The decision of the government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HK-SAR) to slash the minimum wage for foreign domestic workers in the territory is unfair and unjust.

On the very night that this new policy was announced, the Philippine government, through our Consulate General in Hong Kong, immediately moved for the reconsideration and the deferment of its implementation.

It will be recalled that I sent HK-SAR Chief Executive Tung Chee Hwa my personal appeal on this matter last year yet. The DFA and DOLE in the persons of no less than Secretaries Blas Ople and Patricia Sto. Tomas, assiduously pleaded our case with the Hong Kong government. Even Senate President Franklin Drilon and Speaker Jose de Venecia gallantly threw the weight of their respective offices behind this cause.

Today, I have directed the POEA Board to temporarily suspend the processing of all contracts for domestic helpers in Hong Kong. I have also instructed the Secretary of Labor to review existing policies on the deployment of Filipino domestic helpers in other problems areas around the world.

I have likewise ordered the DFA to forge a coalition with other labor source countries in order to protest unfair levies or wage cut.

Even the Hong Kong Equal Employment Opportunities Commission has ruled that a levy imposed on foreign domestic helpers discriminates against those workers.

Davao Blasts

We call on the public to stay calm. We must show these terrorists that we cannot be cowed into fear. The government is on top of the situation. All concerned government agencies have been deployed to get the culprits and to thwart similar incidents anywhere in the country. Mayor Duterte has been designated crisis manager and the people of Davao City can count on the full backing of the national government in resolving this crisis.

The enemy has hurled its worst challenge. We shall respond resolutely and comprehensively. Commercial traffic in the Davao airport shall be restored immediately. Normalcy must be pursued even as we share condolences over the departed and care for the wounded.

We call upon the Filipino people to wage a total war against terrorism. We call on the public to raise its level of awareness and vigilance.

AMLA

We are grateful that agreement has been reached on the AMLA. Let us not dwell anymore on recrimination or blame tossing.

Zone of Peace

The Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) opened its 38^th Council Conference at the Shangri-la Plaza Hotel in Makati City today hoping to achieve a more viable educational policy for member countries, including the Philippines.

Ten education ministers and 140 delegates from Southeast Asia and six associate member-states of SEAMEO are attending the three-day meeting which will introduce the policy forum on the theme, "Engaging Communities in Delivering Quality Education."

Discussions aimed at introducing reforms that each member country could utilize to alleviate the education system in their respective countries will be led by Dr.Pratima Kale, president of the International Institute of Rural Reconstruction (IRR).

The Department of Education (DepEd) said, however, that no agreement will be made after the forum which is intended to just get the consensus and ideas from the ministers that will guide the activities of SEAMEO next year, particularly in the field of engaging communities in education.

Education Secretary Dr. Edilberto de Jesus said the Philippine education sector is taking the initiative in developing the country’s capability to meet the future needs of learning in line with SEAMEO’s goals of empowering regional understanding and cooperation in education, science and culture

"This translates into continuously improving education quality even as we carry on with expanding access to education services through formal and non-formal streams," de Jesus said.

With the Philippine basic education sector servicing over 18.6 million schoolchildren enrolled in elementary and secondary schools throughout the country, de Jesus further stressed that "preparing our students for productive citizenship is a major challenge and demands every bit of effort."

Established 30 years ago as an organization to meet the needs of education ministers as purveyors of a complete and meaningful education for its citizens, SEAMEO serves to spur and sustain synergy in confronting education issues throughout the region.

Its member countries include Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines. The associate member states are Australia, Canada, France, Germany, The Netherlands and New Zealand.

DAVAO CITY – President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today assured the families of Tuesday afternoon’s bomb blast victims at the international airport here that the perpetrators of the cowardly crime would be made to account for their terrorist act.

The President said the government would do everything to get those responsible for the powerful airport bomb explosion that claimed at least 21 lives and scores injured.

Citing reports, she said several suspects have been arrested and detained.

Interior and Local Government Secretary Jose Lina, who arrived with the President, said five persons, said to belong to the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), were taken in for questioning.

The President arrived here at about 10:40 a.m. and immediately inspected the bombing site, the Davao City International Airport’s public waiting area just outside the passenger terminal.

At the site, she lit and planted a candle and said a silent prayer for those killed and wounded in the bomb blast, which she earlier said was "a brazen act of terrorism that will not go unpunished."

From the airport where normal operations have resumed, the President preceeded to the Davao Medical Center (DMC) where most of the bombing victims were brought.

At the DMC, about three kilometers from the airport, she visited the wounded and conferred with them.

She also dropped by the hospital chapel and condoled with the families of those killed in the bombing.

The President reiterated to them her vow to mobilize the full powers of her office to identify and capture the perpetrators and their co-conspirators in the airport blast.

"I extend my sincerest condolences to the loved ones and relatives of the Davao victims of such a heinous crime. I am vowing to you: Justice will be done," she said.

From the hospital, the President returned to the airport, where she took off for a visit to evacuation centers in Pikit, Cotabato.

Pikit had been the site of a military offensive to flush out criminals hiding in Liguasan Marsh, also known as a lair of the MILF.

Meanwhile, Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye today called on the public to stay calm amid the Mindanao bombings.

"We must show these terrorists that we cannot be cowed into fear," Bunye said in a statement.

He said the government was on top of the situation as concerned government agencies "have been deployed to get the culprits and thwart similar incidents anywhere in the country."

"The enemy has hurled its worst challenge. We shall respond resolutely and comprehensively," he added.

Bunye said normalcy must be pursued even as "we share condolences over the departed and care for the wounded."

The Department of Health (DOH) today assured the victims and relatives of the twin bombings in Davao City and Tagum City that there are sufficient medical, surgical and other emergency supplies in government hospitals to cope with their medical needs.

Health Secretary Manuel M. Dayrit said that the Davao Medical Center (DMC), where most of the victims were brought, has abundant stocks of medicines.

"They (DMC) has enough resources," Dayrit said, even as the DOH central office in Manila has readied more medical supplies for immediate shipment to Davao City.

Dr. Gerardo Cunanan, DMC director, said that of the initial patients rushed to the hospital 17 were dead on arrival.

Of the 39 patients brought to the DMC four more died Wednesday night while undergoing treatment.

Cunanan said that 20 of the patients, who had less serious injuries, were sent home after treatment.

DAVAO CITY – President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today said she welcomes the assistance being offered by United States President George W. Bush in the Philippine government’s all-out fight against terrorists.

In a press conference at the Davao City International Airport here, President Macapagal-Arroyo said that "as a matter of policy, I just draw the line at ground combat, where I want our soldiers to do the fighting, and not their soldiers."

"We have drawn the line there from the very beginning," she said, recalling the 2001 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit when she first spoke to President Bush about the war against terrorism.

Earlier, a statement from Washington quoted President Bush as condemning the Tuesday bomb attack that killed at least 21 people and wounded scores at the airport waiting area here.

The terrorist Abu Sayyaf Group claimed responsibility for the bombing.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer today said President Bush has condemned the wanton terrorist act and has pledged cooperation and assistance to ensure that those responsible are brought to justice.

Fleischer said the blast underscores the seriousness of the terrorist threat in Mindanao.

COTABATO CITY – President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today flew to the Buliok Complex in Pikit, North Cotabato to inspect the ongoing relief and rehabilitation in the area following the skirmishes between the military and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) that displaced over 100,000 evacuees.

The Chief Executive, accompanied by some members of her Cabinet, arrived here this afternoon after her visit to Davao City where she personally commiserated with the victims of the bomb explosion Tuesday afternoon at the passenger terminal of the Davao City Airport.

Some P5 million worth of funds would be poured for the conversion and development of the Buliok Complex in Pikit into a zone of peace and development.

The allocation came about after the President ordered the transformation of the former MILF stronghold into a peaceful, productive and bustling agricultural community.

North Cotabato Governor Emmanuel Pinol, who was with the President during her visit, said the P5 million would be coursed through the Social, Economic Enhancement and Development Program in Pikit (SEED-Pikit).

Pinol pointed out that the money would specifically be used for the procurement of farm inputs and equipment for the farmers in the area which, he said, would be converted into corn and banana plantations under the SEED-Pikit project.

The Cotabato provincial government has identified 3,500 farmers, most of them relatives of MILF fighters, to work on the farmlands.

Under the SEED-Pikit scheme, both local government and provincial government will procure hybrid seeds to be distributed by the Department of Agriculture to farmer beneficiaries.

Pinol stressed that the Buliok Complex will become a model farming community in the province of Cotabato.

"It will become a model farming community in Cotabato province and the rebels would realize it would be better to be armed with plows and agricultural equipment than carrying firearms," he said.

DAVAO CITY—President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today said that despite Tuesday’s deadly bombing incident in this city, the government would continue to extend the "hand of peace" to those who will renounce violence.

But in a press conference here after she visited the bombing site at the Davao International Airport and commiserated with the victims and their relatives, the President also vowed to use the full force of the law in going after the perpetrators and to those who will continue to resort to violence in furthering their goals.

"There is always the hand of peace for those who renounce violence but for those who will continue to use violence as a means to carry out their messages, then there is also the long arm of the law," the President said.

The President also called on Mindanaons not to be distracted by the tragic incident but to continue working for the economic growth of Mindanao.

"What we have to do is to really move on. This is the message that I would like to give to everyone. These are unfortunate and tragic incidents. But these should not deter us from proceeding and pushing for the development of Mindanao," the President said.

In the same press conference, the President also reiterated her position that any assistance from the United States in the fight against terrorism in the Philippines should be in the form of equipment, training, surveillance and civic action work.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will host a dinner tonight for visiting Queen Sofia of Spain at the Metropolitan Museum at the Bangko Sentral Complex, along Roxas Boulevard, capping the Queen’s two-day private visit to Manila.

Queen Sofia, who arrived yesterday, had a hectic schedule the whole day today where she inaugurated development and charitable projects funded by the Spanish government. She will leave tomorrow.

The highlight of the Queen’s visit was the turnover of the third set of funds worth $1.6 million for the Filipinas Eye Center Foundation of the Philippine General Hospital and the groundbreaking of the Jose Rizal Eye Referral Center.

The Spanish government has already donated a total of $3.2 million to the foundation.

The Queen also visited the Makabata Foundation or the Center for Education for Street Children of Metro Manila and met with Spanish development workers in the country.

The Spanish Queen also toured Intramuros, where she pledged to support future cultural and tourism projects to be jointly undertaken by the Spanish and Philippine governments.

While in Intramuros, the Queen visited the San Agustin Church accompanied by Tourism Secretary Richard Gordon.

Later in the day, the Queen inaugurated the exhibit of the Spanish overseas cultural program at the National Museum.

The Queen was accompanied in her trip by Spain’s state secretary for international cooperation, Miguel Angel Cortes, and other Spanish officials involved in development aid and cultural affairs.

Mrs. Arroyo will be the guest of the Royal family when she makes a state visit to Spain late this month.