Moody’s Investors Service, a leading global credit rating agency, has maintained a stable outlook on all the foreign currency ratings of the Philippines.

Moody's, also a risk analysis firm, publishes credit opinions, research, and ratings on fixed-income securities, issuers of securities and other credit obligations.

In its most recent report, Moody’s has affirmed the Philippines’ Ba1 long-term foreign currency ceiling for bonds, the Ba1 foreign currency rating for government obligations, and the Ba2 long-term foreign currency ceiling for bank deposits.

Moody’s said Philippine exports have "rebounded impressively" in 2002. The country has a stable and productive export base that should remain resilient, it added.

The rating agency expected that the performance would continue as long as external conditions remained favorable.

In a related development, International Monetary Fund (IMF) external relations director Thomas Dawson has cited the Philippines as among the emerging Southeast Asian economies that "have together displaced the Asian industrialized countries" in export sectors such as apparel, footwear and household products.

Dawson said the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia – collectively known as the Asean-4 – and China appeared to be taking over the sectors in recent years.

"This is a healthy development," Dawson recently told a media forum in Hong Kong.

Contrary to perceptions, China’s trade gains have not shaken Southeast Asia’s emerging economies, he said.

He projected that growth this year in most Asian countries, despite risks of a possible war in the Middle East and Japan’s weakness, would be above the global average of 3.7 percent.

Meanwhile, Foreign Policy magazine’s "Globalization Index" released Tuesday named the Philippines as among nine nations to have contributed in making East Asia as one of the most integrated region in the world.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today called on the entire Filipino people to "work with me to insure that we can revolutionize our nation through reform, honest dialogue and lasting change."

During the traditional Vin D’Honneur at Malacaņang, the President said "I may not be running for president, but that will not diminish my efforts one bit" to attain unity and cooperation and achieve the goals the administration has set out to accomplish.

"There can be no falling back," the President said. "In the vision that guides my administration, I see a country liberated from the grip and greed of the past. I see this happening through a revolution in the way we think and in the way we do politics and economics" and on a "new national dialogue on change and reform."

The President said that at the center of the revolution "must be a commitment to reforms and to putting the people first."

The President said she paved the way for a national dialogue when she declared that she would not run for the Presidency in 2004.

"This nation is at a crossroads: quite simply, it must reform or perish," the President said.

Although unity and cooperation is needed, the President said, "I don’t want the unity of blind submission. I want the unity of conscious cooperation."

"I expect a vigorous debate. But it must be a debate on alternative ways of change," the President stressed.

The President said in the debates, no topic shall be sacred; no idea or ideology beyond question. "We must keep trying something better and new," she said.

The President vowed to do everything in her power to succeed, saying "trust me, that liberated power is considerable. Relieved of the burden of political ambition, this Office has the power to make and unmake."

Members of the diplomatic community in the Philippines today pledged to continue supporting the government of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo so that it can achieve its goals in the year 2003 even as he extolled the President for her "able leadership" in guiding the Filipino people during the past year.

In his response at the traditional Vin d’Honneur held this morning in Malacanang’s Ceremonial Hall, Archbishop Antonio Franco, Apostolic Nuncio and dean of the diplomatic corps, said that the diplomatic community is confident that the President would be able to promote peace and prosperity in the country through teamwork and regional and international cooperation.

"We are confident, Madame President, that this beloved and great nation, under your able leadership, through rigid discernment and appropriate action, with healthy and people-oriented politics, could contribute to further enhancing regional and international teamwork in order to promote this very much needed and desired peace and prosperity for all peoples," Franco said.

Franco said that the foreign countries that they represent appreciate the President’s "willingness and resolute commitment to uphold human rights and protect human life, to support dialogue and security equity in justice."

He said that working for peace is inevitably bound by respect for truth and that all human activities, especially those responsible for the life of peoples and nations, should be undertaken within the sphere of moral judgment.

World peace, Franco said, should be principally based on the four pillars of truth, justice, love and freedom.

He also reiterated the foreign government’s desire to further enhance during the new year their reciprocal cooperation with the Philippines and the government "in all areas of common interest such as science and technology and economics and social development, manpower and security, religious and cultural heritage."

Franco said that looking back at the year 2002, the past year has left us with feelings of anxiety and tension because of ongoing power struggles and threats to peaceful co-existence among nations.

"Nevertheless, we also feel satisfaction for what has been achieved in this country and in the international community," Franco said.

According to the papal nuncio, the future seems to be full of challenges, demanding greater regional and international partnership in order to work for the common good of all nations, both strong and weak, rich and poor.

But despite these, peoples of the world could still be both optimistic and hopeful for a better future, Franco added.

In his remarks, the papal nuncio also thanked the Filipino people "for their great sense of hospitality and friendship that truly facilitates our stay and mission in this beautiful archipelago."

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today renewed her appeal for unity among the Filipino people as she stressed that the deep division in the country caused by politics has prompted her to decide not to seek the presidency in 2004.

In her remarks at the traditional Vin d’Honneur held this morning at the Ceremonial Hall of Malacanang, the President said that she has faith in the capacity of the Filipino people to succeed, being the hardest working people in the world.

"I have faith in our country. I have hope for the future. I am optimistic the Philippines will yet emerge as a prosperous modern nation within our lifetimes," the President said.

The Vin d’Honneur was attended by members of the diplomatic community led by Archbishop Antonio Franco, the papal nuncio who is also the dean of the diplomatic corps, Cabinet members, leaders and members of the Senate and House of Representatives, and top government officials.

Among those who attended the New Year gathering were former Presidents Fidel V. Ramos and Corazon Aquino, Vice President Teofisto Guingona, Jr., Senate President Franklin Drilon, Speaker Jose de Venecia, Jr. and Chief Justice Hilario Davide.

The President said that the Philippines is a country at a crossroads. "Quite simply, it must reform or perish," she candidly said.

She said that the people must shake loose from the grip of the status quo to set the country free and lead it to the road to true prosperity.

But the President made it clear that she did not want the unity of blind submission. "I want the unity of conscious cooperation," she added.

The President said that when she declared that she would not run in 2004, her primary objective was to turn the divisiveness in the country into a dialogue on change and reform, which is crucial for the country’s development.

She said that because of her decision not to join in the 2004 presidential derby, she expects a vigorous debate among the people but added that this debate must be on alternative ways of change.

In the debates, the President said, no topic shall be sacred, no idea or ideology beyond question. "We must keep trying something better and new," she said.

The President also said that there can be no falling back anymore. "Only those with vested interests have something to fall back on, though not for long. Either this country moves forward or dies," she said.

According to the President, now that she has cast aside all political ambitions, she has everything in her power to succeed.

"Trust me, that liberated power is considerable. Relieved of the burden of political ambition, this office has the power to make or unmake," the President said.

She said that her not running for President would not diminish her efforts in pushing for reforms and development and improving the lives of the people.

"I ask everyone to work with me to insure that we can revolutionize our nation through reform, honest dialogue and lasting peace," the President said.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, reiterating her decision not to seek the presidency in 2004, said today the power she seeks is the power of cooperation and "the greater power that invites respect…that convinces and grows with the cooperation it inspires by spreading the circle of its benefits."

"By giving," the President said during the traditional Vin d’Honneur at Malacanang, "I hope to gain the power that can make life better for those who never had it good, and even for those who never had it so good."

The President said the things that need to be done for this country – and the world at large – require the power of cooperation. "This is the only power that can change a nation and the world," she added.

"Staring tomorrow and in the weeks to come, I will take the challenge of development to the people and ask for their support," the President said. "Not for the presidency in 2004 but for my initiatives."

"I will present to the people the series of programs that I believe need to be embraced if this nation is to succeed. I will not let an election year impede reform," the President added.

Stressing that her decision not to seek election in 2004 was not easy but the right one, the President said she wants an end to envy and a start of cooperation.

"I want the rising tide that lifts all boats, whether they are yachts or bangkang papel," she said, alluding to the paper boats on which the boys mentioned in her first State of the Nation Address listed down their wishes.

The President also expressed the following wishes:

• For the Filipino worker to be the most productive possible, and to be paid commensurately;
• For the ordinary people to enjoy a decent standard of living, with ever increasing security, comfort and joy;
• For the rich to profit from real and productive investments, not from clever schemes that subtract rather than add to the national wealth;
• For justice so pervasive that it will be taken for granted, just as injustice is taken for granted today;
• For intelligent laws that conduce to peace, progress and prosperity.

"All these things I want are things that make up a strong republic," the President said.

The President said that in a world without borders, the Filipinos need a strong state to protect vital interests. "The world is not getting smaller, it is getting tighter – and the competition more keen," she said.

The President also pointed out that national security cannot be attained nor economic progress achieved without a strong republic.

She said the last 20 years have shown that the free market is not so much a sure-fire formula for progress but rather the condition in which all progress must be achieved. "It will be a struggle," the President said.

The Chief Executive said that by stepping off the political stage in 2004, she takes a step higher in the office she still keeps and thereby commands a wider allegiance to the policies and projects needed to improve the country.

"It will profit me nothing if I succeed, but my successor will inherit a country better positioned to complete its rebuilding," the President said.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today took note of the substantial gains her administration has achieved since she assumed the Presidency, as she firmed up her desire to do more for the country and the Filipino people in her remaining year-and-a-half in office.

In the President’s speech during the traditional Vin D’Honneur in Malacaņang, she said that during her first 20 months as Chief Executive, many reform-oriented decisions were made to benefit the people.

"Inflation is under control. Exports are up. We are making deep inroads against crime and in stemming the tide of corruption in government," she said. The country’s macro-economic condition has also stabilized.

The Philippines has established herself as a major player in the Southeast Asian region, successfully integrating trade policy with development, she added.

Further, the image of the country abroad has turned around for the better, as "we stepped up to our obligations as global citizens to combat terrorism," she stressed.

The President noted that some might ask what she could possibly accomplish in the next year-and-a-half.

"The power of one, if fearless and focused, is formidable. But the power of many working together is better, " she emphasized. "That is why I stepped away from the destructive politics that has prevented the unity indispensable to the salvation of the state. But together with the nation’s leaders, across the broad political and economic spectrum, the tasks I have set in the short time that is left will build on the work accomplished in the equally short time that has passed," she said.

"The measure of an administration’s success is not its length but achievements," the President added.

Among the programs she wanted to carry out included the further strengthening of the economy, the creation of more jobs, the encouragement of more business activity – unhampered by corruption and red tape, supported when needed by fiscal and trade policy to promote industrial development.

She also vowed to "heal the deep divisions in our country, and hopes to make major progress in the solution to the communist insurgency, and in the final integration of the Muslim component of our society."

She expected to see the "cleanest and most orderly elections at the end of my term."

The President likewise lamented that while she had been exerting her best effort to build the nation, her pro-people programs have "made many powerful enemies for herself."

She noted that she gave all the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) to the local government units without regard to their political affiliations, consequently depriving herself of the billions of patronage funds that used to come from withholding a percentage of the IRA. Yet, she said, she was accused of ambition.

"I pursued land reform, most extensively in Negros Occidental including the land of my husband’s family. And we were accused of greed," she said

The President said that when she moved to cancel the Philippine International Air Terminals Co. contract to spare future generations from its onerous conditions, she was accused of shortsightedness.

"I moved to abolish the Public Estates Authority and fired all its key officials. And I was accused of indecision," she said.