President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today inaugurated the EGI-Pag-IBIG Taft Tower, a condominium project beside the De La Salle University in Manila intended for the university’s faculty, employees and students.

EGI has entered into partnership with Pag-IBIG following the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement with developer E. Ganzon Inc. (EGI) for the funding of the project.

Pag-IBIG will provide funding assistance to EGI for the development of residential units in the condominium under the Fund’s Medium/High-Rise Building Program. The Fund approved the amount of P100 million for 100 units.

The tower is a 29-story residential-commercial-hotel office condominium project situated along Taft Avenue in Malate right beside the DLSU campus.

With a total of 450 housing units, EGI-Pag-IBIG Tower has a combined saleable area of 29,682 square meters.

Secretary Michael Defensor, chairman of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council, said the tower is part of the government’s effort to provide affordable in-city housing for middle-income workers and their families.

"This is an integral part of the President’s housing program – to expand access of our city dwellers to affordable housing without having to dislocate them from their places of work," Defensor said.

The building is almost complete with the interior finishing of some units left for completion as well as installation of two elevators to service the hotel level. It is also equipped with standby generator, fire alarm system, sprinkler system and 24-hour security.

For a 39.38-square meter floor area, the loanable amount is P1.77 million, a monthly amortization of P19,512 for 20 years at 12 percent interest rate. The required net disposable income is P48,780.

Re Iraq Situation

The President will be going to Kuwait to personally look into the situation of our OFWs in the country. As the situation is slowly deteriorating, the President is determined to show to our countrymen in the region that the Philippine government, through its various agencies, is very much aware of the needs and concerns of our OFWs and that the government is ready to respond to them.

The President sees the entire Middle East as important since this is the home to 1.4 million Filipinos. Kuwait is symbolic of the situation in the entire Middle East as it is the country closes to the possible flash point in the region.

The fact that the President is going to Kuwait on short notice shows that the President is ready, anytime, to be where our countrymen need her.

We are for peace. The Philippines has been advocating peaceful means to settle the US-Iraq conflict. Peace in the Middle East is to our national interest because we have more than a million Filipinos working there and more than 90 percent of our oil supplies come from there.

We support the UN process and the case brought by the US before the UN because these are for peace in the Middle East and stability in Iraq under a realm of democracy and transparency.

We are taking into consideration the plight of our OFWs in the Middle East but lest we forget, we also have an obligation to ensure their own safety, and mankind’s safety against weapons of mass destruction.

Re Economic Figures

But despite this remarkable economic performance, majority of the Filipino people, especially the underprivileged, have still to feel the positive impact of these growth rates. So, the President said that these growth rates must be translated into social equity by stimulating investment in the agricultural sector, by strengthening small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and by providing the people with access to credit for micro financing. There is also a need to jumpstart the housing program by improving access to loans and financing. There should also be greater movement of goods and services in the country by reducing the cost of transporting goods, including grains, from Mindanao to Luzon.

Re Gun Ban

This will address the alarming culture of violence in the country. We have to lower the level of violence perpetrated by the use of guns. The President’s order is also a way of tracking the owners of loose firearms. This is all for the good of law and order.

Re Constitutional Amendment

The President is not very concerned about the issue. Her primary focus is on her agenda of structural reform.

Re Absentee Voting

The President certified this bill in her determination to uphold the right of suffrage of our OFWs. It has been long overdue for the OFWs. This is a historical development and we eagerly await it.

Re Joma

Better jobs, decent homes, more food.

This, in a nutshell, was what Presidential Spokesman Ignacio R. Bunye said the Filipino could expect with the unprecedented economic growth the country is experiencing.

In a radio interview, Bunye said the 4.6 percent gross domestic product (GDP) and the 5.2 percent gross national product (GDP) would be meaningless if its benefits would not trickle down to the masses.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo Thursday said that for the GDP and GNP growth rates to be felt by the Filipino people especially the underprivileged, it must be translated into social equity.

GDP refers to the total value of goods and services produced within the country for a given period while the GNP refers to the GDP plus income from abroad, e.g. income from Philippine firms abroad and earnings of overseas Filipino workers.

"Ang challenge ngayon diyan ay paano natin maita-translate itong paglago ng ating ekonomiya sa isang paraan na higit na mararamdaman ng ating mga kababayan (The challenge is how to translate the economic growth into concrete programs that would greatly benefit the people)," he said.

Bunye noted that the global business community, particularly investment analysts, has been reviewing the country’s economic growth figures.

The GNP and GDP figures showing the Philippines’ growth potential could be a major factor in enticing potential investors to put up big-ticket labor-intensive projects in the country, he said.

"Panahon na para tumaya sila sa growing economy na ito (It is high time for investors to put in their money into our growing economy)," he added.

Bunye said that besides the jobs future agro-industrial products would generate, the coming in of investors would boost small and medium enterprises (SME) where more hands could be hired.

The President had earlier ordered concerned state agencies to strengthen SMEs by providing them the needed capital and improving their access to credit.

Bunye said that part of this endeavor is the One Town-One Product-P1 Million program of the administration.

Job creation is the ultimate aim of the program that would help the SMEs in the country’s smaller administrative units with initial capital to develop and promote a product innate to them, he said.

Bunye said that side by side with job generation, the President has also pushed the implementation of housing projects, not just to create more jobs but also to help the labor, professional and the urban poor sectors.

Malacanang today said that the Macapagal-Arroyo administration’s contingency measures in the Middle East are already in place and would be implemented immediately in the event of the actual US attack on Iraq.

In a press briefing at Malacanang this afternoon, National Security Adviser Roilo Golez said that the Crisis Management Committee had a meeting with the various agencies under the Offices of Primary Responsibility (OPRs) where they presented their respective contingency plans.

During the meeting, Golez said the Department of Agriculture and the National Food Authority (DA/NFA) discussed the contingency plans on food to make sure that the food situation is going to be stable.

Golez said that food is very important because if there is going to be a conflict and some energy problems arise, there could be a disruption in shipment of food supplies to population centers, including Metro Manila.

He pointed that the DA/NFA has assured the committee that the food situation in the country "is going to be stable."

"This was assured to us by the National Food Authority during a briefing. We looked at their contingency plans in detail, and we are satisfied that there will be no problem, in so far as food security is concerned," he said.

Golez said that the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) is looking at how the transport groups would respond in the event that the prices of petroleum products further go up as a result of a Middle East crisis.

"As we know, with or without the Iraq situation, transport groups would threaten to go on strike if there would be some adjustments in fuel prices. This is going to be addressed by the DOTC," Golez said.

In this connection, Golez appealed to the transport groups to understand the situation because what is happening is beyond the control of the government.

According to Golez, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) would take care of distress management of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and their families who could be affected by the US-Iraq war.

The Department of Health (DOH), Golez said, has been tasked to provide medical advice and medical services. "In fact, the DOH is willing to deploy medical experts to Kuwait to join the Middle East Preparedness Team of Ambassador Roy Cimatu," Golez said.

Golez said that the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is also part of the contingency team. The role of the BSP, he said, is to ensure the smooth flow of money coming from the Middle East to families of OFWs even during the conflict.