MALOLOS CITY, Bulacan—President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Friday assured Philippine drug manufacturers that there is a P100 million fund in the Department of Health (DOH) to buy locally manufactured medicines and make them available at half-price to the poor.

The President made the assurance during the unification meeting of Philippine drug manufacturers at the Lloyd Laboratories in the First Bulacan Industrial City here.

The unification meeting of the Chamber of Filipino Drug Manufacturers and Distributors, Association of Philippine Pharmaceutical Manufacturers, and the Association of Drug Industries of the Philippines had its theme, "A Unified and Stronger Partnership with the Government in Pharmaceutical Healthcare."

In her first State of the Nation Address (SONA) in 2001, the President said she wanted to cut by half the price of medicines bought by the poor.

At the start of her administration, she said the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) did parallel importation that brought the prices of medicines for the poor to less than one-half of its price in the local market.

She said Philippine International Trading Corporation (PITC), the government trading company, has been given the sole authority to input the proper medicines to prevent the influx of fake ones.

But the President said she wanted to expand it and gave a P100 million rolling fund to the PITC coming from the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO).

"Aside from the P100 million seed fund for the PITC, I also told the PCSO to make P100 million available to the DOH to buy your medicines as well," she said.

The President was also amenable to the drug manufacturers’ request to have on-line registration at the Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD) to speed up registration of drug labels.

She said that while Malaysia has 4,000 labels registered, the Philippines has only 1,000.

"And so we really have to speed it up. That’s something we can work out because part of the reserves from various departments that I have not yet released, unless they are very good programs, is precisely for e-governance. And registration on-line would be e-governance," she said.

The President also assured the drug manufacturers that the industry’s perspective would be represented by the BFAD in the ASEAN harmonization on the registration of pharmaceutical products that would be implemented in 2005.

"With P100 million from the PCSO to bring your half-priced medicines to the poor, and having your industry represented with BFAD in the talks for harmonization and doing on-line registration, this would make your industry more competitive," she said.

The President said she believes that the unification of the industry stakeholders and the government would make the poor buy medicines at half the price "and make us move forward and bring prosperity to the greater number of our people."

Health Secretary Manuel Dayrit also informed the President that her policies are now taking fruit.

"The perception of the public now is that low-priced medicines are actually making in-roads into the countryside and the perception of the people that they are available is going up as high as 43 percent," Dayrit said.

Dayrit added that 49 percent of consumers are now using generic drugs compared to the estimated 11 to 15 percent two years ago.

As a token of their appreciation, the drug manufacturers donated P400,000 worth of medicines to the province of Bulacan that was received by Vice Governor Aurelio Plamenco.

Despite her very busy schedule, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo made a special appearance late Friday night (November 21) at the First Music Television (MTV) Summit Concert for AIDS in the Philippines held at the Global City, Fort Bonifacio, Makati City.

The President personally extended her congratulations and thanks to international artist Mandy Moore and other local artists, who performed in the concert.

"We would like to congratulate you, Ms Mandy Moore, for coming to the Philippines to help us be aware of the killer Acquired Immuno-Deficiency Syndrome Disease (AIDS) and to fight AIDS," the President told Moore.

The President has earlier pledged her support to the cause of the concert and further committed her administration to the fight against the killer disease.

The MTV Music Summit for AIDS/HIV awareness aims to inform, address issues, eradicate myths, and empower the youth to make responsible choices.

The MTV Summit Concert is part of the unprecedented HIV/AIDS awareness program in partnership with youth, the government, private businesses, media and non-government organizations.

Aside from Moore, who rendered several of her popular hits songs, other local artists present included MTV host Donita Rose, Francis Magalona, KC Montero, Patricia Javier and Parokya ni Edgar.

Awareness on the HIV/AIDS was launched in 1981 by the United Nations to promote globally the awareness and prevention of HIV/AIDS and prevent the spread of the killer disease.

ISULAN, Sultan Kudarat—Sultan Kudarat ends today the week-long Kalimudan Festival marking the 30th foundation anniversary of the province with President Macapagal-Arroyo as guest of honor.

The President is expected to arrive here shortly afternoon via the General Santos City Airport.

Sultan Kudarat province, named after the illustrious ruler to rise among the Maguindanaons, Sultan Mohammed Dipatuan Kudarat, was created from the Cotabato province on this day in 1973.

The President is expected to address residents in a brief culmination program at the Provincial Capitol grounds before interacting with local officials, said Sultan Kudarat Governor Pacung Mangudadatu.

The Muslim governor of the pre-dominantly Christian province exhorted his constituents to continue supporting the authorities in fighting terrorism and criminality.

Sultan Kudarat boasts of an extensively rich agricultural area where practically all kinds of crops are grown, like coconut, sugarcane, abaca, tobacco and ramie, of which the region is the country’s top producer.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today said that the latest raid of a big shabu laboratory in Pasig City, the third in a span of just over a week, showed that the government is succeeding in its unrelenting drive against syndicates engaged in the manufacture and trafficking of illegal drugs.

The President inspected this morning the seized methamphetamine hydrochloride, commonly known as shabu, ephedrine and other chemicals, as well as high-tech equipment and paraphernalia for the manufacture of shabu, at the warehouse of the Manila Mahogany Marketing Corporation at MRR Road, Barangay Manggahan in Pasig City.

The volume of shabu and ephedrine seized in the Manggahan, Pasig raid was estimated at P100 million.

The President also lauded the police operatives for their successive raids that have resulted in the confiscation of billions of pesos worth of shabu and in the arrest of the drug manufacturers, mostly Chinese nationals.

During her inspection, the President was accompanied by Interior and Local Government Secretary Jose Lina, Press Secretary Milton Alingod, and Deputy Director General Edgar Aglipay, head of the Philippine National Police Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force (AID-SOTF).

Aglipay said that the warehouse in Pasig City, where the finished shabu and chemicals were found, was rented by a certain Mico Tan, who had escaped arrest. Three Chinese suspects, however, were arrested during the raid but their names have not been released by the police.

He said that the warehouse has been used to store chemicals and other raw materials that are being distributed to other shabu laboratories in Metro Manila and neighboring towns.

According to Aglipay, the raid, which was conducted late Friday afternoon, was coordinated with Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), the Eastern Police District and the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO).

A search warrant was issued by Judge Jose Hernandez of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 158 in Pasig City for the raid.

On Friday, the President also inspected the P2 billion worth of shabu that was raided in a big compound in Barangay Mambungan, Antipolo City.

The raid, conducted early Friday morning by operatives of PDEA and AID-SOTF at No. 8 Gertrudes Street in Barangay Mambungan, Antipolo City yielded over 1,000 kilos of shabu and assorted equipment for the manufacture of the PDEA Director General Anselmo illegal drug.

Avenido said that this was the biggest shabu laboratory raided by the government so far.

In the Antipolo City raid, the police arrested four Chinese nationals and a Filipino who were caught in the act of "cooking" the illegal drug. Police named those detained as Fujian natives Yan Hua Lian, Chin Tu Chen, Chuang Wen Ming, Hoi Kung Hsuing, and Filipino Eusebio Arellano.

Only last November 11, the President also inspected P1 billion worth of shabu in a warehouse in Sto. Rosario, Mapulang Lupa in Valenzuela City, which was raided by AID-SOTF headed by Aglipay.

"We can see that our anti-drug campaign has been working round the clock quietly and diligently despite controversies going around," the President said in her visit to the Valenzuela City shabu laboratory.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo congratulated the board of trustees, faculty and students of the Jose Rizal University (JRU) in Mandaluyong City for choosing Dr. Vincent Fabella as the new president.

"I congratulate you too because for choosing the very young and the very brilliant Vincent Fabella as your president, I know that Jose Rizal University will continue this heritage of intellectual excellence for the 21st century," the President said in her speech last night when she swore into office the 39-year old Fabella.

The President motored from Malolos City to the JRU campus to witness the investiture ceremonies of Fabella Friday night.

Former president Fidel V. Ramos, Secretaries Michael Defensor of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC), Edilberto De Jesus of the Department of Education (DepEd), Chairman Rolando Dizon of the Commission on Higher Education and Press Secretary Milton Alingod joined the President in the investiture ceremonies.

The 39-year old academician takes over the university, founded in 1919 as the Far Eastern College of Accounts, Commerce and Finance. It is now among the top 50 autonomous and deregulated colleges and universities on the country.

Fabella, married to Dr. Maria Margarita Naval, used to work with the National and Economic Development Authority (NEDA) as an economic development analyst. He also taught part-time in the graduate school of the JRU.

The new JRU president, son of former Education Secretary Armand Fabella and former Marinela Katigbak, was former department head for economics at JRU before he left to pursue his masteral degree at Columbia University in New York.

Fabella returned to the country in 1992 and became the Assistant Dean of the Graduate School, and later Vice President for Academic Affairs. In January 2003, the Board of Trustees appointed him as president of JRU, replacing Dr. Jose Baltazar who became president emeritus.

Founded by Vicente Fabella, the first Filipino certified public accountant, JRU is the oldest school of business education in the Philippines. The name of the school was changed to Jose Rizal College in 1922 to honor the vision and ideals of national hero Dr. Jose Rizal.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said today if reforms are to be successful, we need to heal the social and political divisions existing in our country due to too much negativism and conflict in our society.

"We need to heal these deep divisions. While we must have justice, we must also have reconciliation. We must put a closure to our past national divisions," the President said this morning during a dialogue with civil society groups at the Ateneo Professors’ School Auditorium at Rockwell Drive in Makati City.

We must have permanent peace in Mindanao, we must end the communist insurgency, the President stressed.

The long-awaited judgment on the Marcos wealth should also help put martial law behind us, she said.

But most of all and most difficult, I believe, for civil society, we must find a closure to the deep divisions between EDSA Dos and EDSA Tres," the President noted.

"And in this most difficult reconciliation, I will be guided by the great fathers of our church, including the theology of principled reconciliation as expounded by Fr. Romeo Intengan, the provincial head of the Jesuit community in the Philippines who is himself a leading veteran of some of the great social movements of our country," she said.

The President said national unity and reconciliation are necessary if we are to survive as a nation.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo emphasized today the need to reform the country’s protective institutions due to the imperatives of peace and order, the war against terrorism and the vision of a drug–free Philippines by 2005.

In a speech during a dialogue this morning with the civil society groups dubbed "Isang Tanong, Isang Sagot," at the Ateneo Professors’ School Auditorium in Makati City, the President enumerated the reforms her administration has initiated such as increasing the salaries of policemen and soldiers to make it in the same level as teachers.

Deeper reforms in the military and the police are necessary, she pointed out, if the country is to attain a graft-free and dedicated organization with the tools to enforce peace and order and be true protectors of the people.

She said findings of the Feliciano Commission on the ongoing Philippine Police Reform Commission’s work should be the basis for the military and police reforms.

"We must do these reforms so that we can do justice to our most important resource and that’s our world-competitive, world–class human resources," she said.

"This is a country of intelligent people, but why are we miserable?" the President asked.

"I believe it’s because we delight in the things that divide us more than the things that unite us," she said.

She lamented that there is too much negativism and conflict in society, attributing these to the social and political divisions that exist in the country.

"If we are going to make our reforms successful, we need to heal these deep divisions. While we must have justice, we must also have reconciliation. We must put a closure to our past national divisions. We must have permanent peace in Mindanao. We must end the communist insurgency," the President said.

The President said fiscal reforms must be used to have a better compensated civil service. "That is the key to the graft-free civil service of Singapore and Hong Kong. Aside from the values, they’re well paid," she said.

She also said there is a need to reform our system of government through constitutional change.

"We must begin a meaningful and dispassionate debate on changes in the Constitution, particularly the proposal for parliamentary or federal form of government," the President said.

As proven by the recent bomb blasts that rocked Turkey and Saudi Arabia, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said today that terrorism can strike anywhere and has nothing to do with whether a country is perceived to be an ally of the United States or not.

The President made the observation during an open forum that followed her dialogue with Civil Society groups this morning at the Ateneo Professors’ School Auditorium in Rockwell, Makati City.

In answer to a question on what assurance can she give that the Philippines will not be the next target considering that it is an ally of the United States, the President said: "Next to the World Trade Center bombing, ano ang pinakagrabeng bombing? Doon sa Indonesia. Perceived ba na kakampi ng Amerika ang Indonesia? Hindi naman. Terrorism strikes anywhere, anytime."

In a statement right after the terrorist attacks in Istanbul, the President condemned the incident, saying Turkey has been an active partner in the global fight against terror and the Philippines has no option but to fight back in concert with the allies.

Since it is considered a transnational crime, the President said transnational cooperation is also necessary. She cited the agreements the country entered into with Indonesia and Malaysia after the World Trade Center bombing which espoused cooperation in the fight against terrorism. The three countries were later joined by Thailand, Cambodia and Brunei Darussalam.

During the open forum, the President also urged civil society to help keep the freedom of the press and make them responsible at the same time.

"Malaking bagay ang magagawa ng civil society na mapanatili ang kalayaan at maging responsible rin and mga importanteng institusyon ng ating bansa, kasama na doon ang media (Civil Society has an important role in keeping press freedom and making media responsible like the rest of the important institutions of the country)," the President said.

Having one of the freest press in the world, the President said the people seem to prefer this as her father, the late President Diosdado Macapagal, once told her, "I would rather have a licentious press than a bridled press."

ISULAN, Sultan Kudarat, (PNA) – President Macapagal- Arroyo today urged the people to support her administration’s call for reform and reconciliation to allow the country’s economy to move forward.

The President made the remarks before a huge crowd at the provincial gymnasium in Isulan, Sultan Kudarat province, which observed today its 30th foundation anniversary. She arrived here at around 2:40pm.

Speaking in Ilonggo, the predominant tongue in the area, the President said the country needs to maintain a strong economy in a bid to save millions of Filipinos, especially in the countryside, from lingering poverty.

"We need to change the system, through reform and reconciliation to pave the way for a strong economy and a strong republic.," the President said in her 15-minute speech.

The President said the reforms would begin with the economy, especially on the agricultural policies and initiatives for the interest of the country.

She said such reforms would specifically benefit the productive areas in the countryside such as Sultan Kudarat province which she cited for its growing fishery industry and grains production.

"We will look for more markets for our local products and at the same time put in place the necessary infrastructure to allow our produce to reach the market still whole and fresh," she said.

The President committed to develop the fish sanctuaries of the coastal areas of the province that covers the towns of Palimbang, Kalamansig and Lebak which have also been identified as pilot areas for a marine colony.

Aside from this, the President said, the national government will prioritize the area for its infrastructure support program on food security that includes irrigation facilities, farm to market roads and bridges.

The President, clad in batik blouse, then ordered the release of a P7.2-million fund for a state-of-the-art rice milling facility of the Sultan Kudarat Federation of Coastal Cooperatives based in Lebak town.

The rice mill, capable of churning two tons of rice an hour, is one of the country’s biggest and most modern. It would benefit about 2,000 farmers.

She also turned over to Sultan Kudarat governor Pacung Mangudadatu several boxes of assorted medicines.

Today’s celebration is a culmination of the week-long Kalimudan Festival that showcased the socio-cultural and historical heritage of the Manobo, Tiruray, T-boli and Maguindanao as well as Christian settlers in the province.

The festival’s theme, conveyed through dances and music, speaks of solidarity and common aspiration for prosperity and peace, Mangudadatu said.

The province got its name from Sultan Mohammed Dipatuan Kudarat, an illustrious Maguindanaon ruler, who in mid-17th century ruled the areas now known as Lanao, Davao and Cotabato, up to the northern coast of Borneo.