President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has said that the restructuring that she has ordered in the government’s fiscal management is paying off with the budget deficit so far this year now below the projected level.

In a recent interview with Reuters, the British news agency, the President said that so far, the performance of the two top revenue agencies, the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Bureau of Customs, has shown that "we are closing the budget gap."

The President attributed these improvements to the restructuring measures, which have been diligently implemented by her economic managers.

The President also that she has put together a team under the Office of the President to do lifestyle checks on government officials and other kinds of operational method in order to enhance this fight against graft and corruption. "I think it’s going to work well," she emphasized.

The President also confirmed that her administration may also consider suspending its treasury bond and treasury bill auctions because the government has been able to exercise fiscal discipline.

She recalled that last year, the Philippines was getting very good rates on our bonds. "So our finance officials were looking at that as the main way of closing the gap," the President said.

But even last year, the President stressed that she had been instructing her finance and economic managers to do other things.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said yesterday that the single biggest threat to law and order now are the drug syndicates.

During a Command Conference on Street Crimes involving the nation’s police commanders from regional and district directors down to the station and precinct commanders, the President also said that the National Capital Region (Metro Manila) and Region 7 (Central Visayas) registered the highest number of street crimes last year.

The most common street crimes are drug-pushing, snatching of cell phones, jewelry and purse, pickpocketing, swindling, mugging and rape, and robbery of small establishments, according to Chief Superintendent Vidal Querol, deputy director for operations of the Philippine National Police.

The President said that while the PNP has made progress in the pursuit of big-time crime syndicates, "the response to street crimes, in the minds of the people, has not been satisfactory."

Ordinary crime cases, whose victims are mostly ordinary citizens, demand police attention, the President said. "Therefore, we must focus on police performance at the station and precinct levels," she added.

In his report during the command conference at Malacanang, Director General Anselmo Avenido, Jr. of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency said the drug problem in the country has reached alarming proportions.

Avenido informed the President and other PNP commanders that official statistics from the Dangerous Drugs Board indicate that there are around 1.8 million regular users and 1.6 million occasional users of drugs in the country.

He said the main drug of abuse today is shabu.

Avenido also said that last year, the number of drug-affected barangays totalled 3,489 or 8 percent of the country’s 42,000 barangays.

He said that as a result of the intelligence workshop conducted by the PDEA on the Aug. 30 and 31 last year, 11 transnational drug syndicates and 215 local organized drug groups were identified to be operating in the country.

The PDEA chief said the increase in production capacity, the ease in world travel, modern communications and globalization have led shabu-source countries to look for new markets.

The Philippines, just like the other countries in the Asian region, is one of the main targets for this expansion, he added.

Avenido said shabu is smuggled into the country through four major avenues: the seaports, the international airports, the mail and parcel services, and the vast expanse of the Philippine coastlines.

Shabu from China is smuggled into the country mainly through the shorelines of Northern and Central Luzon and Southern Tagalog, specifically Batangas, Cagayan, Ilocos Sur, Zambales, Aurora, Quezon and the Mindoro provinces, Avenido added.

Other probable landing sites are Masbate, Palawan, Sorsogon, South Cotabato , Davao, Sulu and Tawi-tawi.

Avenido said the involvement of foreign nationals from China and Hong Kong is very apparent in almost all of the visible seizures of drugs by government law-enforcement authorities.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has ordered Philippine National Police (PNP) officers to link up with the barangay chairmen and tanods and mobilize them for crime prevention.

Giving her guidance to the nation’s top police officers at the end of the special command conference in Malacanang on the campaign against street crimes, the President also directed PNP officials "to spend 50 percent of their working hours in the streets, not in the offices."

She directed that each precinct set up a unit consisting of at least two police officers who will be solely in charge of mobilizing the barangay leadership in the prevention of crimes, particularly street crimes like cell phone snatching, mugging, rape and drug-pushing.

"One of the specific things that you have to do at the station level – and this will be the essence of the (PNP) initiative – is to tap the active involvement of the community to the barangays and not just civil and non-government organizations," the President said.

The President likewise ordered the mobilization of more policemen where the population is bigger, and in the neighborhood which she said is essentially the barangay.

The President, however, pointed out that this requires not just putting more people proportionately where the crime rate is extra high.

"Police officials, from the provincial commander down to the precinct and station commanders, should go out of their offices to the streets, and to the barangays," the President said.

The President said she expects the PNP leadership to come up with a detailed plan, especially in Metro Manila, for increasing the number of barangay tanods that are part of their para-police machinery.

To jumpstart this, the President said she will release P10 million for the mobilization of barangay tanods against street crimes.

Ordering the close monitoring of the success of the anti-crime campaign in the problem areas, the President said she will be closely watching the anti-crime drive in Metro Manila and also in Region 7, where the crime rate is highest.

"So here I will need a monthly report on the anti-crime campaign with a monthly crime rate statistics," the President.

In the case of the National Capital Region (Metro Manila) where the crime rate is highest, the President said she needs monthly crime statistics at the city level.

"We have already the baseline and your marching order is to bring down the crime rate by at least 20 percent in these two regions – NCR and Region 7 (Central Visayas) -- and in the most crime-prone NCR districts," the President said.

The President said she will summon the PNP officials to another command conference on March 7 where she expects to get a report on the implementation of her instructions.

"Then I can make a judgment whether the campaign against crime is progressing well or the people are still dissatisfied," the President said.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today announced that the government is set to adopt a number of packages that would greatly benefit public transport operators and workers.

The President made the announcement during a luncheon meeting with some 15 officials of various Metro Manila and provincial transport groups in Malacanang’s Heroes Hall, where she also acknowledged the latter’s promise to postpone their request for a fare increase.

She reiterated the government’s commitment to help the public transport sector find ways to ease the impact of recent increases in the price of world crude.

To this effect, she said the Department of Energy (DoE), in two weeks, would implement a set of beneficial packages.

The packages include a P0.40 to P0.50 discount on diesel and gasoline and the setting up of re-fuelling facilities with discounted prices on diesel and gasoline products in bus and jeepney terminals in Metro Manila.

The DoE, the President said, would give out discount cards.

Three gasoline stations – along Edsa-Shaw Boulevard in Mandaluyong City and in Guadalupe and near the Philippine Refining Company, both in Makati City – would offer automatic refuel discounts.

During the meeting, the transport sector leaders assured the President they would not ask for any fare increment, to help mitigate problems similarly facing other economies worldwide because of the series of world oil price increases.

"We’re trying to hold on to it. We do not want a fare increase at this point in time," Engineer Albert Suansing, secretary general of the Confederation of Land Transportation of the Philippines, told the President.

Claire de la Fuente, president of the Integrated Metro Bus Operators Association (IMBOA), said her group is one with the President in looking for ways to solve any public transportation problem that might arise.

De la Fuente said the oil price increases would be temporary, a spin-off of an impending US-led attack on Iraq whose President, Saddam Hussein, has continued to defy calls to disarm his weapons of mass destruction.

"We know that this is temporary. What we can promise is that we are really 100 percent behind this government. We want to help the government in easing the problem. If we are going to ask for a fare hike, that would be a start of another major problem," she said.

She added that a fare hike could have a domino effect and raise the prices of basic goods, bring about petitions for wage increases and others.

Aside from De la Fuente and Suansing, the transport leaders in the meeting included Eleonor Santos of the North East Metro Manila Bus Operators Group; Ramon Castillo, Metro Manila Bus Operators Association; Aladin Simundac, Intercity Bus Operators Association; Alejandro Yague, Provincial Bus Operators Association of the Philippines; Michael Potenciano, Southern Luzon Bus Operators Association of the Philippines; Leonardo Naval, Association of Taxi Operators of Metro Manila; Zenaida Maranan, Federation of Jeepney Operators and Drivers Association of the Philippines; Efren De Luna, Philippine Confederation of Drivers Organization Alliance of Concerned Transport Organization; Melencio Vargas, Federation of Rizal-Cubao Operators Drivers Alliance; Roberto Martin, Pangkalahatang Sanggunian ng mga Suburban Drivers Association Nationwide Inc.; Orlando Marquez, Makati Jeepney Operators and Drivers Association; Ariel Lim, National Confederation of Tricycle Operators and Drivers; and Luther Estrada, Tricycle Operators and Drivers Association Pilipinas.

Balikatan

This will be a joint training exercise. American soldiers will not engage in offensive combat operations against the Abu Sayaff. They will only fire back in self-defense. They will operate under the overall command of the AFP. The training activities will be coordinated with the provincial government of Sulu so that the communities involved will be properly informed. These training exercises will not displace peaceful civilian communities. Civic action will be conducted to support social services in the area. This will be a peace and development initiative as much as a training exercise.

CBCP on Anti-Money Laundering

We share the CBCP’s desire to flush out dirty money, but we can’t make this a mud-slinging debate. The important thing is for FATF representatives to explain their standards right before our lawmakers so they can get the answers from the horse’s mouth. We need to resolve this issue with sobriety and we also need to act fast.

Mindanao Conflict

The President has a vision that the conflict can be transformed into something beneficial for the people Mindanao, whether Christian, Muslim or Lumad. The ball is in the MILF’s hands. It should not lose this opportunity to show that it is also sincere in seeking peace.

Iraq Situation

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today ordered Chief Superintendent Reynaldo Velasco, director of the Philippine National Police-National Capital Regional Police Office (PNP-NCRPO), to field traffic police marshals aboard buses and jeepneys plying Metro Manila to pounce on so-called "kotong cops" extorting money from drivers.

The President’s order came after leaders of various transportation groups, with whom she met at Malacanang for lunch, complained about the activities of traffic policemen and traffic enforcers who continue to mulct them for money.

"Maglagay na tayo ng espiya sa mga bus (Let’s put ‘spies’ on buses)," President told Chief Superintendent Velasco.

She also directed Velasco to meet with the bus and jeepney operators to work out the mechanics on the deployment of marshals on public vehicles, adding that she expects him to conduct regular monthly meetings with the operators.

The President said she wants to put an end to the illegal activities of scalawags in uniforms, particularly those from the Traffic Management Group of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the traffic enforcers of the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA).

The traffic marshals are not only expected to secure public vehicles against mulcters. The President said she expects them to file cases against scalawags in uniform caught extorting money from drivers.

The President also ordered Chief Superintendent Pedro Bulaong of the Western Police District to designate jeepney parking and passenger loading zones along major thoroughfares in Manila.

The President orders came just a day after she directed the nation’s police commanders, particularly those in Metro Manila, to take more assertive action against street crimes.

During a command conference in Malacanang, the President also ordered the police commanders, from the regional and district levels down to the station and precinct levels, to spend more time in the streets, "not in offices," fighting crime.