The welfare of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and providing them more opportunities have been high in the priorities of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

This was most evident in the President’s recent travels to Japan, Hong Kong and Bahrain where she met with the Filipino communities there to personally look into their problems and how they are doing. She also had dialogues with government officials in those countries in efforts to open more doors for them.

Next month, negotiations for an economic partnership agreement with Japan will start. The agreement will further open the Japanese labor market to open its doors to Filipino caregivers and information technology talents.

According to the President, Japan is already closed market as far as OFWs are concerned with about 300,000 OFWs, mostly in the entertainment business, there.

But the President holds high hopes of getting more OFWs there after talks with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi during the recent Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-Japan Commemorative Summit in Tokyo.

The President is not yet quantifying any targeted figures as that will come only when the talks start.

However, she has high hopes for the caregivers with Japan having an aging population and really in need of competent caregivers to tend to the needs of their old.

Also boosting the President’s hopes is that our nurses, midwives, caregivers and therapists have shown the world their competence and professionalism.

They are all over the world, particularly in the United Kingdom, Scandinavia and Canada, according to the President and their services are highly valued.

While giving OFWs more opportunities, the President also boosts the country’s economy.

They are "champions of our country’s force in economic development," she said recently in Tokyo when she met the Filipino community there after the ASEAN-Japan commemorative Summit.

She attributed much of the country’s 4.4 percent growth in gross domestic product (GNP) and 5.9 percent hike in gross national product (GNP) to the remittances they make.

Besides looking into the working conditions of OFWs, the President has also set into motions programs for their welfare like housing programs and the OFW Provident Fund to provide them social protection and services for life, retirement, medical and/or emergency loan needs.

To date, about 24,840 OFWs, mostly from Hong Kong, Jeddah, Qatar, Milan and Rome, are enrolled in the Provident Fund.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo last night described the late Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas F. Ople as "a man of the people" who played an important role in uplifting the welfare of the common Filipino.

"Secretary Ople is a man of the people who proved that a common man can go on to accomplish uncommon achievements," the President said during her eulogy for him at the Barasoain Church in Malolos, Bulacan.

The President said Ople is a man of passion and commitment "who put the interest of the Philippine nation first."

"He was born poor but rich in heart and grew up fighting to better the lives of the average Filipino," she said.

The President cited the various accomplishments of Ople even before he became DFA secretary.

Among these are the establishment of the National Manpower Youth Council (NMYC), now called the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA); the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC); and the provision of 13th month pay for workers.

The President said Ople also started the overseas employment program in the 1970s.

As early as 1992 until he became Senate president, Mrs. Macapagal-Arroyo said Ople initiated and pushed for laws strengthening the rights of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) including the right to vote, and the increase in exports resulting in the generation of more jobs in the country.

The President said Ople also played a key role in the ratification of the General Agreement on Tarrif and Trade (GATT)-Uruguay Round that included the provision of safety nets for other sectors not yet ready to compete globally.

As DFA Secretary, the President said Ople took his pride of nation and passion to uplift the life of every Filipino to the global stage.

Under her administration, the President said Ople became the architect of Philippine foreign policy that resulted in good relations and diplomacy for the welfare of ordinary Filipinos.

"His legacy will be an enduring one. He fought to improve the image, respect and clout of the Philippines abroad in order to lift the quality of life here at home," she said.

Among others, the President said Ople fought to secure the rights and privileges of overseas workers and for peace in Mindanao with our allies abroad to bring stability, unity and prosperity for Muslims and Christians alike in the south.

For the first time, the President said the Philippines also became Asia's representative to the Security Council of the United Nations.

"For all these accomplishments, Secretary Ople will be remembered as the nation's champion for the common man at home, and respect of the nation at the world stage," she said.

The President said she takes pride in Ople's legacies and what he had done to uplift the poor as a result of his pursuit of economic justice and the Philippines' and Filipinos' rightful role abroad.

"He will be long remembered and his accomplishments will forever be part of the lives of the poor and humble and the rich and famous alike," she said.

The President delivered her eulogy right after the 6:00 p.m. requiem mass celebrated by Bishop Cirilo Almario.

Thereafter, the President conferred to Ople the Order of Lakandula with the Rank of Bayani, the highest award given by the President. The Award was received by the widowed Mrs. Susana Ople.

She also said Ople was a man of passion and commitment who put the interest of the country above everything else.

In key thrusts to reduce red tape and corruption in the bureaucracy, the Macapagal-Arroyo administration has implemented three measures.

First, it instituted the following initiatives in the different government agencies:

• acquisition of goods, supplies and materials through the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management;

• posting of flowcharts at the lobby of government agencies with frontline services showing the processes and steps in business transactions;

• reduction of signatories and processing time of various clearances, licenses and permits, even reducing signatories by half, in a number of agencies;

• issuance of Executive Order 40 consolidating procurement rules and regulations to enhance transparency in government procurement; and

• enhanced efficiency in the delivery of infrastructure services, increase in transparency, and improvement of internal controls to combat graft and corruption in the Department of Public Works and Highways. These reforms focus on the ongoing Road Information and Management Support system project assisted by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. This includes the intensive use of new procurement system application of geographic information system, improved Right-of-Way management process, improved internal controls on fiscal management, use of New Government Accounting system.

Second, it issued Executive Order 109 which streamlined rules and procedures on the review and approval of all government contracts, considerably cutting the time for processing.

Third, it reduced by half the processing time of employment contracts and accreditation of land-based workers and established the Philippine Seafarer’s One-Stop Center designed to provide frontline services, including quick documentation to seafarers in connection with their overseas employment.

The government has succeeded in keeping down the budget deficit for the year, Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said today.

The actual deficit is lower by about P18 billion than the total target budget deficit, Bunye disclosed in a radio interview this morning.

This is a welcome development because traders and the international community are keeping a close watch on how the country manages its budget deficit, Bunye said.

The good deficit figure will boost and strengthen confidence, specially of the international community, he added.

Bunye attributed the good news to fiscal discipline with the government having been most prudent in spending.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today said search, rescue and relief operations are in full swing in disaster-stricken areas in the Visayas and Mindanao.

The President also said the United States has offered assistance to speed up the operations by dispatching a Chinook helicopter from its military base in Okinawa, Japan.

Mrs. Macapagal-Arroyo indicated that she has been getting regular reports on the extent of the damage wrought by the landslides and flash floods in the South, as well as the progress of government operations in the affected areas.

Defense Secretary Eduardo Ermita said the President had wanted to go to the disaster areas to see for herself the extent of the danage and to extend relief and comfort to the displaced villagers, as well as to boost the morale of the people involved in the disaster operations.

However, personnel on the ground dissuaded her from going there because of inclement weather, Ermita said, adding that even the Air Force’s Huey helicopters cannot fly there.

Ermita said even travel by sea could be very risky. "Right now, we are awaiting word as to when we can come in so that we can oversee the overall relief, rescue and rehabilitation."

"That’s why the Chinook has to come," the President said in a press briefing following her meeting with the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) headed by Ermita in concurrent capacity where she was briefed on the extent of the damage and the progress of the search, rescue and relief operations.

Due to the dangers posed by sea travel, the President said two Huey helicopters of the Air Force and a 60-foot ship of the Navy were deployed to the South to help in the operations. Beefing up the military contingent is BRP San Juan of the Philippine Coast Guard which is expected to arrive in the South this morning.

Citing reports from the field, the President said the calamity has so far left 77 people dead, 20 injured and 123 missing. Sixty-one of the fatalities were in Southern Leyte which also reported 10 injured and 114 missing persons. The other victims were in the Caraga, Region 10, and 11 which had a total of 16 fatalities, 10 injured and nine missing.

"I am deeply saddened that this (tragedy) has to take place during the holiday season. But I am thankful to those who have offered to help," President Macapagal-Arroyo said.

The President said that concerned private organizations have also pitched in. She specifically cited the Philippine Mining Safety Association which set in motion its Safety Networking Action Plan to assist in the rescue missions for those buried in the landslides.

She said those willing to do their share in the overall rescue and relief operations could coordinate with the NDCC.

Meanwhile, elements of the Army’s Engineering Brigade, the 43^rd Infantry Battalion under Brig. Gen. Glenn Rabonza and workers of the Department of Public Works and Highways have stepped up their road clearing operations between Maasin and San Francisco towns in Southern Leyte which were heavily affected by landslides precipitated by the continuous rains over the past few days.

The President said she has been trying to contact Southern Leyte Gov. Rosette Lerias who took a pumpboat to go to San Francisco, to get a first-hand account of the damage, but communications systems apparently to bogged down.

Agriculture Secretary Luis Lorenzo gave assurances that food supply for the stricken communities would last 10 to 22 days. "There’s plenty of rice throughout Mindanao. So what we are doing is redeploying the food to the evacuation centers to be handled by the DSWD (Department of Social Welfare and Development).

DSWD Secretary Corazon Soliman reported that so far, about 24,000 people from 5,027 families were housed in at least 30 evacuation centers. No information on the matter from Southern Leyte has reached the DSWD because the province has been virtually isolated form the rest of the country by impassable roads due to the landslides.