Ford Motor Company Philippines (FMCP) has so far exported 10,000 out of 14,000 vehicles targeted for sale abroad this year, highlighting the capability of the Philippine automobile industry to compete in the Association of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN) market, a Ford executive informed President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo Saturday.

According to the FMCP president, a part of their expansion plans is the launching of locally made Mazda vehicles that would be marketed in the country and exported to Thailand and Indonesia by next year. Ford has a manufacturing tie up with Mazda, a Japanese carmaker.

If Sen. Gregorio Honasan fails to submit to the Department of Justice (DOJ) by Tuesday (September 23) any counter-affidavit on his alleged involvement in the Oakwood military adventurism of July 27, 2003, the DOJ is expected to proceed with resolving the case, a Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) official said today.

DILG Undersecretary for legal and legislative affairs Agnes VST Devanadera said the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) of the Philippine National Police (PNP) has filed additional affidavits to bolster its case against the senator. The PNP is one of the agencies under the DILG.

Devanedera said that Senator Honasan has been ignoring the charges against him before the DOJ, probably because he knows the strength of evidence proving his participation in the Oakwood Hotel rebellion. "But, with or without his counter affidavit," she said, "we shall proceed to resolve the case."

Apart from the numerous affidavits executed by witnesses, including soldiers, Devanadera said the pieces of evidence that the CIDG operatives have gathered, include two videotapes from the closed circuit TV at the Oakwood Hotel, in Makati City. This shows that the evidences against Honasan and the rebel soldiers are "authentic and not planted."

At the same time, Devanadera said that the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has gathered supplemental affidavits showing the identity of not just five but 56 leaders of the Oakwood mutiny.

She said that the NBI collected additional evidences in a case filed against Army Capt. Milo Maestrecampo and other soldiers belonging to the rebel Magdalo group before Judge Romeo Barza of the Makati Regional Trial Court Branch l6. The Magdalo leader had asked for a re-investigation of the case against them.

Malacanang assured the people today that the budget deficit of the national government "is firmly under control."

Secretary Emilia Boncodin of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said that "the increased spending in the third quarter is a deliberate decision by fiscal authorities to accelerate implementation of projects that had been delayed due to the tight rein imposed in the first quarter."

Boncodin said that while the appetite for expenditures had been successfully restrained in the past two quarters, "we owe it to our people to allow them to benefit from such good performance."

She said that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo continued to be committed "to keep the cumulative deficit within target.

The DBM secretary also reported that, in the first six months of 2003, revenue collections by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC) have exceeded targets by P24 billion.

"This is a positive sign that the fiscal burden will finally be tamed this year," she said. In 2003, the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) expects the deficit-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio to decline to 4.7 percent from 5.2 percent in 2002, and this will progressively fall every year until the deficit is eliminated by about 2009, she added.

The Cabinet-level DBCC, which recommends fiscal policy and tracks the government’s fiscal position, clarified that the fiscal problems of the country started in 1998 after the Asian financial crisis.

From 1994 to 1997, it pointed out that the country enjoyed a fiscal surplus totaling over P30 billion, but it was wiped out in l998. "By 2000, the deficit has ballooned to more than P136 billion in one year," it added.

Boncodin said that when President Macapagal-Arroyo took over in January 2001, she immediately reversed the expenditure-driven fiscal stimulus policy implemented by the Estrada administration and switched to a government-initiated but private sector-led economic policy.

"Spending is not bad but if you are borrowing what you spend and not earning it from regular income, then the so-called fiscal stimulus is actually an irresponsible undertaking," she said. "At the risk of the government becoming a drag on the economy, we were forced to clamp down on expenditures to ensure our fiscal sustainability."

The DBM secretary allayed fears of an expenditure blowout. "Many sectors, including those in the academe, are encouraging government to spend more to compensate for private sector’s present cautiousness," she said. "That would be the easiest thing to do, particularly with the tremendous pressures in a pre-election year. But the economy’s sustainability is very important to us. We will not trade that off for a short term gain."

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo stressed before heroes descendants today the need to focus attention on moving the country forward.

"Now that the Oakwood mutiny is behind us, it is time to refocus on pushing our country forward. We must now redirect our people’s energies away from too much poison politics and towards what we will do to sustain decent development, solidarity and progress," she said.

She has been harping on this theme in the face of incessant negativism and divisiveness derailing the national course. She has also been underscoring the need for unity and order to accelerate change and progress in the nation.

The President made her comments this afternoon at Malacanang Ceremonial Hall after thanking the coalition of various foundations and civic organizations and historic clans who responded to the call of lawyer Antonio Meer, organizer of Bayani Tulong Sa Bayaning Kawal set up to provide support for soldiers on the field.

Meer, a grandson of Gen. Miguel Malvar of Batangas who was the last general to surrender to the United States forces in the war for independence, said an initial response of P2 million from the coalition..

"To you I say, yours are also an act of heroism in behalf of our Republic," the President told the Malvar and Rizal families, Philippine Jaycees, UP Alumni, Sigma Rho, ABS Foundation, Ahon Movement, SM Foundation and others.

"It is incumbent upon our people to give our soldiers the faith, confidence, respect and support they need to perform their duty," the President said.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today said genuine reforms should be based on democratic processes and not through destabilization that could only lead us back to the dark days of the Martial Law years.

"Ang ipinaglalaban nating reporma ay sa pamamagitan ng demokrasya at hindi sa pamamagitan ng destabilisasyon para bumalik sa batas militar," the President said at the Quezon City Hall Rising Garden where the September 21, 1972 declaration of Martial Law was recalled.

Attending the commemoration were the leaders and members of the 3,000-strong Sulong Batayang Sektor Koalisyon, representing the 14 basic sectors in the country. The group took the occasion to further push its reform agenda that it sees as being derailed because of the destabilization plots against the government.

The group said among those being derailed were the P130-billion coconut levy fund that should benefit coconut farmers and strengthen the coconut industry, the collection of the P38-billion Marcos loot to compensate the human rights victims and fasttrack implementation of agrarian reform; resumption of peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) that would lead to peace and development in Mindanao, and the war against graft and corruption

More reforms have been realized by her administration in two and a half years than in 14 years of martial law, the President said

The President said the threat of destabilization brought by the Oakwood mutiny last July 27 has waned. She said the members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) have already expressed their support to the chain-of-command and the Constitution.

She said she already ordered the AFP hierarchy to relay the various reforms being undertaken by the government down to the lowest ranks to further strengthen their commitment to the Constitution.

On the challenges the country faces today, she said everyone should always remember the spirit of the EDSA people power revolution and continue to uphold civilian rule in the country.

She said the present time calls for everyone to unite and show their nationalism and resolve for democracy and reform.

"Ituloy natin ang ating pagkakaisa upang manatili ang demokrasya at magtagumpay ang reporma sa ating bansa hindi lamang para sa atin kundi para sa ating mga anak at sa mga susunod pang henerasyon (Let’s continue our unity to uphold democracy and the success of reforms in our country not only for us but also for our children and the next generations)," she said.

The program ended with the singing of the "Bayan Ko" led by wheelchair-bound Richard Arceno, the leader of the persons with disabilities (PWDs) sector.

Afterwards the President discussed other issues and concerns with the sectoral leaders at the Quezon City hall licensing office.