President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today announced that both houses of Congress had just passed the bill against the trafficking of women and children.

The President made the announcement after she accepted from women legislators and local chief executives the Manila Declaration on Gender-Responsive and Good Governance that articulates the priority issues, principles and actions pertaining to women in governance and decision-making.

The three-day summit was convened by the National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women (NCRFW) and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), in collaboration with the Lady Local Legislators League (4L), Lady Municipal Mayors Association of the Philippines (LMMAP), Philippine Councilors League (PCL), and the League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP).

The declaration was crafted during the three-day National Summit of Women and Local Chief Executives and Legislators that ended today at the Manila Pavilion Hotel.

The President received the declaration from Tandag, Surigao del Sur Mayor Mary Elizabeth Delgado, LMMAP president; 4L president and Board Member Mariant Villegas; City of San Fernando Mayor Mary Jane Ortega, LCP secretary general; and PCL treasurer Councilor Corazon del Mundo.

The President was supposed to sign the bill into law during the summit but this was deferred as many women leaders also wanted to be present during the signing of the law that protects the rights of women and children.

"I would have wanted to sign the bill into law today right here in this summit, except that many women leaders, who are not part of this summit meeting, want to be present at the signing," the President said.

"As a woman political leader of the Philippines, I’m one with you in the commitment to build a more humane, just and peace-loving constituency free of gender biases," the President said.

The NCRFW was established under the Office of the President on Jan. 7, 1975 to review, evaluate and recommend measures, including priorities to ensure the full integration of women for economic, social and cultural development and ensure further equality between men and women.

During the term of President Macapagal-Arroyo, the NCRFW is focused on three priority issues:

• Promoting women’s economic empowerment;

• Upholding women’s human rights; and

• Promoting gender-responsive good governance

International partners that sponsored the event were the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today challenged women executives to be crisis managers ready to confront all kinds of social and security concerns, particularly against the spread of terrorism and the dreaded Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

The President said terrorism strikes anywhere, from the remotest barangays in Mindanao to the capitals of the world.

"The world in the post-Iraq period has achieved greater strategic stability. But this has driven militant cells to deeper desperation," the President said during the closing of the National Summit of Women Local Chief Executives and Legislators at the Manila Pavilion Hotel.

The President said all Filipinos must be always vigilant, including the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who must work with their host communities to secure themselves and their loved ones.

"We must show the terrorists that humanity will not be cowed, that life goes on and that they will be brought to justice. We will intensify our intelligence work at home and strengthen international security cooperation," the President said.

The President said the government is currently engaged in a "punitive campaign" against terrorists responsible for specific atrocities, particularly against innocent civilians.

"The campaign will be selective and limited to these terrorist cells. Women executives, this is a challenge to you, to us, not only as executives but as women executives," she said.

The President cited the role of Zamboanga City Mayor Maria Clara Lobregat and South Cotabato Governor Daisy Avance Fuentes who has been taking the leadership in the fight against terrorism in their respective areas.

"They are at the forefront and sometimes it is said that they have shown their leadership. But they have to show it by being better than the men just to be treated equally in the field of the fight against terrorism," the President said.

On the threat of SARS, the President said the World Health Organization’s (WHO) forthcoming decision to remove the Philippines from the list of SARS-prone countries "will serve as a trophy for the efforts our people have done in controlling the spread of the virus."

While we await this eventuality, the President said the security measures against SARS must go on with the same intensity until the threat has been decisively diminished.

The President said this is where women local government leaders surely stand out because it is second nature for women to keep their surroundings clean.

"But we go beyond just what is our trait as women. The local government official as crisis manager must lead whether it’s terrorism or whether it’s SARS," the President said.

The President said the success of the women executives in the fight against terrorism and SARS is also part of the fight for the advancement of women.

STA. CRUZ, Laguna—President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today called on the rebel returnees to forget about their turbulent past and turn a new leaf in their lives as she renewed her pledge to eradicate poverty in order to finally win the war against terrorism.

"Kalimutan na natin ang inyong marahas na kahapon. Hindi kayo kasama doon sa ating mga kalabang organisado (Let us now forget your violent past. You are no longer a part of our organized enemy," the President said in her remarks in a ceremony here welcoming back to society a total of 123 rebel returnees.

The homecoming of the former combatants of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) marked the end of a successful military offensive and the start of a socio-economic program in the 33 rebel-infested barangays in seven municipalities of this province.

The President told the returnees that now that they are free, they should start a new and prosperous life.

She said that one of the things that really gives her a feeling of fulfillment as President and as the mother of the nation is to welcome our countrymen who want to return to normal life.

"Ako ay nasisiyahan sapagkat ito ay tanda rin ng ating mga pagsisikap tungo sa pagkakaisa at kapayapaan dahil ito ay nagtatagumpay (I am happy because this is a signal that our efforts in forging peace and unity are succeeding)," the President said.

She said that because of her gratitude, she has ordered various government agencies to provide the rebel returnees with a package of benefits that would help them lead a productive life.

The President said that she was aware that poverty is the root of rebellion and terrorism in the country.

STA. CRUZ, Laguna--President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today announced the signing of an executive order creating a multi-agency task force that would help the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in eliminating illegal drug syndicates in the country.

In her remarks at the ceremonies here welcoming 153 rebel-returnees back to the folds of the law, the President said that other government agencies should help the PDEA and the Dangerous Drugs Board headed by Interior and Local Government Secretary Jose Lina, Jr. in wiping out illegal drug syndicates, especially in the Southern Tagalog region.

The President said that in the Southern Tagalog provinces, the drug problem is more critical than rebellion, adding that there is now a need to have a concerted effort in wiping out this problem.

Under the executive order, the President also ordered the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) to earmark P1 billion from lotto receipts to be used by the task force in the fight against drug trafficking.

he said that earlier, she ordered the Overseas Workers’ Welfare Administration (OWWA) to set aside P1 billion for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in the Middle East affected by the war in Iraq.

he President has also ordered the PCSO to set aside P1 billion to combat the dreaded severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) even if only two Filipinos have been confirmed to have died from the disease.

"So, if we can provide P1 billion for the OFWs in Kuwait and the Middle East, and another P1 billion for SARS that has only affected eight with two deaths, what more for illegal drugs that had already victimized many people particularly, in Southern Tagalog," the President said in Filipino.

The President said it had already been proven that illegal drug syndicates respect no race, religion nor ideology.

She also said that her administration’s poverty-alleviation program would be stepped up since poverty is the root cause of terrorism, rebellion and other syndicated crimes.

In order to intensify and accelerate her administration’s war against illegal drugs, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today ordered the organization of task forces within the Philippine National Police, the National Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Customs, and the Office of the President. She ordered the creation of a standby fund of P1 billion for these units’ operations, to augment funds from their mother agencies.

The P1-billion standby fund will come from the revenues of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office’ lotto operations.

In her Executive Order No. 206 signed this morning, the President stressed the "urgent need to pursue a forceful, intensive, and unrelenting campaign against drug trafficking and the use of illegal drugs, whether syndicated or at street-level."

The President noted in her executive order that the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) – the lead agency under the Comprehensive Dangerous Drug Act of 2002 tasked to wage the campaign against illegal drugs – is presently in a transition period, and still has to develop its institutional capacities. Thus the need for the modernization of the task forces, the main one of which will be organized by the PNP.

BINAN, Laguna - President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today swore in Brother Rolando R. Dizon, De La Salle University System president, as the new chairman of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED).

Brother Dizon replaces Dr. Esther Garcia as CHED chair. His term is from June 1, 2003 to July 20, 2006.

The induction rites were held during the blessing of the De La Salle University-Canlubang campus. DLSU-Canlubang, which sits on a sprawling 50-hectare property, is the eighth campus of the DLSU System.

The President motored here from Sta. Cruz, Laguna where she welcomed 123 rebel returnees back to the fold of the law.

Immediately upon her arrival, she unveiled the commemorative marker and witnessed the blessing of the Milagros R. del Rosario building of DLSU-Canlubang.

In his message, Brother Dizon assured the President that he will do his best to improve the quality of graduates of the country's tertiary institutions.

Brother Dizon has extensive educational management experience from the primary to the tertiary level. He earned his doctorate in international development education from Stanford University as a Fulbright scholar.

He was a Ten Outstanding Young Men awardee for education and was a recipient of various awards and recognition for his socio-civic involvements.