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| 14 SEPTEMBER 2007 | ||
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| 14 SEPTEMBER 2007 | ||
| PGMA orders clearing of illegal traders, settlers along Roxas Blvd. |
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President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ordered this
morning government agencies and local officials concerned to clear the Roxas
Boulevard area of illegal traders and settlers before the onset of the
Christmas holidays. The President issued the order after listening to the concerns of officials from Barangay 76 in Pasay City led by Chairman Cecilio San Miguel during her visit there this morning. The concerns include the alarmingly growing number of Mindanao traders who have since set up their own mosque in the reclamation area near Baclaran. Government agencies and local officials -- including Pasay City Mayor Wenceslao “Peewee” Trinidad – had earlier recommended relocating the informal settlers along Roxas Blvd. who, the officials said, are actually well-off traders pre-positioning for the Christmas holidays. The President said the group of Maranao traders could be returned to their place of origin via the military’s C-130 planes, and maybe relocated in a resettlement site in Zamboanga City complete with sewerage system and livelihood projects. President Arroyo visited Barangay 76 at the vicinity of the Cuneta Astrodome along Roxas Blvd. She later met with and addressed a group of women at the nearby Philippine International Convention Center (PICC). An official of the Philippine Relocation Authority (PRA) seconded the observation of the barangay officials, and reported to the President that the said group – which has been declared illegal settlers via a court order -- has made the mosque their residence and even their warehouse. Datu Ali Sangki, newly-appointed head of the Office of Muslim Affairs (OMA), said such desecration is not allowed, and promised the President that he would check on the said mosque immediately after the meeting at the Cuneta Astrodome. Not all Mindanao traders in the area are illegal settlers, according to Mayor Trinidad. He lauded a group of Muslim traders who have since bought their own apartment and built their own mosque complete with building permit. The members of the group sell their wares in their own area and are “not troublemakers,” Trinidad said. The President advised Mayor Trinidad to help relocate the mosque to accelerate efforts to clear the area immediately before Christmastime. The mosque in question is occupying the area reserved for a trans-modal terminal for Pasay’s Baclaran area. President Arroyo said the government could build a village for the informal settlers in their province of origin if they are not accepted in the existing relocation site in Zamboanga City. The PRA said 70 percent of the group of 120 families have agreed to the P30,000 per family offered as relocation assistance, while 30 percent insisted on staying in the area as it is near Baclaran where they ply their wares. |
| Manulife to stay in RP for 100 more years, PGMA told |
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President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo welcomed this
afternoon Manulife’s bullishness on the Philippines as the insurance company
has expanded its business in the country from life insurance policy to
business process outsourcing (BPO). “We like it here. We intend to stay 100 more years or even more,” Manulife Financial Corp. President Dominic D’ Alessandro said during a call on the President at Malacañang’s Music Room. Alessandro said the BPO office of Manulife in the Philippines has been operational for 15 months now with 500 personnel and it intends to expand to one thousand by 2008. The Manulife executive specifically cited the English-speaking, hardworking and very qualified Filipino workforce as behind the successful operations of his company in the country. He also noted the “great technology” in the country, making their business here easier and more efficient. “That’s the new world of the economy now,” the President said of Manulife’s BPO operations here. The Chief Executive also took time to boast of the country’s growing economy, posting a remarkable 7.5 percent growth in the second quarter of this year. Manulife Philippines started its operations in 1907 and has become one of the country’s top 10 life insurance companies. Alessandro said his call on the President was intended to signify Manulife’s intention to stay in the Philippines. |
| Philip Morris sets up $600M Regional Leaf Warehouse at Subic Freeport |
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Philip Morris Inc. (PMI) is set to establish
before year-end a $600-million PMI Regional Leaf Warehouse at the Subic
Freeport in Zambales, further boosting President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s
vision of the Freeport as a regional hub for the Asia-Pacific region. This was revealed by PMI Philippines Manufacturing Inc. President Christopher James Nelson to the President when he paid a courtesy call on her at Malacañang‘s Music Room this afternoon. Nelson said once the regional leaf warehouse is in place, all tobacco leaf harvests in the country and in the region would be stored here and would be shipped to other PMI manufacturing firms all over the world. “This will tremendously help our tobacco farmers in the North…their production will increase,” Sen. Richard Gordon, who accompanied Nelson, said. Gordon further said that PMI is planning to negotiate with Thailand the sale of Philippines-manufactured PMI cigarettes in that country. But, most importantly, Gordon said the PMI warehouse at Subic would be a “great support to the development of Subic as a regional hub. PMI Philippines., an affiliate of PMI, is one of the market leaders in the Philippine cigar and cigarette industry that produces and sells PMI’s well-known cigarette brands. PMI‘s presence in the Philippines could be traced back to 1955 when it entered into a licensing agreement with La Suerte Cigar and Cigarettes Inc. From then on, PM products were introduced in the country until 2001 when PMI acquired its license to exclusively sell and distribute its products. |
| PGMA receives new German, Canadian envoys |
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President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo accepted today
the credentials of the new German and Canadian ambassadors to the
Philippines in brief rites held at the Rizal Hall of Malacanang. German Ambassador Christian Ludwig Weber Lortsch and Canadian Ambassador Robert Desjardins received warm arrival honors at the Malacanang Palace grounds before meeting the President. “I accept your letter of credentials. I look forward to your fruitful tour of duty here. Welcome to the Philippines,” the President told the two envoys. Lortsch was accompanied by Pit Heltman, deputy chief of mission of the German Embassy; Markus Tschan, 3rd secretary; Brigit Fisel-Roestle and Linda Tippkaemper, both attachés. “I have the honor to present my letter of credentials to you,” Lortsch told the President. “I feel in deep privilege to serve one of the oldest and liveliest democracies in Asia, the Philippines’ democracy which is very respectable and reliable. We both enjoy the political, cultural, diplomatic and excellent relations.” Desjardins, on the other hand, looks forward to serving the Philippines and the Filipino people. “It is a great honor and privilege to serve your people and it is my pleasure to further strengthen the diplomatic relations between the Philippines and Canada,” Desjardins told the Chief Executive. Present at the presentation rites was Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo. |
| PGMA presses for computerized elections starting with forthcoming barangay polls |
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President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo called this
morning for the computerization of election processes as she pointed out
that her administration has “long provided funds for computerization of
elections.” “Let’s campaign for the modernization of voting, counting and canvassing -- starting with the forthcoming barangay elections,” President Arroyo told the participants of the Women’s National Electoral Assembly 2007 which is celebrating 70 years of women’s suffrage in the Philippines at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City. The Chief Executive – the second woman president of the Philippines – also called on women leaders to “work for the day that no woman in the Philippines has to live a life of poverty and exploitation.” President Arroyo said that the “suffrages of seventy years ago… will be able to truly rest in peace when… we can say that every Filipina is liberated -- not only electorally but in every other way -- to fulfill their hopes and dreams, free from fear and full of opportunity.” The “suffrages” who fought for the Filipina’s right to vote include Sofia De Veyra, Josefa Llanes Escoda, Pura Villanueva Kalaw, Trinidad Legarda, Pilar Hidalgo Lim, Concepcion Felix Rodriguez, and “many others whose memory today still inspires respect and admiration…” The jubilee celebration -- which has the theme, “Charting Our Future For God, Country and Family” – was organized by the National Federation of Women’s Clubs headed by Julita Benedicto as overall chairperson, and the National Federation of Women’s Clubs headed by Ester Sta. Ana. It was attended by some 1,000 Filipino women leaders and their organizations, and by United States Ambassador to the Philippines Kristie Kenney, who was dubbed by the President as “our very outstanding American woman, who's representing her country in the Philippines.” Addressing the two-day national assembly which commemorates the signing by President Manuel L. Quezon on Sept. 15, 1937 of the Philippine Suffrage Act, the President called on her fellow women leaders to “exercise our right of suffrage to achieve the right of women to have more economic choice, to determine the future of their lives and the lives of their families.” “And to be able to exercise our right of suffrage to its fullest, let us crusade for electoral reforms,” she stressed. The 70-year-old Act granted equal right of suffrage to both Filipino men and women. “We can disagree on political goals but not on the conduct of democratic elections. And let us lobby for a law to fund poll watchdogs -- and a stronger law against election-related violence. “To be able to lobby for all of these, as women, we count on organizations like the women's organizations represented here in this federation's gathering to empower women to organize at the grassroots level with training on leadership, communication, negotiation, assertiveness,” the President added. Saying that “women’s rights are human rights,” President Arroyo said “our society must do everything in its power to ensure that these rights are respected and protected.” “Let's use our right of suffrage to modernize the Philippines to make the life of our sisters a better one with more economic opportunity, greater social justice and a better future for our children.” “What an honor to be here to join hands with you to celebrate 70 years of Filipino women suffrage and to extol its champions… Today, 70 years later, we can say that we are proud that women in the Philippines got the right to vote ahead of women in many other parts of the world,” the President pointed out. President Arroyo also noted that “women in the Philippines rose to the very top of political and corporate world ahead of women in many other developed parts... of the world.” And aside from being champions in the workplace, Filipino women are also champions in the home. “We hold the purse strings, unlike in many other parts of the world,” she said. |
