I ordered today Secretary Jose Lina, Jr. and Director General Hermogenes Ebdane, Jr. to immediately form a special task force to neutralize urban guerilla hit squads which may be operating in Metro Manila.

The brutal slaying of former NPA leader Romulo Kintanar cannot go unpunished.

The task force will be headed by Chief Superintendent Romeo Maganto who will be assisted by Chief Superintendent Roberto Delfin and Senior Superintendent Roberto Mendoza.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today announced that she has issued Executive Order No. 168 reconstituting and revitalizing the Council of State.

The President made the announcement during an unscheduled press conference this afternoon at the State Dining Room of Malacaņang.

She said that she signed E. O. No. 168 last January 16, 2003. It took effect immediately.

In signing E.O. No. 168, the Chief Executive said there is a need for a consultative body, bound by a common respect for the Constitution and the rule of law, which will serve as a forum for the exchange of ideas, foster national cooperation, propose meaningful reforms in government, and advise the President on matters of public policy.

"There is a need to reconstitute and revitalize the Council of State as the highest advisory body of the government concerning critical and important national policies," the President said.

The Council of State was created by Executive Order No. 305 dated September 9, 1987 to provide the President with reliable information and competent advice on pressing issues and problems of national interest.

Under E.O. No. 168, the newly reconstituted and revitalized Council of State shall be composed of the President as chairman with the following as members: the former presidents, the vice president, the Senate president, the Speaker of the House, the Senate president pro tempore, the deputy speakers of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao, the Senate majority floor leader, House majority floor leader, the Senate minority floor leader, House minority floor leader, the Executive Secretary and members of the Cabinet as designated by the President, other members of the Congress designated by the President, the presidents of the League of Provinces, the League of Cities and the League of Municipalities, representatives from the private sector to be appointed by the President, and such other persons as the President may appoint from time to time.

Under E.O. No.168, the Cabinet Secretariat will serve as the Secretariat of the Council of State.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today directed the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to allocate some P2.5 billion for an automated election system during the May 10, 2004 national and local elections and subsequent electoral exercises.

In Executive Order No. 172 dated January 24, 2003, the President said the fund would be sourced from existing appropriations and from other sources authorized by law.

The amount is inclusive of whatever amounts have been previously released or appropriated for the same purpose, she said.

The President, under EO 172, directed the DBM to ensure that the P2.5 billion would be used exclusively for the automated election system prescribed under RA 8436.

The President, on the commemoration of the anniversary of the EDSA II at the EDSA Shrine on January 20, announced the availability of the funds 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," she said.

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

The automated election system is prescribed under RA No. 8436.

RA 8436, entitled "An Act Authorizing the Commission on Elections to Use an Automated Election System in the May 11, 1998 National and Local Elections and Subsequent National and Local Electoral Exercises, Providing Funds Therefore and for Other Purposes," provides that it is the policy of the state to ensure free, orderly, honest, peaceful and credible elections.

The law also assures the secrecy and sanctity of the ballot in order that the results of elections, plebiscites, referenda, and other electoral exercises shall be fast, accurate and reflective of the genuine will of the people.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today said the assassination of Romulo Kintanar, the former chief of the New People’s Army, would not affect government peace talks with the National Democratic Front.

"Hindi sumasagabal itong mga hiwalay na pangyayari sa paghanap ng kapayapaan (These events will not affect our quest for peace)," the President said in an interview with Malacaņang reporters at the State Dining Room.

In fact, the President said, the Cabinet Oversight Committee on Internal Security (COCIS) has finished the draft agreement for a comprehensive peace solution with the National Democratic Front. "The committee will present this and government will submit this to the Communist Party of the Philippines," she said.

The President said peace talks would continue even though other governments considered the communist insurgents as members of terrorist groups.

"Tuloy ang peace talks, kasi alam mo, maraming nagtatanong: itong terrorist label anong kinalaman nito sa peace talks? At kung titingnan natin ang kasaysayan ng mundo even now, yung Sri Lanka at Tamil Tigers may peace talks, eh yung Tamil tigers tinuturing na terrorist groups. May talks na ginagawa pati ang Amerika doon sa Palestinian Liberation Authority and yet they are being tagged as terrorist group (The peace talks would continue. If we look at world events even now, Sri Lanka and the Tamil Tigers are involved in peace talks although the Tigers are considered a terrorist group. The United States is also involved with peace talks with the Palestinian Liberation Authority and yet the latter is being tagged as terrorist group)," she said.

"Kaya hindi sumasagabal itong mga hiwalay na pangyayari sa paghanap ng kapayapaan (These events will not affect the quest for peace)," she said.

"Nananawagan nga tayo sa kinauukulan na iwanan na yung paraang terorista at pumasok na sa lansangan ng kapayapaan at kaunlaran (I am calling on all those concerned to abandon their terrorist ways and enter the road to peace and prosperity)," she said.

Meanwhile, the President said the government has intensified security measures for Cabinet members, especially those who were members of the communist movement before.

In my four years of fighting a dictatorship, two of which were in Marcos prisons, in more than two decades in journalism, and in more than a year in service in government, I have not sought wealth or power, but only adhered to the principle of serving our people.

I had joined the government in the belief that the path to progress is to strengthen the Filipino nation-state so it may serve the people, not to destroy it. The road to liberation cannot be over the graves of our fellow Filipinos. I do not think such principles are grounds for a murder order issued against me, as reported by our intelligence services, allegedly by the Communist Party. No human being deserves to be murdered for his convictions, for believing in peace, not fratricide.

Ka Rolly Kintanar, who had spent his best years in life building up the NPA, had also turned in his final years to such a belief in the path of peace, and I salute him as a Filipino hero.

I am quite confident that none of my many comrades of three decades ago, now in the Party hierarchy both here in the country and in Utrecht, believes that I have done anything to deserve a murder order from the Communist Party or from any group.

Be as it may, I refuse to be terrorized, and I am more than willing to fight and die for our nation.