President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo flew from the Villamor Airbase in Pasay City to Iligan City this morning for the reopening ceremony of NSC, which henceforth will operate under its new owners, the Global Infrastructure Holdings Ltd.

In an interview with Radyo ng Bayan, Presidential Spokesman Ignacio R. Bunye said, "ang implication nito’y maraming naniniwala pa rin na investors dito sa prospects ng ating ekonomiya (the implication of this (NSC reopening) is that there are still investors who believe in the economic prospects of our country."

Bunye noted that the NSC had been mothballed for the past three years due to funding problems, "but there is a new group of investors who are willing to take over, who are willing to take a risk. Ito’y ang grupo ng (This is the group of) Indian investors."

The new group of investors, he added, has shown confidence in our country and the leadership of President Macapagal-Arroyo.

Underscoring the importance of NSC’s reentry into the industrial sector to the country and in particular to Iligan City, Bunye said that it would create some 5,000 jobs and pay millions of pesos in taxes to the government.

Asked about the reported "dumping" of Philippine stocks by foreign investors due to political uncertainty, the Presidential Spokesman said that the stock market "fluctuates from day to day."

Bunye pointed out that what is important is the long-term outlook of the investors.

The peso is on an artificial spiral, taking the brunt of the problem created by too much politics and electioneering.

I am concerned about the adverse effects to the average Filipino.

We must work together to bring down the political temperature and pull up sobriety and stability, to focus on platform rather than politicking.

I am taking the high road of governance and the opposition must present its alternatives.

Messing up this campaign by smear tactics and black propaganda will only aggravate the uncertainties that are pulling the peso down.

As to the rise in oil prices, we have to bear with the vagaries of the free market even as we draw up safety nets for consumers and commuters.

Transport companies gathered around bulk discounts to keep fare costs at the lowest possible levels for the longest possible time.

Those who assault the flag and democracy will pay the price for it.

Despite recent developments linking First Gentleman Atty. Jose Miguel Arroyo to the citizenship issue of actor and presidential candidate Fernando Poe Jr., President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo remains undistracted.

Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said the President would rather stick to her own agenda of bringing peace and development to the countryside as well as providing basic services to the people.

In a radio interview this morning, Bunye said the President is now in Iligan City to lead the reopening of the mothballed National Steel Corp., an indication of foreign investors’ continued confidence in the economic prospects of the country.

The reopening, according to Bunye, would create some 5,000 jobs and pay millions of pesos in taxes to the government.

"The President has said that the First Gentleman will take care of himself and he will answer for himself. That has always been the position of the President," Bunye said.

Bunye noted that the persons concerned could speak for themselves, saying he can only speak for the President.

"At maliwanag ang view ng ating Pangulo, the sooner we get it out of the way, the better," he said.

The President’s decision to stay away from the mudslinging, according to him, is borne by her desire to concentrate on governance while the official campaign period has yet to start.

There are so many things that need to be done for the country to develop and become progressive and she’d rather concentrate on more productive activities," he said.

TOMINOBO, Iligan City--President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today thanked the Global Infrastructure Holdings Ltd. (GIHL), particularly its founder Mohan Lal Mittal, and son, Pramod Mittal, now chairman of the Indian firm, for its continued faith in the country’s economy by investing in the mothballed National Steel Corporation (NSC) here.

The President formally reopened the giant steel plant in ceremonies held this morning at the NSC Compound here, attended by about a thousand former employees of the company, local government officials and local residents.

The President and her official entourage motored here from Cagayan de Oro City, where her aircraft landed this morning.

In her brief remarks in fluent Cebuano, the President recalled how early in her administration she, along with former Trade and Industry Secretary Manuel Roxas II, worked very hard to convince foreign investors to revive the steel plant.

She said that it was Roxas, now a senatorial candidate of the K-4 ticket, who laid the groundwork for the entry of foreign investors to revive the NSC, first with a Malaysian consortium.

The President specifically thanked the GIHL for investing billions of pesos for the revival of the plant.

She said that with the reopening of the NSC, Iligan City would once again be the center of Mindanao’s industrialization. "The NSC is a symbol of industrialization not only of Iligan City but also of the entire Philippines," the President said.

After her speech, the President pushed the button signaling the formal resumption of the operations of the giant steel plant. Accompanied by GIHL officials, she then toured and inspected the plant’s facilities.

The reopening of the P13.8-billion NSC is one of the priorities of President Macapagal-Arroyo when she assumed the presidency in January 2001.

The plant’s reopening followed the formal signing of a memorandum of agreement (MOA) between NSC’s creditor banks and GIHL, which will oversee the rehabilitation of the NSC.

The NSC’s creditor banks were led by the Philippine National Bank, Metrobank, Land Bank of the Philippines, China Banking Corporation and the Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation.

The five banks held 64 percent of NSC’s indebtedness to the banking system valued at P13.8 billion.

The GIHL will formalize its full control of the NSC as soon as an asset purchase agreement is finalized with the creditors. Under the agreement, GIHL is required to come up with a P1-billion down payment to the secured creditors.

The balance of P12.25 billion is payable in eight years under a negotiated schedule.

The President said that once fully operational, the plant would create some 5,000 new jobs as well as bring economic benefits to people engaged in the downstream business that the steel plant would generate.

Prior to its closure in 1999, the NSC was remitting about P1 billion in annual taxes to the national government and an additional P200 million in real estate taxes to Iligan City.

The government sees the rehabilitation of the NSC as a major factor in the growth of the Philippine economy.

NSC has a capacity of 1.5 million metric tons per annum. At a price of $500 per ton in the world market, the steel plant could generate $750 million in revenues annually.

Apart from supplying local demand by steel products, the NSC also plans to export part of its output to China.

With its reopening, NSC is also expected to contribute about P4 billion to the country’s gross domestic product, P130 million to Iligan City in the form of real estate taxes, P27 million in local taxes and P1 billion in taxes to the national government.

GIHL is the principal holding company of the Ispat Industries, Ltd.

The younger Mittal said that he has great expectations on the operation of NSC, which is Ispat’s first major industrial investment in the Philippines.

Mittal said that the Filipino-Indian partnership in NSC would promote Filipino talent and ingenuity, as well as create ancillary industries in the locality.

Apart from Roxas, other ranking government officials who attended the opening rites were Agriculture Secretary Luis "Cito" Lorenzo, Presidential Assistant for Mindanao Jesus Dureza, Governor Parouk Hussin of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, Philippine National Bank President Lorenzo Tan, Land Bank President Gary Teves, and senatorial candidate Pia Cayetano.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo appealed to the opposition today to stop engaging in black propaganda to help in the recovery of the peso.

In a statement, the President said the nation must work together to bring down the political temperature and pull up sobriety and stability to focus on platform rather than politicking.

"Messing up this campaign by smear tactics and black propaganda will only aggravate the uncertainties that are pulling the peso down," she said.

The President was reacting to the peso’s artificial spiral, a result, she said, of "too much politics and electioneering."

Concerned about its adverse effects to the average Filipino, the Chief Executive said she is taking the high road of governance "and the opposition must present its alternatives."

On the rise in oil prices, the President said "we have to bear with the vagaries of the free market as we draw up safety nets for consumers and commuters."

While the campaign period has yet to start, he President has been keeping herself occupied with governance, launching one program after another in order to provide basic services to the people.

After her Patubig program which gave water to waterless communities in Metro Manila, she launched the Student Assistance Fund for Education for a Strong Republic (SAFE 4 SR) for cash-strapped graduating college students.

The Macapagal-Arroyo administration will strengthen its public health delivery system in the coming three months, Health Secretary Manuel Dayrit said today.

During the Cabinet meeting presided by Executive Secretary Alberto Romulo at Malacanang, Dayrit said the government will issue a family health card to replace the regular PhilHealth card under the accelerated health program.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Tuesday issued Executive Order 276 expanding the coverage of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) to include an additional five million families, or 25 million people, as new beneficiaries.

The expanded PhilHealth program, called Universal Family Health Insurance, was launched amid observations that the costs of medical treatment and hospitalization were beyond the reach of ordinary Filipinos.

Dayrit said the government is embarking on a free hospitalization program in conjunction with the implementation of a nationwide anti-measles campaign called "Iwas Tigdas."

The Secretary revealed that the government has earmarked P3 billion for the implementation of its strengthened public health delivery programs this year. Of this amount, P1.5 billion would come from the Department of Budget and Management, while the remaining P1.5 billion would be shouldered by the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office.

In a press briefing in Malacanang, Deputy Spokesperson Ricardo Saludo said the Cabinet also reviewed the funding requirements of vital government programs for the coming months to ensure that whatever happens to the May 10 elections, the budget for these programs would be sustained.

ILIGAN City--Members of the royal families of the two Lanao provinces in Mindanao today expressed their full support for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo who is seeking a full six-year term in the May 10 elections.

At least 16 sultanates of Lanao de Sur and Lanao del Norte provinces led by Sultan Raki-in Macarampat and Sultan Asgar Sani rallied behind President Macapagal-Arroyo, saying they fully acknowledged her sincere advocacy and dedication for the social and economic development of Mindanao.

The sultans told Mrs. Macapagal-Arroyo that her father, the late President Diosdado Macapagal, was one of the national leaders who recognized the sultanates of the region.

The Chief Executive motored here this morning from Cagayan de Oro City to preside at the ceremonial switch on reopening the mothballed National Steel Corp. (NSC).

"Your father has done a lot of things for Mindanao, the same as you (did) in further developing the region," the sultans told President Macapagal-Arroyo during a meeting here.

They pointed out that among the presidential contenders, only Mrs. Macapagal-Arroyo has the capability to bring peace and progress to Mindanao, adding that the other candidates "would not measure up to national leaders in Southeast Asia."

The sultans added that President Macapagal-Arroyo has the intellectual capability and love for the two Lanao provinces, hence, they consider her as their sister considering that she has ancestral roots in Mindanao.

For her part, the President declared that part of her priorities is the restoration of peace in the South.

She said it had been her commitment since she assumed the presidency in January 2001 to bring back the glory not only of Iligan City but of the whole Mindanao.

ILIGAN CITY - President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo introduced today the interest-free educational loans to students of the Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology (MSU-IIT) in this city.

Addressing more than 800 students gathered at the MSU-IIT gymnasium here, the President said the loan program dubbed Students Assistance Fund for Education for a Strong Republic, or SAFE 4 SR, would be implemented by the Commission of Higher Education.

Mrs. Macapagal-Arroyo announced that she released an initial fund of P200 million for the implementation of SAFE 4 SR. Another P300 million will be released for the implementation of SAFE 4 SR throughout the country..

The President came here to preside at the reopening of the P13-billion National Steel Corp. which ceased operations in 1999.

She noted said that closure of the plant dislocated thousands of employees, with no alternative sources of income available for them, thus preventing some of them to continue sending their children to school.

With SAFE 4 SR, Mrs. Macapagal-Arroyo said students like in the 3rd and fourth year levels may avail themselves of the interest free-loan, payable for three, five or even ten years after their graduation.

She said that she had hoped that with the opening of the NSC and the launching of SAFE 4 SR, the people of Iligan could now look forward to economic and financial stability.