President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today joined Malacaņang employees, just as she did almost two year ago, during flag-raising rites in front of the Kalayaan (Freedom) Hall and thanked them for their support, particularly in bringing the government closer to the people.

Just as she did on January 21, 2001, she asked for their continued cooperation and support for the programs she will pursue more vigorously in her final 18 months in office.

Officials and employees of the different bureaus and offices under the Office of the President (OP) and Office of the Press Secretary (OPS), as well as the Presidential Security Group (PSG) were present during the flag ceremony.

"Thank you for your support and cooperation," the President said in her brief remarks after the raising of the Philippines colors.

Last Dec. 30, the 106th anniversary of the martyrdom of National Hero Dr. Jose P. Rizal, the President announced she would no longer seek the presidency in 2004, vowing to focus on improving the economy and on implementing her reform agenda until her term ends.

Accompanying the President at the ceremonies were First Gentleman Atty. Jose Miguel "Mike" Arroyo, Executive Secretary Alberto Romulo and other government officials.

After the ceremonies, the President administered the oath of office to new Press Secretary Hernani Braganza, Agrarian Reform Secretary Roberto Pagdanganan and Presidential Spokesman Ignacio R. Bunye.

At noon today, the President will attend a Mass at the Edsa Shrine with other key players in the Edsa 2 People Power Revolution.

The President is expected to make some important announcements about her eight-point reform agenda during the Edsa Shrine event.

The President earlier announced that on the occasion of the second anniversary of Edsa 2, a check of P700 million from the coconut levy fund would be released to the coconut industry.

The President’s announcement is a fulfillment of her first State of the Nation Address in 2001 that she will not stop efforts until the coconut farmers benefit from the coco levy fund. "Hindi tayo hihinto habang hindi nakikinabang ang magniniyog sa Coco Levy Fund," she said.

The President has also announced the launching of a P5-billion fund that would finance Kabalikat Laban Sa Kahirapan (Kalahi) for the next five years.

The Kalahi program, an anti- poverty initiative of the President, assists the government in strengthening the capability of local government units (LGUs) to design, implement, and manage development activities. Such activities may include basic infrastructure like new or rehabilitated roads and bridges, barangay schools and clinics, and water supply and sanitation facilities.

This month alone, the government would be launching projects in 11 towns in 11 regions. Next week, the President said she would be in the Davao provinces to launch Kalahi projects.

She noted that in March, the government would be launching projects in 20 towns in the different regions. "Tuloy-tuloy ito dahil yung pondong 5 billion ay para sa limang taon (These projects would continue because the P5-billion fund is for five years)," she added.

The President said she wants the Kalahi project to be part of her legacy to the next administration. "Ako ang nagtanim, ang susunod na Pangulo ang mag-aani nitong mga programang ito (I planted the seeds but the next President would be the one who will reap the benefits)," she said.

The Chief Executive stressed that this is the attribute of a democracy.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today swore into office new Press Secretary Hernani Braganza in simple ceremonies right after leading the flag ceremony at the Kalayaan Hall in Malacanang.

Secretary Braganza would be taking over the Press portfolio from Secretary Ignacio R. Bunye, who also took his oath as Presidential Spokesman during the rites.

Secretary Roberto Pagdanganan was also sworn in as Secretary of the Department of Agrarian Reform, which was vacated by Braganza.

In an interview after the ceremonies, Braganza assured that the OPS under his watch would be pro-active, transparent and accessible to the members of the media.

He was on his second term as congressman of the first district of Pangasinan when he was called upon by the President to serve in the national government and appointed Secretary of Agrarian Reform on February 5, 2001.

He began his political career in 1988 when he was elected municipal councilor of Alaminos, Pangasinan. He first ran for a seat in Congress in 1995.

During his first term, he was Vice Chairman of the House Committee on Youth and Sports as well as member of the Committees on Appropriations, Ecology, Labor and Employment, Trade and Industry, Women, Public Order and Security, Tourism, Special Committee on Law Enforcement and Special Committee on Reforestation.

From 1994 to 1995, Braganza was consultant for Political Affairs at the Office of Pangasinan Vice-Governor Ranjit Shahani. He was district coordinator of the Lakas-NUCD-UMDP party.

Braganza took up a Bachelor of Arts course at the De La Salle University where he was President of its Student Council.

An active student leader, Braganza founded the La Salle Students Democratic Alliance as well as the Sambisig Party in 1983.

He was president of the United Students for an Assimilated Philippines in DLSU in 1982.

In 1983, he became the National Chairman of the National Union of Students of the Philippines.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has not had a change of heart and as a matter of fact, has been very consistent on the issue of amending the Constitution, Presidential Spokesman Ignacio R. Bunye said today.

In a briefing this morning at the Palace, Bunye said the President has been very consistent as far as the charter change issue is concerned.

"You will note that she said her only concern is that the elections in 2004 should not be affected by any discussions on charter change, so her expression of preference for constitutional convention is very much consistent with this," Bunye said.

Bunye noted that the election of the delegates to the constitutional convention is proposed to coincide with the 2004 elections. "So in other words, there would be elections in 2004 and that is consistent with the previous declaration of the President," Bunye added.

When asked to comment on the view of the Speaker Jose de Venecia, Jr. that it is better to have a constituent assembly as the mode for charter change, Bunye stressed that it is up to the legislature to resolve the matter.

"It’s very difficult really to push one mode of amending the Constitution without the agreement of the other party. In this particular case, there is a divergence of opinion between the House of Representatives and the Senate and unless they come into an agreement as to the mode, then we might not even have a charter change at all. I don’t think it’s logical to assume that the President would get involved in any further discussion on this matter," Bunye said.

The President has said that a constitutional convention would be the least divisive way of bringing about fundamental changes in the political system and that "it is better to have a constitutional convention because I don’t want my intention to be suspect."

She said the members of the constitutional convention that would consider changes in the charter may be elected in 2004.

"Considering the divisiveness in our country, perhaps the constitutional convention will be the least divisive way of bringing about fundamental changes in the political system," the President told the Japanese newsmen during an interview last week.

The President has maintained that she is not against any discussion or debate on proposals to amend the Constitution.

She has also declared that the issue of charter change should not be tied with the issue of postponing the 2004 elections.

The President said that during the last 18 months of her presidency, she will be focusing on the economy, healing the deep divisions within society and working for clean and honest elections in 2004.

She has also set down an eight-point work program that she will pursue with greater vigor during the next 18 months:

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today called on the Filipino people to rally behind her, saying that there will be no retreat in her solemn vow to be apolitical during the last one and a half years of her administration.

In her remarks at the second anniversary of EDSA II at the EDSA Shrine in Mandaluyong City, the President said that she had made the decision not to seek the presidency in next year’s elections, and there will no turning back.

"For my part, I have made the sacrifice, I have sounded the advance—and there shall be no retreat," the President said.

The President also lamented that some of her critics have remain unconvinced that she is shedding off all political ambitions and would now focus all her attention to healing the nation and pushing the country’s economic growth.

"I leave them to their self-imposed and self-serving ignorance. They can go on sounding the retreat—back to the vested interests that pay their way, back to the corruption that is for them the only way," the President said, referring to her incorrigible detractors.

She said that she had realized that effective reform boiled down to fighting entrenched vested interests "that have stood in the way of national progress and prosperity."

The President said that these vested interests have continued to block the way to better a standard of living for the vast majority rather than just the small elite.

According to the President, when she assumed the presidency it was a time when the nation and the world were facing a lot of challenges.

"But I was undaunted by the challenges because I know that our countrymen, including those at EDSA II, were prepared to support me in my efforts to speed up the country’s development," the President said in Pilipino.

The President then renewed her call for unity among the Filipino people so that the country can move forward.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today said the people’s real choices must be ensured in the elections in 2004 as she announced the availability of P2.5 billion to computerize the quick and accurate counting and tabulation of votes in next year’s polls.

"We must protect the votes of those who run on the strength of their public service rather than on the force of their private wealth," the President said after a Mass that commemorated the second anniversary of EDSA 2at the Lady of Peace Church at the EDSA Shrine in Mandaluyong City.

In announcing last Dec. 30, 2002 that she would not run in next year’s presidential elections, the President said she would concentrate on three man goals: healing the nation of the divisiveness caused by partisan politics; speeding up the country’s economic development; and ensuring an honest, peaceful and orderly election in 2004.

The President pointed out that the computerized counting and tabulation of votes in 2004 will not only spare the teachers from tedious manual counting and the pressures of partisan politics but will also make sure that the votes will be counted correctly.

"High tech votes – this is the key for change," the President said.

The President said she intends to leave as her legacy to the nation the certainty that every Filipino will see that his vote is counted.

But the President said that although she will be out of the 2004 presidential derby, she is not a goner as some sectors would think. "Far from it," she said.

"A President without the baggage of reelection can move faster, hit harder and work to greater effect," she explained.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today declared a non-nonsense people’s war against graft and corruption, as she placed the full resources of government and enjoined the citizenry to get involved in the fight.

"There can be no exceptions whether made out of fear or favor, or because of family and business connections" in stopping graft and corruption that have victimized the people for so long, the President said in her speech during rites marking People Power II at the EDSA Shrine today.

She said it was imperative "to mobilize the real victims of corruption – the general public" who bear the brunt of the social malady.

"The ordinary Filipino is in the best position to complain" because corruption has spawned the deterioration of their standard of living, she added.

The President thus called for "a national draft of all good men and women who want to make a difference in your lives and in our country" by working closely with the government in exposing graft and corrupt practices committed by public officials and employees.

She asked the "idealistic youth and the silent majority to be our eyes and ears" in stopping graft and corrupt practices.

She ordered the Presidential Anti-Graft Commission (PAGC) to receive reports and follow these through until the perpetrators are put behind the bars of justice.

She also announced that she had doubled the budget of the PAGC so that it could put up an investigative unit to undertake intensive lifestyle checks on public officials. This would link the government and the people in the anti-graft thrust.

As the Chief Executive urged lawyers to volunteer their services to the Ombudsman and the Department of Justice to help expose fraud and prosecute errant public servants, she also called on Congress to pass the bill letting the Ombudsman get the help of private lawyers for free.

She ordered the Department of the Budget and Management (DBM) to allot P35 million for the Ombudsman to recruit 50 lawyers for its investigation and prosecution work.

Similar funds would also be provided to increase troop complement and to acquire state-of-the-art weaponry and information technology systems in the government’s anti-graft drive.

The President likewise asked the Ombudsman to make available to the public the statements of assets and liabilities of all public officials, including presidential advisers, and to "pro-actively observe government procurement involving large amounts."

In another directive, the President ordered the DBM to also provide P700 million to step up the modernization of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), particularly for its information and communication technology department that had been able to track down tax evaders.

She cited the BIR and the Bureau of Customs for "quietly working" and starting to be showcases in the fight against graft and corruption.

The BIR, for one, was able to make major companies to agree to pay an aggregate of over P3 billion after a tax investigation of an arrested customs official.

The President also ordered the abolition of the bonded trading warehouse system, after crackdowns resulted in the closure of more than 300 customs bonded warehouses that have become notorious for smuggling.

"In due time, you will see more results," she stressed.

She also called on Congress "to create the National Authority for Revenue Administration, changing the BIR from a populous and ponderous bureaucracy to a lean and mean corruption fighting machine."

She said she launched the anti-corruption campaign "to raise the moral standards in politics and the economy."

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today received cheers and an almost one minute round of applause from representatives of civil society which noted the administration’s effort in seriously waging a war against graft and corruption.

The applause came after the President reported that the Presidential Anti-Graft Commission and the newly created Anti-Smuggling Task Force had major accomplishments in their campaign to go after tax evaders and smuggling syndicates.

In her speech during rites marking the second anniversary of People Power II at the EDSA Shrine, she admitted that she became a President because of EDSA II, particularly in the midst of a national outcry against corruption.

The President got a total of nine rounds of applause.

After her speech, the President administered the oath of office of the newly elected officers and members of EDSA People Power Commission

Among the officers who took their oath were Executive Secretary Alberto Romulo as chairperson, former Presidential Management Staff chief Victoria Garchitorena as co-chairperson, Rafael Lopa as executive director, and members Alexander Magno, Guillermo Luz, Regina Jimenez-David, Danilo Songco, Ricardo Samaniego, Loreta Atienza-Lina and Atty. Gavino Mapando.

Meanwhile, in accepting the challenge of the President, members of the civil society vowed to participate in achieving the goals of her remaining 18-month reform agenda.

In a letter of support distributed to media, the civil society from Kilusan 12.30 has promised to give their "full support to the computerization of the electoral process."

The Kilusan 12.30 said they would undertake all necessary and legitimate actions to pressure the Commission on Elections to speed up the move in the coming months.

"Simultaneous with this, Kilusan 12.30 will lobby relentlessly for the enactment of the law on absentee voting. We will closely monitor the developments in the release and proper utilization of the coco levy fund and the assets of the Marcos ill-gotten wealth," the group said.

Kilusan 12.30 has set up four working committees to address the issues of affordable medicine, decent housing, lifestyle audits of government officials and the charter change through a Constitutional Convention.