President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today said the trial of Yunos Muklis, who admitted primary involvement in the 2000 Rizal Day bombings, is a tribute to "our sense of national community to meet the challenge of security" and a reminder that terrorists will not go scot-free.

At the opening of the three-day Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Expo 2003 at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City, the President said the confession of Muklis outlined a threat that "terrorism lives and moves with us from day to day and against which we must exercise unrelenting vigilance across transnational borders."

"It is ever present or it may strike anytime. We must be alert against it individually and collectively," she said.

But even as people should remain alert against terrorism, the President said, the government "also remains open to peace," as she exhorted the help and support of the private corporations, foundations and official development partners in attaining national security and developments.

"Because as you lend financial support to the search for peace, the search becomes easier," she said.

She also welcomed the $30-million development assistance of the United States relative to the peace process in Mindanao this year and another $20 million or more for next year once the final peace agreement is signed between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

"Our strategic partnership with the US comes full circle from an alliance against terrorism and alliance for peace. They are one in combating terrorism and poverty and in pursuing peace and development," she said.

President Gloria Macapgal-Arroyo today asked the country’s top corporate executives to support the Strong Republic Grade School system in some 500 insurgency-influenced barangays in the country.

"I ask the officials of the corporate development communities to help us mainstream distance learning in the 500 insurgency influenced barangays where teachers fear to tread," the President said at the opening of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Expo 2003 at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City

At least 100 organizations from the public and private sectors are taking part in the July 9 to 11 event, organized by the League of Corporate Foundations (LCF), focusing on educational assistance, environmental care, delivery of basic health and human services, livelihood generation, and entrepreneurial development to support poverty alleviation and national development.

The President said the Knowledge Channel Foundation has been helping the Strong Republic Grade School, wherein students are taught by television.

In areas where television cannot reach them, the students are taught through "technovans," which house a television set and instructional materials in reading, writing and arithmetic, she said.

"I hope the corporate foundations can provide some of these facilities to access the TV channel or facilities to provide for the technovans," she added.

The President also asked corporate donors to help reduce the school building gap, referring to the schools with a student-classroom ratio of 100:1.

She said the country needs at least 2,500 additional classrooms to close this gap.

"The Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce is already helping us here. And I hope the other corporate foundations can also contribute to closing this gap," she said.

The President also thanked the corporate sector for supporting the government’s poverty alleviation and human development program for marginalized communities in the country.

"Last year, I told you that the biggest concrete problem in our country is unemployment. And you responded by focusing over 60 percent of your programs on livelihood generation," she said.

The President likewise lauded the LCF for its program line-up support for the government initiative to provide potable water for 100 waterless municipalities in the country under her administration’s Kapit Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan (KALAHI) program.

This is the third year in a row that the President graced the occasion since 1999 when the first week of July was declared Corporate Social Responsibility Week under Presidential Proclamation 229.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today cited the country’s top corporations for advocating and promoting good governance and public service.

"You in the corporate foundations are also the same corporations who have been fighting for good governance. And so I thank you for this staunch advocacy," the President said at the opening of the three-day Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Expo 2003 at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City.

She specified the Governance Advisory Council, whose members come from corporations, for working together with the Presidential Committee on Effective Governance to coordinate the efforts of government, business and civil society.

In response to the recommendation of the business community, the President said she also required all appointed directors in the corporate boards of government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) and government financial institutions (GFIs) to take an orientation course on corporate governance.

Because of the business community’s support to the advocacy of modernizing elections, the President said she also made available the funds needed to fully computerize and accurately count and tabulate the people’s votes in 2004.

"These are contributions to good governance as well as contributions to the long-term maturity of our people," she said.

The President, recalling a couple of surveys wherein the business community is willing to contribute in fighting corruption, said she hoped the top corporations and foundations could provide additional funds to support the Presidential Anti-Graft Commission (PAGC) "in the very expensive and tedious task of lifestyle checks."

She said everything that contributed to a disciplined, law-abiding and upright society should be integrated into the universe of good governance, including the war against drug syndicates.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today expressed the "deepest gratitude" of the Philippine government to Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir and the Malaysian government for their role as principal facilitator and mediator in the peace process with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

In a press briefing in Malacaņang, Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas Ople said that this expression of gratitude was conveyed during a luncheon meeting with Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Dato Seri Abdullah Bin Ahmad Badawi and Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid bin Syed Jaafar Albar.

The two Malaysian officials had a four-hour stopover in Manila on their way to Japan and the Ukraine.

"Of course, we talked about the peace process with the MILF," Ople said.

Ople said that Malaysia will be taking the lead in forming a peace monitoring team that will supervise the implementation of a ceasefire between the government and MILF once the peace talks are resumed.

He said that Malaysia is still completing the required "consultative process" within the Malaysian government before a formal notice is sent to the Philippine government.

Ople said that to be members of the monitoring team, he has suggested Brunei Darussalam, Bangladesh, Bahrain and Libya.

During the luncheon meeting, the President told the Malaysian officials that she felt that there is merit in the idea of suspending the effect of the arrest warrants issued against the top leaders of the MILF if it is needed to protect the national interest and the security of the country.

"But at the same time, of course, the court is beyond the reach of the executive branch under the Constitutional separation of powers, and all the government can do at this stage is to encourage and prompt the MILF leaders and their legal advisers to initiate these proceedings in court," Ople told Malacaņang reporters.

As far as uplifting the lives of Filipinos are concerned, the government is working hard to address the situation.

This was the assurance given by Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye in reaction to criticisms that the administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has failed to uplift the lives of the Filipino based on the recent report of the United Nations Human Development Index.

"We know it’s a difficult battle. We are not making any excuses," said Bunye during a press briefing in Malacanang today.

"But the President is doing her best to address the situation. The development efforts of the President are geared towards solving our principal problems."

Bunye enumerated the principal problems as Mindanao, terrorism and drugs.

"We just have to work together to give our people the benefit of peace, order and security," he said.

On the question of whether President Macapagal-Arroyo sought the help of the United States in the campaign against illegal drugs, Bunye said he was not sure if it was touched during the President’s meeting with Ambassador Francis Ricciardone.

What he is sure about, he said, is that the country "has a standing arrangement with our neighbors and some of the major countries as far as sharing of intelligence on this matter is concerned."

"This is because the drug problem is a transnational concern that needs to be addressed by nations working very closely," he said.

During the same briefing, Bunye said the country has been very resilient at a time when the world market was not doing very well.

"We had some improvements in the domestic area and we somehow managed to grow. Actually we grew at a rate better than some of our neighbors," he said.

On the Fitch survey which gave low marks for the country’s economy, Bunye said the rating did not consider the strides that the country has made in so far as containing the budget deficit is concerned.