The Human Security Act is vital to our nation's security. Any delay in its implementation could embolden terrorists more, while depriving our people of stronger protection.

This law will be operationalized with full respect to civil liberties and our Constitution.

The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) and other groups are encouraged to link up with government in a comprehensive effort to inform the public about this law and help monitor its implementation. It went through exhaustive debates and consultations in Congress, and was approved overwhelmingly by both chambers.

While expressing appreciation for the efforts of various groups, including the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), to keep the people informed about the Human Security Act (HSA), Malacaņang said today any delay in the implementation of the law could only embolden terrorists at the expense of public welfare.

In a statement, Press Secretary Ignacio R. Bunye stressed that the HSA, or Republic Act (RA) 9372, is "vital to our nation’s security" as he assured the people of full protection of civil liberties and the Constitution.

Saying that the goal of the Human Security Law is to protect the people from the scourge of terrorism, Bunye called on all "sectors to let government do its job in implementing this law."

He also allayed fears by certain quarters over alleged flaws in the law, pointing out that the HSA underwent exhaustive debates in the House of Representatives and Senate and was approved overwhelmingly by both chambers.

Bunye issued the statement amid calls by critics for a review of the HSA and the adoption of its implementing rules and regulations (IRR) before it is implemented.

BUTUAN CITY--- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo inspected early this afternoon the newly-completed P 2.2 –billion Diosdado Macapagal Bridge and the Butuan Bypass Road project, touted by the Butuanons as a "legacy that would last a hundred years and make life easier for the whole of the CARAGA Growth Area."

The President, who made a vow to focus her last three years in office on sustaining the country’s economic gains so as to further improve the lives of the Filipinos, a legacy she wants to be remembered of when she finishes her term in 2010, herself walked through a portion of the 907.61-meter long Diosdado Macapagal Bridge amid the cheers of some 200 residents of Barangays Tiniwisan and Bingkilan here.

The bridge was funded through a Special Yen Loan Package from Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC). The project was started on May 6, 2004 and completed in May 2007.

A few meters from the bridge’s tower, the President was given a briefing on the project by Public Works and Highways Undersecretary Manuel Bonoan and Region 13 Director Romero Momo.

Bonoan said the bridge was opened to traffic last April 30 upon the order of the President and since then, life for the Butuanons and the residents of the CARAGA region has changed from "good to better" as travel time has been cut off by half and the traffic has eased.

"We do not have to go around anymore to cross the first bridge. It saves us time and energy especially for the schoolchildren who have to go to the city proper to attend classes," Kagawad Myrna Paco Balispis of Barangay Tiniwis said.

The road and bridge project is vital to the realization of the President’s vision of the Mindanao Super Region as the country’s "Agribusiness Center in the South."

It stands to enhance the urban transport needs for commerce and industries in the CARAGA region through the efficient movement of people, goods and services among the major growth centers in the eastern part of Mindanao.

The project consisted of two major construction works: the bypass road inclusive of its linkages to the existing Iligan-Cagayan-Butuan City Road and Surigao-Butuan Road, with a total length of about 10.30 kilometers, and the Diosdado Macapagal Bridge.

The Diosdado Macapagal Bridge, which crosses the Agusan River at about three kilometers apart from the existing Magsaysay Bridge, would provide a more reliable infrastructure with a greater design capacity and safer traffic measures than the existing bridge while the Butuan Bypass Road would divert the traffic passing through the center of the city.

The President arrived at the Bancasi Airport before noon today. She was welcomed by the local officials led by Butuan City Mayor Democrito Plaza III and Agusan del Norte Gov. Erlpe John Amante.

BUTUAN CITY---- In a move to alleviate poverty and ensure food security in Agusan del Norte, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Tuesday ordered the Department of Agriculture (DA) to slash by more than half the irrigation fees it is collecting from subsistence farmers in the province.

Under the President’s directive, the DA would now collect only five sacks of palay, down from the previous 12 sacks per hectare every harvest time from subsistence farmers who avail themselves of irrigation water from the Agusan del Norte Irrigation Project.

Butuan Bishop Juan de Dios Pueblos said the President informed him of the good news during the private lunch hosted by the Butuan Diocese in celebration of the Diocese’s Ruby Jubilee held at the Father Saturnino Urios University Gym here.

"Farmers have been complaining of the costly irrigation fees. Despite their good harvest, very little was left for their families," the Bishop said.

Bishop De Dios said he brought the farmers’ woes to the attention of the President "who immediately responded favorably" to the request.

Farmers from the province’s 11 municipalities draw their irrigation water from the P2.056 billion Bit-os and Aupagan Lower Agusan Development Project-Irrigation Component in Butuan City.

One of the country’s leading rice producers, Agusan del Norte’s economy is predominantly agriculture-based.

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY— National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales reiterated here today that Republic Act No. 9372, otherwise known as the Human Security Act, is meant to protect the rights of the innocent against terrorism and not to stifle leftist organizations or even the opposition

In a media briefing with Defense Undersecretary Ricardo Blancaflor this afternoon at the Pryce Plaza Hotel here, Gonzales said the signing of the new law by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is timely considering that the world is confronted today by a new kind of terrorists "who seem to enjoy seeing innocents murdered using weapons of mass destruction."

"These are the individuals we are after. I don't think we should encourage our opposition or our political organizations to think that they will be lumped with these kind of personalities," he said.

"This law is intended for terrorists. If you are not a terrorist, this law is meant to protect you," he added. 

Gonzales is here to attend an out-of-town Cabinet Security Cluster meeting and the Mindanao Peace and Security Summit which no less than President Arroyo will grace this evening to receive the output of the two-day event.

The President arrived in this so-called city of Golden Friendship at 2:30 p.m. from Butuan City and went straight to the Pryce Hotel.

Blancaflor assured the public that the new law has enough safeguards, saying that in the last two years, no law has been placed under so much scrutiny as the HSA wherein all issues have been debated upon exhaustively in Congress.

He pointed out that there are 22 provisions, including penalties against possible abuse by government enforcers as compared to the only four provisions against terrorists.

* To my fellow Mindanaoans, daghang salamat sa inyong pagtambong dinhi.

* We are here together because we must work together from day one to ensure that we respect the rights of our citizens.

* We must invest in peace and order. Crime is down in the nation because we have made the investments to put more policemen on the street.

* Our military must continue on its path to reform. They must become even more professional every day at the same time they fight to eliminate the armed terrorist threats to the nation from religious extremists or communist terrorists. Whatever ideology is being pursued that undermines our stability must be defeated.

* Hand in hand with the need for economic prosperity is the need to strengthen our institutions of government to ensure that civil rights and social justice are available to all Filipinos, not just a privileged few. We must weed out corruption, stop political violence and build a strong system of justice that people can trust.

* Political violence has been with this nation for way too long. Among our ranks here in this Summit, friends and colleagues have been gunned down in spurts of mindless violence. Spikes of election and political violence, while down, remain too high. Even one death is one death too many for the people who are fighting to be a part of our democratic society.

* This violence extends to the men and women in the media who have put their lives on the line to do their job. We must protect our journalists from violence just as we must protect all innocent civilians.

* The political terrorists who live outside the boundaries of human justice and who have marked the stability of our nation and the rule of law for extinction live by no moral code. They lack all humanity and concern for the people.

* We must all band together as a people and as public servants to stop this violence once and for all. We plan to introduce into the new Congress sweeping legislation that will transform our nation’s response to political violence and remove this stain from our nation. Legislation that will guarantee swift justice through more funding for special courts to prosecute human rights violators. We will strengthen the rights of victims, including more money for enforcement. We will impose tougher penalties for human rights violators and for anyone committing a crime with a firearm.

* If you are armed and kill innocent civilians, you will be tracked down and prosecuted. If you are a communist terrorist, we will stop you. If you are a religious terrorist, we will stop you. If you are a rogue element of our own police or military, we will stop you.

* I have the deepest respect for our military and police institutions as do most Filipinos. We want our nation safe. We trust our men and women who put their life on the line everyday to protect our nation and our communities. Ninety-nine percent of these hard working and patriotic men and women love this nation and abide by the rule of law.

* Yet for our public servants in uniform, fidelity to the Constitution is a sacred duty. These public servants have a moral obligation to uphold the Constitution and to protect the innocent. For this reason, any violent crime that a member of the law enforcement or military community may commit against innocent people is even more wrong and must be stopped. No one is above the law.

* We are entering a new era of civil and human rights. The front line of this effort is built on lifting up our poor and liberating them from poverty. That is the most fundamental human right – to live in dignity free from the fear of hunger and want.

* No less important is to bring political stability to every region so that our people can live in peace, free from the fear of harassment, kidnapping and plunder that are so often part of the communist terrorists who flog a failed ideology. The civil rights of our people will be upheld as we tie down and eliminate enemies of peace and prosperity.

* There is a fundamental difference between those who take up arms and those who take to the ballot box. Our government will protect the political rights of any person who wishes to participate in our democracy however we might disagree on philosophy and approach. We cannot stand idly by, however, and let the purveyors of violence cloak their agenda behind the innocent men and women they hold hostage to their failed ideology. We will wrestle with these failed terrorists to the ground and free the nation to live in peace and harmony.

* This nation will not be complete until we bring peace to Mindanao. Our Muslim brothers and sisters have been working in good faith with our government for many years. We are on the cusp of a permanent peace. The process we have employed has been gaining the attention of the world. We have created a Philippine model for reconciliation that is built on interfaith dialogue, the building of roads, bridges and schools and investments to build up the local economy. The hard power of our military presence is merely to isolate the violent terrorists while our soft power of seeing to the people’s needs is expanding the peace every day. Peace and order will prevail over violence and chaos in the Southern Philippines.

* I am hereby ordering the increased security of vital power and transportation facilities in Mindanao. Let us begin the implementation of the Human Security Act by using it as a tool to prevent multi-billion-peso hydroelectric dams and power grids from being whacked by terrorists. The people have a civic and collective duty to protect essential infrastructure which their taxes paid for.

* Our community assets are at stake. We will suffer blackouts or erratic cellphone signals if these conveniences are disrupted by terrorism. Pag walang koryente, walang trabaho. The Human Security Act is about defending our way of life.

* Equal to our determination to eliminate violence and suppress the violent is our determination to lift up the nation to a brighter future.

OZAMIZ CITY – President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will reopen tomorrow the newly-rehabilitated city airport here nine years it was closed to air traffic in 1998 due to its poor condition.

From Cagayan de Oro City, the President will visit this city also to witness the presentation of the Signed Agreement of the Panguil Bay Bridge Development Consortium.

The Ozamiz City Airport is a secondary airport under the administrative control of the Pagadian Airport – Area Center VII. It has 1,745-meter x 30-meter runway.

The airport development project involves the rehabilitation of terminal building, vehicle parking area, and expansion of apron that includes two components: 1) the construction of river bank protection and concreting of runway; 2) runway markings and obstruction removal.

On the Panguil Bay Development Consortium, the local government units (LGUs) of the provinces of Misamis Occidental, especially Tangub City, and the municipality of Tubod in Lanao Del Norte have formed into a consortium to establish an entity with the aim of helping each other in promoting the Panguil Bay Bridge Project.

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo rallied Mindanaoans today to become active partners of government in fighting criminality, terrorism and poverty to ensure the continuous development of a more peaceful and progressive Mindanao particularly with the impending effectivity of the Human Security Act of 2007.

The President said this at the culmination of the two-day Mindanao Peace and Security Summit themed "Peace and Security: Our Legacy to the Filipino People" this afternoon at the Pryce Hotel here.

"From this summit, let us strive to create a mass movement of Mindanaoans actively engaged in fighting crimes, terrorism, and poverty," the President said.

Earlier, a five-point resolution to combat criminality and terrorism was presented to the President, citing the participants' consensus to uphold human rights and the rule of law, promote the culture of peace, deny support to terrorists, strengthen counter-terrorism drive, and enhance crisis management mechanisms and institutions.

In response to the five-point resolution, the President ordered the increased security of vital power and transport facilities in Mindanao.

"Let us begin the implementation of the Human Security Act by using it as a tool to prevent all these multibillion-peso hydroelectric dams and power grids from being whacked by terrorists," the President said.

The President said the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) would also find ways to grant the wish of summit participants to increase to 30 percent Mindanao's share from the national budget.

As a start, the President said she would task Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap to pour in 30 percent of its budget for farm-to-market roads to Mindanao. The President has also directed the Southern Philippines Development Authority (SPDA) to provide its property in Davao City as the new home of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR). 

On the five-point resolution presented by the summit participants, the President said she is tasking Presidential Assistant for Mindanao Jesus Dureza to ensure that the objectives of the resolution is carried out.

In her remarks, the President said the government is investing in peace and order, conducting economic and political reforms, and strengthening the institutions of government to ensure that civil rights and social justice are also available to all Filipinos.

"We must weed out corruption, stop political violence and build a strong system of justice that people can trust," she stressed.

The President said political violence, terrorism, and other senseless killings that undermine the peace and stability of the nation must be stopped once and for all.

"We must all band together as a people and as public servants to stop this violence once and for all," she added.

To achieve this objective, the President said her administration would propose to Congress sweeping legislations to transform the country's
response to political violence, and guarantee swift justice through the provision of more funds for special courts tasked to prosecute human rights
violators.

The President said government would also strengthen the rights of human rights victims, provide more money for law enforcement, and impose tougher penalties for human rights violators and for anyone committing a crime with the use of firearm.

"If you are armed and kill innocent civilians, you will be tracked down and prosecuted. If you are a communist terrorist, we wil stop you. If you are a religious terrorist, we will stop you. If you are a rogue element of our own police or military, we will stop you," the President warned.

The President said "we are now entering a new era of civil and human rights, the front line of which is built on uplifting and liberating the poor from
poverty."

She said her administration would not stop until lasting peace is achieved in Mindanao, adding that the Philippine model for reconciliation is built on the construction of roads, bridges and schools, investments to shore up the local economy, and interfaith dialogue, which she has been strongly
espousing here and abroad.

"The hard power of our military presence is merely to isolate the violent terrorists while our soft power of seeing to the people's needs is expanding the peace everyday. Peace and order will prevail over violence
and chaos in Southern Philippines," she said.