President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has predicted that the Philippines would evolve into a world leader in geothermal power generation. At present, the country is the world’s second largest producer of geothermal energy.

The President said four geothermal resources are currently being developed to ultimately install the country as the "Number One geothermal power in the whole world."

In a speech at the launching of the coco bio-diesel program in San Pablo City Wednesday, the President said Laguna province was lucky to have rich deposits of geothermal and hydrothermal energy.

Mrs. Macapagal-Arroyo, who is seeking a full six-year term in the May 10 elections, said she needs a fresh mandate to "undertake the more strategic measures," among them implementation of a long-term energy development program designed to ensure efficient supply of electricity at reasonable cost for consumers.

According to the President, the Philippines and China have launched joint exploration for oil and natural gas at the disputed Spratly islands in the South China Sea.

"Kaysa nag-aaway tayo kung sino ang may-ari noon (Spratlys), ginamit natin ang ating foreign policy para magkaroon tayo ng joint exploration (Instead of quarreling over the territorial claims on Spratly, we used our foreign policy to launch joint exploration), President Macapagal-Arroyo said.

The President said any oil or natural gas discovered in the area would be shared by the two countries.

Apart from China, Mrs. Macapagal-Arroyo identified the other partners of the country in oil offshore oil exploration as Shell and the United Kingdom.

The opposition must shake off its negativism and join the people in meeting this mandate.

This is the least the opposition can do if it cannot forge a credible platform at this late hour.

The preservation of democracy is a non-partisan matter and a universal duty.

We will respect the rights of all quarters and even bend backwards to accommodate legitimate protest.

BACOLOD CITY –-Eighteen mayors and other leaders of Negros Occidental Friday night signed a covenant of unity expressing their unwavering support for the leadership and candidacy of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in the forthcoming May 10 elections.

The mayors signed the manifesto Friday evening during a press conference at the Grand Ballroom of the Business Inn Hotel here.

"We stand by a leader whose vision of building a strong Republic has prospered into the forefront of a most difficult and thankless task. This challenge requires that the President harness the State as an enabling force while empowering our people, so that together we can become a strong Republic," said Isabela Mayor Renato Malabor who read their manifesto of support.

Malabor said the President, an adopted daughter of Negros Occidental as First Gentleman Atty. Jose Miguel Arroyo is from the province, has supported the province and its development through her various programs.

He said the President also gave her "unstinting support" to the sugar industry in consultation with the industry leaders.

The President, he added, is seeking the united support of all sectors of society "so the nation can move forward."

But President Macapagal-Arroyo said getting elected is not just about the number of mayors or congressmen on each other’s side. It is about winning the hearts, minds and confidence of the Filipino people.

"It is our people who in the end will vote and decide who leads this nation for the next six years. And it is the people to whom we leave our fate," she said.

Three weeks ago, several provincial and municipal leaders in the province defected to the camp of another presidential candidate.

Among those who returned and again supported the President is Talisay City Mayor Anthony Lizares.

"I am most gratified that three weeks since the breakaway of a faction in the province, the people of Bacolod City and Negros Occidental have sent strong signals that they will not let this pass unchallenged," the President said.

The President said she was informed that surveys conducted in this city and throughout the province showed that she and her running mate, Senator Noli de Castro, "enjoy commanding leads over our closest rivals."

TALISAY CITY -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today witnessed the signing of a memorandum of agreement (MOA) for the establishment of a P3.1-billion power plant here that would benefit residents and sugar farmers in Negros Occidental.

The MOA was signed by Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC) president Thelmo Cunanan and Graham Stolwell, chairman of Bronzeoak Philippines, and a representative of the Talisay Bioenergy Inc. (TBI). Under the MOA, a pioneering 30-megawatt (MW) power plant would be built. It would use as power source bagasse from at the First Farmers Holding Corp. (FFHC) sugar mill in Barangay Dos Hermanas here.

The signing of MOA was made after the President unveiled this morning the bust of her late father President Diosdado Macapagal at the First Farmers Sugar Mill in Barangay Dos Hermanas here.

The President said her father was instrumental in the establishment of the First Farmers Sugar Mill some 40 years ago.

A book dedicated to the late President was also given to the President by author Nick Ledesma.

Under the MOA, TBI would freely supply FFHC up to 5 megawatts of electricity for its mill operations, while the surplus would be sold to the Central Negros Electric Cooperative Inc. (CENECO).

In turn, FFHC would supply TBI all the factory bagasse that it would produce through its mill operations.

Cunanan said the signing would ensure that Negros would no longer experience brownouts. Power lack had been forecast in 2007.

He said it would also lower the power generation cost of CENECO which is part of the President's commitment to bring affordable electricity to the countryside.

Overseas Filipinos are expected to gain an increase in savings estimated at $500 million to $1 billion in their annual net remittances to the Philippines due to new Philippine-American cooperative mechanisms designed to lower transaction costs, according to Philippine Ambassador to Washington Albert del Rosario.

In a report to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Ambassador del Rosario said these mechanisms include a project, supported with a $3.7 million grant from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to establish a five-year Cooperative Development Program between the Philippines and the World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU).

He said this program will connect Philippine credit unions to the international remittance network (IRNet) of WOCCU, adding that it will provide international remittances and shared branching and settlement services to their members.

Due to the wider outreach of credit unions in the Philippines, particularly in remote areas where there are no banks, large communities will now have access to alternative remittance channels, he said.

Del Rosario said the pool of funds that will be retained with the credit unions as savings will become available to the larger community for micro-financing and other productive and provident loans.

Other mechanisms cited by the envoy in his report to Malacanang, through Executive Secretary Alberto Romulo, include the provision of new services and consumer education program.

He said that for new services, discussions are ongoing with the US Federal Reserve for the Philippines to be connected to direct payments links and international automated clearing house (ACH) services.

This will significantly lower the cost of electronic transfers from banks in the US for remittances and other payments to the Philippines, he said.

For consumer education, he said, the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) will organize literacy programs for the Filipino-American communities in the US that will enhance their knowledge on various remittance products and services available in the US.

The FDIC has also expressed its readiness to assist the Philippines in conducting pre-departure financial seminars for departing overseas Filipinos.

Expressing her appreciation to the US government for these latest forms of bilateral cooperation, President Macapagal-Arroyo said: "These initiatives under my administration will redound to the benefit of millions of our kababayan overseas, especially to our OFWs and their families here. Moreover, they will boost our economy, which, in turn, will enable us to pursue more national development programs especially in the countryside."

Ambassador del Rosario said: "These cooperative arrangements underscore the mutual benefit of our close partnership with the United States. They have a direct and positive impact on the economic well-being of our compatriots at home and abroad."

He added that these programs resulted from the Memorandum of Understanding between the Philippines and the United States on Strengthening Remittance Channels which was signed during President Macapagal-Arroyo’s state visit to the US in May 2003.

According to a 2003 study by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) entitled "Worker Remittances As a Development Tool – Opportunities for t he Philippines," almost half of about $7 billion in remittances reported to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas in 2002 came from the US and Canada.

However, the ADB contends that with the total stock of overseas Filipinos (emigrants and OFWs) estimated at 7.5 million and a reasonable conservative estimate of an average remittance of $200 ten times a year, these estimates would establish a range of $14 billion to $21 billion for total market size.

The ADB study also notes that the formal channels for the Philippine remittance market such as banks are highly competitive and reasonably priced by Latin American standards.

Philippine bank charges range from around $5 to $16 on the high end.

Malacaņang today branded as enemies of democracy those who are hatching a no election (no-el) scenario as it stressed President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s commitment to push through with the May 10 elections.

In an interview, Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said that those who plan to thwart next month’s polls are doing a disservice to the country and to democracy. He appealed to them to work instead with the government in pushing for clean, honest and orderly polls.

"Ito ay napapalala lamang ng agam-agam ng ating mga kababayan at ito ay hindi nakakatulong sa ating demokrasya (This will only aggravate the doubts of our countrymen and would not help our democracy)," Bunye said.

In a statement, the President said that the opposition must shake off its negativism and join the people and the administration in pushing for the May 10 elections.

"This is the least the opposition can do if it cannot forge a credible platform at this late hour," the President said, adding that the preservation of democracy is a non-partisan matter and a universal duty.

Bunye said that local elections are held only every three years and the presidential elections every six years and yet some groups do not want these to be pushed through.

Surprisingly, it was presidential bet Sen. Panfilo Lacson who admitted that opposition groups were behind the no-el plot, with the scheduled May 1 rally at EDSA as the springboard of such a move.

Lacson has said that the grand plan was for all the presidential candidates, except President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, to withdraw before election day to create a crisis that would compel the Macapagal-Arroyo administration to step down.

On the planned May 1 rally, Bunye said that the government would maintain its policy of maximum tolerance under the rule of law.

Bunye, however, asked the organizers to police their own ranks to avoid violence.

Despite her surge in the Social Weather Stations (SWS) and Pulse Asia surveys that have left the opposition behind, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her Koalisyon ng Karanasan at Katapatan sa Kinabukasan (K-4) are not being lulled into a sense of complacency, Malacanang emphasized today.

"Instead, they diligently continue to go to the people because many of them are still uncommitted," Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said in a radio interview this morning.

This is an indication of the administration’s desire for a truly conclusive decision in the May 10 elections, Bunye said.

"But we are glad many of those who have been on the sidelines are slowly expressing their support," Bunye added.

To press his point, Bunye cited the case of South Cotabato Governor Daisy Fuentes, a member of the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), who has moved over to the side of the President and K-4.

"According to Fuentes, she is not only in favor of the President, she has gone out to personally campaign for her," Bunye said.

Fuentes beefs up the array of pro-Arroyo political bigwigs in Mindanao which boast of Governors Manny Pinol of North Cotabato, Max Pagudadatu of Sultan Kudarat, Mike Escobar of Sarangani and Cotabato City Mayor Muslimin Sema.

Not only NPC members have joined the snowballing bandwagon of the President. Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino (KNP) members like Lanao del Norte congressional bet Warlino Relova and Lanao del Sur board member Ahmare Lucman have also cast their lot with the President and expressed their total support for her.

According to Relova, the President will be unopposed in 16 of 22 towns of Lanao del Norte. That’s because the KNP candidates for mayor in those 16 towns are Relova supporters who joined him in the move to the administration party.

The situation in Lanao del Sur is even more inspiring for the President and K-4. All the opposition’s 20 mayoral candidates, led by Panny Datu Molok of the town of Binidayan, have crossed over to the President’s coalition.

And in Misamis Occidental, KNP congressional bet Henry Oaminal has disengaged from the opposition and joined the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats which is the main party in K-4.

In vote-rich Pangasinan, Gov. Victor Agbayani, who is running for reelection virtually unopposed, emphasized his unflinching support for President Macapagal-Arroyo.

TAGOLOAN, Misamis Oriental - President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today inaugurated the P7-billion facilities of the Mindanao Container Terminal (MCT), which is being developed as principal port of entry in Southern Philippines.

The President said the MCT does not only pump-prime the development of Mindanao, but also provides more jobs to the people.

The new facilities of MCT consist of two modern loading and unloading rolley-type quayside gantry cranes. The project cost comes from a $1.3 billion loan provided to the PHIVIDEC Industrial Authority by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation.

The President noted that during the short period of her presidency, the country has moved forward economically.

Mrs. Macapagal-Arroyo, who grew up in Iligan City, reminisced that when she was still with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) she initiated formulation of the Cagayan-Iligan-Corregidor master plan. But, she noted lack of political will and lack of funds for government projects at that time.

"Sa maiksing panahon mahirap ang dinaanan ko hindi lang dito kung hindi sa buong Asya at buong mundo. Sasabihin ko sa inyo ang totoo naituwid natin ng matiwasay, matagumpay ang ating bansa. Sa maiksing panahon na ako ang Presidente naging mabilis ang development at nakapagbigay tayo ng trabaho (I encountered difficult problems not only at home but also in Asia and the whole world. In my short stint as President, I managed to hasten development and provide more jobs to our people)," she said.

She expressed her gratitude to the people of Misamis Oriental for supporting her administration and her bid for a full six-year term in the May 10 elections.

"Salamat sa inyong lahat hindi ko magagawa itong lahat kung wala kayo, kailangan ko kayo para marating natin ang ating mga pangarap. Para mabigyan proteksiyon ang ating mga anak. Kaya sa inyong lahat natupad na natin ang ating pangarap, ang Mindanao container port (Without your support, it is impossible for me to fulfill our dream to build a Mindanao container port)," she said.

The MCT now has four rubber-typed gantry cranes and 266 reefer van outlets. It’s port safety and security is ensured with the aid of a Vessel Traffic System, with a state-of-art radar equipment installed in the 38.10 meter-high Control Tower.

MCT also features six-lane entrance and exit tollgate with a One-Stop- Shop office for Customs, Coast Guard and Quarantine.

After the MCT inauguration, she paid a plant visit to the Pacific Activated Carbon Co. Inc., also in Tagoloan, which is owned by the family of her daughter-in law Angela Montenegro-Arroyo.

The President arrived here from a sortie to Bacolod City. She was welcomed at the Cagayan de Oro (CDO) Airport by City Mayor Vicente Emano, Presidential Adviser for Mindanao Affairs Jesus Dureza, Congressman Constantino Jaraullo, and Southern Command commander Gen. Roy Kyamko.

She was accompanied by her vice presidential running mate Senator Noli De Castro, Press Secretary Milton Alingod, Presidential Campaign Spokesperson Michael Defensor and Mrs. Gina De Venecia, wife of House Speaker Jose de Venecia, Jr.

There is now snowballing of support for the bid of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for a full six-year term in the May 10 elections, prompting K-4 Spokesman Michael Defensor to say that the overall objective now is to have the President elected by majority of the electorate.

"It’s no longer a statistical tie. We now have a bandwagon of support for President Arroyo," Defensor said after the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showed her taking a significant lead over her main rival, movie actor Fernando Poe, Jr.

Defensor’s pronouncement reflects more conclusive developments that have gelled before the last SWS survey was taken – the defection of opposition candidates and supporters to the President and her Koalisyon ng Karanasan at Katapatan sa Kinabukasan (K-4), the return of a sizeable number of "prodigals" to the K-4 fold and the continued show of unwavering support for the ruling coalition.

From the so-called Solid North in Ilocandia, to Pangasinan, to Bacolod City, to Mindanao, leaders of the main opposition group, the Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino (KNP), have shifted loyalty to the President and her K-4 slate.

Based on the latest SWS survey alone that gave President Macapagal-Arroyo a 4.5 point margin (35.3 against 30.8) over Poe, political analyst Joel Rocamora said: "All indications are that she’s going to win."

Rocamora added that the increase in the President’s ratings is "close to perfect for her because she doesn’t want to peak too early."

On Friday night, 18 mayors and other leaders of Negros Occidental signed a covenant of unity expressing unwavering support for the President. Among them was "prodigal" Talisay Mayor Anthony Lizares, who earlier expressed support for Poe.

The day before, while barnstorming in Ilocos Sur and Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Norte Congressman Roque Ablan, chairman of Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (CMD) in Northern Luzon, assured the President that despite reports to the contrary, she would win in the so-called Solid North.

Ablan said that 27 out of the 29 congressmen from the Solid North are supporting the President and that she would get 60 percent of the 280,000 votes in Ilocos Norte alone.

A few days earlier, South Cotabato Governor Daisy Fuentes, an oppositionist and a member of the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), also moved over to the side of the President and K-4.

Fuentes said she would do whatever it takes to help the President win in South Cotabato.

Fuentes support beefs up the array of pro-Arroyo political bigwigs in Mindanao which boast of Governors Manny Pinol of North Cotabato, Max Pagudadatu of Sultan Kudarat, Mike Escobar of Sarangani and Cotabato City Mayor Muslimin Sema.

Earlier, a total of 45 congressmen belonging to the Nationalist People’s Coalition, led by its chairman, Isabela Congressman Faustino Dy III, have also pledged support for the President.

Not only NPC members have joined the snowballing bandwagon of the President. Erstwhile KNP leaders like Lanao del Norte congressional bet Warlino Relova and Lanao del Sur board member Ahmare Lucman have also cast their lot with the President and expressed their total support for her.

According to Relova, the President will be unopposed in 16 of 22 towns of Lanao del Norte. That’s because the KNP candidates for mayor in those 16 towns are his supporters who joined him in the move to the administration party.

The situation in Lanao del Sur is even more inspiring for the President and K-4. All the opposition’s 20 mayoral candidates, led by Panny Datu Molok of the town of Binidayan, have crossed over to President’s coalition.

And in Misamis Occidental, KNP congressional bet Henry Oaminal has disengaged from the opposition and joined the Lakas-CMD which is the main party in K-4.

In vote-rich Pangasinan, Gov. Victor Agbayani, who is running for reelection virtually unopposed, emphasized his unflinching support for President Macapagal-Arroyo.

Agbayani is a top leader of Biskeg na Pangasinan, a combine of the province’s most influential political personalities which stands solid behind the President with 38 of Pangasinan’s 44 mayors.

And 34 congressmen, who had been supporting former senator and education secretary Raul Roco, have shifted their support to the President, according to former Ifugao Congressman Gualberto Lumauig.

Impasugong, Bukidnon – In line with the administration’s commitment to improve the lives of the small farmers in the country especially in Northern Mindanao, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo led the groundbreaking today of the P350 million Palm Oil Mill and Plantation that would generate thousands of jobs for small farmers here.

The groundbreaking rites of one of the most important job opportunities projects of the President under her Self Reliant Teams (SRT) program is expected to generate an initial 7,000 jobs not only for the residents of Bukidnon but also to nearby provinces like Misamis Oriental and Cotabato.

In her brief impromptu remark, the President said that upon the completion of the project in 2006, some 10,000 jobs would have been created.

The President said more or less 4,000 farmers of Impasugong will be the direct beneficiaries of the Palm Oil Mill.

She stressed that the important investment project in Impasugong is a product of her successful visit in Malaysia last year and her administration’s existing good foreign policy.

The President got a warm welcome from the residents and local officials of Bukidnon led by Governor Jose Zubiri, Jr. upon her arrival here around 11:40 a.m. on board a presidential chopper from Cagayan De Oro city where she inaugurated the terminal facilities of the Mindanao Container Terminal in PHIVIDEC in Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental.

Upon her arrival at the plantation area, the President was briefed by Impasugong Mayor Mario Okinlay and Dr. Walter Brown, president of the A. Brown Energy and Resources Development Incorporated (ABERDI) on the accomplishments and outputs of the palm oil mill project.

During the briefing, Mayor Okinlay reported that since the memorandum of agreement and purchase orders releases to SRTs last February 2004, the resolutions and ordinances supporting the oil palm project were issued by the municipality.

Mayor Okinlay also told the President that since April 15, 2004 at least 14 hectares of the total 4,000 hectares palm tree plantation were already planted in the idle, grasslands, and converted pasturelands in Barangays Dumalaguing, Guihean and Sayawan.

He added that the municipal government also approved the opening of a 30-kilometer pilot road from the oil mill and nursery site to the target areas of the plantation.

After the groundbreaking ceremony, the President motored to the gymnasium in front of the municipal hall wherein she received the pledge of commitment to support her candidacy and priority projects for the small farmers in Mindanao from Manuel Boniao, president of the Oil Palm Industry Association of Northern Mindanao (OPIANOM), and Greg Macabodbod of the National Agribusiness Development Center (NADC).

In her speech in front of some 5,000 farmers the President informed them that the national government is the major investor of the project since P300 million came from the Department of Agriculture while P50 million came from the private sector.