TANZA, Cavite - President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today lauded the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) for the successful raid of "the mother of all shabu laboratories" in a coastal barangay of this town.

When informed about the raid, the President immediately boarded a helicopter and personally inspected the biggest laboratory and warehouse of methamphetamine hydrochloride or "shabu" inside the Beverly Subdivision in Barangay Capipisa here.

Interior and Local Government Secretary Jose Lina, Jr, who was also present during the raid, informed the President that a pressurized mixer/chamber found inside the shabu laboratory was the biggest they have discovered and has the capacity to produce 30 kilos of shabu per day.

Lina then asked for the President’s approval to convert the laboratory into a rehabilitation center that will house drug dependents under the Justice Department’s rehabilitation program.

Lina added that a speedboat docked in the compound was used to deliver illegal drugs and possibly in exporting the finished product of "shabu" to other countries.

He said the authorities will seek a court order for the forfeiture of the compound in favor of the government.

The joint operatives of PDEA and PNP conducted the raid on the shabu laboratory based on a search warrant issued by Judge Aurelio Icasiano of the Regional Trial Court of Trece Martires City, Cavite.

The shabu facility is housed in a two-story beachfront mansion in a 10,000-square meter compound in Capipisa. This is the same coastal barangay which became notorious in the 1970s as entry point of smuggled "blue seal cigarettes" during the time of Lino Bocalan who later became Cavite governor.

The facility, which can produce an estimated P10 million worth of shabu daily, is reportedly run by Lee Lan Yan alias Jackson Dy, a Chinese national, and another Chinese by the name of Huang Li Na.

The PDEA described Jackson Dy as the "Number 3" drug lord in its order of battle.

The volume of illegal drugs seized in the raid was not immediately available because chemical laboratory personnel of the PNP and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) are still doing the inventory.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today cited the achievements of the top 16 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the country and the banking organizations that guaranteed the loans to these small businesses that are now considered the backbone of the Philippine economy.

At the Ceremonial Hall in Malacaņang, the President awarded the Distinguished Partner trophies to the Bank of Commerce, Banco de Oro, Export and Industry Bank, Philippine Bank of Commerce, BMS Rural Bank of Pasig City, Philippine Rural Banking Corporation of Cauayan, Isabela, and the Planters Development Bank.

Planters Bank was the Most Distinguished Partner and was also given the Consistent Excellence Award for 2003 for providing the biggest loan of P396 million for SMEs.

Assisting the President were Trade and Industry Secretary Manuel A. Roxas II and Zorayda Amelia Alonzo, the chairman of the Small Business (SB) Corporation and coordinator of the National SME Development Agenda.

Under the National SME Agenda, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), through government financial institutions, has allocated P10 billion loans for the first semester of this year to help SMEs obtain additional capital to improve their productivity and competitiveness.

Roxas said the SMEs comprise more than 90 percent of all businesses in the country contributing more than a third of economic output and providing employment to almost two-thirds of all working Filipinos.

The President also awarded a certificate to DTI Provincial Director Ruben Diciano, whose work and perseverance paved the way for a lively SME sector up north.

The top 16 SMEs awarded by the President were chosen from among 271 candidates nominated by the DTI provincial directors nationwide and were ranked according to their growth in sales, employment and assets.

The top 16 SMEs were the Estacios’ Antiques and Hidden Arts, Tropics Agro-Industries, Kimmayongs Primitive Craft, JBRL Enterprises, ATM Ber-Aqua Water Services, Silver Handicrafts, Tito Mike’s Food Company, Mother Earth Products, SL Technology Foundation, Alsong Potteries, Sto. Nino Furniture and Sash Factory, Jonald’s Home and Office Furnishing Enterprises, Arlyn’s Handicraft, Base Wood Products, The Trader’s Design Furniture Shop, and top performer Northlandia Enterprises.

Northlandia owner Paulino Tan, in his speech, said the commitment and perseverance of the Filipino entrepreneurs would not be possible without the intervention of the government’s program for the SMEs.

Back in the game as a tourist destination.

That’s how Tourism Secretary Richard Gordon described the Philippines as far as visitor arrivals last year is concerned, saying government efforts to project the country as a safe and attractive destination is finally paying off notwithstanding the threat of SARS and terrorism.

In a media briefing yesterday, Gordon said that after a four-year decline in tourist arrivals from 1998 to 2001, visitor arrivals rose 1.93 million in 2002, an increase of 7.6 per cent compared to 2001.

He said that the growth in Philippine tourism was achieved despite the adverse effects of the 9/11 attack in New York, the bombing in Bali, Indonesia and internal terrorism and peace and order crises.

Tourism receipts, according to him, likewise increased by 83 per cent from $1.722 billion in 2001 to over $1.874 billion in 2002.

"With each tourist generating at least $1,000 in foreign exchange earnings, the potential of tourism as a huge dollar earner can be further tapped through focused and aggressive promotions in pre-selected short-and long haul key markets," he said.

The tourism chief said international tourist arrivals have been increasing by 13.2 per cent to 175, 728 in January, by 9.6 per cent to 338, 354 in February and 2.6 percent to 495, 390 in March compared to the figures in the same months last year.

There was a slight decrease of four per cent in April because of the adverse global conditions from SARS, terrorism and the weak global economy. March, April and May were the months hardest hit by the SARS outbreak.

To sustain the momentum from 2002, the DOT, with the endorsement of the World Tourism Organization (WTO), launched the "Visit the Philippines Year 2003" last Feb. 1.

"The Visit the Philippines Year aims to project the Philippines as a safe and attractive destination and to create a rallying call for Filipinos to inculcate a culture of tourism that will make the Philippines a World Class Wealth of Wonder (WOW) that will attract many tourists from over the world," he said.

The DOT chief added that running parallel to the international efforts of the DOT is a domestic tourism promotions effort.

Some 1.4-million indigent families this year have benefited from the health care insurance system of the Macapagal-Arroyo administration under the Department of Health-Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PHIC) program.

Health Secretary Manuel Dayrit said the number of indigents enrolled in the PHIC program has increased by one-third, with almost seven million members at present, compared to 4.7 million last year.

This translates to an increase in the number of indigent families enrolled from 935,000 to 1.4 million during the middle of the year. It is expected to go up to about 8 million before the year ends.

The PHIC granted to its indigent members a 67-percent increase in benefit ceilings for room and board for primary hospitals. The PHIC also accorded an increase in benefit ceilings of 36 percent for secondary hospitals and 16 percent for tertiary hospitals.

In a press briefing in Malacaņang this afternoon, Dayrit noted that the "GMA 50 Program of the DOH" addresses the need for affordable, quality medicines through four initiatives, namely: parallel importation of high-quality branded essential medicines and low prices; procurement of locally-manufactured high-quality generic medicines at low prices; promoting financial and geographic accessibility of high quality essential medicines to small communities through the Botika ng Barangay initiative; and making efficacious household remedies available to more people at the rolling stores of the National Food Authority (NFA).

He said that when the President approved the importation of low-priced but high-quality medicines to other countries like India, many poor Filipinos already benefited from this.

In fact, Dayrit said, the low-cost, high-quality generic medicines are already accessible to the public through 76 hospital pharmacies of the DOH and 112 pharmacies of the local government units.

To date, there are now 42 popular and essential drug preparations being imported by the Philippine International Trading Corporation and distributed through government hospitals, and district and regional hospitals nationwide.

The low-cost medicines are also available to some 284 Botika ng Barangay outlets. Another 200 outlets are expected to open before the end of the year.

Dayrit noted that aside from the broadening health insurance coverage for indigents and low-cost medicines for the poor, the DOH got its exemplary performance when they successfully contained the spread of endemic diseases such as dengue and measles, and the new global disease threat posed by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

The successful campaign of the government against SARS was caused by the vigilance and astuteness of the country’s health personnel and the perseverance of epidemiologists in tracing possible suspects and contacts of the dreaded disease.

To date, Dayrit said over 655,000 incoming airline passengers from various countries have been screened, yielding 92 suspected cases. Over 900 contacts of SARS suspected cases were traced and subjected to clinical examination.