The government will not waiver in its commitment to economic reform and fiscal discipline, whatever the political cost.

This, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo emphasized today in her annual State of the Nation Address (SONA) at the Batasang Pambansa in Quezon City by way of assuring investors here and abroad that her administration is bent on pursuing its goals despite the ongoing political crisis.

"This story should work itself out as one about an economy as resilient and full of potential as its people are patient and hardworking, guided by a government that is able to pass a no-nonsense budget and make the tough decisions to put our fiscal house in order," the President said.

She was referring to the government’s titanic struggle to enact the three laws that comprise the biggest financial package in the country’s history – the Attrition Act of 2005 (R.A. 9335), Indexation of Excise Tax on Tobacco and Liquor (R.A. 9334), and Expanded Value Added Tax (E-VAT) Law (R.A. 9337).

"This is the one reform that will snap the chain that has bound our future to a profligate past and the debt-burdened present," she said.

This, the President added, will break the vicious cycle of financing development "by borrowing and having to borrow again just to service those loans."

"Indeed our story as a country on the verge of takeoff is real," the President said. "Analysts need only to look at our stock market, and even the peso-dollar exchange rate, to sense the strong anticipation of significant improvements, if only we would overcome the tendency to become our worst enemy."

The President was referring to the political system that has, according to her, become a hindrance to national progress.

"Over the years, our political system has degenerated to the extent that it is difficult for anyone to make any headway yet keep his hands clean," she said.

As a country on the verge of takeoff, the President said the economy grew more than 6 percent last year while four million jobs were created in the last four years.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today lamented that the Philippine political system has so degenerated to a point where it has become difficult for any one to make any headway while keeping his hands clean.

"It is time to start the great debate on Charter Change. The sooner, the better," she said in her State of the Nation Address (SONA) before a joint session of Congress at the Batasang Pambansa Complex in Quezon City.

The President said the country’s political system may still be capable of achieving great reforms, but has become the source of frustrations for many Filipinos.

"To be sure, the system is still capable of great reforms but, by and large, our political system has betrayed its promise to each new generation of Filipinos, not a few of whom are voting with their feet going abroad and leaving that system behind," she noted.

She said politicians may have done their best, but their best seemed not enough, given the present system.

"It is time to turn to the people, bring them into the government – and change the way that government is done," she added.

President Arroyo observed that Filipinos now want a government that works for them at every level – "good government that begins at their doorstep in the barangay, and does not end before the closed door of a bureaucrat in Metro Manila."

The mode of Charter Change, she pointed out, is the exclusive prerogative of Congress, but hinted that "a Constituent Assembly (or the Senate and the House of Representatives convened as one body to propose Constitutional change) may give our people the quickest reforms."

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today said "permanent peace in Mindanao is now within reach" with the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) expected to sign a peace accord shortly.

The President expressed this optimism in the State of the Nation Address (SONA) she delivered this afternoon before the joint opening session of the 13^th Congress at the Batasang Pambansa Complex in Quezon City.

In her 23-minute speech, the President said the government now nears the conclusion of its peace negotiations with the MILF through the close coordination of the influential Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC).

"We’ve worked with the OIC to forge peace with our Muslim brothers. Eighty percent of our peace talks with them (MILF) have been completed. Permanent peace in Mindanao is within reach," she intoned.

The President also cited other significant achievements of her administration since she assumed the Presidency four years ago.

She said her administration has successfully cut into half the problems of drug proliferation in the country, with the dismantling of some big and modern illegal drug laboratories by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the Philippine National Police (PNP).

Some drug traffickers and hundreds of drug peddlers were put behind bars pending their court trials, she said.

"The rash of kidnappings has become a thing of the past, and insurgency in the south has abated" she noted, adding that the success of the anti-kidnapping drive of the government resulted from the cooperation by the Filipino-Chinese community with law enforcement agencies.

On the anti-terror campaign, the President reported that the Philippines successfully handled the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) task force on anti-terrorism which the Philippines currently chairs.

She expressed elation that the Philippines’ significant victories in the war on terror have recently been acknowledged by United States President George W. Bush before the U.S. National Defense University.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today asked the Filipino people to unite and support her search for lasting peace and progress.

In her 5^th State-of-the-Nation Address (SONA) this afternoon at the joint opening of the second session of the 13^th Congress, the President urged the people, including her detractors, to work with her in improving the lives of the Filipino people, regardless of political affiliation.

"Now is not the time for divisiveness, and while there’s no avoiding partisan politics, there can be a determined efforts by all sides to limit the collateral damage on a country poised for takeoff."

She noted that everyone is for a meaningful change and wants lasting peace and progress. This is why, she said, she needs the help of everyone to achieve these goals.

"We may disagree among ourselves but let us not lose sight of the greater battle for one people, one country, one Philippines," not "the country of this or that President but the Philippines of our shared and passionate affections," she added.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today called for changes in the Constitution – possibly through a constituent assembly – to take the power from the so-called Imperial Manila to the "countryside that feeds it."

She stressed, however, that the "mode of charter change is the exclusive prerogative of Congress."

The change of the Constitution was one of four key proposals to Congress the Chief Executive spelled out in her State of the Nation Address (SONA) this afternoon at the joint opening of the second session of the 13^th Congress.

The three others were the enactment of a Pre-Need Education Code, a law giving impetus to the development of Renewable and Indigenous Energy, and the enactment of an Anti-Terrorism Law.

The President pointed out that the country’s political system has degenerated over the years "to the extent that it is difficult for anyone to make any headway yet keep his hands clean."

She said there is no doubt that the country’s political system is still capable of achieving great reforms. "But, by and large, our political system has betrayed its promise to each new generation of Filipinos, not a few of whom are voting with their feet, going abroad and leaving the system behind."

The President’s SONA, which lasted a mere 23 minutes, was applauded 35 times. The gallery erupted into a prolonged applause after her speech amid chants of "GMA, GMA" in a show of support for the President.

In her SONA, the Chief Executive said politicians like her may have done "our best, but maybe our best is not enough, given the present system. Perhaps we have strained the present political system to its final limit."

"It is time to turn to the people, bring them into government—and change the way that government is done," she said.

"The system clearly needs fundamental change… It’s time to start the great debate on charter change," the President said.

She said what the people desire is a government that works for them at every level. "They want good government that begins at their doorstep in the barangay, and does not end before the closed door of a bureaucrat in Metro Manila."

The Chief Executive’s announcement that she favored a charter change through a constituent assembly to pave the way to a federal form of government received the longest applause and standing ovation from the audience.

In the area of education, the President urged Congress to pass the Pre-need Code "to rehabilitate, reform and regulate the pre-need educational programs" which, she noted "worked so well in the past as a major vehicle for youth education entitlement," but lately have been encountering capital loss.

She also sought the support of Congress in addressing the present global problem of increasing oil prices by crafting a legislation that would encourage the development and use of renewable and indigenous energy.

She warned that the country’s competitiveness "is greatly endangered by the global oil crisis."

In the area of national security, the Chief Executive urged Congress to swiftly pass an Anti-Terrorism Law "that will protect rather than subvert, enhance rather than weaken, the rights and liberties that terrorism precisely threatens with extinction."

The President stressed though that these four pieces of legislation are only some of the laws needed to improve the country but only "serve to highlight that there is much work to be done."

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today cited the country’s significant foreign policy gains which, she said, have restored the Philippines to the "prominent place it once held as co-founder of the United Nations and the Free World’s first line of defense in Asia."

In her State of the Nation Address (SONA) before the joint session of Congress this afternoon at the Batasang Pambansa complex in Quezon City, President Arroyo enumerated a number of foreign policy gains the Philippines won recently.

The gains, she said, include the country’s election to the United Nations Security Council where it presided in the deliberation and adoption of the landmark UN resolution calling for democracy in Iraq.

She said the Philippines also chaired the historic Conference on Interfaith Cooperation for Peace at the United Nations, a creative initiative of House Speaker Jose de Venecia.

"We also head the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) Anti-Terrorism Task Force. Our victories in the war against terror have been acknowledged by President George W. Bush before the US National Defense University," she noted.

President Arroyo also reported the headway her administration has gained in its close coordination with the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) in its peace negotiations with the secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) for permanent peace in Southern Philippines.

It is not only President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo who has manifested readiness to dance the "Cha-Cha."

Prominent people that include businessmen, politicians and local officials have also manifested their willingness to the Charter Change proposed by the President in her fifth State of the Nation Address today at the Batasang Pambansa in Quezon City.

Businessman Raul Concepcion agrees it is probably time to make drastic changes in the Constitution, particularly in the shift to parliamentary-federal type of government, noting the warm response to the President’s proposal as indicated by 35 thunderous applauses that interrupted the 23-minute SONA.

Concepcion expressed confidence that the changes proposed by President Arroyo will be positively accepted by the business community.

Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Governor Parouk Hussin welcomed the call of the President for Charter Change to ensure empowering the people in the countryside.

"Well, it was a very impressive speech, direct to the point, short but reflective of the situation in our country right now. There is really no time for more divisions among us," the ARMM governor said.

Hussin agreed with the Chief Executive that the Philippines has lagged behind its neighboring countries because of the present Presidential form of government "that is not applicable to the present times."

House Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. believes that there will be no serious challenge from among the lawmakers against the Cha-Cha.

He is also optimistic that the proposed amendments in the Constitution will be immediately tackled in the committee on constitutional reforms and eventually in the plenary for its final approval.

"It will be approved, nakita mo ba iyong halos walang nag-object doon (Cha-Cha) sa House of Representatives kanina? They were all jumping with joy," the Speaker added.

De Venecia is also hopeful that the warm applause by the people in the gallery would force the members of the Senate to change their minds and eventually support the President’s proposal.

Cabinet members in attendance were Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, Finance Secretary Margarito Teves, Trade Secretary Peter Favila, Budget Chief Romulo Neri, Health Secretary Francisco Duque, Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz, Local Government Secretary Angelo Reyes, Tourism Secretary Joseph Ace Durano, Transportation Secretary Leandro Mendoza, Presidential Management Staff (PMS) Chief Rigoberto Tiglao, Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Merceditas Gutierrez, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez, Environment Secretary Michael Defensor and Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) before the joint opening session of the House of Representatives and the Senate at the Batasan in Quezon City this afternoon goes on record as the most concise and the most applauded SONA by any president.

The President’s SONA took only 23 minutes but earned 35 applauses with a two-minute standing ovation when House Speaker Jose de Venecia formally introduced her to the audience, and several more in the course of its delivery.

Last year’s SONA was longer at 35 minutes and was applauded 36 times.

The President arrived at 3:38 p.m. at the Batasan grounds on board the presidential helicopter. She was resplendent in a turquoise blue terno accessorized with an embroidered "panuelo" of the same color

She was welcomed by Senate President Franklin Drilon, House Speaker Jose de Venecia, Senate Secretary General Oscar Yabes, and House Secretary General Roberto Nazareno.

The President started her address at 4:02 p.m. and ended at4:26 p.m.

Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) president Donald Dee has cited President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for her administration’s achievement of a 6.1 percent economic growth rate despite the distractions caused by disunity among the country’s political leaders.

Dee was reacting to the President’s State-of-the-Nation Address (SONA) she delivered at the joint opening of the second regular session of the 13^th Congress at the Batasang Pambansa Complex in Quezon City this afternoon.

"The SONA was very good. In spite of the disunity in the country she was able to achieve a 6.1 percent economic growth," enabling her (President Arroyo) administration to improve the delivery of basic services such as the feeding program, among others," Dee said.

In her 23-minute SONA, the President also called for changes in the Constitution through a Constituent Assembly because the current political system, she said, has degenerated and has been strained to its final limit.

"Despite her accomplishments, the President recognizes the need to unite the country and is willing to change the present system of government. That is a supreme sacrifice that she is making, by agreeing to go into these changes. It is really a very good SONA because of that. If it’s good for the country, therefore it is good for business," Dee said.

Miguel Varela, chairman emeritus of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), agreed with Dee’s observations.