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| 26 SEPTEMBER 2007 | ||
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| 26 SEPTEMBER 2007 | ||
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PGMA to address 62nd UNGA Session on Friday |
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RP signs two key UN pacts |
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Six new officials named to various gov't posts |
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PGMA increases combat pay of soldiers |
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PGMA begins busy schedule in New York |
| PGMA to address 62nd UNGA Session on Friday |
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President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo left Tuesday
night for New York where she will attend the 62nd Session of the United
Nations General Assembly (UNGA), the Clinton Global Initiative Forum, and
the Third Meeting of the Women Leaders’ Working Group. President Arroyo is set to be welcomed at the Newark International Airport by Ambassador Hilario Davide, head of the Philippine Mission to the United Nations, and by Philippine Consul General to the US Cecilia Rebong. The President and her lean entourage will be billeted at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel where she will be welcomed by Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo, who arrived earlier to sign two conventions at the United Nations headquarters here in behalf of the Philippine government. The President’s first order of business in New York Wednesday is her attendance at the 10 a.m. (New York time) opening plenary of the Clinton Global Initiative Forum at the Sheraton Hotel New York. She will then go back to the Waldorf Astoria where she will receive officials of the Millennium Challenge Corporation who will call on her at 11:25 a.m.. President Arroyo’s first day in New York will also include her gracing the lunch hosted by TeleTech led by its chairman and chief executive officer Kenneth Tuchman, at the Louis VXI Suite at the Waldorf. The President will then proceed to the Broadhurst Theatre at West 44th St. where she will watch the matinee presentation of “Les Miserables” starring Lea Salonga and other Filipino-American members of the cast. In the evening, the President will attend a dinner hosted by the Clinton Global Initiative at the Museum of Modern Art. Coffee follows with leaders of the Filipino community in New York at the Jade Room of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. While her first day will see her going the rounds of six engagements, President Arroyo’s second day will see her in even more activities -- eight to be exact – including her delivering a speech before the US-ASEAN Business Council which will hold a luncheon roundtable at the Waldorf Norse Suite. The lunch will be hosted by Martin Sullivan, president and CEO of the American International Group (AIG). Just before this roundtable, the President will have an exclusive interview by the business editor of the New York Times, Marcus Mabry, in her hotel suite. The President’s six other engagements for Sept. 27 (Thursday) will include a marathon of four calls at the Waldorf Hotel from top organization executives, namely: Headstrong and Merill Lynch executives at the Waldorf’s Sutton Suite; James Livesay, SVP Divisional Executive of the Retail Bank Operations Washington Mutual at The Library of the Waldorf Astoria; Satendra Gupta, chairman and CEO of the UST Global Inc. at the Waldorf’s Sutton Suite; and the JP Morgan (Bank of New York) at The Library. After dinner at the Philippine Outsourcing Summit at the hotel’s Starlight Rooftop at the 18th floor, the President will treat the Philippine media delegation to coffee at her hotel suite. The President will start her third day in New York early with her 7:30 a.m. attendance at the Third Meeting of the Women Leaders Working Group whose theme revolves around “Progress on Women’s Empowerment.” The said meeting of power women will be held at the Waldorf Hotel’s Empire Suite. At 10 a.m., President Arroyo will speak before the 62nd Session of the United Nations General Assembly at the UN’s Plenary Hall. The President will be the third speaker of the morning session. Her speech will be immediately followed by her meeting with UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon at the UN Room 200 of the Plenary Hall. While at the UN, President Arroyo will also have conversations with Filipinos working in the United Nations before passing by the book-launching ceremonies for a book on interfaith dialogue at the UNICEF Garden. |
| RP signs two key UN pacts |
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UNITED NATIONS, New York (via PLDT) – The
Philippines signed on Wednesday two United Nations (UN) agreements which
Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo said only shows the country’s
respect for the rights of persons with disabilities and interest in useful
reforms. The two agreements are the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and the Convention on the Use of Electronic Communications in International Contracts. Romulo said the signatories “engage themselves to develop and carry out policies, laws and administrative measures for securing the rights recognized in the convention, and abolish laws, regulations, customs and practices that constitute discrimination.” He stressed that the convention is not asking for any new rights for the disabled, nor asking for anything that they don’t already enjoy, but only that “persons with disabilities enjoy the same opportunities in society that everybody else already enjoys.” The above convention is one of the fastest negotiated treaties in the history of the United Nations, what with its adoption last December after only three years of negotiation, according to Romulo. The Convention on the Use of Electronic Communications in International Contracts, which was adopted by the UN General Assembly on Nov. 23, 2005, “seeks to enhance the legal certainty and commercial predictability of electronic communications used in relation to international contracts.” The 2005 convention addresses the following: the determination of a party’s location in an electronic environment; the time and place of dispatch and the receipt of electronic communications; the use of automated message systems for contract formation; and the criteria to be used for establishing functional equivalence between electronic communications and paper documents – including “original” paper documents – as well as between electronic authentication methods and hand-written signatures. In committing to the said convention, Romulo said the Philippines is “deeply interested in useful reforms that can spur the development of cross-border online commerce in the developed and developing world.” This, especially because the Philippine economy is “growing and closely tied to international commerce,” and because the Philippines is a “country on the leading edge of the information age,” he said. |
| Six new officials named to various gov't posts |
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Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita announced
today the appointment by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of six officials
to various government posts effective immediately. Ermita made the announcement during his media briefing this afternoon in Malacanang. Department of Justice (DOJ) Undersecretary Linda Hornilla, a former police commissioner and a former senior state prosecutor, heads the new appointees. Hornilla replaced Undersecretary Macabangkit Lanto who ran for congressman in Lanao del Sur last May. Also appointed were DOJ Assistant Secretary Arthel Caronongan, a former Associate Commissioner of the Bureau of Immigration (BI) under the DOJ; Commissioner Nieves de Castro representing the employers sector under the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE); Assistant Secretary Eduardo C. Nolasco of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), Assistant Secretary Eubert F. Gutierrez of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), and Assistant Secretary Parisya Hasmin Taradji of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). |
| PGMA increases combat pay of soldiers |
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Soldiers rendering combat duty are now entitled
to an increase in combat pay after President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo issued
an Executive Order formally allowing this special privilege to the brave and
vigilant members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. In issuing E.O. No. 658, the President and her government recognize and appreciate “the heroism and sacrifices of the members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) who are directly involved in combat operations to preserve the internal security of the country.” Under the EO signed last Sept. 6, members of the AFP assigned in field units will be given an additional incentive of P150 per day apart from the current P240 per month allocation “while actually engaged in combat operation effective July 1, 2007.” President Arroyo had earlier ordered this increase in combat pay in her speech during the National Heroes’ Day celebration in Cagayan de Oro City last Aug. 27. She told the Department of Budget and Management to utilize the savings realized from the recent bidding for the Armed Forces modernization program “to increase the combat pay and force protection of our soldiers and marines.” "The recent bidding under our Armed Forces modernization resulted to savings of P1.28 billion, with P400 million saved from the squad automatic weapon alone. In thanks for this huge savings of the procurement of our Armed Forces and also in gratitude for our soldiers and marines who gave up their lives in these past battles, I direct the Department of Budget and Management to authorize the Armed Forces to avail of the use of these savings I have just mentioned to increase the combat pay and force protection of our soldiers and marines," the President said in her speech. She explained that these savings and budget allocations for the Armed Forces, which also include the Philippine National Police, were made possible through the strong showing of the economy which, she said, was brought about by the tough fiscal reforms implemented by her administration. Because of these tough fiscal reforms, the President said, "our overall economy has reached a new level of maturity and stability with some of the strongest macroeconomic fundamentals in a decade." "The single biggest act that led to the surge in our economy was the passage of our Value Added Tax which in one bold stroke raised enormous amounts of new revenue," she pointed out. "Part of the gains from our economic measures are being used to modernize all the Armed Forces, meaning the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the (Philippine National) Police, and improve their fighting conditions," she added. |
| PGMA begins busy schedule in New York |
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NEW YORK CITY (via PLDT)—Shaking off jet lag
after a 16-hour flight from Manila to New York via San Francisco, President
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo held separate meetings Wednesday morning (afternoon
in Manila) with officials of the Clinton Global Institute (CDI) and TeleTech. Barely four hours after arriving at the Waldorf Astoria Towers along Madison Avenue, where she and her lean delegation are billeted, the President met with CGI officials at the Sheraton New York Hotel at 10 a.m. (New York time), which was followed by another meeting with TeleTech officials. After the lunch hosted by TeleTech Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Kenneth Tuchman, the President will proceed to the Broadhurst Theatre at West 44th St. where she will watch the matinee presentation of “Les Miserables” starring Lea Salonga and other Filipino-American members of the cast. In the evening, the President will attend a dinner hosted by the Clinton Global Initiative at the Museum of Modern Art. Coffee follows with leaders of the Filipino community in New York at the Jade Room of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. While her first day will see her going the rounds of six engagements, President Arroyo’s second day (Thursday) will see her in even more activities -- eight to be exact – including her delivering a speech before the US-ASEAN Business Council which will hold a luncheon roundtable at the Waldorf Norse Suite. The lunch will be hosted by Martin Sullivan, president and CEO of the American International Group (AIG). Just before this roundtable, the President will have an exclusive interview by the business editor of the New York Times, Marcus Mabry, in her hotel suite. The President’s six other engagements for Sept. 27 (Thursday) will include a marathon of four calls at the Waldorf Hotel from top organization executives, namely: Headstrong and Merill Lynch executives at the Waldorf’s Sutton Suite; James Livesay, SVP Divisional Executive of the Retail Bank Operations Washington Mutual at The Library of the Waldorf Astoria; Satendra Gupta, chairman and CEO of the UST Global Inc. at the Waldorf’s Sutton Suite; and the JP Morgan (Bank of New York) at The Library. After dinner at the Philippine Outsourcing Summit at the hotel’s Starlight Rooftop at the 18th floor, the President will treat the Philippine media delegation to coffee at her hotel suite. The President will start her third day (Friday) in New York early with her 7:30 a.m. attendance at the Third Meeting of the Women Leaders Working Group whose theme revolves around “Progress on Women’s Empowerment.” The said meeting of power women will be held at the Waldorf Hotel’s Empire Suite. At 10 a.m., President Arroyo will speak before the 62nd Session of the United Nations General Assembly at the UN’s Plenary Hall. The President will be the third speaker of the morning session. Her speech will be immediately followed by her meeting with UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon at the UN Room 200 of the Plenary Hall. While at the UN, President Arroyo will also have conversations with Filipinos working in the United Nations before passing by the book-launching ceremonies for a book on interfaith dialogue at the UNICEF Garden. |