President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today gave credence to her administration’s accelerated shelter program as she made a brief ocular tour of the site of another impact housing project – dubbed Smile Citihomes – in Camarin, Caloocan City.

The President noted the importance of Smile Citihomes, one of ten approved projects under Pag-IBIG’s Medium/High Rise Condominium Building Program.

True to her vow to make housing one of the eight-point priority programs of her administration, the President’s visit and inspection signaled her desire to reduce the shelter shortage in Metro Manila among the urban working class.

Among the target beneficiaries of Smile Citihomes are the rank-and-file employees of government and private offices, specifically the teachers, policemen and firemen, and overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

The beneficiaries must have gross family incomes of P10,000 to P15,000 monthly, to qualify under the PAG-Ibig Fund’s Retail Financing Program.

Monthly amortizations range from P2,900 to P4,800 payable in 20 to 30 years.

Smile Citihomes, a P136.64-million project of Phinma Property Holdings Corp., has 415 condominium units. Each unit has a floor area of 30 square meters with prices ranging from P280,000 to P550,000.

Located in a residential area, Smile Citihomes is near SM City Fairview and Robinson’s malls. It consists of three buildings of five-story walk-ups.

In informal talks and over lunch with accompanying state officials and Phinma officers, the President reiterated her administration’s goal to provide more decent homes to urban poor communities and the low and middle-income families.

In a recent speech, the President said that for 2002, the target housing units for the urban poor had been met.

She said she was gratified that about 500,000 housing units would be built over the next year and a half.

"But much is still to be desired. So, I hope that with the support of all sectors, we can achieve our targets," the President said.

Secretary Golez may have been misunderstood. There is no intention on the part of the government to permanently close down its embassy in Iraq and the President has not given any such order. Ambassador Escalante and essential embassy personnel will remain in their post until further notice.

The Philippine position has not changed. Our government supports a peaceful resolution of the conflict. We are prepared to protect the interest of our nationals in case of any contingency.

You have to recall that at the start of the Arroyo administration, we have more than 4 million jobless. While strides have been achieved in solving the problem, unemployment remains a huge challenge.

This is a long-standing problem that can only be solved through deep structural reforms to increase overall investment, expand small and medium enterprises, broaden commercial activity, alleviate poverty and increase productive capacity at the community level. Global preparedness is also a factor. The President’s order to use English as a medium of instruction is a way of addressing unemployment in the future by preparing our people to become more competitive in the global market.

The "cleansing purges" of its ranks by the Communist Party of the Philippines in the 1980s cannot be erased by any feeling of regrets the lendership of the communist movement pretends to feel now.

The gun ban is grounded on the duty and responsibility of our Government to protect and ensure the safety and well-being of our people. Its purpose will be defeated if there are too many exemptions.

The Department of National Defense (DND) today said the Macapagal-Arroyo administration is always prepared to meet any threats coming from all armed threat groups, either from the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) or the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG).

"Such threats are to be expected from the NPA and the ASG who are already experts at using the media to project a position of strength vis-à-vis the Philippine government," the DND said in response to reports that the communist rebels would be launching sympathy attacks if the United States were to carry out its threat to strike at Iraq.

The DND also said that the military and the police have contingency plans to meet such threats.

The AFP will strengthen its intelligence efforts to deny such plots and be able to protect the people from terrorists, the DND said

Earlier, Presidential Spokesman Ignacio R. Bunye said the government is not discounting the possibility of extremist-led terrorist attacks not only in the United States but in other countries as well.

In the Philippines, Bunye said, the military and the law enforcement agencies have been "bracing for this by beefing up intelligence and police presence as well as community vigilance in the urban areas. "

Bunye cited two important things to remember, namely, everyone must be involved in this stepped-up efforts against terrorism where the alertness of the public is important; and not to aggravate terrorism by engaging in hate campaigns against our Muslim brethren, the great majority of whom are our allies against terrorism.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has created, through Executive Order No. 174, the National Council on Food Security and Job Creation (NCFSJC) to ensure the availability of food and job opportunities, especially in the countryside.

A copy of the EO 174, which was signed on January 30, 2003, was formally issued in simple ceremonies held this afternoon in Malacanang.

The creation of the NCFSJC is based on Article ll, Section 9 of the Constitution that says the state shall free the people from poverty through policies that provide them with adequate social services, promote full employment and improve the quality of life for all.

Section 2 of RA 8435, also known as the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act of l997, also declares that the state shall enable those who belong to the agriculture and fisheries sector to participate and share in the fruits of development and growth, and that the state shall ensure the availability, adequacy, accessibility and affordability of food supplies for all times.

According to the President, her administration is committed to ensure the attainment of sustainable food security in the country at all times.

The NCFSJC is composed of the agriculture secretary as chairman, representing the public sector; and the presidential adviser on food security and job creation, as co-chairman, representing the private sector.

Members of the council include the secretaries of trade and industry, environment and natural resources, agrarian reform, finance, budget and management, labor and employment and transportation and communication.

As mandated under EO 174, the council will design and adopt a comprehensive National Food Security and Job Creation Plan in consonance with the Medium and Long-Term Agricultural and Fisheries Modernization Plan, as provided for in RA 8435.

As part of its inter-agency function, the NCFSJC will supervise various cross-cutting plans, programs and policies related to food security, to include the following:

• optimization of the agrarian reform communities for food productivity;
• efficient transportation of food within various production center in the county;
• conservation of marine resources, soil fertility and other natural endowments necessary for food production;
• increasing the role of local government units in food production; and
• defining the strategic role of the country’s trading partners in providing food for local consumption as well as markets for our agricultural products.

The council will also serve as a coordinating forum for various policies, laws, rules and regulations that need to be devised, amended or proposed, in order to attain food security.

It will also generate and mobilize resources from domestic and foreign sources for the implementation of the food security and job creation plan.

The Department of Agriculture (DA) today branded as "baseless" the perception of a minority group that the Macapagal-Arroyo government is not doing anything about meat importation and smuggling.

"On the contrary, the government, particularly the Department of Agriculture, has been responsive to the concerns of the meat industry," Agriculture Secretary Luis Lorenzo said in a report to Malacanang.

Lorenzo said the DA "is on top of the situation," adding that it is also in constant dialog with the industry leaders.

Lorenzo said he has created the Industry Meat Desk within the DA, particularly at the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) and the National Meat Inspection Commission (NMIC), in order to make the granting of import permits and veterinary quarantine clearances more transparent to all stakeholders.

"The desk also enables government and civil society to jointly address industry problems and opportunities on real time basis," Lorenzo added.

According to Lorenzo, imports of pork account for less than 4 percent of total supply. "In fact, the volume of meat imports has not substantially risen. There was more pork imported in year 2000 (49.96 thousand metric tons) than in 2002 (49.72 thousand metric tons)," he said.

Lorenzo pointed out that the Anti-Smuggling Task Force was created by the President explicitly to address smuggling. He noted that the efforts of the task force are bearing results as evidenced by the seizure of container vans of smuggled meat and vegetables.

The Anti-Smuggling Task Force apprehended last Jan. 15, 2003 a total of 14 container vans at the Port of Manila found to have misdeclared import items or have no import permits at all.

The inspection and subsequent confiscation of the contraband goods was led by two Cabinet secretaries and the PSG Commanding General on direct orders from the President.

Finance Secretary Jose Luis Camacho and Lorenzo were joined by Brig. Gen. Hermogenes Esperon of the Presidential Security Group in the random opening of refrigerated vans at the Port of Manila, which was found to have a current inventory of 126 refrigerated vans.

The intensified operations of the Anti-Smuggling Task Force these past weeks were in response to the President’s directive last December to intensify monitoring and subsequent confiscation of illegally imported products.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today cited two Filipino inventors who reaped a record of six medals at the Seoul International Fair 2002 conducted December 4 to 8, 2002 in Seoul, South Korea.

The President recognized the achievements of Dr. Virgilio Malang and Rolando Dela Cruz, impressing that the works of the two inventors would go a long way in promoting science technology in the country.

In simple rites at Malacanang’s Ceremonial Hall, the President also handed over a P1-million check as cash reward to Dr. Malang and another P500, 000 for Dela Cruz.

Secretary Estrella Alabastro of the Department of Science and Technology assisted the President in giving the cash award from the President’s Social Fund.

Dr. Malang and Dela Cruz won in the Seoul fair, billed as an intellectual battleground for 385 inventions by 287 inventors from 30 countries.

Dr. Malang won the gold medal for his invention Psidium Guajava Effervescing Gynecological Insert, a silver medal for his Patient Side-Turning Hospital Bed, and a bronze medal each for Light Refracting Earpick, External Vaginal Cleanser and a Brooms Way of Hanging.

On the other hand, Dela Cruz got his gold medal for his Cashew Nuts Extract in the removal of warts, moles and other skin growths – a future Filipino herbal monopoly like the Ginseng.

Earlier, the President administered the oath of office of Simeon Datumanong as Acting Secretary of the Department of Justice, Secretary Rigoberto Tiglao as Presidential Chief of Staff, and General Dionisio Santiago as Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

The President also swore in Joseph Bautista, Governor of the Province of Davao Del Sur; Heherson Alvarez, Presidential Adviser for Overseas Filipino Communities; Richard Ferrer as deputy executive secretary and Benjamin De Guzman as Undersecretary, both in the Office of the Executive Secretary; Nor Adiong, deputy executive director of the Office of Muslim Affairs; Jaime Asuncion, senior deputy administrator of the National Food Authority; and Rosario Uriarte, general manager of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office.