To enhance the competitive advantages of the country’s five super regions, the government is set to complete this year eight airport projects worth some P15.5 billion that would further promote tourism and logistics by providing a more efficient mode of transport for goods and passengers.

Presidential Management Staff (PMS) Director General Cerge Remonde said these eight airport projects are part of the 31 priority airport projects costing P94.37 billion targeted to be completed by 2011 under the Medium-Term Public Investment Program (MTPIP).

At a media briefing this morning in Malacaņang together with Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) General Manager Alfonso Cusi, Remonde said the opening of 10 new airports and improvement of 21 others are part of the social payback from the implementation of fiscal and other economic reforms of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

"We have sufficient funding for all these projects. These are part of the social dividends from the reform agenda of the President. This is where your EVAT (expanded value-added tax) goes," Remonde said.

Remonde said the eight airport projects set for completion this year are the Casiguran, Bulan, Kalibo, New Iloilo, New Bacolod, Siargao, Ozamis, and Cotabato Airports.

"Four are due to be finished by the first half of the year, namely the Casiguran, Kalibo, New Iloilo, and Ozamis Airports while the rest are expected to be completed before the year ends. Twenty others will be completed before the end of 2010 and three more by 2011," Remonde said.

The super regions concept was outlined by the President in her State-of-the-Nation Address (SONA) last July 24. The five super regions are the North Luzon Agribusiness Quadrangle, Metro Luzon Urban Beltway, Central Philippines Mega-Region, Mindanao Mega-Region, and the cyber corridor serving as the cyber link among the four regions.

Of the 31 airport projects, Remonde said 16 are being improved or constructed in Central Philippines; six in the North Luzon Agribusiness Quadrangle; seven in Mindanao, and two in the Luzon Urban Beltway that would improve the transport of agricultural products and provide access to key tourism destinations nationwide.

On the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3, Remonde said remedial works need to be completed first before its targeted rolling opening, originally set this month, can push through.

Cusi said the March 31 opening has been postponed on the recommendation of the Hong Kong-based consultants hired by MIAA that found deficiencies in the construction of NAIA-3.

The MIAA ordered a structural review of the NAIA-3 after a portion of it collapsed days before its scheduled opening in March 2006.

Returning Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) will now have an easier time reintegrating themselves into society after President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo inaugurated today the newly built National Reintegration Center for OFWs (NRCO) inside the Blas F. Ople Development Center in Intramuros, Manila.

Touted as the only facility of its type in the Philippines and in the world, the NCRO is a "One Stop Center" that will provide all the necessary reintegration services – personal, community and economic – for migrant workers and their families.

The Center will also serve as a "Service Networking Hub" to facilitate the delivery of services by cooperating stakeholders and service providers to address the OFWs and their families’ needs, including the development of their communities.

Under the program, the NRCO will develop, implement and evolve progressive and responsive reintegration projects for OFWs and their families that are attuned to their communities’ needs so as to maximize the benefits of migration for development, among other provisions.

Among the services the Center offers are: Job Search Assistance, Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development, Training and Re-tooling Assistance, Psycho-social Services, Brain Gain Movement Initiatives, Local Government Unit (LGU) and Community Linkages, Special Retirement Programs, Special Remittance Packages, Investment Portfolios and their providers and Advocacy and Information Programs as a stepping stone to Family Circles.

The President cut the ceremonial ribbon and unveiled the marker during the rites held at the entrance of the Center.

Assisting the President were Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) Secretary Arturo Brion, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) Administrator Marianito Roque, International Organization for Migration Director General Brunson McKinley and DoLE Undersecretary Danny Cruz.

The President was given a brief tour of the Center’s facilities which include a computerized Job Search Assistance Kiosk that will be launched next month and a visit to the NCRO’s official website (www.ncro.dole.gov.ph).

The Job Search Assistance Kiosk simplifies every Filipino’s task of seeking the right job by providing a list of employment opportunities that will match his job skills.

All the Filipino employee-hopeful has to do is enter the specific job he wishes to apply for at the Job Search Assistance Kiosk and the computer furnishes him with a list of possible employers.

DoLE’s Bureau of Local Employment Director Johnny Dela Torre, who showed the President how to operate the computer, said DoLE representatives will be on hand to assist jobseekers with the process and answer any question they may have regarding their application.

After the tour, the President observed an ongoing Foreign Language and Culture Appreciation Course for new OFWs at the second floor.

The President stopped by an ongoing Cantonese class handled by Cecilia Wong Lai-Fun and blurted out an emphatic "Ni-hao!" to the students numbering around 50.

The President then had lunch with officers, staff and employees of the Center.

In inaugurating the Center, Brion said the President and the country "has succeeded in establishing a full global circuit for OFWs beginning from their departure until their return and reintegration to the local, social and economic mainstream."

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo awarded trophies today to the Ten Outstanding Philippine Soldiers (TOPS) 2006 in recognition of and gratitude to the gallantry of select members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in preserving the country’s sovereignty.

Assisting the President during the awarding rites this afternoon at the Rizal Hall of Malacanang were Defense Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane Jr., AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr., Metrobank Foundation president Aniceto Sobrepena, and Rotary Club of Makati president Atty. Laurence Hector Arroyo.

The 10 awardees are Lieutenant Colonel Carlito Galvez Jr., Staff Sergeants Blas Fernandez and Roselito Tayros, all of the Philippine Army (PA); Captain Jesus Millan, Technical Sergeant Rogelio Obillo and Seaman First Class Hospital Corpsman Romeo Casten, of the Philippine Navy (PN);

Lieutenant Colonel Rolando Aquino, Master Sergeant Normelito Enero, Technical Sergeant Julius Melvin Billedo, all of the Philippine Air Force (PAF); and Colonel Commie Pagunuran, Commanding Officer of the Camp Navarro General Hospital in Zamboanga City.

Each awardee received a cash prize of P200,000 courtesy of the Metrobank Foundation.

The TOPS search is a joint undertaking of Metrobank Foundation and the Rotary Club of Makati as an expression of the civilian sector’s appreciation to the excellence and heroism of the men and women in the military.

After the TOPS awards, the President also inducted Ambassador Ma. Zeneida Collinson as Philippine envoy to Sweden with concurrent jurisdiction on Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia.