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| 09 AUGUST 2007 | ||
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| 09 AUGUST 2007 | ||
| Statement of Secretary Ignacio R. Bunye: Re Caloocan Police |
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The President announced that 3,500 new policemen (up from 3,000 this year) will be hired next year. She invited Caloocan's jobless degree holders to apply, and added that the Caloocan City police force deserves an increase in the hiring quota. She also thanked the mayor for his support to the city’s police. |
| DSWD tops performance approval rating ; Cabral cites PGMA's support |
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Department of Social Welfare and Development
Secretary Esperanza I. Cabral said today she is both humbled and encouraged
by Pulse Asia’s opinion survey last July that the DSWD obtained the highest
performance approval rating among 15 government frontline agencies covered
by the survey. She thanked President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for her full and unwavering support for DSWD’s programs and services. “We are one with her in the pursuit of a peaceful, progressive and prosperous Philippines,” she said. The DSWD topped the 15 government departments and other agencies in the Pulse Asia survey with a performance rating of 69 percent. “Our desire is to help the President provide a better life for all Filipinos. This is the goal of all right-minded public servants,” Cabral said. She said that success can be attained only if all Filipinos will put the common good ahead of personal and parochial interests, adding with a quote from Benjamin Franklin that, “’We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.’” The Pulse Asia survey showed that the DSWD also enjoyed the lowest disapproval rating of seven percent in the bureaucracy. Cabral also cited the dedication and outstanding efforts exerted by the agency’s personnel. “It is my colleagues in the DSWD who should be given credit for this positive evaluation. Their dedication and steadfast support to the mission of the department has resulted to the favorable assessment by the Filipinos, especially the sectors we serve,” she said. “They are truly the gems that DSWD is proud of,” Cabral added. The President has tasked the DSWD to implement poverty alleviation programs and play a vital role in the government’s overall efforts in the attainment of peace, progress and prosperity through social protection and social development programs. Among these programs are the Kapit Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan –Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (KALAHI-CIDSS), the Self-Employment Assistance-Kaunlaran (SEA-K) Program, the Early Childhood Care and Development Program (ECCD) and the Supplemental Feeding Program for children 3-5 years old. |
| PGMA to PNP: Increase hiring of new cops from 3,000 to 3,500 |
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President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo announced
today that 3,500 new policemen will be hired next year as part of a
sustained program to beef up the government’s capability to combat
lawlessness, terrorism and maintain peace and order. She also directed the Philippine National Police (PNP) to deploy its desk-bound personnel to “pound the streets” to increase police visibility as a deterrent to security threats and lawlessness all over the country. The new directive means 500 more warm bodies than the recruitment authorization she issued last year to the PNP to hire 3,000 new policemen every year. The President made the announcement during her visit to the newly -constructed Caloocan Police Headquarters along Samson Road in Caloocan City, where she also handed out PhilHealth Family Health Cards to police volunteers, barangay officials and residents of nearby Barangay 73. The President's new directive effectively increases the hiring rate of new policemen to 3,500 next year and 4,000 annually from 2009 to 2010. To get the ball rolling, the President called on all college graduates who are still looking for jobs to try their luck and apply as policemen. She said that with the number of recruits needed, landing a job in the police force would be a cinch. The President pointed out that the budget needed to hire the additional policemen will be taken from the revenues raised as a result of the strict enforcement of fiscal reforms implemented by the government, notably the Expanded Value Added Tax (E-VAT) Law. The President also met with barangay officials to discuss various problems, particularly the impending relocation of their barangay to give way to the construction of the North and South Rail terminal in the Caloocan section of the railway system. Philippine National Railways president and general manager Jose Zarasola said a portion of the PNR property within the Heroes del ‘96, a triangle-shaped barangay, will be donated to the people. Plans are afoot to construct medium-rise buildings of four to five storeys for residents of the area, he said. Residents greeted Zarasola’s announcement with prolonged cheers and clapping. The President herself expressed jubilation that an "amicable settlement" was reached between the PNR and the Caloocan barangay residents. Also during her Caloocan visit, the President distributed 150 Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) Training for Work Scholarship certificates to residents in the area. The scholarship entitles the recipient to take short courses in high-impact and “in-demand” skills as call center agents, welders, electricians and butchers. |
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PGMA honors Thai Prince with Lifetime Achievement Award |
| President Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo presented today a Lifetime Achievement Award to Thai Prince
Chatri Chalerm Yukol for his iconic productions chronicling the history of
Thailand’s Royal Family in rites held at the Malacanang Music Room. The award is actually set to be given on Aug. 15 as highlight of the Lifetime Achievement Awards of the ongoing CineManila 9th International Film Festival where the President is guest of honor but had to be given in advance since the Prince is set to return to Bangkok tomorrow, Aug. 10. “Congratulations. Welcome to the Philippines. Please send my regards to the King and Queen and my deepest respect to them,” the President told the visiting royalty. The Thai prince, who was accompanied to Malacañang by National Commission for Culture and the Arts Executive Director Cecile Guidote Alvarez and well-known filmmaker Tikoy Aguiluz, received from the President a trophy sculptured by Napoleon Abueva. It is a BULOL sculpture of a tree that wanted to become a man. The Festival invoked the Bulol as a blessing to the Filipino film industry in general – as a prayer towards good harvest and bounty of excellent Filipino films. The Prince’s 113-minute film about King Naresuan, the son of Thailand’s King Maha Thammaracha, was the opening film showing of the CineManila 9th International Film Festival which started yesterday, Aug. 8, and ends Sunday, Aug. 19, at the Gateway Cineplex at the Araneta Center in Cubao, Quezon City. Prince Chatri Chalerm Yukol is a Thai film director and screenwriter and prolific director since the 1970s. He is a member of the Thai Royal family where his official royal title is Mom Chao or M.C., the most important junior title. He is also known by his nickname, Than Mui. His parents, Prince Anusornmongkolkarn Yukol and Mom Ubon Yukol Na Ayudhya, were filmmakers too and co-founders of the Lavo Pappayon Company. |
| RP-Vietnam to sign accord to bolster relations between two countries |
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The Philippines and the Socialist Republic of
Vietnam are scheduled to sign today a bilateral agreement to further deepen
and invigorate relations between the two countries. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung are to witness the signing of the Philippines-Vietnam Plan of Action 2007-2010 after their meeting this afternoon in Malacanang. Prime Minister Tan Dung arrived at 3 p.m. today at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) for a two-day official visit to the country. Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo and his Vietnamese counterpart, Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khiem, would sign the accord at the Reception Hall of Malacañang. The Philippines-Vietnam Plan of Action 2007-2010 aims to realize the goals and strategies set out in the “Framework of Bilateral Cooperation between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in the Next Century and Beyond,” which was signed in Hanoi in November last year. The Plan of Action is expected to further intensify Philippine-Vietnamese relations in the areas of political, security and defense, economic matters, regional and international cooperation. The agreement also calls for the strengthening of cooperation in agriculture, fisheries and forestry, energy security, tourism, health, education, culture, science and technology, social welfare and development, and maritime and ocean concerns. The two leaders will also witness the signing of the “Protocol on Cultural Cooperation” and the “Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) on Trade Promotion” before they hold their expanded bilateral meeting also in Malacanang. Diplomatic relations between the Philippines and Vietnam started to blossom in July 1976, a year after the reunification of North and South Vietnam, upon the signing of a Joint Communique by then Philippine Foreign Minister Carlos P. Romulo and Vietnamese Vice Prime Minister for Foreign Affairs Phan Hien. Since then, there have been high-level visits between the two countries, including the state visit of President Macapagal-Arroyo to Vietnam in 2002, and the state visit of President Tran Duc Luong to the Philippines in 2001. |
| Vietnamese PM starts two-day official visit |
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President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo welcomed in
Malacañang late this afternoon Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung,
who is in Manila on a two-day official visit to further expand bilateral
relations between Vietnam and the Philippines. President Arroyo and First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo met Prime Minister Dung and Madame Tran Thanh Kiem upon their arrival at the Palace lobby. Due to bad weather, the scheduled full military honors with 21-gun salute was dispensed with in welcoming Dung. After the foyer honor rites, the President and PM Dung proceeded to the second floor of the Palace Main Reception Hall where the latter and Madame Kiem signed the Presidential Guest Book. On their way to the Reception Hall, the President introduced one after another her Cabinet members to PM Dung. Among them were Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo, Trade and Industry Secretary Peter Favila, and Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap. President Arroyo and PM Dung later proceeded to the Music Room for their meeting, which was followed by an expanded bilateral meeting at the Ramos Music Conference Room. The two leaders also witnessed the signing of bilateral agreements between the two countries on trade promotions, protocol on cultural cooperation, and the Philippines-Vietnam Plan of Action for 2007-2010. The Philippines and Vietnam are both members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). |
| 3 agreements to bolster RP-Vietnam relations signed |
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The Philippines and the Socialist Republic of
Vietnam signed today three agreements to further deepen and invigorate
bilateral relations between the two countries in the next three years and
beyond. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung witnessed the signing of the Philippines-Vietnam Plan of Action 2007-2010 after their meeting this afternoon in Malacanang. Prime Minister Tan Dung arrived at 3:00 p.m. today at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) for his two-day official visit to the Philippines. Those who signed the agreement at the Reception Hall of Malacañang were Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo and Vietnam Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Phan Gia Khiem. The Philippines-Vietnam Plan of Action 2007-2010 aims to realize the goals and strategies set out in the “Framework of Bilateral Cooperation Between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in the Next Century and Beyond,” which was signed in Hanoi in November last year. The Plan of Action is expected to further intensify bilateral relations in the areas of political, security and defense, economic matters, and regional and international cooperation. The agreement also seeks to strengthen cooperation in agriculture, fisheries and forestry, energy security, tourism, health, education, culture, science and technology, social welfare and development, and maritime and ocean concerns. President Arroyo and PM Dung also witnessed the signing of the “Protocol on Cultural Cooperation” and the “Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) on Trade Promotion” before they held their expanded bilateral meeting in Malacanang. Chairman Ambeth Ocampo of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts and Hoang Tuan Anh of the Minister of Culture and Sports and Tourism of Vietnam were the signatories in the agreement. And to further promote trade and investments between the two countries, Teresa Reginio, officer-in-charge of the Bureau of Export Trade Promotion-Department of Trade and Industry, and Do Thang Hai, director general of the Department of Trade Promotion of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam, signed the Memorandum of Agreement on Trade Promotion. The MOA on Trade Promotion between the DTI’s Bureau of Export Trade Promotion (BEPT) and the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency (Vietrade) was a result of discussions on trade and investment cooperation during the November 2002 state visit of President Arroyo to Vietnam. Highlights of the agreement include: exchange of information on important economic and trade issues, exchange of trade missions, participation in each other’s trade fairs, and organization of training programs and exchange of experts. Diplomatic relations between the Philippines and Vietnam started to blossom in July 1976, a year after the reunification of North and South Vietnam, upon the signing of a Joint Communique by then Philippine Foreign Minister Carlos P. Romulo and Vietnamese Vice Prime Minister for Foreign Affairs Phan Hien. Since then, there have been high level visits between the two countries, including the state visit of President Arroyo to Vietnam in 2002, and the state visit of President Tran Duc Luong to the Philippines in 2001. |
