BAGUIO CITY – President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo last night directed the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Philippine National Police and local officials to be prepared for collateral terrorist attacks that may be triggered by the military confrontation in Iraq.

During a command conference here with the AFP, PNP and local government officials of Region 1 (Ilocos) and the Cordillera Administrative Region, the President stressed that the entire government must be prepared with whatever contingency may occur in the country after US President George Bush gave Saddam Hussein a 48-deadline to leave Iraq or face military action.

"The most important thing to prepare for is the welfare of our OFWs in the Middle East, and the second thing that we have to take care of would- be collateral terrorist attacks," the President said.

"During this time, we need crisis managers, information champions for economic stability and public welfare and we need anti-crime czars," she said.

The President told the local executives to be especially conscious of these functions and to exercise them especially during these times.

As crisis managers, the President said the local executives are in charge of monitoring all kinds of social and economic problems in this time of crisis.

"For instance, you are in charge of monitoring the prices of prime commodities; you are in charge of accosting hoarders and profiteers," she said.

"And we expect you to set up, together with the police and sometimes the military, depending on the area, the contingency plans for disaster, all possible terrorist events, including the lines of coordination with the national government agencies," the President added.

The second function that the local executives must exercise during these difficult times is to be information champions for economic stability and welfare.

"You are expected to disseminate information – helpful and important information on probably unfolding events and developments," she said.

The President said the local executives are also expected to preempt rumors and disinformation because there will be so much of these even as there is so much of these going on even now.

"And these rumors and disinformation engender a climate of uncertainty and fear," she said, encouraging the local executives to be the bastion of stability and confidence. "You will be the one to give the truth to our people," she said.

The President asked the local officials to be not only advocates of government programs but also the spokespersons for prudence and sobriety to keep people sober and prudent at this time.

As anti-crime czars, the President urged the local executives, under the Local Government Code, to spearhead the fight against criminality, including street crimes.

"As deputies of the National Police Commission, the local executives exercise supervision and control over the police," she said, stressing that they should be vanguards against petty criminals preying on ordinary people.

"And here the police are instructed to work with you, to report to you, take instructions from you in drafting community cooperation for law enforcement," the President said.

In an ambush interview later, the President told members of the Malacaņang Press Corps that she was very, very gratified about the level of preparedness of Region I and the Cordilleras.

With the President were Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes, Presidential Management Staff Chief Silvestre Afable, Jr. and the governors of Region 1 headed by La Union Governor Victor Ortega, who is Region 1 Peace and Order Council Chairman, and the governors of the Cordilleras and the mayors and other local officials of both regions.

BAGUIO CITY--President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today assured the nation that the government would not be deploying combat troops to the Middle East even as she said that the Philippines has sided with the United States in its efforts to rid Iraq of weapons of mass destruction.

In her speech this morning at the commencement exercises of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA), the President said that as part of the US-led "coalition of the willing," the Philippines is giving political and moral support for actions that would eventually disarm Iraq of her weapons of terror.

"We are part of a long standing security alliance. We are part of the global coalition against terrorism. These relationships are vital to our national interest," the President said.

The President said that our alliance with the US in the global fight against terrorism "bear a significance to this war and to our combined efforts to fight terrorism in the Philippines as well as in the region."

She said that the Philippines is committed to extend peacekeeping and humanitarian assistance in Iraq after the conflict is over. "This assistance is a subject of ongoing consultations," the President added.

The President said that the war in Iraq, which had started a few hours ago, was a reality that the world had expected. But she added that the Philippines expects the war to be "surgical, short and swift."

According to the President, the moral and political cause that the Philippines has supported in ridding Iraq of the weapons of mass destruction does not pose a mortal threat to Filipino nations in the Middle East.

"They are in the good hands of our embassies, their employers and the host governments," the President said.

But the President also cautioned that since this is a time of extreme distress among all citizens of the world, including Filipinos, the government is working with the private sector to open the widest lines of communication between our nationals in the Middle East and their families in the Philippines.

Government call centers, the President said, are open in many places and these calls will be free of charge.

BAGUIO CITY--President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today clarified that she does not see the need for emergency powers "at this moment" although these powers are in reserve.

In her speech this morning at the commencement exercises of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA), the President said that these emergency powers would be used only in the midst of extreme economic and security contingency for the sake and welfare of the Filipino people.

She said that the emergency powers, if ever she would use them, would be made in consultation with Congress.

"We must calibrate such measures to emerging critical situations," the President said.

In its meeting in Malacanang last Tuesday, the National Security Council (NSC) approved the use by the President of emergency powers if the price of oil would unduly jack up the prices of prime commodities.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo directed today all local governments to convene all crisis management councils and asked local officials to personally and closely supervise the implementation of all contingency plans.

In a speech before the graduating class of the Philippine Military Academy in Baguio City, the President said the country, as in other parts of the world, must be ready for terrorist attacks, cautioning that the Philippines’ political situation will only multiply terrorist aggression.

"Ang mga teroristang yan hindi nagtanong kung ano ang politika ng Indonesia noong ginawa nila yung karahasan sa Bali," she said. "So like the rest of the world, we must be ready for terrorist attacks in our own country."

As she addressed the graduates, United States President George W. Bush announced in Washington the launching of the "opening stages of what will be a broad and concerted campaign…to disarm Iraq, to free its people and to defend the world from grave danger."

"I ask for complete and total vigilance," President Macapagal-Arroyo said. "Extremists are likely to attack in desperation, anywhere and in any manner. Let us bond together, Muslims and Christians alike, in the task of vigilance and in preserving the ramparts of peace."

While the military and police forces, she said, are already in a high state of alert, the President still urged the citizens to combine vigilance with calm and help the authorities check terrorist incursions.

Any potential socio-economic dislocations, according to her, shall be dealt with in the highest interest of the public, saying the government will not allow transient instabilities to prejudice the poor and underprivileged.

" A price watch of all prime commodities is being implemented," she said. " We warn hoarders and profiteers."

The government, according to the President, will spare no effort to keep Filipino overseas workers out of harms way, saying that contingency measures are already in place to safeguard their life and limb.

Most of them, she added, will stay in place in order to be enveloped by the effective defenses against any attack. The defenses have been put in place by the host nations in cooperation with the coalition forces of which the Philippines is a member.

"The moral and political cause to rid Iraq of weapons of mass destruction does not pose a mortal threat to our nationals in the Middle East," she said. "They are in the good hands of our embassies, their employers and the host governments."

Recognizing the present situation as a time of extreme distress among all citizens of the world including Filipinos, the President said her administration is working with the private sector to open the widest lines of communication between the OFWs in the Middle East and their families in the Philippines.

As a gesture of support, the government has offered their families here free calls to their loved ones.

"It is times like this that we must think about our togetherness as a nation, our sense of belonging to one Republic, and know that we have a government that cares for its people," the President said.

MUNOZ, Nueva Ecija – President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today lauded the government of the Republic of China for helping the country in promoting the advance technology in agriculture and aquaculture.

The President arrived here on board a helicopter from Baguio City where she attended the graduation of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) to further sow goodwill and strengthen ties with the Chinese government.

Upon her arrival, the President motored to the Nueva Ecija Fruits and Vegetables Seed Center and led the ribbon-cutting ceremony there.

She also visited the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources – National Freshwater Fisheries Technology Center (BFAR-NFFTC) and led the launching of "Get Excel Tilapia" program.

The program will promote the superior breed of tilapia developed under the Philippine National Tilapia Breeding Program.

The program hopes to raise the country’s annual fish production and increase the gross revenues of fish farmers, especially in Nueva Ecija.

The President also motored to the nearby Philippine-Sino Center for Agricultural Technology (PhilSCAT) and led the unveiling of the building’s marker and inaugurating the newly-built P500-million state-of-the-art center.

China’s Ambassador Wang Chungui, Agriculture Secretary Luis Lorenzo, Representative Eleuterio Violago, Nueva Ecija Governor Tomas Joson III, and Munoz Mayor Nestor Alvarez, PhilSCAT Director, witnessed the unveiling.

The President also received from Ambassador Chingui agricultural equipments such as generator, water pumps, diesel engines, center windrower, driving disk plough, hand tractor, rotary tiller, paddy-field driving rakes, rice thresher, power sprayer, complete equipment of product line for raising rice seedling for sowing, semi-feed self-propelled combine harvester, and tractors.

The center construction was a result of an agreement on cooperation in agriculture and other related areas the Philippines and the PROC signed in Beijing in September 1999.

The PhilSCAT is the first grant project of the PROC to the Philippines and the technical cooperation program will extend up to 2008. The center, standing on 9.78 hectares within the compound of the Central Luzon State University, hopes to showcase modern agricultural technologies, particularly the Chinese advanced and practical hybrid rice production and related agricultural engineering and mechanization technologies.

This will help Filipino farmers increase rice production and labor productivity to attain sustainable food security.

The signals of war ring out on the other side of the world.

We are part of the coalition of the willing in terms of political and moral support for actions to rid Iraq of weapons of mass destruction. We are part of a long standing security alliance as well as the global coalition against terrorism. This relationship is vital to our national security. It bears a significance to this war and to our combined efforts to fight terrorism in the Philippines and in the region.

We shall not deploy Philippine combat troops. But the Philippines is committed to extend peacekeeping and humanitarian assistance after the Iraq conflict. This is the subject of ongoing consultations.

The war is reality we expected. And we expect it to be surgical, short, and swift. But for now we have to face our immediate imperatives.

The moral and political cause to rid Iraq of weapons of mass destruction does not pose a mortal threat to our nationals in the Middle East, who are in the good hands of our embassies, their employers and the host governments. Nonetheless, it is a time of extreme distress among all citizens of the world, and among all Filipinos. The government is working with the private sector to open the widest lines of communication between our nationals in the Middle East and their families in the Philippines. Government call centers are open in many places. Let me take this opportunity to offer our nationals and their families: we will place your calls to your loved ones at no cost.

We shall spare no effort to keep our nationals out of harm’s way. Contingency measures are already in place to safeguard the life and limb of our nationals in the Middle East. Most will stay in place in order to be enveloped by the effective defense against any attack put in place by the host nations in cooperation with the coalition forces.

The world must be ready for terrorist attacks in any country. There is no use to argue that our political position will only multiply terror attacks in our own country. Terrorism knows no boundaries. It has hit many countries regardless of their political positioning. We have already seen the worst—Basilan, General Santos, Zamboanga, Metro Manila, Davao.

Like the rest of the world, we must be ready for terrorist attacks in our own country. Our military and police forces are already in a high state of alert. Our communities must combine vigilance with calm and help the authorities check terrorist incursions.

Any potential socioeconomic dislocations, while remote, shall be dealt with in the higher interest of the public. We will not allow transient instabilities to prejudice the poor and underprivileged. A price watch on prime commodities is being implemented. We warn hoarders or profiteers.

The investigation of six banks is just one of the measures being taken by the government versus opportunist market speculators and dollar hoarders. Coming at a time of crisis, these violations are tantamount to economic sabotage.

The slumping of the peso is not a time for the public to fall prey to those who are taking advantage of the crisis. It is a time for us to close ranks, have prudence, and cooperate to address all challenges.

Instead of sending combat troops to the Middle East and taking part in the war to disarm Iraq, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo would rather see the men in uniform engaged in a mission to make Mindanao a region of peace, security and development.

This in a way summed up the President’s directive to the graduates of the Philippine Military Academy’s Mandarangan Class 2003 in one of the most applauded parts of her speech in the commencement exercises this morning in Baguio City.

"Unless we, as a people come to terms with Mindanao, we will never attain our full promise as a nation, a great democracy, a strong republic," she said. "Thus we must arrive at a national consensus on the principles to guide our search for peace."

The President told the graduates that there will be difficult days ahead of them, particularly in Mindanao where some of them will soon be frontliners to win the peace.

She said that the extremist fringe has distorted the agenda, making it difficult for the average Filipino to gain the balanced understanding of Mindanao.

"The conflict in Mindanao is not a religious or ethnic war between Muslims and Christians. The ongoing campaign in Mindanao is against lawless elements who engage in criminal activities and who flaunt their violation of the laws of our society," she told the graduates.

The different armed groups in Mindanao, she said are not homogenous. "Each of these armed groups is distinct from the other stakeholders," she added.

By the other stakeholders, the President was referring to the far greater number of non-combatants, whether Christian, Muslim or Lumad "who are often forgotten but whose only vested interest is peace."

She also mentioned the Organization of Islamic Conference "whose interest is peace within the framework of our national sovereignty and territorial integrity."

The President, as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, called on the graduates to help her realize her dream of making Mindanao a region of peace, security and development, saying it is their assignment to make her vision come true.

She then enumerated the elements of her dream end state for Mindanao as follows:

• The presence of peace, and the absence of ideologically motivated conflict and the renunciation of the use of force to pursue political ends;

• Development based on political stability, economic strength and good governance;

• The complete acceptance of national sovereignity and territorial integrity based on the constitution and the rule of law, together with the maintenance of external peace with all their neighbors;

• A multi-ethnic society with social justice for all and institutionalized accommodations of ethnic traditions; and

• The total defeat of terrorism.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today ordered Justice Secretary Simeon Datumanong to ask the Supreme Court to set up a special court that would specially take on pyramid scam cases.

The President, who issued the order during a meeting with pyramid scam victims at the Heroes’ Hall in Malacanang, also ordered National Bureau of Investigation Director Reynaldo Wycoco to likewise follow up allegations that the principal personalities involved who have been arrested are enjoying VIP (very important person) treatment.

Aside from Wycoco, Interior and Local Government Secretary Jose Lina, Jr. has been investigating allegations that Maria Teresa Santos, the sole proprietor of MTS Trading allegedly involved in pyramiding, is enjoying special treatment.

In the open forum, several victims claimed that the police holding her at the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) at the Philippine National Police (PNP) headquarters at Camp Crame, who were also her supposed victims, have allegedly been paid their principal investment and interest.

The President assured the victims that if cases have already been lodged against such personalities, such individuals would not be able to leave the country.

"Yung pong mga nakasuhan na, hindi na po sila pwedeng makaalis ng bansa," she said.

The President also advised the victims that all cases involving pyramid scams will be followed up by the Department of Justice led by no less than State Prosecutor Jovencito Zuno.

The President further noted that if victims want to get the money they invested from these personalities through legal means, they should refrain from signing affidavit of desistance.

On those personalities who have reportedly fled to other countries, the President said Wycoco would confer with his counterpart in the United States to trace the funds.

The President also ordered the DOJ to set up a "clearinghouse" that would take on the complaints and follow-up of the victims. The clearinghouse would be composed of the existing government task force on pyramid scam, she said.

"Ang importante ay yung paglilitis ay talagang makumpleto at saka kung makakahanap tayo ng paraan na maibalik ang isang bahagi ng inyong pinuhunan, titingnan natin kung ano ang magagawa natin (the important thing is that the cases could be completed and that we find ways to bring back, in whole or in part, your investments)," she said.

Also present at the meeting were State Prosecutor Jovencito Zuno, Executive Secretary Alberto Romulo, Justice Secretary Datumanong and NBI Director Wycoco.

The President has ordered all concerned government agencies to relentlessly pursue the investigation of the pyramid scam cases and assist the victims.

The President issued the order to the NBI to ease the pain of hapless victims, including soldiers and policemen, who had invested their meager savings, including retirement benefits, in the pyramiding schemes.

"Awang-awa siya doon sa mga na-biktima, lalo dun sa mga members of the military in the schemes and police na nag-loan pa sa Armed Forces of the Philippines Savings and Loan Association Inc. (AFPSLAI)," Wycoco earlier said.

The NBI is currently investigating 12 to 13 companies suspected of being involved in "get-rich-quick, too-good-to-be-true" schemes. Wycoco declined to name these companies as the NBI is still undertaking surveillance on them.

Aside from Multitel, there are still eight companies facing cases of estafa, violations of Securities and Exchange Regulations Code and the bouncing checks law.

Among these companies are Mateo Management Group (MMG), Ma. Teresa Santos Trading, Tibayan Group Investment Co. Inc., Asia-Pacific Alliance Management, Kimberly Management/Eurocom Business Center, Philsuise Financial Services and Consultancy and ICS Export, Inc.

Wycoco said the filing of cases against these companies might not be enough. "The whole machinery of government must work together: law enforcement, prosecution, the courts, the financial arm, so that appropriate remedies can be applied," he said.