President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today appealed to separatists and communist rebels to help in achieving a lasting peace not only in Mindanao but also throughout the country.

In her Valentine’s Day message, the President said she hopes the Lord will shower the country and the Filipino people with His blessings of peace "in this age of anxiety and conflict" as the government strives to seek the paths to a just and lasting peace.

"Peace in the world and in our country—peace within us. This is our utmost yearning," the President said.

She called for love to blossom "everywhere and in our hearts, for each other" and for everybody to have faith in the Filipino and hope in our future as a nation.

The President particularly directed her appeal to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) so that the elusive peace and prosperity in Mindanao can be finally achieved.

She said she has instructed the government peace panel to seek out their MILF counterparts so that a final peace agreement with the secessionist group can be forged within six months.

"Our efforts will be reinforced by true brotherhood with Islam as a bulwark of peace, harmony and solidarity," the President said.

The President said that her heart bleeds for the victims of the present fighting in Mindanao but added that the government is duty bound to strike at the lairs of what she termed as "the most incorrigible criminals holding hostage entire communities."

She said upholding the rule of law is the only assurance for an enduring peace in Mindanao.

On the communist insurgency, the President said that she has directed an exploratory team to leave for the Netherlands to touch base with the leaders of the National Democratic Front (NDF) to work for the resumption of the stalled peace talks with the NDF, within the framework of the Constitution.

She said the exploratory team would deliver the draft of the final agreement to the NDF to jumpstart a speedier peace process. The NDF, whose leadership is living on exile in Utrecht, the Netherlands, is the political arm of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).

On the world front, the President said she prays that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein will heed the call of the United Nations for the destruction of weapons of mass destruction so that war can be prevented.

Malacañang today stressed that despite the ongoing fighting in Central Mindanao the "avenue for peace" with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is still open.

In his press briefing in Malacanang, Presidential Spokesman Ignacio R. Bunye said that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has given the order to continue with the peace efforts so that the fighting in Mindanao can be stopped and a lasting peace could be worked out.

The President, in fact, has given a time frame of six months within which the government and the MILF can sign a peace settlement, Bunye said.

Bunye said that he hoped the MILF panel will meet with the government panel headed by Jesus Dureza, Presidential Assistant for Mindanao, to thresh out matters that would lead to the cessation of hostilities.

He also clarified that the order of the President was not to go after the MILF but after lawless elements, particularly the Pentagon Kidnap-for- Ransom Gang, who have sought refuge in the Buliok Complex near the Liguasan Marsh in Cotabato.

Bunye lamented that there were casualties and refugees in the ongoing military operations.

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) will soon replicate throughout the Middle East its Saudi Arabia WelfareNet SMS Hotline for Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW).

Labor and Employment Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas said the hotline sought to speed up the list-up of OFWs in the Persian Gulf and in other countries where large concentrations of Filipino workers are located.

Sto. Tomas said the WelfareNet SMS Hotline was launched recently by the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, initially in Al Khobar.

The WelfareNet SMS Hotline was set up in response to the need to quickly establish an accurate and comprehensive database of OFWs in the Kingdom, where 950,000 of about 1.5 million Filipinos in the Middle East work and reside.

Labor Attaché Jalilo de la Torre launched the initiative at the Civil Defense Forum that Philippine embassy and labor officials conducted for OFWs on February 7 at the physical education covered grounds of the International Philippine School (IPSA) in Al Khobar.

The forum focused on the Philippine government's preparations for the looming war between Iraq and the United States and was attended by the Presidential Middle East Preparedness Committee headed by Ambassador Roy Cimatu, Philippine Ambassador to Riyadh Bahnarim Guinomla, Consul General Marianito Dumia, Mubbarak Bubshait of the Saudi Ministry of Education, Col. Awad Al-Qahtani, deputy chief for the Eastern Province of the Saudi Office of Civil Defense, and leaders and members of the Filipino community in the Eastern Province.

Through the Al Khobar WelfareNet SMS Hotline, OFWs can text-message their personal, employment and other data to a dedicated number in Saudi Arabia.

The message will be relayed automatically to a computerized database administered by the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh.

"With the hotline, we would be able to fast-track the completion of an accurate and comprehensive listing of OFWs in the Kingdom. This will help us a lot in delivering the appropriate programs of government to our workers," de la Torre said.

He added the hotline would also facilitate government preparation for emergencies, including the looming war in the region.

To use the hotline, an OFW must text-message to 00966-59252241 the acronym OFW followed by a comma (,) without any space(s) then the information on (1) Passport or Iqama number; (2) Full name of OFW; (3) Employer contact number; (4) Occupation of the OFW; (5) Address in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; (6) Name of next of kin in the Philippines; and (7) Contact number of next of kin in the Philippines.

A team led by officials of the Philippine peace panel will leave for the Netherlands on February 17 (Monday) and stay up to February 20 to touch base and resume peace negotiations with the Communist Party of the Philippines-National Democratic Front (CPP-NDF).

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, in her Valentine’s Day message to the nation, said she had also asked the team "to deliver the Republic’s draft for a final peace agreement to the NDF to jumpstart what I hope will be a speedier peace process."

The President made it clear that the peace talks should be conducted "within the framework of our Constitution."

In a media briefing in Malacanang, former Justice Secretary Silvestre Bello III, head of the government peace panel, said the trip to the Netherlands would be "an exploratory meeting hopefully to pave the way for the resumption of the (GRP-NDF) formal peace negotiations."

Bello said the exploratory talks, to include back-channeling efforts, were part of the whole peace process. He explained that when snags hit ongoing peace talks because of unresolved issues, peace panels resort to back channeling to "untwine the impasse."

Bello said Secretary Silvestre Afable, Jr., who has figured in the government’s back channel negotiations with the communist rebels, would lead the team. GRP peace panel executive director Carla Munsayac Villarta will also join the team.

The team would likely talk with the authorized representative of the NDF, its peace panel headed by Luis Jalandoni.

During the briefing, Bello said he found seriously doubtful statements given by some ranking CPP leaders that they would reject the government’s draft of a final peace pact.

"First, they cannot reject something that has not been presented. Second, in a negotiation, any party to the negotiation does not reject the position of any counterpart. What they can do is to submit a counter proposal," he stressed.

He added that the government "is planning to propose a time frame of six months from the date of formal presentation" of the draft for the signing of a final peace agreement.

A major provision of the draft, located in the chapter on the end of hostilities and disposition of forces, is the offer of government of an amnesty program, Bello said.

But the amnesty will only be implemented when the final pact is signed and it gets the ratification of Congress, he added.

"The moment it becomes effective, then (CPP head) Mr. (Jose Maria) Sison will have to apply for amnesty under that program," he noted.

But until then, Sison would have to face charges of murder for the killing of former Congressman Rodolfo Aguinaldo.

"(Sison) knows that the judicial branch of government is beyond the authority of the executive branch of government. Kung ano man ang mangyari sa judicial process natin, hindi pwedeng pakialaman ng executive branch," Bello said.

He also brushed aside speculations that the NDF panel would insist on having their US-imprinted terrorist tag dropped.

Energy Secretary Vicente Perez today said the Philippines is in a very good shape compared to its neighbors in the region in terms of oil supply inventory in case war erupts in Iraq.

In a press briefing in Malacañang, Perez said the Philippines has now 70 days of oil supply inventory while Thailand has 50 days of inventory.

Out of February’s 70 days inventory, 47 days inventory is in-country, to last until end-March 2003. This consists of crude and other finished products.

Perez said there is still an additional seven million barrels loading next week, equivalent to 23 days, the total inventory to last beyond April 2003, while another 11 million barrels, equivalent to 38 days to be loaded in March, to extend inventory until May 2003.

Perez said that this come about when President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed Executive Order 134 last October, mandating all oil companies to set a minimum oil inventory.

"Last February 1, I promulgated a ruling that oil companies must have 30 days of minimum inventory, 15 days for the new players, and for LPG dealers, seven days. That’s why our total inventory increased," Perez said.

According to Perez, he has been quietly talking to the oil companies, telling them to advance import loadings and schedules this week or next week, rather than at the end February.

Perez also said that oil exporting countries friendly to the Philippines, such as Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iran and other Middle East countries, will provide the Philippines as much oil as the country needs, in case a Middle East war erupts.

Perez likewise enumerated other oil supply security initiatives of the energy sector, among them:

• Maximize national storage capacity for stockpiling of diesel and other products;

• Extension of the Pandacan oil depot business permit;

• Activate the Energy Contingency Task Force to implement contingency plan according to scenario level; and

• Implement the communication plan, such as the TV ads that recently came out about how to conserve oil.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) today said its operations group has embarked on continuous relief and rehabilitation work for people in conflict-torn Pikit in Cotabato province.

In a report to Malacanang, Social Welfare and Development Secretary Corazon Juliano-Soliman said the DSWD has coordinated with other government agencies and the private sector to ensure the safety and transport of supplies, particularly of basic goods, to Central Mindanao.

Soliman had visited the evacuation centers to oversee the distribution of augmentation assistance, which included rice, tents, mats, sardines and used clothing from the DSWD Field Offices XI (Davao City) and XII (Cotabato City).

She said the DSWD has released a total of P1 million last February 12 to support local relief operations. Various local government units in Region XII shelled out P900,000 to augment relief work.

She added that her department would release today another P1.3 million for the displaced families.

"In coordination with local military authorities, the DSWD has taken steps to ensure the safe transport of 400 sacks of rice from our office to augment the supplies of the Municipal Disaster Coordinating Council," she said.

Soliman said she has instructed the DSWD Region XII Field Office to acquire an additional 2,500 sacks of rice from the National Food Authority provincial warehouses in Kidapawan City, Cotabato City and Isulan, Sultan Kudarat.

She added that the department has also received milk, clothing, toys, food items and other donations from private groups and individuals.

As of February 13, Municipal Disaster Coordinating Council (MDCC) in Pikit reported that the total number of evacuees in the town has increased to 4,850 families or 28,618 persons, roughly 33 percent of whom are located in 13 evacuation centers while the greater bulk are house-based or staying in other areas.

Soliman said the agency’s Critical Incidence Stress Debriefing (CISD) teams, reinforced by staff from the DSWD central and regional offices, have been dispatched to Region XII to help the victims and to assist in managing the evacuation centers.

The government assured the general public today that the country’s food supply is adequate and there is no reason to panic in view of the any possible hostility that will arise from the Iraq conflict.

"We have an abundant food supply. In fact, more food that we have had in previous global events," Agriculture Secretary Luis Lorenzo said during a press briefing in Malacañang this afternoon.

Lorenzo said President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo "ordered us to review our inventory of everyday food supplies…and upon her instructions, we would like to ensure the public that there is no cause for alarm ."

Lorenzo also assured that the Department of Trade and Industry will work to ensure that the prices of goods -- particularly of rice, meat and eggs, vegetables, and fish – are stabilized and remain the same.

He also assured that "there will be no food lines because the supplies are adequate and, definitely, there is no rationing."

"We are doing everything possible to make sure that if the supply of rice and other commodities is stable, then there is no reason for retailers to take advantage of the consumers by raising prices," Lorenzo said.