alert," Manila International Airport Authority General Manager Edgar Manda also said.

After the initial SARS scare which broke out early this year in China, the country’s anti-SARS measures succeeded in keeping the local cases below 20 and getting the country off the SARS-affected list within weeks.

The country was the least affected among Asian countries where SARS claimed most of its victims.

The World Health Organization has also commended the Philippine government for its strong political commitment as well as its efficient surveillance and reporting system. In just few days, WHO removed the country from the list of areas reported with local SARS transmission.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today commended the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) for their professionalism in upholding peace throughout the country, particularly in the government’s renewed campaign against crime and terrorism.

In a speech during the 68^th anniversary of the AFP held this morning in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City, the President said the "operational fusion" between the AFP and the PNP has resulted in the lowering of the crime rate in Metro Manila.

"With your vigilant support to the policemen and other law enforcement agencies, we have been able to cut down by half the crime rate in Metro Manila over the past two weeks," the President said.

The celebration was themed, "Sandatahang Lakas ng Pilipinas: Nagkakaisa Tungo sa Matatag na Republika,"

The President particularly commended the AFP and the PNP for neutralizing and arresting top criminals, including members of kidnap-for ransom syndicates, the Abu Sayyaf, and Jemaah Islamiyah.

"Your work together with the PNP has been truly a great example of inter-operational fusion that bodes well. Pagkakaisa ng AFP at PNP para sugpuin ang krimen at terorismo (A united AFP and PNP to stop crimes and terrorism)," she said.

At present, the President said the integrated track of vigilance and peace building would continue "until we have a just, lasting and comprehensive peace especially in Mindanao."

The President said the peace efforts in Mindanao and the suspension of military operations (SOMO) with the New People’s Army (NPA) is a gesture of peace to give respite to the civilian communities affected by conflict.

"All of these are reminders that we wage war to gain peace," the President said

She said the achievements of Defense Secretary Eduardo Ermita in the peace process and the "mainstreaming" of the peace process into the defense policy combined with the "spectacular" successes of Secretary Angelo Reyes, head of the National Anti-Kidnapping Task Force (NAKTAF), in fighting kidnapping and bank robberies "is truly a banner year for our defense and armed forces officials."

Being the Chief Executive and also a mother, the President said her administration has fully supported the AFP and the PNP to cope with the demands of their work.

The President said she has prioritized the acquisition of supplies and equipment for the use of the AFP and PNP and the provision of additional benefits, including the increase of their salaries and the P1-billion housing package since the start of her administration.

The President directed Ermita and AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Narciso Abaya to look for more housing areas for soldiers and policemen and assign a military doctor from the Department of Health (DOH) regional hospitals near conflict areas to attend to the immediate needs of their wounded personnel.

She also reiterated her instruction to the DND and the AFP to improve its management system in addressing redress and grievances.

All these, she said, are intended to ensure that the security and investment of the people and the soldiers are well taken care of.

Shortly after her arrival, the President was escorted by Gen. Narciso Abaya in the inspection of the troops on board a top-down vehicle.

The President was also assisted by Abaya during the presentation of the meritorious awards to the organic and non-organic personnel of the AFP including non-government organizations.

After her speech, the President and the other officials watched the traditional pass-in-review.

SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today inaugurated and inspected several completed segments of the North Luzon Expressway (NLE), giving government’s traffic decongestion program a big boost.

The completed segments of the NLE project include sections in Valenzuela City, Bulacan and Pampanga.

"Congratulations to everyone involved in this project that is so strategic to our economy," the President said in her remarks.

"We need to change the economy in a way that will create jobs for our people and allow us to fight poverty and win the battle," the President said.

With the opening of the completed segments, motorists coming from Metro Manila going up North will enjoy lighter traffic and proceed more smoothly along the 17-kilometer northbound lanes of the Valenzuela to Burol section in Bulacan and the five-kilometer southbound lanes of Burol in Balagtas to Bocaue, also in Bulacan.

The President said, "We need to use the infrastructure and investments to create jobs and defeat poverty. We have identified critical infrastructure that are needed to decongest Metro Manila and expand Metro Manila into a Mega Manila that will be going all the way to Clark, Subic in the North, and CALABARZON in Batangas Port, in the South."

She also said that the reconstruction of the NLE is a strong and firm affirmation from investors and creditors on the viability of the Philippines as an economic growth area in the Asia-Pacific region.

The government sees the completion of the NLE as a vital link of commerce between Metro Manila and Southern Luzon to Central and Northern Luzon. This is part of its overall program to attract new and more investments making the Northern Luzon countryside more appealing to investors, spurring economic growth and thus, providing more jobs.

"We need Metro Manila, the main infrastructure project for decongesting the traffic if the Ikot Tren, which we inaugurated yesterday. North with expressway and the North Railway, and South into the expressway and the South Railway," she said.

The fact that investors are putting up the entire $371 million to reconstruct and modernize the NLE attests to the soundness of the project and the viability of the country as an investment haven, the President said.

The President said that NLE modernization is a significant milestone in her administration’s continuing mission to generate economic growth and create opportunities by opening up avenues for trade, tourism and investment in Northern Luzon.

President Macapagal-Arroyo said that those living in Manila can now work in Clark, Subic and vice versa because of the much smoother flow of traffic.

"Because of smoother traffic flow, productivity will be heightened, which will eventually translate to more investments," the President said.

She said that it took the government quite a time to start the project because it must first clear financial, policy, legal and bureaucratic obstacles.

The Presidential Commission for the Central Luzon Growth Corridor (PCCLGC) said that Central and Northern Luzon would experience economic growth once the ongoing modernization of the NLE is finished.

PCCLGC Executive Director Blesila Lantayona said that the upgrading of the expressway into world-class standards would create a more favorable climate for business and boost the region’s bid for an accelerated economic development.

The PCCLGC has been closely monitoring the NLE modernization project since it is one the 16 strategic infrastructure projects endorsed by the Regional Development Council (RDC-3) and one that has the biggest impact on the region’s economy.

Jose P. De Jesus, president of the Manila North Tollways Corporation (MNTC), said that once the project becomes fully operational in 2004, travel time will be reduced in half since the new NLE can accommodate more vehicles.

The $371 million modernization project was partly funded through borrowings from top international lenders, with MNTC putting up $117.5 million and the remainder of $253.5 million coming from foreign sources.

Saying the most natural resource of the Philippines is its skilled people, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today thanked the Filipino athletes who spearheaded the country’s successful campaign in the just-concluded 22^nd Southeast Asian Games in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam.

"Thank you for bringing honor to the Philippines. Thank you for the fourth place, and thank you for the country’s biggest haul of medals in the history of the Southeast Asian Games," the President said after she and the First Gentleman Atty. Jose Miguel Arroyo received the athletes in Malacaņang during a courtesy call.

Calling the Team Philippines "beloved world-class athletes of the country" the President said the country has much to be proud of following their harvest of 48 gold, 54 silver and 75 bronze medals in the games.

"The most important natural resource of the Philippines is its skilled people, and you have shown in a world stage your skills as athletes," the President pointed out.

Of the 48 gold medals, athletes Marcus Valda, Arwin Ting and Ryan Fabriga won two gold medals each in wrestling, wushu and diving respectively.

The President and the First Gentleman threw their support behind Team Philippines all the way with Atty. Arroyo even flying to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh to cheer the athletes.

Philippine Sports Commission Chairman Eric Buhain presented the athletes to the First Couple saying the PSC has focused its attention on the SEAG since November last year.

Buhain, however, gave all the credit to the athletes, who conquered the odds and showed they were not distracted by what others said were the demoralizing effect of the delay in their allowances.