PIA Dispatch - Saturday, December 27, 2008

Gov’t set to step up efforts to end communist insurgency

BAGUIO CITY – Expect the government to step up next year its campaign to crush the 40-year-old communist insurgency by 2010.

National Security Council (NSC) Deputy Director-General Avelino Razon Jr. told members of the media here that ending the communist rebellion and the resumption of the Mindanao peace talks were the core topics discussed during the Cabinet security group meeting convened by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo at the Mansion House yesterday (Friday, Dec. 26).

Several recommendations were presented by the NSC in its report to the President on the steps that need to be taken to strengthen the government’s anti-insurgency program through the National Peace and Order Council (NPOC).

Razon said one of the NSC’s recommendations to strengthen the Council was to include six line departments in the NPOC roster to expand its reach and base of operation.

As proposed by the NSC, the six new NPOC members are the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Department of Education (DepEd), Department of Health (DOH), Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC), and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

The President was amenable to the NPOC proposals, Razon said, but the addition of the six line departments as members of the Council would require an amendment of Executive Order (EO) 739 creating the NPOC.

Razon retired last September as PNP chief upon reaching the compulsory retirement age of 56 for members of the military and the police, and was tapped by the President to the NSC post the following month.

He said that from “100-plus” in 2007, the New People’s Army (NPA) fronts are now down to 87.

The government is on target to further reduce the NPA fronts by 40 this year, and the rebel cadres from 5,700 to 5,200, he added.

The priority target areas of the anti-insurgency drive are Regions V and XI, particularly Davao and Compostela Valley, Razon said.

He pointed out that the anti-insurgency campaign will be “more on development as this is not just a shooting war.”

Razon said “we are making sure” that line departments help out in the local level to beef up the rebel-returnee and amnesty programs of the Arroyo administration.

During the first joint command conference of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the PNP held in Camp Aguinaldo last January, President Arroyo directed the country’s armed services to finally put an end to the communist insurgency by 2010.


PGMA’s medical mission in Baguio kicks off Sunday

BAGUIO CITY – The scheduled two-day medical mission of the Office of the President (OP) here will kick off tomorrow (Sunday) at the Wright Park across from the Mansion House with at least five doctors on hand to attend to walk-in patients.

On Monday, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will give away Christmas presents of basic goods to indigent families from the city’s 128 barangays.

The 1 p.m. gift-giving event will be held at the manicured lawn cum helipad and golf course of the presidential mansion, with the President herself handing over the gifts to the residents who will also have the once-in-a-lifetime chance to enter the executive house.

The 3,200 beneficiaries will first partake of an early lunch to be tendered by the President at the Wright Park gazebo.

The city’s social welfare office has chosen 23 beneficiaries per barangay to receive gifts directly from the President, according to Baguio City Tourism Officer Benny Alhambra.

President Arroyo will first have a luncheon meeting at the Mansion House with Pampanga mayors before going down to the Mansion’s back gardens to meet with the Baguio group.
The Mansion House is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, with fitting commemoration ceremonies scheduled for Tuesday (Dec. 30).


Local, foreign tourists have photo ops with PGMA

MANSION HOUSE, Baguio City – President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s “private time” today turned out to be an unexpected Christmas memento for local and foreign tourists on a look-see trip to the presidential residence here.

Alighting from her vehicle at the gate of the government mansion, the President willingly mingled with the tourists who, moments before, were content with just taking pictures of the building and the sprawling premises from a distance.

For about 10 minutes, the President obliged her unscheduled visitors who crowded around to have their pictures taken with her. The Chief Executive gamely shook hands before saying her goodbyes and heading for the mansion.

The President was met by First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo and, together, they walked up the hill to the Mansion.

Nori Realubin, the keeper of century-old summer residence of Philippine presidents, said the President and the First Gentleman were returning from a brief shopping at SM Baguio when they came across the group of tourists.

The President had also mingled with the crowd at the gate during her Holy Week retreat in Baguio City in April 2007, and sightings of the President have become an exciting prospect for Mansion visitors.

Tomorrow, Sunday (Dec. 28), the President is expected to attend the morning mass in one of the churches in this summer capital, before heading back to the Mansion Guesthouse for an interview with the local media.


DA, NCDB implementing major coffee production venture

The Department of Agriculture (DA) is embarking on a joint venture with the private sector-led National Coffee Development Board (NCDB) aimed at rejuvenating and rehabilitating some 4,000 hectares of “poorly maintained” coffee farms and planting another 1,000 hectares to Arabica, Liberica, Robusta and Excelsa coffee varieties.

In a report to Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap, Director Rene Rafael Espino of the DA High Value Commercial Crops (HVCC) national program said his office and the NCDB are already putting the finishing touches to this joint project called the Pilipinas, Gising at Magkape Program.
Earlier, Yap had approved the release of an initial P50 million—from the P150 million allotted for this project—to get this project going.

The NCDB is headed by Chit Juan, who is the founder of the Figaro chain of coffee shops.
Espino said that coffee is one of the priority commodities under the Ginintuang Masaganang Ani (GMA) HVCC program of the DA “in recognition of the economic importance of the coffee industry as exemplified by the increasing demand for coffee in both the domestic and international markets.”

He reported to Yap that the project aims to “rejuvenate” and increase the per-hectare yield in 1,000 hectares of “old Robusta coffee farms” from the current average of 300 kilos to a minimum of 400 kilos/hectare/year for year 2 of the project and 500 kilos/hectare/year for year 3 of the project onwards.

After three years of implementation, the DA projects the target annual yield to go up to 800 kilos per hectare in “old Robusta coffee farms,” he said.

The project also aims to “rehabilitate and fertilize” thru organic fertilization 3,000 hectares of “existing poorly maintained” Robusta and Arabica coffee farms, he said, in order to similarly increase the per-hectare yields in these coffee farms.

For the poorly maintained Robusta, Espino said the project target is to increase the per-hectare yield from the current average of 300 kilos to 500 kilos after one year of implementation and to 800 kilos in the succeeding years.

He said the goal for the Arabica farms, on the other hand, is to boost the per-hectare yield from the current average of 250 kilos to 700 kilos at the end of the first year to 700 kilos in the succeeding years.

As part of this joint undertaking, he said the DA likewise aims to plant Arabica, Liberica, Robusta and Excelsa in 1,000 new hectares under a sustainable coffee farming system.

This project is the result, he said, of “the DA’s series of consultative dialogues and workshops with key players of the coffee industry, where consensus was reached on the urgency of creating a lead implementing organization that would directly oversee the implementation of the Coffee Development Program.”

Espino said the different intervention measures being planned by the DA to achieve the project’s production targets include the intensified production of planting materials; continued support for the establishment and maintenance of foundation groves and scion groves; heightened rejuvenation efforts to boost productivity; and enhanced support for the development of organic farms.

The DA will also intensify, he said, the transfer of technology through trainings, publications, etc., including the application of integrated pest management strategies for pest control and reduction of post harvest losses; establishment of common service facility for processing of coffee; and the holding of market intelligence and promotional activities.

Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS) data show that the country harvested a total of 97,877 metric tons in 2007 from a total of 123,975 hectares of coffee farms. The three provinces with the biggest production volume last year were Sultan Kudarat, with 21,527 MT; Compostela Valley , 11,726; and Laguna, 6,860 MT.

Despite such yields, the country had to import a total of 19,332,781 kilos worth $33,779,141 million combined during the same year, according to BAS data. These imports were sourced from, among others) Vietnam (15,509,976 kilos); Indonesia (3,708,858 kilos); Singapore (104,189 kilos); the United States (9,634 kilos); India (109 kilos) and Australia (15 kilos).In previous years, the country had also imported coffee from Germany, the People’s Republic of China, Italy, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, Canada and New Zealand. (DA-PRESS OFFICE)