President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has signed Executive Order No. 170 providing greater private sector participation in the roll-on/roll-off (Ro-Ro) terminal system.

Speaking at the celebration of the 56^th anniversary of the Development Bank of the Philippines at the state-owned bank’s head office building in Makati, the President said that under the Executive Order, the Ro-Ro terminal system becomes part of the national highway system and will be called the Strong Republic Nautical Highway, all the way from Dapitan in Mindanao up to Batangas and Manila in Luzon.

"It means road vehicles moving through the system will not be burdened by transport procedures and high costs," the President said.

The Ro-Ro terminal system, the President pointed out, will be liberated from red tape by the reduction and simplification of documentary requirements.

"The idea is to let the traffic through without delay along the land and nautical highway," the President said.

The President directed the Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA), the Philippine Ports Authority, the Cebu Ports Authority and other agencies to make sure that the Strong Republic Nautical Highway will happen.

The President directed the Department of Environmental and Natural Resources (DENR) to issue an environmental clearance certificate to enable the construction and operation of the terminal facilities.

The President stressed that the Ro-Ro ferry system is part of what is called the DBP’s Sustainable Logistic Development Program (SLDP) which will pour P20 billion to finance storage, ferry boat and port facilities from Mindanao through the Visayas up to Luzon.

According to the President, out of that amount the DBP has earmarked P7.5 billion for the chain of roll-on/roll-off facilities.

The other part of the SLDP is a food and grains highway made up of grain silos and cold storage facilities.

"Through that, we shall introduce modern cargo storage, handling and transport systems under proper quality control management," the President said.

She said this will drastically reduce the prices of basic commodities by lengthening their shelf life, and improve food sufficiency at the local, regional and national levels.

The program is also expected to spur greater economic activity in the countryside, especially Mindanao and the Visayas, and enhance the country’s overall global competitiveness, the President said.

"It is also expected to increase the welfare of consumers in the urban centers by making food more available at better prices, especially in Luzon and the Visayas," the President said.

In this connection, the President instructed the DBP to go full blast and concentrate on this program.

Since the project was launched in August last year in Iligan City, the DBP has received 29 loan applications.

Today, the President announced that the DBP has approved and released the loan for three facilities – the South Sea Fishing Venture Cold Storage in General Santos City, the Ozamis-Kolambugan Ro-Ro Ferry, and the Ro-Ro Ferry Port in Bato, Leyte. These three projects received P180 million in loans from the DBP.

Three more loan applications are undergoing due diligence. These are the acquisition of R0-Ro vessels for the following routes: Lucena-Marinduque, Quezon-Polillo Island, and Negros-Cebu. The processing of these loans is expected to be completed by March or April. "If all goes well, they will receive P250 million in loans from the DBP," she said.

Urging the DBP to fast-track the approval of other loans in the pipeline, the President said there are still P20 billion in funds available and 48 legs in the master plan for the nautical and grains highway.

The President expressed the hope that with the signing yesterday, Jan. 22, of EO 170, more investors in the grains and nautical highway will apply for loans with the DBP.

The President also asked the DBP to fast track the approval of the pending application of Governor Faustino Dy, Jr. of Isabela for a coastal service. "Because we have no roads going to Palanan, and all of those towns in the Pacific Coast from the other side of the Sierra Madre.

"And they should be able to go from one town to another in the Pacific Coast by coastal boat service, and the fishermen in those areas, if these are available to them, will no longer marginal fishermen. They will be able to compete with the fishermen from neighboring economies who are fishing in those waters, instead of our own," the President said.

President Gloria Macapagal today asked the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) to lead a P25-billion syndicated consortium for a secondary mortgage market to jumpstart the formal housing sector.

Speaking at the 56^th anniversary celebration of the DBP at the bank’s headquarters in Makati, the President said she doesn’t expect all the P25 billion to be available immediately. "This is a legacy. We’ve got to jumpstart the secondary mortgage housing market," she said.

The President recalled that six months ago, half-way into her term, she realized that the socialized housing sector had been dormant for three years. "Our system did not seem to be working," she said, recalling the comment of a top builder that the housing sector didn’t seem to have its act together.

Together with Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) Chairman Michael Defensor and other experts on housing, the President said they began a set of policy reforms to jumpstart housing as one of her microeconomic measures to strengthen the domestic market.

The President said they worked on three areas – land conversion, take-outs with the whole set of financial institutions, including housing finance, and Central Bank policy signals.

"I am happy that the DAR, Pag-IBIG and the Central Bank all responded very positively and gave the housing sector the policy reforms that were most urgently needed," she said.

"And I am happy that the housing sector also responded positively and aggressively to these policy signals from the time when the top builder said that housing doesn’t have its act together," she added.

This time, a builder commented that government policy has never been as friendly to housing as now, the President recalled.

She, however, noted that "there is still more room for additional policy reforms, mainly to bring down interest rates for housing, so let’s look for those additional quality reforms."

"One of them, I am very sure for the medium term, not necessary immediate turn, is the DBP-led secondary mortgage market. It will make the system even more housing friendly beyond my term as President," she added.

If this can be started now, it will be one of the reforms that will be irreversible and will make her transition presidency more meaningful for the generations to come, the President said.

During the Program, the President was presented with a Memorandum of Understanding providing for a P6-billion housing fund which was signed by DBP and the Home Development Mutual Fund (HDMF).

The MOU will strengthen DBP’s linkages with the HDMF, ensuring the availability of funds for the latter’s housing program.

It is expected to generate more or less 20,000 to 30,000 housing units nationwide.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today said that she is counting on the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) to be the main source of funds for the two major components of her ambitious economic program that would be her legacy to the Filipino people.

In her speech at the DBP’s 56^th anniversary celebration, the President identified these two components as the grains and nautical highway and the housing program.

"These two priorities are part of the legacy that I shall leave behind after my presidency that will have a lasting impact on future generations," the President said.

The grains and nautical highway – a chain of roll-on-roll-off (Ro-Ro) ferry terminals and ferry boats and grains and food silos that will reduce the cost of transporting goods, including grains, from Mindanao to Luzon.

The other legacy that the President mentioned is the revival of the formal housing sector, where the DBP would lead in a P25-billion syndicated consortium for a secondary mortgage market for housing.

"By financing the nautical and grains highway and hopefully leading a secondary mortgage market consortium, DBP is supporting my bold move to free the private sector from the traditional thinking of government bureaucracy for the next 17 months," the President said.

The President also congratulated DBP for being the first and only Philippine bank to be ISO-14001-certified for banking, lending and investments operations, and for being one of the few banks that have qualified under the International Standard for Environmental Management System, putting DBP in the league of Credit Suisse and Citibank Singapore.

The President also thanked the DBP for presenting her a dividend check in the amount of P1 billion representing part of DBP’s net earnings in 2002.

One of the highlights of the anniversary program was the awarding of the "DBP Unlad Pinoy Award" for Outstanding DBP Entrepreneur to Richard F. Spencer, chairman and president of Matling Industrial and Commercial Corporation (MICC).

The award was received by MICC Executive Vice President and General Manager Alex Mancilla and Alex Emlano, Vice President for marketing of MICC.

Located in Malabang, Lanao del Sur, the MICC is engaged in the production of cassava starch using tubers produced from its plantation and purchased from contract growers. The company was established in l928.

The President also handed an award to Lacto-Asia Pacific Corporation (LAPC), represented by its managing director Rolando Sianghio, as Most Environmentally Responsive Corporation.

LAPC is engaged in the production of "Happy Soil," a microbial inoculant used in environmental waste management, as well as other locally-designed and fabricated environmental equipment.

On the same occasion, two Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) were presented to the President. The first MOU, between the DBP and the Department of Energy, is for a gasoline station lending and financial assistance program in the amount of P282 million.

This program is intended to benefit new players who want to put up gasoline stations in the countryside.

They can likewise be tapped as outlets for the service requirements of LPG-fueled vehicles in the future. This undertaking is in line with the Clean Air Act, now being implemented by the government.

The second MOU presented to the President is for a P6-billion housing fund expected to generate more or less 20,000 to 30,000 housing units nationwide. This MOU was signed by the DBP and the Home Development Mutual Fund (HDMF).

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today lauded a driver at the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) for declining a P1.2 million a month offer of a syndicate involved in tax scandal.

"I am very proud that we have an outstandingly honest worker in the DBP," the President said in her speech this morning at the 56^th anniversary celebration of the DBP at the bank’s head office in Makati City.

The President, however, did not name the DBP employee because he is now cooperating with the investigators of the tax scam and his life might be in danger.

"And if only for that reason, I’m happy I came today in this anniversary celebration. But I decided to make an exception of DBP today even without knowing about the outstanding, honest public servant," the President said.

DBP President and Chief Executive Officer Simon Paterno said that the DBP was worried that the tax scam that hit the Land Bank of the Philippines might also hit the DBP.

"But after a thorough search, DBP emerged unscathed," Paterno said. The bank, however, found out that a DBP driver was offered by a syndicate a salary of P1.2 million a month if he would cooperate with them.

The salary of the driver, who was a casual employee, was P11,000 a month, but he turned down the offer of the syndicate,

"When I asked him why he turned down the offer, the driver said that his father had worked at DBP and he would never do anything to embarrass the bank," Paterno said.

Paterno said that he would have wanted to present the DBP employee to the President but felt that that was imprudent since the employee is now cooperating with investigators and he and his family could be in danger.

But Paterno told the President that the casual employee was given a regular item soon thereafter.

"It is this singular act of integrity that I am proudest to report, especially in the context of your anti-corruption initiatives at EDSA last week," Paterno told the President.

Malacaņang announced today the appointment by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of a new Postmaster General of the Philippine Postal Corporation and three new officials of the Public Estates Authority (PEA).

In his regular press briefing, Presidential Spokesperson Ignacio R. Bunye said the President appointed former Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff retired Gen. Diomedio Villanueva as Postmaster General and chief executive officer of the Philippine Postal Corporation to replace Nicasio P. Rodriguez, Jr. Villanueva was formerly the acting general manager of PEA.

Bunye said the President also appointed Teodorico C. Taguinod as the new general manager of the PEA and Dato Ibrahim P. Paglas III and Tomas Alcantara as directors of the same agency.

Taguinod is a retired executive and chairman of Engineering Equipment Incorporated (EEI). Paglas will be replacing Martin S. Sanciego, Jr.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today thanked outgoing Indonesian Ambassador to the Philippines Abdul Rahman Soeratmin for his significant contributions to the further strengthening of friendly and cordial relations between the Philippines and Indonesia.

The President cited Soeratmin during his farewell call this afternoon, saying that his efforts in "furthering and infusing dynamism in the bilateral cooperation between the Philippines and Indonesia in the political, security, economic, scientific and technical, agricultural and cultural fields" are greatly appreciated by the Filipinos.

"I will take this opportunity to express my sincere desire to thank you and your government for the friendship and support that you extend to the Philippines. Please convey my thanks to President Megawati," the President said during her brief conversation with Soeratmin.

The President conferred the Order of Sikatuna with the Rank of Datu on Soeratmin for his active encouragement of intensified government-to-government contacts through the exchange of visits of officials and other people-to-people exchanges.

She also said Soeratmin has been an active and consistent supporter of the Philippine government’s efforts to implement the GRP-Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) Peace Agreement that was signed in 1996.

The President also cited Soeratmin for his big contribution in forging closer relations at the highest level between the Philippines and Indonesia during his tour of duty, resulting in her State Visit to Indonesia on November 12-13, 2001, and the State Visits to the Philippines of former President Abdurrahman Wahid and President Megawati Soekarnoputri on June 29, 2001 and August 21-22, 2002, respectively.

On his part, Soeratmin informed the President that President Megawati has expressed her gratitude for the medical assistance provided by the Philippine government to Indonesia during the Bali bombing last October 2002.

We condemn the brutal slaying of Romulo Kintanar and we extend our sincerest sympathies to his family.

We are awaiting the report of the Philippine National Police on the matter.