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| 13 SEPTEMBER 2007 | ||
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| 13 SEPTEMBER 2007 | ||
| PGMA creates two bodies to ensure transparency, good governance in massive public investments |
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President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has created a
Procurement Transparency Board (PTB) under the Government Procurement Policy
Board (GPPB), and a Pro-Performance Infrastructure Monitoring Group (PIMG).
President Arroyo said the PTB – which was approved by the Cabinet last Tuesday – shall “ensure transparency and good governance in our massive public investments.” The president revealed the creation of the board during the launching ceremony of the Bishops-Ulama Conference (BUC) Armed Forces of the Philippines-Philippine National Police (AFP-PNP) Forum for Peace held at Malacanang’s Rizal Hall last night. The PTB will be chaired by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), and have members from the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Department of Interior and Local Governments (DILG), “and the economic planning departments, plus representatives of civil society organizations for procurement reform, which trains and fields external observers in government and awards committee nationwide.” Speaking before the BUC-AFP-PNP group, the President stressed that the transparency group shall “monitor procurement bidding and report anomalies to agency heads as well as governance bodies like the Ombudsman and the Commission on Audit.” The President added that the Cabinet also approved the creation of a separate infra monitoring group “which shall also harness civil society and the private sector in ensuring that public works projects serve the needs and objectives for which they are undertaken, and contract terms and timetables are complied with.” The President announced the creation of the two bodies as she revealed that her administration has created six million jobs in six years, which has “helped raise wages, lower the rate of poverty…” and that “even the World Bank and the ADB (Asian Development Bank) say that – invest in education and health care and invest heavily in roads, bridges and vital services.” “This is what the people of the nation deserve. And I would like to report to our good bishops-ulamas that to ensure transparency and good governance in our massive public investments, we are creating… a procurement transparency group…” |
| Construction of Masinloc 600-megawatt power plant starts soon, winning bidder tells PGMA |
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Officials of Singapore based AES Transpower Pte.
Ltd., the winning bidder for the construction of Masinloc power plant in
Zambales, told President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo this morning that they are
more than ready to build another 600-megawatt (MW) coal-fired
electricity-producing facility to augment the country’s energy requirement. In an interview immediately after their meeting with the President, Paul Hanrahan, president and chief executive officer of AES said they told the President that they were “pleased” with the way the bidding process had turned out and that they were “committed” to completing the sale as soon as possible. “And we’re also committed to begin the process of building a second unit in Masinloc which will be another 600-megawatt unit which will be fundamental part of our business strategy to expand,” he added. Hanrahan said he expects construction of the second power plant to begin next year right after rehabilitation works on the original Masinloc power plant are completed. “In the first year, there will be certain amounts of investment to improve the reliability and the performance of the (first) plant and then we will move on to the second unit which will start with the planning in accordance to developing the second phase of Masinloc which has always been part of the plan to have a second plant,” Hanrahan said. AES won the bid for the purchase of the Masinloc power plant by placing the highest bid with its $930 million offer through its unit, Masinloc Power Partners Co., Ltd. The bid proved to be the highest bid for the power plant and bested other bidders including Anglo Cayman Energy Development Company Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of the world’s top coal producer Beijing Guohua Electric Power Corp., and Masinloc Consolidated Power, Inc., a partnership between Ranhill Berhad A. Brown Company, Inc. and First Gen Luzon Power Corp. of the Lopez group. Hanrahan said the President was “very pleased” with the development and expressed “encouragement” at the prospect of more investments in the power sector. “She was very positive. She was pleased to see one of the processes (in the privatization of the country’s power plants) going well,” Hanrahan said. “She was also very encouraged about the idea of having more investments in the power sector because she sees it as a way to further develop the market and to cause more efficiency and more competitiveness in the (power) market,” he added. The President has been pushing for the privatization of the government’s power generating assets to meet one of the requirements of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001, which requires 70 percent privatization before an open access regime can take effect in the power sector. The advent of open competition is expected to bring about cheaper electricity rates as consumers may choose their own supplier of power. |
| We must be a government that abides by what the courts of the land decide on matters of dispute - PGMA |
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“We live by the rule of law. We abide by what
the courts of the land decide.” Thus stressed President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo Wednesday night as she addressed the Bishop-Ulama Conference (BUC) Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) –Philippine National Police (PNP) Peace Forum at the Rizal Hall of Malacanang. In her 15-minute speech before the peace-making group, President Arroyo said “we must be a government that honors contracts and agreements that go through the required processes despite media attacks.” Saying she is “bound and determined to captain a steady ship,” the President pointed out, that the government must abide by what the courts of the land decide on matters of dispute. She hailed the BUC and dubbed it “the bastion of collective faith in our nation.” This, because “in Mindanao, we have been able to meld together confidence-building measures grounded on strong interfaith dialogue under the leadership of the Bishop-Ulama Conference.” “You are 11 years old now and so you preceded all these fashionable advocacy for interfaith dialogue, and I was very honored that during the 60th anniversary of the United Nations, when the Philippines presided over the interfaith dialogue, I (had) a story to tell the of the Bishops-Ulama Conference and you have been doing all these years.” The President credited the BUC for the peace agreement that the government is about to have with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) saying she remains optimistic that the country can overcome the final barriers on ancestral domain that can give finality to the peace. The President also lauded the AFP and the PNP as “representing our fighting faith in the war between good and evil.” “Our men and women in uniform are good upstanding and loyal patriots, fighting to protect our country everyday. We must respect their command structure and disclosure rules, which are indispensable for our security,” she said. Thanking the BUC-AFP-PNP for the peace covenant that was handed to her by Archbishop Orlando Quevedo, President Arroyo promised to “transform (the covenant) into action, on the premise that peace and development are twinned – one cannot exist for long without the other.” “I call on our leaders in public and private positions of responsibility, in civilian and military life to join, to continue joining, to continue to chart a course of investment in our people and economic growth,” she said. The President said her administration has “stayed focused on what the Filipinos yearn for most” as she noted that Filipinos are now “tired of political drama and social instability.” “We are entering a new era where the vast majority wants a predictable future, a steady job and a calm political climate. We are moving on as a nation. The people are concerned about maintaining peace, order and stability. We have been through many upheavals. The people deserve a stable government and economic progress. That is what they are getting now.” |
| PGMA unveils ambitious environment agenda in an updated development plan |
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President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo unveiled this
morning the environment agenda of the Medium-Term Development Plan (MTDP)
which she said the Cabinet approved for updating last Tuesday. The President disclosed the agenda during the signing of the memorandum of agreement among four groups – including Toyota Motor Corporation – for the reforestation of the northernmost tip of the Sierra Madre mountain range in Peñablanca, Cagayan. In the MOU signing ceremonies, the President lauded Toyota Motor Corporation for funding the six-year $3-million reforestation project as she recalled that five years earlier in 2002, she had signed Proclamation 484 expanding the Penablanca protected landscape from 4,130 hectares to 118,782 hectares to include the surrounding seascape. “We are determined to conserve the Sierra Madre Mountain range. It constitutes the largest remaining block of natural rainforest in the Philippines,” assured the President who witnessed the MOU signing between Toyota and Conservation International, the NGO that will reforest the 2,500 hectares of denuded Sierra Madre slopes. The MOU was also signed by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) which “shall facilitate project implementation to make sure there are no hindrances to full success”; and the local government of Penablanca. The President said the launching of the reforestation project was a “great time” as she revealed the launching two days earlier last Tuesday of the updating of the country’s Medium-Term Development Plan (MTDP). “And there is no better audience than this distinguished group with which to restate our environment agenda for the year 2007 and beyond – the main skeletal structure of what will be the chapter on the environment,” she said. “Our vision is that we will take our place alongside other modernized nations in 20 years,” she added. The President revealed that she wants to press ahead with the massive Green Philippines Environmental Plan that is “comprehensive in scope and through in execution…” President Arroyo said the plan includes four areas namely, reforestation; scrubbing the land and air of pollutants that endanger the health of our citizens; energy independence; and preservation of reefs and waterways and wildlife. “Part of a bright new future for our nation is to control our over reliance on energy. To become free from overdependence on foreign oil and become more self-sufficient through the use of sustainable, alternative forms of energy, we can harness our sun, wind and geothermal resource, and produce our own clean fuels through biofuels, and not overly rely on foreign suppliers,” she pointed out. The President stressed that “investing in vital infrastructure includes not just building up new steel structure that will endure, but to tear down those old and unreliable buildings and bridges that are no longer safe and operational.” “And we must also build up our environment as a reflection of our commitment to our quality of life – people need to breathe clean air and swim in clean water while we also build manufacturing and bridges to span our waters. This will enhance our national security, lift up our economy, and preserve our environment,” she said. |
| PGMA inducts officers and members of Presidential Coordinating Task Force on Education |
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President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo swore in today
the members of the Presidential Coordinating Task Force on Education (PCTFE)
who would assess, plan and set the policy direction in reforming the
country’s educational system. Last August, the President signed Executive Order No. 652 creating the task force to ensure the provision of quality education for Filipinos to develop world-class human resource and thereby accelerate the Philippines’ ranking in global competitiveness. Among those inducted by the President this afternoon at the Rizal Hall of Malacañang were Task Force chairman Dr. Bienvenido Nebres, a veteran educator and concurrent president of the Ateneo de Manila University, and his co-chairman, Commission on Higher Education (CHED) chairman Romulo Neri. The task force members who took their oath were Presidential Assistant for Education Dr. Mona Valisno, Education Secretary Jesli Lapus, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) Director-General Augusto Syjuco, Dr. Jose Abueva of the Kalayaan College, Dr. Emmanuel Angeles of the Angeles University Foundation, Dr. Victor Limlingan representing the economic sector, and Ambassador Donald Dee as representative of the industry sector. Last Sept. 3, the task force members held a preparatory meeting on how they would support the President’s vision to develop globally competitive human resource that can deliver quality output and services through the provision of quality education for all. During that meeting, the members agreed to improve teacher education through re-trainings, lessen the number of drop-outs, and ensure that the Filipino family’s investments in the country’s educational system get the best possible returns, such as jobs. After the oath taking, the President gave the Presidential Citation to the Marist Brothers of the Schools, a congregation of religious lay Brothers who, since 1948, significantly contributed to the education of the youth and community development in far-flung areas of the country. The President led the awarding of citations to the top 20 Grade 6 public school students who topped the National Achievement Test (NAT) given by the Department of Education (DepEd) to over 1.6 million elementary students last March. |
