The government is moving to address concerns raised by local micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in a recent survey released by the United Parcel Service (UPS) Asia Business Monitor, Presidential Management Staff Director General and Oversight Official for MSMEs Cerge Remonde said today.

In his weekly press briefing at Malacañang’s New Executive Building this morning, Remonde said the survey highlighted concerns of some 100 respondents on: government support (for MSMEs), access to funds and capital, transportation and infrastructure and supply chain efficiency.

Remonde explained that long before the survey was conducted, the government had already thrown its full support for the establishment and propagation of MSMEs and had even implemented a host of initiatives ranging from direct assistance to indirect interventions.

"The assistance is mainly found in the Medium Term SME Development Plan," Remonde said, adding, "the forms of direct assistance may be classified into the following: credit access and guarantees, product development and technology intervention, training and marketing support, advocacy," among others.

"The plan is designed to help enterprises graduate to the next level of business, as well as upgrade productivity and value-added capabilities," he said.

Remonde added that under the Small and Medium Enterprises Development (SMED) Council, the government provided P91.35 billion worth of loans to entrepreneurs from 2004 to 2006 through the SME Unified Lending Opportunities for National Growth (SULONG).

"For 2007, the government will provide another P34 billion for loans to MSMEs through the SULONG," Remonde said.

According to him, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo had directed all government agencies and instrumentalities to simplify rules and regulations, reduce reportorial requirements, and eliminate fees and charges on export clearances, permits and other documentation requirements to cut red tape and to facilitate ease in doing business and encourage more investments in the country.

Aside from this, Remonde said that the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is encouraging the local banking sector to increase the SME loans in their loan portfolios.

He added that the BSP has lowered its reserve requirements for thrift and rural banks, relaxed rules to lower capital requirements to operate foreign currency deposit units (FCDUs) and provided liquidity for banks to refinance microfinance loans to further encourage banks to help MSMEs.

"Other forms of government assistance include marketing support in trade fairs, local and international, technology upgrades, product development and personnel training," Remonde said.

He also said that the government is concocting a new project to further ease the business transaction processes and bring about faster business registration of MSMEs.

He pointed out that the internet-based system, dubbed the Philippine Business Registry System, "harmonizes all business registration processes performed by different national government agencies and local government units, leading to a seamless transactional environment for business registration."

On the indirect intervention side, Remonde said the 2.44-million active MSME clients stand to benefit from the government’s Comprehensive Integrated Infrastructure Program which aims to construct, rehabilitate and expand roads, bridges, airports, seaports and railway systems that will enable faster, cheaper and more efficient exchange of goods and services.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo reiterated today the importance of implementing the Green Philippines Environmental Plan (GPEP) to stem the adverse effects of environmental pollution as the country moves to achieve a First World status in 20 years.

Keynoting the 2007 Earth Day celebration in Malacañang this morning, the President said achieving this goal of joining the ranks of First World countries should be done not "at the backs of the poor nor at the expense of the environment."

"No nation can aspire to become modern without thinking of our environment," she stressed.

According to the President, the scope of the GPEP is four-fold: 1) reforestation; 2) preservation of reefs and waterways; 3) scrubbing the land and air of pollutants that danger the health of citizens; and 4) energy independence.

On reforestation, she underscored the importance of "replenishing fallen trees with new protected forests to bring back the beauty of the Philippines we all love and want."

The President also mentioned her coming trip to New Zealand in May, where Wellington’s continuing assistance in the Philippines’ reforestation program will be discussed.

On the second phase of the GPEP, the President signed a proclamation establishing a critical habitat and eco-tourism area within the coastal lagoon of the cities of Las Piñas and Parañaque in Metro Manila and ensuring the maintenance of necessary ecological services from peripheral areas.

The President said her signing of the proclamation is in line with her fervent wish to "turn our coral reefs and beaches into national parks and international sanctuaries for eco-tourism and scientific research."

To achieve the third aim of the program, the President encouraged the "young and old alike to clean up our environment."

She lauded the non-government organizations (NGOs) and other private sector champions of the environment such as the environment advocacy groups, outstanding "clean and green" barangays, junk shop owners and eco-aide members for their invaluable help in keeping the environment and surroundings clean and trash-free.

On energy independence, the President cited the need to accelerate the development of alternatives to fossil fuels while implementing the government’s energy efficiency and conservation program "through innovation, proper quality planning and united political and civic leadership."

She cited as an example the country’s jump into the foray of alternative and renewable sources of energy such as biofuels through the use of ethanol and coco biodiesel.

"Our bio-fuels program will rely on investment and innovation to create jobs, skills and self-reliance while keeping our environment clean," the President said.

The President also designated the 22^nd day of April of every year to be commemorated as Earth Day in the Philippines and directed the Department of Education "to incorporate subjects dealing with global warming and climate change into the public school science curriculum subjects."

"We want our young to be aware of global warming and other climate change phenomena," the President said.

Also during the same occasion, the President witnessed the signing of an Anti-Hunger Memorandum of Cooperation between the National Anti-Poverty Commission, the Luzon Urban Beltway, oil industry independent player Flying V and the Rotary International District 3800 to provide free meals and income-enhancement trainings to thousands of poor residents in Metro Manila.

Under the MoC, Flying V will allocate funds from its daily sales to feed in one month some 30,000 household-beneficiaries selected from 10 priority communities in the metropolis.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo called today for an action plan of several components to place the Philippines in the front line of the global effort to combat global warming, starting with the incorporation into the public school curriculum of subjects dealing with global warming and climate change.

The President said that educating young Filipinos on this global scourge will lead to the inculcation of the "personal discipline" which is vital to check the problem.

Without this personal discipline, she said, "the best of policy and official initiatives will be wasted."

According to the Chief Executive, the Department of Education will not dramatically alter the curriculum even with the inclusion of global warming and climate change as mandatory subjects. The lessons can be part of the science lessons.

Active engagement in the global effort to ease the problem of global warming should be carried out on two fronts -- the personal realm and at the level of policy -- and it is this context that makes education and awareness a very vital component of the effort, the President said

She also said that the full and inspired implementation of the provisions of the Kyoto Protocol, to which the Philippines is deeply committed, is another component of the action plan.

The failure of some of the global economic powers to ratify the Protocol, officially known as the United Nations Framework Convention of Climate Change, has enhanced Philippine efforts to intensify the local implementation of the Kyoto framework, the President said.

The breakthrough program to develop alternatives to fossil fuel, the recent passage of the Bio-Fuels Act and the research and development on bio-fuels are part of the policy initiatives to ease the problem of global warming, according to the Chief Executive.

Press Secretary and Presidential Spokesperson Ignacio R. Bunye reiterated today the government’s determination to fight the problem on terror by growing the economy to uplift the lives of the people and enhance the delivery of vital social services.

Bunye was reacting to an observation by Supreme Court Chief Justice Reynato Puno that "poverty as a contributing factor to terrorism must be addressed" because "in poor countries, it is poverty that truly terrorizes people…because of empty stomachs and not due to some invisible suicide bombers."

"We appreciate the views of Supreme Court Chief Justice Puno and wholeheartedly agree that poverty as a contributing factor to terrorism must be addressed," Bunye said in a statement.

"It is in this light that the administration is focused on a stronger economy and social payback through improved services," he added.

At the same time, Bunye said the government would deal with terrorism and terror acts with "iron-clad will that honors and thrives on the spirit and boundaries of our laws."

The Press Secretary stressed that the government would not tolerate the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to take "legal shortcuts" in the pursuit of this objective.

Bunye asked the people to report human rights violations to the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and "help realize our aspiration for a peaceful, orderly, just and progressive country."

Puno, in his speech during the commencement exercises of the University of the East last week, noted that "countries that cannot give decent life to their young people will serve as incubators of extremism that may end up in terrorism."

Bunye said President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo herself has acknowledged the fact that one of the root causes of insurgency and terrorism is poverty.