After undergoing an emergency heart surgery Monday night at the St. Luke’s Medical Center in Quezon City, First Gentleman Jose Miguel T. Arroyo is now on a post-operative care at the same hospital.

Dr. Juliet Gopez-Cervantes, the First Gentleman’s main attending physician, said the surgery, which lasted for over 10 hours, was performed by cardiovascular surgeon Dr. Rommel Carino, and "has been uneventful so far."

Dr. Cervantes said the procedure, which ‘included a three-vessel bypass of the previously stented coronary vessels," was completed at around 5 a.m. today.

Following is the complete text of the Medical Bulletin No. 2 on the First Gentleman issued by Dr. Cervantes at 8:30 a.m. today:

"The First Gentleman, Atty. Jose Miguel T. Arroyo, underwent emergency aneurysmectomy last night due to leaking aneurysm at the arch of the aorta. The surgery, which lasted for around 10 hours, was performed by cardiovascular surgeon Dr. Rommel Carino, and has been uneventful so far. The procedure was completed at around 5:00 this morning. The surgery included a 3-vessel bypass of the previously stented coronary vessels.

"Currently he is in the Cardiovascular Recovery Room of St. Luke’s Medical Center, still being monitored closely especially for the next 48 hours which is the most critical period post-operatively in this kind of surgery.

"We at St. Luke’s and the First Family are requesting your continued prayers. We were able to pass through the very, very critical period of surgery and we pray that we will be able to overcome the post-operative period without any of the dreaded complications."

The Philippines is an open book as far as the conduct of our democratic processes is concerned, and we welcome all well-meaning and properly accredited observers in all stages of the electoral proceedings.

Historically, we have had our share of election violence and isolated incidents of fraud, but this nation has always come out stronger from any electoral exercise in terms of political stability and security.

The specter of widespread fraud in this era of close media and global vigilance, communications revolution does not hold water.

We have consistently accepted that corruption continues to be a challenge but it is being acted upon in a decisive way by this government.

Be that as it may, the fact remains that American investors remain bullish on the Philippines, what with the CALpers fund increasing its stake in our country and the anticipation of the American Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines that more than $3 billion could be poured in by its members this year.

We are fighting corruption tooth and nail and our efforts are being recognized by the world, hence the rise in confidence and investments.

We know that fighting corruption is important to political stability which we aim to ensure.

The government is fast-tracking the completion of 21 priority road and bridge projects by 2010 so that the benefits of improved agribusiness, tourism, economic and job development will be felt by the people at the soonest possible time, according to Presidential Management Staff (PMS) Chief Cerge Remonde.

In his weekly press conference at the New Executive Building in Malacaņang this morning, Remonde laid down the various road and bridge projects in line with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s super regions concept.

"The government is improving, rehabilitating, extending, expanding or constructing 20 priority road projects and one major bridge project costing a total of P96.688 billion nationwide by 2010," he bared. "As part of the super regions concept, these projects will promote tourism, logistics, (and) faster and cheaper transport of agricultural products to the market."

The road projects, Remonde pointed out, aim to boost economic development in each super region by strengthening the linkages between provinces and between the super regions.

The 21 road and bridge projects, according to dates of completion, are as follows:

2007

• EDSA rehabilitation works which involve concrete re-blocking, sidewalk rehabilitation and installation of foot bridges (P138.55 million);
• The Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway Project (P21 billion);
• The Dinagat Island Road in Mindanao (P100 million); and,
• The Southern Tagalog Arterial Road II (STAR II) that covers the stretch from Lipa to Batangas cities (P2.511 billion).

2008

• The Daang Hari-Southern Luzon Exchange Link (P1.387 billion);
• The Southern Luzon Expressway (SLEX) Extension Project (P8.915 billion); and,
• The Tarlac-Dingalan Road (P725.16 million)

2009

• The Bontoc-Tabuk-Tuguegarao Road (P1.37 billion);
• The Halsema Highway (P1.78 billion);
• The C-5 Expressway which involves the North and South Luzon Exchange (P12.76 billion);
• The Cavite-Laguna (CALA) North-South Road (P2.895 billion);
• The Marikina-Infanta Road (P1.55 billion);
• The other sections of the El Nido-Bataraza-Rio-Tuba Road (P5.98 billion);
• The Dapitan City-Dakak road (P210 million);
• The Libac-Maguindanao road project (P1.952 billion); and,
• The Sibuko-Siraway-Siocon-Baligian-Gutalak road (P1.326 billion).

2010

• The C6-Lakeshore Expressway (P13.7 billion);
• The North Luzon East Expressway (P3.013 billion);
• The Manila-Cavite Toll Expressway Project (R-1) (P6.263 billion); and,
• The remaining sections of the Surigao-Davao coastal road.

Remonde stressed that aside from boosting agribusiness and tourism and spurring economic and job development in the areas where the road projects will traverse, traffic decongestion, peace and order and safer and more efficient transport mobility will be ensured.

He pointed out that the benefits to the farmers, who have to worry about their goods being spoiled en route to the consumers, will now be a thing of the past because the road projects, once completed, will greatly decrease travel times to and from their destinations.

The PMS chief assured that the road projects are being closely monitored by the Infrastructure Monitoring Task Force (IMTF) that he also chairs, and the National Competitiveness Council to guarantee their completion.

Majority of the road projects are being undertaken and implemented by the Department of Public Works and Highways except for the C-5 Expressway, the North and South Luzon Expressway Link and the SLEX expansion project which are being handled by the Toll Regulatory Board.

The C-6 Expressway, the CALA North-South Road, the Daang Hari-SLEX Link and the North Luzon East Expressway are being implemented by the Philippine Infrastructure Corporation.

Malacanang welcomed today the decision of the European Union to send election observers to the country, saying the Philippines is "an open book" in its conduct of democratic exercises such as the May 14 polls.

"The Philippines is an open book as far as the conduct of our democratic processes is concerned, and we welcome all well-meaning and properly accredited observers in all stages of the electoral proceedings," Press Secretary and Presidential Spokesperson Ignacio Bunye said in a statement.

The EU, through European Commission Director General for External Relations Eneko Landaburu, had earlier informed the government that it wanted to observe "a fair, transparent, orderly and peaceful elections in the Philippines."

Other foreign governments expected to field election observers include the United States and Canada.

While conceding that the Philippines has had its share of election violence and isolated incidents of fraud in the past, Bunye said the country has always come out stronger from any electoral exercise in terms of political stability and security.

"The specter of widespread fraud in this era of close media and global vigilance, communications revolution does not hold water," he pointed out.

Malacanang said today the government, under the tight watch of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, would remain focused on "creating a business and trade climate" that would continue to seal the country’s competitiveness in the world.

Press Secretary and Presidential Spokesman Ignacio R. Bunye made the assurance as the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS), the largest pension fund in the United States, raised the Philippines rank to 14^th on its latest crucial review.

Bunye said the higher score in a crucial review commissioned by CalPERS is only a manifestation of what the current government has started, referring to the ongoing tight watch and battle against corruption in the public service.

"We are fighting corruption tooth and nail and our efforts are being recognized by the world, hence the rise in confidence and investments," he added.

"We have consistently accepted that corruption continues to be a challenge but it is being acted upon in a decisive way by this government," Bunye said, adding that fighting corruption is important to political stability, which at the end will lead to economic development and prosperity for the Filipino people.

He noted that American investors remain bullish on the Philippines, as proven by CalPERS fund increasing its stake in the country while the members of the American Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines plan to pour fresh $3 billion investment for their business expansion this year.

Earlier, CalPERS acknowledged that the Philippines’ bid to attract more investments received a big boost after they gave a higher score in their recent crucial review among 27 emerging markets.

CalPERS had commissioned Wilshire Associates, one of the world’s leading consulting and management firms, to conduct the study and guide the pension fund’s flow of investments to 27 emerging markets.

Wilshire confirmed in its latest review that the Philippines got an average score of "2.13," or 0.13 of a percentage point higher than the "2" threshold rating that Wilshire gave to the country last year.

With this score, the Philippines moved up from a dismal 18th place in the previous study to 14th in ranking among the 27 emerging markets.

For this year, the Philippines scored the second highest rate of improvement in scoring from Wilshire. The Philippines beat other neighboring Asian countries, like Indonesia and Malaysia, which each got a score of "2."

Based on Wilshire’s latest review, the Philippines retained its "1.0" score in the area of political risk, despite political problems hounding the government.

The Philippines also received better scores for its economic policies. For instance, in terms of return-to-risk ratio, the Philippine score improved from just "1" in the previous review to "2.3" in the latest study.