The Supreme Court’s decision declaring "unconstitutional" the impeachment complaint against Chief Justice Hilario Davide in the House of Representatives "is a victory for our democracy," Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said today.

In a radio interview, Bunye said, "Kahit temporary ay natapos po itong ating krisis (Although on a temporary basis only, the crisis confronting us is over."

The High Tribunal ruled unanimously that it had jurisdiction to decide on the legality of the Davide impeachment case. By a vote of 13-1, it also decided that the filing within a year of a second impeachment complaint against Davide for alleged misuse of the Judicial Development Fund (JDF) violated the Constitution.

"Ito po ay isang magandang development at ito po ay tagumpay ng ating demokrasya na talaga ang Supreme Court ang itinuturing na huling tagapagsalita o taga-interpret ng mga kwestyong nauukol sa batas (This is a nice development and a victory for our democracy. The Supreme Court is truly the final arbiter and interpreter of questions about the law)," Bunye said.

The Presidential Spokesman said that the people could new have a respite from debates over the impeachment issue that involved two independent and co-equal braches of government.

"Sa ngayon po ay palagay ko lahat ng ating mga kababayan ay makakahinga na muna nang maluwag dahil kahit temporary po itong ating ay natapos krisis (For now, the people could breathe a sigh of relief for, although temporary, our crisis is over)," he said.

Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said today that there is no administration plan to dismiss Secretary Leandro Mendoza of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) over handling of the takeover Saturday (November 8, 2003) of the air traffic control tower at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Centennial Terminal.

Bunye told a radio interview that the people should not turn "emotional" on the issue of the takeover of a highly sensitive government installation in which former Air Transport Office chief, Capt. Panfilo Villaruel, and an aide were fatally shot by a Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team.

"Ang ginawa ni Secretary Mendoza, sa aming palagay, ay para po sa kapakanan ng higit na nakararami. Noong gawin po ang pag-takeover nitong tower po ay napakaraming buhay ang nalagay sa alanganin dahil alam ninyo naman po kung gaano ka-sensitive itong air traffic control operations (Secretary Mendoza acted for the good of the majority. By taking over the control tower, which has sensitive functions, they endangered the lives of many people)," he said.

On the call for Mendoza’s resignation, he said it is not proper that an official who is just complying with the law or enforcing order, should be penalized for doing his job.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today welcomed to Malacanang Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who is currently on a three-day (Nov. 10-12) state visit to the Philippines.

President Nazarbayev, who arrived here Monday afternoon, is expected to discuss trade issues with President Macapagal-Arroyo. The two leaders are also scheduled to sign three agreements dealing with bilateral political consultations, visa waiver and tourism cooperation.

Upon his arrival at the Malacanang grounds at 9:25 A.M., the visiting head of state was accorded a 21-gun salute while the national anthems of the two countries were played one after the other.

The two Presidents also trooped the line of the honor guards, after which President Macapagal-Arroyo introduced the Kazakhstan leader to the official members of her family

The two leaders, accompanied by other officials, then walked to the Malacanang Palace where President Nazarbayev signed the guest book.

Nazarbayev, who is President of the second largest country in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), assumed the presidency of the Republc of Kazakhstan in Aprill 1990.

On December 1, 1991, he overwhelmingly won the first ever national election for President of the Republic, gaining the vote of 98.7 percent of the electorate.

On Januuary 10, 1999, he was reelected as President of Kazakhstan with 79.78 percent of the votes cast.

The Commonwealth of Independent States is a formal association of states that formerly belonged to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, with the exception of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and visiting Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev today witnessed the signing of the three bilateral agreements between the Philippines and Kazakhstan.

The signing ceremony, held at the State Dining Room in Malacanang, was done following the bilateral meeting between the two Presidents, along with senior government officials of both countries.

Nazarbayev is here on the second of his three-day state visit to the country, the first-ever made by a President from Central Asia.

The first agreement is the Joint Declaration on Friendship and Cooperation between the Philippines and Kazakhstan, which was signed by Foreign Secretary Blas Ople and Kazakhstan Foreign Minister Kassymzhomart Tokayev.

The agreement aims to strengthen cooperation in the bilateral, regional and international arenas. Specifically, it outlines the directions that the two countries may choose to take to expand their relations in various fields of mutual endeavor.

The second accord – Agreement on Visa Exemption for Citizens-Holders of Diplomatic and Official Passports – was signed by the foreign secretaries of the two countries.

Under this agreement, citizens of the two countries carrying diplomatic and official passports will be allowed entry, exit, transit and temporary stay in each other’s respective territories without visas for a maximum period of thirty days.

The third pact, entitled Agreement between the government of the Republic of the Philippines and the government of the Republic of Kazakhstan on cooperation in the field of tourism, was signed by Tourism Secretary Richard Gordon and Kazakhstan Foreign Minister Tokayev.

The said agreement aims to strengthen friendly relations and mutual understanding between the two countries by creating favorable conditions for the development of long-term cooperation in the field of tourism.

According to President Macapagal-Arroyo, Kazakhstan is the fastest growing country in Central Asian region.

Malacanang today declared Wednesday, November 26, 2003, as special non-working day throughout the country to celebrate the Eid-Ul-Fitre or Feast of the Ramadhan.

In Proclamation No. 498, Executive Secretary Alberto Romulo said the entire Filipino nation should be given the full opportunity to join our Muslim brothers and sisters in observing and celebrating this important day, while at the same time promoting cultural understanding and integration.

Secretary Romulo, who signed the proclamation by authority of the President, likewise underscored the need to declare November 26, as special non-working day throughout the country without prejudice to the public interest, to bring the religious and cultural significance of the feast of the Ramadham to the fore of national consciousness.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and visiting Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev today vowed to strengthen bilateral relations between their two countries and sustain their commitment to broader and stronger economic and political cooperation

The two Presidents also agreed to assign the first ambassadors of their countries as well as support each other in promoting inter-faith dialogue among Muslims and Christians.

Mrs. Macapagal-Arroyo and Mr. Nazarbayev, who held bilateral talks at Malacanang this morning, stressed the importance of mutual support in multilateral fora, such as the ASEAN regional forum and the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC).

During a joint press conference in Malacanang, President Macapagal-Arroyo said that like the Philippines, Kazakhstan has many ethnic groups and share a deep adherence to inter-faith dialogue and solidarity.

She noted that Kazakhstan recently hosted a very important and successful inter-faith dialogue. "I hope that the visit of His Excellency, President Nazarbayev, will be followed by the visit of religious leaders of Kazakhstan so that they can come and promote also our own inter-faith dialogue in the Philippines."

President Macapagal-Arroyo also thanked Kazakhstan for supporting the Philippines’ successful bid for a seat in the United Nations Security Council and its continuing bid for an observer status in the OIC. " We are both committed to broader and stronger political and economic cooperation between our two countries," she said.

On economic cooperation, President Macapagal-Arroyo noted that the Philippines looks forward to the deployment of Filipino expertise and technical resources to help develop Kazakhstan’s expansive energy reserves as well as to construct its new communities. Kazakhstan now is home to 5,000 Filipino workers in its energy and construction sectors.

She said the Philippines is interested in buying energy products from Kazakhstan, noting that the visit of Nazarbayev will hopefully lead to closer cooperation in this sector.

President Nazarbayev, for his part, said his country is interested in exporting to the Philippines their high quality wheat, cotton and dairy products. In return, he said, Kazakhstan is keen on importing from the Philippines its tropical fruits and human resources.

He said Kazakhstan is also interested in using Philippines’ expertise in putting up the infrastructure for its oil industry.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo believes that the division among Filipinos could be healed as a large number of people, including followers of deposed President Joseph Estrada, want some kind of reconciliation.

In a TV interview with Tina Monson Palma on the ANC’s "Talk Back" program, the President traced the disunity of Filipinos to "historical division between the rich and the poor," a division that is manipulated "to lead to other more concrete divisions."

The President cited, as examples, the divisions between the New People’s Army (NPA) and the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the government.

While the Muslim provinces suffer from "economic exclusion," she said, "it doesn’t justify a secessionist movement. Neither does poverty justify an insurgency movement."

The Philippines is one of the few countries in the world left with communist insurgency, she added.

She noted that the split after the ouster of former President Estrada in January 2001 resulted from the divisions caused by EDSA 2 and EDSA 3, and "this was exploited in the May 1 drama of 2001."

If one would listen to the speeches leading to the May 1, 2001 siege of the presidential Palace by followers of the disgraced President, she said, "it was all about ang mga mayayaman ang sumusuporta sa Malacanang, tayong mahihirap nandito (the are supporting Malacanang, while we, the poor, are here outside). So, these are the deep division in our country."

The President said that while surveys indicate the existence of a very large number of people who believe that the Macapagal-Arroyo administration has been unjust to Estrada, there is equally a large number of people who see some act of kindness towards him.

She also said another large number of people just want to move on with their lives and have some kind of reconciliation.

President Macapagal-Arroyo expressed belief that it’s possible for justice and reconciliation to go hand-in-hand. "There are those who feel that you cannot have justice, if you have reconciliation, which I don’t think is true. You can have justice and you can have reconciliation," she said.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said it is incumbent upon authorities to immediately act on threats against national security and act on it using the most expeditious means, including the use of extreme force and this has to be done by the ground commander.

"Because you do have basic rules of security and one of them is that critical installations or facilities must never be compromised," the President said, referring to the Saturday takeover of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) control tower.

Interviewed by Tina Monzon Palma over ANC 21’s "Talk Back" Monday night, the President said even former President Fidel Ramos earlier said that he would not question the authority of the ground commander.

Captain Panfilo Villaruel and his aide, Navy Lt. Ricardo Catchillar, were both killed by an assault team a few hours after they took over the control tower early Saturday.

This drew flak from some quarters saying the assault order given by Transportation and Communication Secretary Leandro Mendoza, a former police chief, was an overkill.

The President said that the late US President Dwight Eisenhower, who was also a celebrated general, said that even he would not overrule the ground commander.

The President said Secretary Mendoza is ready to answer questions on the matter "if an investigation is officially asked for."

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today inspected P1-billion worth of shabu in a warehouse in Sto. Rosario, Mapulang Lupa in Valenzuela, which was raided by the Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force (AID-SOTF) led by Philippine National Police Deputy Director Gen. Edgardo B. Aglipay.

"We can see that our anti-drug campaign has been working round the clock quietly and diligently despite the controversies going around," President Macapagal-Arroyo said.

The task force and the Bureau of Immigration arrested five Chinese nationals, Go Siak Ping; Tan Ty Siao; Co Chai Ong; Ong Chi Seng, all from Fujian, China, along with a Chinese-Filipino, Robert Uy.

A large quantity of methamphetamine hydrochloride (shabu) and a considerable number of laboratory equipment for the production of the drug were also confiscated in the warehouse.

The President emphasized that good governance must never be distracted and the drive against big-time drug manufacturers, distributors and importers will not relent until the government accounts all the large supply chains.

"I commend the PNP anti-drug task force under General Aglipay and the Immigration Bureau under Commissioner Andrea Domingo for their teamwork and persistence to get this raid done," the President said.

Gen. Aglipay said "this accomplishment of the task force dealt another big blow to the illegal drug syndicate in the country."

"We will cut down the drug problem through the full range of activities, from keen intelligence to cleaning the streets of pushers, to rehabilitating the users," the President said.

The President also said that the government would bring the fight against drugs to the barangay level.

"We are bringing the fight to the barangays for while we have been working hard in the provinces, I think our big problem is here in Metro Manila," the President said.

The PNP is waging a nationwide anti-drug campaign dubbed "Oplan Banat" which combines all law enforcement efforts on all fronts against drug trafficking and abuse.

Malacanang today announced the creation of an investigating committee that would look into the security lapse that resulted to the brief takeover Saturday of the control tower of the Air Transportation Office (ATO) at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

In a briefing, Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said the joint investigating committee would be composed of personnel from the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) of the Philippine National Police (PNP), the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC), and the Aviation Security Group (ASG).

"They will probe as a team," Bunye said.

The committee would investigate why former ATO chief Panfilo Villaruel and his aide, Navy Lt. Sr. Grade Ricardo Catchillar, were able to seize the control tower that greatly jeopardized the safety of domestic and international passengers at the country’s premier airport.