The number of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who have been issued the e-Card has reached 148,659 as of November, according to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

The OFW Electron ID card is being issued by the DOLE through its attached agencies, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA). It is given free of charge to all qualified OFWs and serves as a proof that the cardholder is a legitimate OFW and an OWWA member.

Apart from being an identification card, the e-Card also serves other functions. It contains a permanent number and basic information about the OFW which he will need in dealing with OWWA and POEA, and eventually with other relevant government and private institutions, locally and abroad.

"The issuance of ID cards to OFWs is not a new project. We have been issuing cards to OFWs as early as 1991. We only added the Visa Electron feature to enhance its usefulness. Besides, availment of the e-Card is voluntary," Labor Secretary Patricia A. Sto. Tomas said.

The DOLE started the issuance of the e-Card in February last year. It has tapped the government and private banking institutions, led by the Equitable PCI Bank, to enhance the usefulness of the card.

At the option of the OFW, he can open an account through the bank's representatives at POEA and eventually in designated foreign offices. The card can be linked to an ATM account of the OFW and can serve as a remittance card as well as a debit card for his purchases through the VISA Electron Network.

Sto. Tomas said that by the end of 2003, the DOLE hopes to accomplish its target of 100 percent coverage of all OFWs.

At present, only Equitable PCI Bank participates in the project since other banks are still complying with some technical requirements.

Sto. Tomas said that the primary concern of the DOLE in issuing the e-Card is to facilitate its monitoring of OFWs' movement (inflow and outflow) and to improve services delivery to OFWs and their families.

The DOLE is also now exploring the possibility of using the card for availment of special privileges like getting discounts from duty-free shops and different airlines, Sto. Tomas said.

Malacaņang today said that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo finds the proposal of a government of national unity "well meaning," and that she is "not closed" to the idea.

"But the concept needs to further evolve," Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said in a press briefing in Malacaņang.

He said the President has tasked certain specific Cabinet members, who are also members of the Cabinet oversight committee, to make sure that discussions are started on the formation of a "government of national unity."

Bunye said that no names were mentioned, but the President would prefer that the government of national unity to be "program-oriented rather than people-centered."

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said today she will pursue with more vigor until the end of her term an eight-point program which is part of her vision of a strong Republic and of the bigger medium development plan to win the battle against poverty within the decade.

During the first Cabinet meeting of the year held at the State Dining Room of Malacaņang, the President thanked the members of the Cabinet for understanding that she did not consult any of them on her Rizal Day announcement on her decision not to run for election in 2004.

The President said she only consulted God and that she did it for the good of the country.

Addressing the members of her official family, the President said: "Here we are now. I think the important thing is for us to agree on what do we do now that one thing has changed."

That one thing that has changed was her announcement not to run for president in 2004.

The President emphasized that the vision enumerated in her first and second state of the nation addresses and her medium-term development program remain the same and she will pursue her eight-point program with more vigor.

"This is what we will do, except that now we can have more political will to be able to carry it out," the President said.

Using a whiteboard, the President laid out her eight-point program for the remaining 18 months of her term. These are the following:

1. To strengthen small and medium enterprises;
2. Jumpstart housing;
3. Reduce cargo costs from Mindanao to Luzon;
4. Decongest Metro Manila;
5. Mark up the contributions of the Presidential Commission on Good Government to the fiscal resources;
6. Make Makati a specific urban tourist destination and the reclamation area on Roxas Boulevard as a tourism complex or the new Nayong Pilipino.
7. Stimulate private investment in agriculture; and
8. Address the deficit problem through both administrative and legislative measures.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today granted the Tricycle Operators and Drivers Associations (TODA) Pilipinas the amount of P1 million for the setting up of the group’s own emission-testing center as well as its working capital.

The President also announced that from P300, the cost of having a tricycle tested for emission at the Land Transportation Office (LTO) would now be at P90 each. The P300 fee would be applied to private tricycle transports, the President said.

The President issued the grant and the announcement of reduced emission test fee during her keynote speech at the indoor rally at the Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay City, of the 20,000-strong TODA.

"Ang binigay ninyong dahilan kung bakit kayo ay ayaw ng emission test, sabi niyo masyadong mahal ang P300 eh ang liit na nga ng inyong kita, kaya gumawa tayo ng sistema na yung P300, yun ang sa mga private sector. Kayong public sector transport, mga tricycle driver, ang testing ninyo ay gagawin sa LTO para sa ganun imbes na P300, P90 lamang (You said that you don’t like emission testing because it costs too much and it would further burden you with your small income. That is why we are making a system where the P300 fee will be applied to the private transport, and public tricycle transport will be tested at a cost of P90 each)," the President said.

The President also announced that tricycles would be given three more months to comply with the emission testing requirements.

The President said the moratorium would not be on the testing but on the compliance. If you are not able to comply, you will be given three months to comply and you will be given ways on how to best comply. The government would give you all the assistance you need," the President said-.

She also revealed government plans to help TODA set up cooperatives that would handle the group’s own gasoline stations.

The Chief Executive said that the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) would be the one of the primary government agencies that would provide such assistance.

The President also thanked the TODA members for their sacrifices such as not asking for transport hike though there was a world economic crisis.

She asked them to further prepare for more sacrifice, as there is an impending war in the Middle East. "Dagdag na namang sakripisyo na hinihintay ng mga kababayan natin, lalo na kayo na nagbibili ng gasoline. Kasi speculation pa lamang tumataas na ang presyo ng krudo (there would be another impending sacrifice especially for those of you who use crude oil)," she said.

The President, however, announced that during her Cabinet meeting today, it was revealed that a rise in crude prices would happen during the wait for war to start. But once war takes place, and especially if it is quick, then oil prices will start to stabilize.

Among TODA leaders who attended were Luther Estrada of Pasig, TODAPHIL (Tinig ng Organisadong Drayber at Operator sa Pilipinas) National Capital Region president; Severino del Rosario of Kalookan, TODAPHIL NCR Vice President; Danilo Cagas of Muntinlupa, TODAPHIL Vice President Internal, Ace Sevilla of Pasay, TODA NCR Council; Alfredo Moreno of Valenzuela, TODA NCR Council; Pedro Astrero of Taguig, TODA NCR Council; and Sonny Espiritu of Makati, TODA NCR Council.

Officials present at the event were National Security Adviser J. Roilo Golez, Metro Manila Development Authority Chairman Bayani Fernando, Vice Mayors’ League president Jessie Cruz of Mandaluyong City, and DOTC Secretary Leandro Mendoza.

The President has extolled the country’s tricycle operators and drivers for what she described as their "immense contribution" to the economy.

In her brief remarks at the first-ever summit of the Tricycle Operators and Drivers Association (TODA) held last year at the Amoranto Multi-Purpose Hall in Quezon City, the President said the lowly tricycle is a fitting example of the saying "small is beautiful."

"Kasi di ba maliiit ang traysikel, kasing liit ko ngunit malaki naman ang naiaambag sa ekonomiya pati na rin sa ikabubuti ng mamamayan (Isn’t it that tricycles are small, just like me? But they contribute immensely to the economy and to the welfare of the people)," the President said.

The President said tricycles have become part of the people’s daily lives, from going to schools and offices, distributing wares to and from the market places, and especially during emergencies.

"Dito natin makikita kung gaano kahalaga ang inyong binibigay na serbisyo sa publiko (It is here where we can appreciate the things that you do for the public)," she added.