Traffic congestion will now be a thing of the past for residents as well as visitors of Malolos, Bulacan, passing through the capitol junction.

This after Department of public works and Highways completed the construction of the Malolos flyover in 60 days, a tribute to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s Bridge Program, which has already benefited many Filipinos nationwide.

Under the President’s Bridge Program, the DPWH has already built 700 Mabey Compact bridges since 1997, and 200 bridges in rural communities nationwide using the modular steel bridge technology provided by Mabey and Johnson Ltd.

The 280-meter long and 7.35 meter wide flyover, using world-class state of the art modular steel bridging materials from the United Kingdom, was formally inaugurated last May 8 by Bulacan Gov. Josie de la Cruz and DPWH Mt. Pinatubo Emergency Project Management Office Director Emil Sadain.

DPWH Secretary Florante Soriquez said the project has undergone strict project implementation, fast-tracking completion to enhance economic growth in the province of Bulacan.

"Utilizing new bridging technology and built on highest quality work standard not only for the people of the City of Malolos but for the entire Filipino people, this significant project under the President’s Bridge Program cannot be realized without the strengthened involvement and cooperation of local officials," Soriquez said.

The Philippines is poised to give current world leaders in the outsourcing services for animation and software development a run for their money.

The local animation sector is "gearing up for a rebound presence, is forecast to grow to $50 billion by next year with the United States, France, Germany, Japan, United Kingdom and Canada comprising the major markets," the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said.

The DTI said the global market for animation has a high growth rate due to its wide acceptance in the traditional entertainment media—television and movies—and in non-traditional markets such as computer games, advertising, Internet content graphics, and information and educational tools.

"As the animation industry expands, its leaders are confident that the Filipinos’ artistic ability and creativity, combined with their more adaptable and resilient culture, will even the odds and lower-cost animation locations such as China and India, and will help win a considerable share of the animation outsourcing market." The DTI pointed out.

The DTI also forecast dramatic growths in the software development sector as more Japanese companies locate to the Philippines. Last year alone, six Japanese firms set up various branches of operations in software research and development, computer-aided design and manufacture, and computer engineering.

Five more Japanese corporations have indicated their desire to establish software development and engineering design operations in the Philippines.

The development of the information technology (IT) services in the country is part of the DTI’s priority program for the first semester of 2004.

Trade and Industry Secretary Cesar Purisima is extremely bullish over the dramatic growth of the IT industry, specifically the business process outsourcing, call center sector and the animation sector with the expected influx of foreign investors.

"The target is achievable and we are optimistic that in five years, we can capture about half of the call center operations in the world if we continue to intensify our promotion and skills development programs," the secretary said.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has said she would institute basic institutional reforms to stabilize the current political system and move the country towards national economic recovery.

The President revealed this Friday night during an interview with Max Soliven on his Impact 2004 program aired over ABS-CBN (ANC) news channel.

"We have to reform the PNP (Philippine National Police). We have to reform the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines). We have to reform the judiciary. We have to reform the institutions, including the form of government itself," the President said.

The President said pursuing the fundamental changes she had started is what the public should expect from her if given a fresh mandate to lead for another six years.

The President has been batting for a shift in the form of government from presidential to parliamentary or federal system, to stop political unrest and cut bureaucratic red tape.

The President has also been working to eradicate the culture of corruption and the rise in crimes, illegal drugs, military adventurism, and terrorism, as part of her program of creating an environment conducive to investments that would create more jobs.

The President said she would also institute structural reforms in the executive department to enhance its efficiency and effectiveness in delivering basic services to the people.

Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Edilberto de Jesus said President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s agenda to create 3,000 new school buildings nationwide is on track.

At the Cabinet meeting held Friday in Malacanang, de Jesus said they have already constructed 2,500 school buildings from the P2 billion appropriated for 2004.

He said another 500 school buildings that are foreign-assisted are being built.

"If our budget had been approved, we could have gotten another billion pesos for school buildings that would have allowed us to construct a total of 3,700 school buildings," he said.

Also accomplished, de Jesus said, was the distribution of computers to 3,464 schools out of the 4,202 high schools nationwide, and provision of 11 networked computers to an additional 48 recipient schools.

He said 1,100 public high schools also received 10 stand-alone computers from the joint project of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and DepEd.

De Jesus said they have also sent 11,200 public high school teachers for training on computers through the Intel Teach to the Future Program.

Under their targets for 2004-2008, de Jesus said they have P160 million appropriated for procurement of computers. "We expect that within this period we will be able to provide 95 percent of the 4,202 public high schools with computers and to send 90 percent of our high school teachers to computer training programs," he added.

Former President Fidel V. Ramos has said whoever wins in the elections must continue the gains of his/her predecessor to ensure "continuity of nation building" and to prevent the flight of foreign capital.

At an airport press conference Friday night prior to his departure for the United States, Ramos said the newly elected leader must show to the world that "we are competing in the regional and local economy with a level playing field, fair rules and no monopoly" even with a change in administration.

Ramos left on a 12-day trip to the United States to promote the Philippines’ as an investment haven and as a trade partner.

"The long-term mission for our leaders, regardless of political persuasion is continuity of nation building. A nation cannot be built during the short span of only six years, which is the length of the presidential term," Ramos said.

Whoever the President is, Ramos said he or she must continue to build on the gains of the previous administrations, otherwise we will lose totally the investments, capital and the efforts and dedication of previous good leaders and officials.

He cited Malaysia’s continuous nation-building that catapulted the Southeast Asian country to a rising industrialized nation from a previous "backward, divided and agricultural country."

Considering himself as an "older brother," Ramos said continuity of nation-building is part of the "Four C" formula that he is advising to whoever wins in the recent polls.

He said the three other "Cs" are: Clean up the messy things in governance such as alleged corruption, red tape, incompetence, laziness; Consolidation, which is the healing, uniting and reconciling process; and Competitiveness wherein "we must compete winningly" so the country would not be left behind.

We are determined to look into election fraud and punish the guilty.

And we would welcome any assistance from the opposition showing specific instances of fraud, backed by evidence.

But so far there is nothing to show a systematic trend of fraud of a nationwide scale as to materially affect the outcome of the national elections.

Presidential Spokesman Ignacio R. Bunye appealed to the people today to understand that the new round of price increase in petroleum products is brought by the upward adjustment of oil prices in the world market.

In a radio interview, Bunye noted that every measure to negate the effects of this new round of price increase is being implemented by the Department of Energy (DOE).

Bunye said DOE Secretary Vince Perez continues to hold dialogue with the leading oil players in the country.

"Ang ating pakiusap ay konting pang-unawa dito sa mga pangyayaring ito because this is brought by the increase in the world price of oil. (What we are asking is consideration that this new round of price hike is brought by the increase in the world price of oil)," Bunye said.

He noted that the projected P1.00 increase in oil products appears to be unavoidable. He stressed, however, that the average oil prices in the country is lower than that of other Asian countries.

Gasoline and diesel prices have increased by at least P1 per liter within the week as local oil companies said they have to recover the added cost of buying crude and refined oil products in the world market, reports said.