President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has set aside some P30 million for the construction of an integrated coconut oil mill that would produce the two-stroke coconut oil or motor oil for the country’s tricycle industry.

"We must build the first plant this month," the President said, after listening to a proposal-presentation on multi-coconut product processing conducted by Presidential Adviser on Food Security and Job Creation Jose Cojuangco.

She said the two-stroke coco oil (motor oil) would help the tricycle industry nationwide comply with the strict requirements of the Clean Air Act.

The plant would be funded from the P20-billion 2003 Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Fund. When completed, it would be capable of processing 3,000 nuts a day, producing 22,700 liters of coconut oil.

The President approved Conjuangco’s recommendation that the plant be established in an Agrarian Reform Community (ARC), next to a coconut plantation, in Tiaong, Quezon.

"We can put this plant in the ARC and make this plant owned by the farmers themselves, and it would really add to their income," she said.

In his presentation, Cojuangco said the two-stroke coconut base motor oil would be an ideal mix with gasoline fuel.

This would reduce deposits on valve heads and seats of motor engines, improve seating and heat dissipation, lessen carbon formation, prevent corrosion and metal wastage, and lubricate at high or low temperature.

"As a result air pollution is lessened," Cojuangco explained.

Cojuangco said the Couples for Christ, together with De La Salle University, agreed to tie up with the government and train management staffs for such projects.

"Managing these plants in different localities can be at least safely supervised by trained managers who will be paid," he said.

Cojuangco said at least 80 integrated coconut oil mills have been projected to be established in different provinces, thus creating job opportunities in the countryside.

"Once it is ongoing, we feel that there will be investors that will be interested to put up plants, because we intend to price the oil at P20 per liter," he added.

The Philippines stands to get some Cdn $17 million in official development assistance (ODA) from the Government of Canada through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).

In a report to Malacanang, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said the ODA was committed during the recent Seventh Annual Bilateral Consultations between Canada and the Philippines.

NEDA Assistant Director-General Rolando Tungpalan said the Canadian ODA would support ongoing and pipeline projects in good governance, private sector growth and social development, among others.

Tungpalan represented the government in the bilateral talks

He said the pipeline projects included the E-Governance for Efficiency and Effectiveness Program; the Social Fund for Peace and Development in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao; Observer Mission to Canada on the Survey of Regulatory Practices in the Infrastructure Sector; Business Advisory Project Phase II; and Access to Small and Medium Enterprise Financing.

Among the ongoing projects are the Policy Training and Technical Assistance Facility; Justice Reform Initiative Support Project; and the Private Enterprise Accelerated Resource Linkages.

Tungpalan said that during the consultations, both sides agreed to review the Country Development Policy Framework (CDPF) within the development context defined by the Philippines in its national development plan and poverty reduction strategy.

He said the review would coincide with the preparations of NEDA for the next medium-term plan.

Director-General Sajjad Rahman led the CIDA delegation.

Rahman expressed great satisfaction with the results of the CIDA’s partnership with its Filipino counterparts.

Having had a first hand view of CIDA-funded livelihood projects in Cagayan de Oro and Bukidnon, he said the partnership would promote regional development.

The days of namedroppers are over in the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Justice Secretary Simeon Datumanong has ordered DOJ officials and employees to refrain from giving special favors to anyone claiming to be his relative while transacting business with the agency.

Datumanong, in a one-page memorandum, said the same treatment should also be made with the relatives of DOJ officials and workers.

Anyone who deals with the DOJ must pass through the legal and standard procedures, he stressed.

He called on undersecretaries, assistant secretaries and heads of bureaus and agencies under the DOJ to immediately report any unscrupulous person trying to get special consideration on a transaction.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today led the nation in paying tribute to the more than 8 million overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and their families in the commemoration of the 17^th National Migrants Sunday at the Edsa Shrine.

The President also witnessed the signing of a memorandum of agreement (MOA) between the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) and the Episcopal Commission for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (ECMI-CBCP), reaffirming commitment to further enhance services and assistance to better promote the well-being of the OFWs and their families.

OWWA Administrator Virgilio Angelo and CMI-CBCP chairman Bishop Ramon Arguelles signed the MOA.

Under the MOA, the two parties agree to jointly conduct intensive research and services geared towards enriching OFW family life.

They also resolved to provide programs in the areas of OFW community organization, counseling services, crisis preparedness and information dissemination to these families.

They would likewise enhance cooperation in support of reintegration programs for them.

The MOA likewise stipulates that a special action team, composed of volunteers from both the OWWA and the ECMI, will be formed initially in key cities and towns whose main tasks are to respond to every crisis situations involving OFW families.

The special action team is also envisioned to provide counseling and attend to public inquiries and other welfare services to OFWs.

The theme of this year’s celebration of National Migrants Sunday is "Reaching Out." Bishop Arguelles, Manila Auxillary Bishop Socrates Villegas and Father Paulo Prigol, executive secretary of the ECMI-CBCP, concelebrated the Eucharistic Mass at the Edsa Shrine.

Aside from the President, those who attended the observance of the Annual Day of Prayer and Solidarity with the OFWs and their Families were Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas, OWWA Administrator Angelo, Administrator Rosalinda Baldoz of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, Foreign Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Jose Brillantes, and Presidential Adviser on Media and Ecclesiastical Affairs Conrado Limcaoco.

The rites were put together by OWWA and the Episcopal Commission for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People (ECMI) of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines.

Bishop Arguelles, in his homily, said the Catholic has valid reasons to be concerned as 70 percent of Filipino families have OFWs in their members.

"Our OFWs are living examples of self-denial. They are admired for thinking first of others," Arguelles said.

The President has declared the period from March 2003 to February 2004 as the year of the Families of OFWs in recognition of the need to manage the effects of migration on family relations, particularly between couples or between parents and their children.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as Commander-in-Chief takes full responsibility for the conduct of military operations in Mindanao and all over the country.

The President would like to dispel the notion reflected in news and editorial reports that the Department of National Defense or the Armed Forces of the Philippines has made tactical decisions outside the purview of established national policy.

All actions of the DND-AFP have been above board in terms of strict adherence to policy and the President sees no need either to curtail any existing lines of authority within the AFP chain of command, or to sanction any commanders for violations of policy.

The standing policy for the Mindanao situation is to give full rein to the imperatives of peace, development and justice. This means that:

• Peace negotiations shall be pursued with the facilitation and assistance of third-party nations in order to achieve a comprehensive and durable settlement of the conflict in line with the Constitution.

• Development will be pursued in line with overall national economic plans, with priority on programs and projects that have a close bearing to the peace process and the alleviation of poverty—cutting across all communities of Muslims, Christians and Lumads.

• Justice will be pursued against those engaged in terrorism and organized crime, separate from the pursuit of peace and development processes. The law will spare no one, but due process will be observed at all times without resort to vigilantism against any community or religious group.

The AFP and the PNP are well aware of these policy thrusts. All police and military commanders have been apprised of the need to be sensitive to the socio-economic, political and cultural implications of their actions; and to enforce the law with equal force against anyone, regardless of creed, political persuasion or social station.