President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo described today the continuing inflow of Japanese investments in the Philippines as a "testimony of the positive investment environment in the country."

She expressed this view as she welcomed the presidents of Tokyo Electric Power Company Incorporated (TEPCO) and Marubeni Corporation, two of Japan’s biggest corporations, who reaffirmed their faith in the Philippine economy during a courtesy call this morning in Malacaņang.

TEPCO president Tsunehisa Katsumata and his brother, Marubeni president Nobuo Katsumata, were accompanied to the Palace by Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla, National Power Corporation (Napocor) president Cyril del Callar, and Ambassadors Domingo Siazon Jr. and Tomas Alcantara.

The two Japanese companies recently won the bid contract to acquire the local assets of Atlanta-based Mirant Corporation, the biggest independent power generator in the country, for $3.424 billion.

The President welcomed the fresh Japanese investment as a proof of the revived investor confidence in the country’s economic stability. She said the entry of the two companies in the power sector would ensure the long-term operation and stability of power supply particularly in the Luzon grid.

Mirant has a total aggregate capacity of 2,200 megawatts (MW) from two coal plants and a natural gas plant in Luzon.

The acquisition would increase Marubeni’s total plant capacity to 2,700 MW, making it the largest power generation group in the country.

Marubeni owns and operates the 345-MW San Roque Hydro Power Plant in San Manuel, Pangasinan, and the 100-MW Mt. Apo Geothermal Plant in Kidapawan, North Cotabato.

TEPCO, meanwhile, became the newest player in the Philippine power industry and hopes to expand its presence locally in the near future.

Marubeni, a major general trading house in Japan, has investments in power, telecommunications, construction, and industry in the Philippines.

It has been in operation in the Philippines for almost a hundred years now and is currently studying to develop a waste-to-power project in Rizal province and a bio-fuels plant in Southern Luzon.

TEPCO is one of the largest private power utility companies in the world. It owns two of 24 liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals and 17 of 55 nuclear power reactors in Japan.

TEPCO’s wealth of advanced technical know-how complements Marubeni’s extensive experience in power generation in the Philippines, so the country can expect to benefit from TEPCO-Marubeni’s price competitiveness and reliability of power supply.

Despite the political noise expected in the run-up to the midterm polls in May, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is determined not to let it get in the way of further improving the economy and reinforcing it with political stability.

"We see the political campaign taking its course in a manner reflecting a full-fledged Philippine democracy," Press Secretary and Presidential Spokesman Ignacio R. Bunye said in a statement today.

"This should convince one and all that freedom reigns beside a free market in our country. We call on the opposition not to hurt, but to help grow, the economy," he added.

Analysts say that the Philippine economy is expected to enjoy robust growth in 2007 provided the perennial problem of politics does not get in the way.

A string of positive economic figures in recent weeks and the passing of the P1.126 trillion budget has been greeted positively by international investors.

As a result of President Arroyo’s tough economic reforms, rating agencies and investors recently placed the Philippines among the top destinations while the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is projected to grow from 6.1 to 6.7 percent this year.

Bunye said renewed investor confidence and the country’s robust growth should not be distracted by politics, including the opposition’s call for the release of former President Joseph Estrada which is being competently handled by the courts.

"We leave the matter to the Court. We are not taking the bait of the opposition of making the campaign a fight between the Palace and former President Estrada. The campaign is not about personalities but issues, not about the past but about the future," he stressed.

DUMAGUETE CITY, Oriental Negros---President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo inaugurated this afternoon the latest business process outsourcing (BPO) center of the TeleTech Holdings Inc. (TeleTech) at the Dumaguete Business Park here, further boosting the Philippines as the most favorable BPO destination in the world, next only to India.

The TeleTech-Dumaguete Customer Management Center was the second to be inaugurated by the President on the twin Negros provinces in the last two weeks. She inaugurated the TeleTech-Bacolod BPO in Negros Occidental last Feb. 2, which together with the Dumaguete BPO would support the President's jobs creation program.

The Dumaguete BPO Center houses 578 work stations and currently supports more than 600 employees, 87 percent of whom are from Oriental Negros.

Through its first BPO Center in Dumaguete, the company has provided high quality jobs to the residents of the two Negros provinces as well as the neighboring provinces of Iloilo and Cebu.

TeleTech provides a full range of "front to back" office outsourced solutions including customer management and database management.

Upon arrival at the Dumaguete Business Park area, where the TeleTech-Dumaguete is located, the President, assisted by TeleTech Vice President and General Manager Maulik Parekh, cut the inaugural ribbon and unveiled the marker.

She then witnessed the presentation of the signed Memorandum of Agreement between TeleTech and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) for the implementation of TeleTech’s P5-million grant for the President's English Proficiency Program spread over three years.

Parekh, in an interview, said the P5 million English proficiency scholarship would be given to the "near-hires" or those who do not make it the first time with TeleTech but have potentials to be good BPO staff.

"We have to put these near-hires through a four-week training which would be facilitated by TESDA," he said.

He said around a thousand near-hires could avail themselves of the scholarship.

The President was also given a tour of the facility that occupied 5,900 square meters of the Phase One of the Dumaguete Business Park-Information Technology Plaza Building.

The expansion of TeleTech Holdings in the Philippines was the result of the President's meeting with TeleTech President Kenneth Tuchman on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland last month.

DUMAGUETE CITY, Oriental Negros – President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo called on the opposition today to work together with the administration in building up further the economy so that more and more Filipinos will receive the benefits of the "tough decisions" made in the sake of economic reform.

"We call on the opposition no to hurt, but help grow the economy," the President said in her keynote speech at the opening the 2^nd International Rondalla Festival at the Provincial Convention Center here this afternoon.

The President extended anew the hand of reconciliation to the opposition anew in the face of renewed confidence by foreign investors whose multimillion-peso investments just keep pouring into the country.

This morning in Manila, the President hailed the continuing inflow of Japanese investments in the Philippines as a "testimony of the positive investment environment in the country."

The top officials of Tokyo Electric Power Company Inc. (TEPCO) and Marubeni Corporation, two of Japan's biggest corporations, had reaffirmed their faith in the Philippine economy during a courtesy call on the Chief Executive in Malacaņang.

The two Japanese companies recently won the bid contract to acquire the local assets of Atlanta-based Mirant Corporation, the biggest independent power generator in the country, for $3.424 billion.

The President welcomed the fresh Japanese investment as a proof of the revived investor confidence in the country's economic stability. She said the entry of the two companies in the power sector would ensure the long-term operation and stability of power supply, particularly in the Luzon grid.

In her speech here, the President vowed not to let politics stand in the way of the giant leaps and achievements of the economy but instead reinforce it with "firm political stability."

She cited the economic leaps and bounds experienced by this province such as the various government infrastructure projects slated to begin construction, saying this augurs well as part of the province's aim to be the next "Tourism Super Region."

"In order for Oriental Negros' progress to continue as well as the rest of the Philippines, we have avowed not to let politics get in the way of the economy," the President said.

"We have avowed to reinforce the economy with firm political stability. We see the political campaign taking its course in a manner reflecting a full-fledged Philippine democracy. This should convince one and all that freedom reigns beside a free market in our country," she stressed.

"The resiliency of our economy as well as our political system has been tried and tested through several crises and storms. The Filipino always rises from controversy to shine in excellence and hard work," the President said.

DUMAGUETE CITY, Oriental Negros--President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said today the government takes a wholistic approach in fighting insurgency and terrorism in the country.

"We fight insurgency in a wholistic way--the right hand is the steel hand while the left hand is through reconciliation to make life better," the President said in answer to a query posed by a local journalist during a two-on-one interview after she inaugurated the P140-million Oriental Negros Convention Center here.

The President explained that the anti-terrorism bill is "just one ingredient of the whole (approach against terrorism and insurgency)."

She said that with the passage by Congress of the Anti-Terrorism bill, the fight against terror would have more teeth, as once it is signed into law, then there would now be a crime called "terrorism" and a criminal called "terrorist."

"Before, a bomber could only be charged with illegal possession of arms and could go out on bail and start bombing again. Now, with the anti-terrorism bill passed, our fight against terrorism would have more teeth," she said.

The House of Representatives has yet to ratify the anti-terrorism bill passed by the bicameral conference committee before it could be signed into law by the President. Congress opened today its two-day special session to tackle the said bill, among other important measures.