This is an important event in our fight against terrorism. We have exposed a large cell of the Jemaah Islamiyah here in Mindanao. Recent events show that their sinister plans are both deadly and far-ranging, both intended to threaten our country and to sow fear in the region.

I commend the Armed Forces, the Immigration Bureau and the PNP for the deep and excellent sleuthing that led to the capture of TaufeK Refke early this month. He was trained by the infamous Al Ghozi somewhere in the mountain fastness of Central Mindanao. Their curriculum: murder tactics, weapons to sow widespread fear and panic, explosives, among others. Reports have it that a large number of his cohorts in training have returned to Indonesia but he stayed here to become the moneybag of the JI in Mindanao.

We have identified his companions and we have sounded out the Indonesian authorities. We almost caught some of those who were left here but they escaped the dragnet we set up in Cotabato City where we raided a safehouse containing underground records of high intelligence value. Government operatives are pouring into Mindanao for the manhunt that will not relent until all these fugitives are accounted for.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today signed into law Republic Act 9227 otherwise known as the Judicial Compensation Act of 2003, the "landmark piece of legislation" which provides additional remuneration for judges in the form of special allowances.

The President, who signed the bill during the convention and seminar of the Philippine Judges Association (PJA) at the Century Park Hotel in Manila, said the occasion is "providential."

Under the new law, judges and justices would be provided special allowances equivalent to 100 percent of the basic monthly salary specified for their respective salary grades under the Salary Standardization Law, to be implemented for a period of four years.

"The Lord’s timing is perfect," she said in her keynote speech as the event coincided with the PJA’s annual convention.

In noting the full cooperation of Congress in passing the bill, the President lauded the members of the Senate and the House of Representatives for seeing the urgent need to provide additional compensation for the country’s judges and justices.

"They (Congress) saw the mute testimony of the many salas that had no applicants and they share our philosophy that justice also demands that those who deliver it should likewise participate of its benefits," she said.

The President said with the new law on judicial reform, "we hope to bring justice to more people through the resolution of more cases as a result of making the judicial branch an attractive option for lawyers."

The President likewise noted that the new law would hopefully be a "strong shield for temptations" to which judges and justices are always exposed.

"This law is a worthy companion to the respect and dignity accorded to the members of the courts and a manifestation of social justice, this time with the judges, and the justices as the beneficiaries of social justice. Above all, it is insurance that the rule of law will ever prevail in our land," she said.

Among those present at the jam-packed hotel ballroom were Supreme Court Chief Justice Hilario Davide, Justice Secretary Simeon Datumanong, Senate President Franklin Drilon, Sen. Francis Pangilinan, Speaker Jose de Venecia, Jr., Representatives Marcelino Libanan, Rolando Andaya Jr. Bella Angara-Castillo and Philippine Judges Association president Marino de la Cruz. Regional Trial Court Branch 79 Judge and presidential uncle Demetrio Macapagal introduced the President for her keynote speech.

The President also said the new law is a tribute and recognition by Philippine society of the hardwork that judges and justices are doing for peace, order and the rule of law.

She said she personally knows the trials and tribulations of being a judge as she has observed many relatives who worked as judges and have placed their lives, families and future on the line.

"All these in return for what used to be a salary until today, a salary that is much lower than the starting pay for a brand new lawyer in a decampanilla Makati law firm, that is up to today," she said.

In thanking the Congress for passing the bill, the President said, "it just goes to show that what used to be in the law was not the correct level that would have equilibrium between the demand and the supply of judges."

"And therefore what the market would otherwise have provided for, if our society were to be completely free enterprise including government pay, was recognized by our congressmen and our senators, and we thank them for that. And we thank them for realizing which petition for increase in pay are the most essential and which are desirable but less essential. There are those that we wish would happen, there are those that must happen and they recognize that what must happen is the increase in pay of our judges," she said.

The government’s anti-terrorism drive scored a major success with the announcement today of the arrest of a suspected bagman of the dreaded terrorist organization Jemaah Islamiyah, who had been allegedly trained by Fathur Roman al-Ghozi in the jungles of Central Mindanao..

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo presented to media Taufek Refke, who hides under such aliases as Izza Kusoman, Omaerom Kanacan and Abu Obaida, at the Department of Justice.

Refke was arrested on October 2, 2003, in Cotabato City by operatives of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), Philippine National Police (PNP), and Bureau of Immigration (BI).

The President said the arrest is an important event in the country’s fight against terrorism, noting that the terrorists are now falling one by one.

"This reduces the weight of terrorist threat across the broad range of targets in our country and across Southeast Asia," she said.

The 23-year-old Refke, who claims to be an Indonesian national, admitted to being the Finance and Liaison officer of the Jemaah Islamiyah in Mindanao. He first entered the Philippines in August 1998 to undergo training in Mindanao.

One of his trainers was al-Ghozi who was killed in a recent encounter with military and police operatives in North Cotabato after escaping from a detention cell in Camp Crame, Quezon City, two months earlier.

Excellent sleuthing and operation by elements of G2, 6^th Infantry Division, Philippine Army; MIG-12 ISAFP; NISU Cotabato; PNP Intelligence Group; PNP Task Force Sanglahi; PNP Special Action Force; and CIDG-ARMM led to Refke’s arrest. They carried out the mission on order of BI Commissioner Andrea Domingo.

The team also conducted follow-up search operations in a JI safe house in San Pablo subdivision, Cotabato City where JI documents, a desktop computer and other items were seized.

Based on Refke’s revelations, another JI safehouse was raided by the joint PNP-AFP Task Force. Armed with a search warrant from Judge Reno E. Concha, they seized from the house, which was unoccupied at the time, more than 30 manuals and books, desktop computer, and assorted bomb-making paraphernalia.

President Macapagal-Arroyo commended the military and civilian personnel responsible for the capture of Refke.

"The terrorists are falling one by one. Our ongoing constriction measures are eating up their room for maneuver. Our determined moves against poverty will drain their recruitment bases. We shall beat terrorism decisively and comprehensively," the President said.

She said the government is moving effectively to check terror in concert with the country's neighbors.

That global alliance was nowhere more prominent than in the recent operations, which had the support of US forensic experts to determine the presence of bio-toxins.

Initial findings indicated negative as to the presence of bio-chemical substances, although the seized bomb-making paraphernalia was tested positive for the presence of explosive substances.

The President said that the curriculum of the terrorists is murder tactics, weapons to sow widespread fear and panic, and explosives among others.

"We have identified his companions and we have sounded out the Indonesian authorities," she said noting how authorities have almost caught up with them.

"Government operatives are pouring into Mindanao for the manhunt that will not relent until all these fugitives are accounted for," the President said.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today commended Supreme Court Chief Justice Hilario Davide for the judicial reforms that he has undertaken at the high tribunal.

The President issued the commendation during the convention and seminar of the Philippine Judges Association at the Century Park Sheraton in Manila, where she also signed into law a bill providing additional compensation for judges and justices.

"To the extent that it is possible to comment on interbranch independence, we would like to commend the judicial reforms being done at the sight of the judiciary under the great leadership of Chief Justice Davide," the President said

The President noted that many of Filipinos, including herself, have long held that the most basic foundations of democracy are the rule of law and an environment of peace.

"When the law commands little respect, chaos will not be far behind, where peace is continually threatened, the law becomes meaningless in the lives of citizens, where there is lawlessness and un-peace, there’s no progress for peoples or nations," she said.

The President said the community, the jailer, the judge, the prosecutor, the law enforcer -- all have an indispensable role to play, "and the judicial reform law that we just passed and signed is one of the most important components of judicial reforms."

The President signed into law the Judicial Compensation Act of 2003, which would provide judges and justices special allowances equivalent to 100 percent of the basic monthly salary specified for their respective salary grades under the Salary Standardization Law, to be implemented for a period of four years.

She said the new law would hopefully be a strong shield for temptations to which judge and justices are always exposed.

"This law is a worthy companion to the respect and dignity accorded to the members of the courts and a manifestation of social justice, this time with the judges, and the justices as the beneficiaries of social justice. Above all, it is insurance that the rule of law will ever prevail in our land," she said.

The President said of all the branches of government, the judiciary provides the people a sense of permanence and a constancy of direction.

She noted that members of the judiciary earn their credibility from competence in judgment, impartiality of decision, swiftness by which justice is meted out and the probity by which judges lead their lives.

On Winning Against Poverty and Corruption

As the Cabinet official tasked with monitoring the implementation of presidential directives, I strongly dispute the assessment by a US Embassy staff report that the administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo "has not made significant inroads in poverty alleviation or combating corruption." Both independent data and accomplishment reports show substantial progress in addressing both poverty and corruption in 1,000-plus days since the President took office.

On poverty, the President’s programs have made major advances in boosting rural incomes through agricultural modernization; in assisting the poor through job placement, microcredit, housing, health services; and in bringing development to the countryside through land reform, education, electricity and peace and order initiatives.

The Arroyo administration was the first to implement the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act, spending some P24 billion a year to increase the productivity of our farmers. These efforts have helped generate more than 600,000 jobs, while irrigation and credit programs have benefited some 1.5 million farmers and fisherfolk.

In addition, the government has assisted in placing 2.45 million workers abroad from July 2001 to October this year, with another 2 million jobseekers helped with local positions. Some P4.3 billion in microcredit loans have been given to nearly a million women borrowers. On the housing front, 275,153 informal-settler families have been given security of tenure, and another 129,045 poor households benefited from housing and slum upgrading programs – a total of 2 million people.

Direct assistance to the poor also includes the half-price medicine and Philhealth insurance programs, which bring affordable medical care to millions of indigent Filipinos. Philhealth has enrolled 7.4 million poor people under this administration, with many thousands added to the beneficiary lists every month. Of the 1,608 barangays with no schools nearby, nearly half have been provided classrooms. And 3,750 barangays were connected to power, as the country gets set to exceed 90% electrification.

The President’s successful anti-poverty programs are making a big impact on poverty statistics. According to the Annual Poverty Indicators Survey (APIS), among families in the bottom 40% income strata, 84.9% households heads were employed in 2002, dramatically up from 57.6% in 1999. Education data is impressive too of those poor families with children 13-16 years old, 87.1% were able to send them to high school, compared with 57.6% three years before.

Households with strong roofing in their homes rose to 54.8% , from 51-6%. Access to electricity leapt to 55.9% from 47.4%. And the poor are able to assert themselves more households with at least one member involved in a people’s organization: increased from 17.2% in 1999 to 25% last year.

The battle against corruption has been just as unrelenting as the war on poverty. In compliance with the President’s directive to turn the revenue and customs agencies into showcases in the anti-graft fight, formal charges have been filed against 254 BIR personnel, of which 97 were recommended for punitive measures including forced personnel, of which 97 were recommended for punitive measures including forced resignation. The Bureau of Customs, for its part, is moving on 50 cases against suspected smuggles. BIR also implemented computerized checks, which uncovered billions of pesos in under-declared sales, for which some P13 billion in taxes are due for collection.

To curb corruption in government purchases, the President certified the new Procurement Act, which has improved transparency and fairness in public contracts. The government has also created a website for electronic bidding, for which all offices are now registered. Full e-procurement is to begin next February. Meanwhile, lifestyle checks have led to the suspension and prosecution of dozens of officials in corruption-prone agencies.

To be sure, President Arroyo inherited massive poverty and rampant corruption, but in her 1,000-plus days in office, she has made major gains in addressing these daunting problems. Her record of achievement, now in the SONA Updates section of www.gov.ph, has been confirmed not only by APIS, but also by yearly assessment by the House of Representatives Oversight Committee.