Palace hopeful UK travel advisory to RP reversed soon
Malacañang expressed confidence today that the United Kingdom would reverse its travel advisory issued against the Philippines in the wake of a bomb blast that ripped through the Zamboanga International airport last Thursday.
Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda, in a press conference in Malacañang this afternoon, said he was hopeful the UK travel ban would be lifted since the Philippine National Police had deemed the explosion more political than terrorist in nature.
“Hopefully mag-bago yung UK advisory because based on the investigation of the PNP, this is not a case of a suicide bomber or terrorist (attack),” Lacierda said, adding that “its primarily a politically-motivated bombing.”
“So, sana makita ng embahada ng UK na ito po ay walang kinalaman sa tourism at baguhin po nila ang kanilang advisory (We hope the UK, through its embassy here, will see that the bombing has nothing to do with the tourism upswing in the province and promptly reverse its travel advisory), he added.
The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) issued Friday a travel advisory warning its nationals against travel to some parts of Mindanao after the bombing incident.
It further noted that a British national was among those injured in Thursday's blast and indicated that terrorists may attack at any time.
"We advise against all but essential travel to the remainder of Mindanao. This is because of ongoing terrorist activity there have been a number of terrorist attacks against civilian targets, the most recent on 5 August 2010 at Zamboanga airport where an explosion injured 15 people including a British national," it said.
"We advise against all travel to specific areas of the Philippines and against all but essential travel to other specific areas of the Philippines," it added.
P-Noy vows RP's commitment towards achieving ASEAN's common goals
President Benigno S. Aquino III expressed confidence that the Philippines will be a good neighbor, productive partner and a consensus builder towards achieving the aspiration of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) of becoming a fully integrated regional community by 2015.
In his Speech during the ASEAN’s 43rd founding anniversary celebration on Monday at the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) along Roxas Boulevard, Manila, the Chief Executive said that under his administration the Philippines will be more investor-friendly and deeply committed towards achieving ASEAN’s common goals.
“In my administration, we will be more conscious of our commitment to fostering improved ties with our ASEAN neighbors. We will be a good neighbor, a productive partner and a consensus builder as we work towards our common goals,” he said.
The President pointed out that his administration will do its part in creating a more binding commitment towards regional integration by 2015 through the three key pillars of political-security, economic and socio-cultural participation.
On peace and security, the President noted that the Philippines will continue to actively participate in regional security discussions and abide by the ASEAN declaration on the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea.
Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo said the Philippines will continue to discuss security issues with its ASEAN neighbors including China for the possible signing of a Code of Conduct in the South China Sea.
“We now have a declaration of conduct in the China Sea. What the ASEAN countries hopefully want to happen within the next few years is not only a declaration of conduct but a code of conduct itself. We will have to talk about it within ASEAN and of course China,” Romulo said.
The President also said the second area of the country’s contribution to integration is to continue and ensure that current free trade agreements increase employment and expand the market of ASEAN goods within the region.
He said the Philippines will likewise continue to support the ASEAN Connectivity Project which hopes to create an ASEAN connectivity masterplan in transport infrastructure, information and communications technology (ICT, energy power grids and tourism).
“The Philippines has major interests here with its existing nautical highway, the RO-RO (roll-on roll-off ferry) project. Once it is implemented, ASEAN connectivity will bridge our nation to our neighbors, shorten transfer distances and open more economic opportunities for more people,” the President said.
According to the President the Philippines can also foster the success of integration through cooperation in culture and the arts, “the greatest antidote to war and the most effective instrument of peace and mutual understanding.”
With strengthened cooperation on political, economic and social fronts, the President emphasized that improved integration will reinforce ASEAN’s capacity to deal with the rest of the world.
“In the coming months, I look forward to meeting many of my regional counterparts. The Philippines looks with confidence to a regional celebration of our collective success in 2015. That will surely be a historic year: the year of fulfillment, the year of a truly people-centered ASEAN community,” he said.
During the occasion, the President received a copy of the ASEAN Charter in Filipino which, he described as a “necessary step in growing the Filipinos’ awareness of their identity as a member of the regional grouping.”
“I am tasking the Chairman of the Commission on Higher Education and the Secretary of Education to see to it that this Charter is disseminated in our schools,” the President said after receiving a copy of the ASEAN charter.
The ASEAN Charter in Filipino was presented to the President by Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo and witnessed by the ambassadors of the ASEAN member nations.
Among those present were Brunei Darussalam Charges D’Affaires Shahrul Anaz Ismael, Cambodian Ambassador Hos Sereythonh, Laos Ambassador Leuane Sombounkhan, Indonesian Ambassador Yohanes Kristiarto Soeryo Legowo, Malaysian Ambassador Dato Seri Dr. Ibrahim Saad, Myanmar Ambassador Aung Khin Soe, Singapore Ambassdor A. Selverajah, Thailand Ambasador Kulkumut Singhara Na Ayudhaya, and Vietnam Ambassador Nguyen Vu Tu.
The ASEAN Charter, originally signed by the member-states in Singapore on November 2007, has been transforming ASEAN into a more effective and rules-based and rules-bound organization which is now closer to integration since its establishment with the signing of the ASEAN Declaration on August 8, 1967 in Bangkok, Thailand.
ASEAN is composed of 10-member-states namely, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
P-Noy officially informed of $434-M MCC grant
President Benigno S. Aquino III was officially informed today by the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) of its approval of a $434-million compact grant to the Philippine government to reduce poverty in the country.
The President received a call this morning from MCC chief executive officer Daniel Yohannes during the ASEAN’s 43rd founding anniversary celebration at the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) in Manila.
In an interview, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo said the President was officially informed by Yohannes a week after the MCC announced the approval of the grant to the Philippines in recognition of the Aquino administration’s sincerity in pursuing poverty alleviation and anti-corruption programs.
“The call was to tell the President that the MCC has unanimously approved the MCC grant of $434 million. It is a five year program. On behalf of the government, the President said he will see to it that the grant is implemented,” Romulo said.
The grant is intended to be used for a road project in Samar province, curb corruption through the modernization program of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), and the Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (Kalahi-CIDSS) Project of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
Romulo said the Philippines has only to sign the acceptance of the grant from the MCC which was established to help countries lead the fight against global poverty.
“Once we sign it and the Congress is notified, then it is already in the budget,” Romulo said.
The MCC, an independent United States aid agency, gives five-year compact grants for countries that pass MCC’s eligibility criteria in poverty alleviation, and threshold grants which are smaller grants awarded to countries that come close to passing these criteria and are firmly committed to improving their policy performance.
In 2006, the MCC also awarded the Philippines a $21-million threshold grant to eradicate corruption and attract international investments through the Millennium Challenge Account Threshold Program (MCATP).
Presidential Communications Office formed
President Benigno S. Aquino III has signed Executive Order No. 4, renaming the Office of the Press Secretary as the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) and creating the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office (PCDSPO).The order was signed July 30, 2010.
A copy of the order was formally transmitted last Aug. 5, 2010 to PCOO Secretary Herminio Coloma by Director Marianito Dimaandal of the Office of the President, Malacanang Records Office.
The order reorganizes and renames the OPS to PCOO to be headed by the PCOO head which shall have the rank of a Cabinet secretary with all corresponding salaries, emoluments and benefits.
Aside from developing and implementing the necessary guidelines and mechanisms to deliver and disseminate information regarding the policies, programs, official activities and achievements of the President and the executive, the PCOO will also develop, manage and operate viable government owned or controlled information dissemination structure/facilities to provide OP and the executive branch access to the people as an alternative to the private mass media entities.
The order also sets up and maintains local and international field offices, where necessarily, to ensure that accurate information from the President and the executive branch is promptly and efficiently relayed, delivered and disseminated to intended target audiences.
PCOO will also coordinate and cultivate relations with private media as well as manage and administer the OP website and the web development office.
The PCOO shall have an undersecretary for administration and finance; undersecretary for operations, chief of staff, an electronic data processing division chief and assistant secretary for legislative affairs.
The agencies attached to PCOO under E.O No. 4 are the News and Information Bureau; Philippine News Agency, Philippine Information Agency, IBC 13, RPN 9, NBN-4, PBS-Radio Television Malacanang; Bureau of Broadcast, Bureau of Communication Services, National Printing Office, APO Production Unit and OP Web Development Office.
The order defines the functions of PCDSPO as:
a) Coordinate the crafting, formulation, development and enhancement of the messaging system under the OP;
b) Design and recommend responses to issues that arise on a daily basis; ensure consistency in the messages issued by the Executive Department;
c) Assist in the formulation and implementation of new media strategies for the OP; assist in research and development of new media instruments;
d) Liaise with the Malacanang Records office
e) Control and supervise the conduct of market research, monitoring public opinion and gathering, use and analysis of other relevant data as may be necessary;
f) Formulate editorial guidelines and policies for state media;
g) Ensure consistency in the implementation of the corporate identity of the Executive Department;
h) Actas custodian of the institutional memory of the OP, which includes the supervision and control of the Presidential Museum and Library and liaison with the Malacanang Records Office;
i) Perform editorial functions for the Official Gazette;
j) Perform such other functions as may be directed by the President.
The PCDSPO shall be managed by a head with Cabinet secretary rank and salaries, benefits and emoluments due and will be assisted by an undersecretary, a chief of staff, assistant secretary for messaging and EDP chief.
Agencies attached to PDSPO are: the Presidential Message Staff; OP Correspondence Office (previously under the Office of Communications Director from the Presidential Management Staff); Media Research and Development Staff; Presidential Museum and Library; Official Gazette; Speech Writers Group (previously under the Office of Communications Director, PMS).
The budget of the offices reorganized and created shall be sourced from the remaining budget of the OPS and OP for the current year subject to existing laws, rules and regulations. The succeeding years’ appropriations shall be prepared in accordance with regular budget procedures.
In signing E.O. No. 4, President Aquino said it is the avowed policy of this administration to ensure transparency and full and appropriate disclosure of policies, programs, official activities and achievements of the Office of the President and the Executive Branch, which are of public concern.
According to the President, the task of informing and communicating to the Filipino people the policies, programs, official activities and achievements of the Office of the President and the Executive Branch presently involves aside from the Office of the Press Secretary, several offices and agencies the functions of which overlap.
He said there is vital need to reorganize and effect functional changes within the OPS and create an office to systematize, rationalize and complement the existing structure to achieve a more efficient and systematic interaction between the people, the OP and the executive branch.
It is also imperative for government to redefine its efforts to integrate and harmonize its message conceptualization, formulation and development policies and programs in order to fully utilize the opportunities arising from the rapid development of existing and emerging media.
Palace says PAGCOR privatization needs thorough study
Malacanang today expressed interest in the possible privatization of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) but stressed that the matter needs thorough study, including the assessment of its assets and existing contracts.
“There are so many concerns that have to be studied,” Presidential Spokesperson Atty. Edwin Lacierda, said in a press briefing.
Lacierda said the $10-billion offer of businessman Ramon Ang to buy-out PAGCOR, is quite an interesting proposal.
He cautioned however that it has many assumptions that need to be determined or studied. Among these, he said, is whether $10 billion is the fair valuation of PAGCOR.
Ang’s statement that the infusion of that amount to the local economy would strengthen further the peso to between 35 to 30 pesos per dollar and saving the cash-strapped government some P440-billion to P 640-billion in principal and interest payments on debt according to Lacierda, also needed thorough study.
“It would be good for the nation when you get $10-billion and it will lower the value of the dollar. That has consequences on the export sector and the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). In short, we are saying that they are all under study… those things have to be studied from a macro perspective and from the point of view of the government, we will look at it from a bigger perspective rather than from a perspective of a businessman,” the Presidential Spokesperson said.
Lacierda expressed gratitude to businessmen, specifically Ang, about their bullish perspective on Philippine business opportunities under the Aquino Administration.
“Like you said, the Aquino Administration is still very new, very young so, we are very bullish as well and we thank Mr. Ang’s bullishness on the economy under the Aquino Administration,” he said.
Meantime, Lacierda said newly-appointed PAGCOR Chairman Bong Naguiat will study all existing contracts of PAGCOR to establish the best price value of the gaming corporation.
Reports said that the government is only getting a quarter of what it should be getting from PAGCOR.
”We are reviewing it right now. So, there is due diligence going on, first of all, to determine whether the government was disadvantaged in those contracts,” he said.
Ballsy lauds Land Bank for helping countryside
Presidential sister Maria Elena “Ballsy” Aquino-Cruz lauded Monday the Land Bank of the Philippines for being true to its mandate of serving the needs of the countryside while maintaining its lofty position among the country’s top commercial banks.
“It’s President Aquino’s goal to improve the attractiveness of the country to investors,” she said in a speech she delivered for her brother during the 47th anniversary celebration of LBP and the 20th anniversary of the Gawad Pitak awards held at the Heroes’ Hall of Malacanang.
Aquino-Cruz said President Benigno S. Aquino III vowed in his inaugural address to attend to the needs of the countryside through irrigation, extension services, post harvest and improving the trading of agricultural commodities.
Aquino-Cruz said that Land Bank never failed to give distinction to outstanding achievers among the cooperatives, cooperative rural banks and micro small and medium enterprises.
She was assisted in the awarding rites by Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri, chairman of the Senate committee on cooperatives, LBP president/CEO Gilda E. Pico; and Congressman Jose Ping-ay.
The Ginintuang Gawad Pitak award for agri-based category went to Masisit-Dacal Livelihood Cooperative from Sanchez Mira, Cagayan, which got P1 million worth of fixed assets.
The Ginintuang Gawad Pitak award for cooperative rural bank went to Cooperative Bank of Misamis Oriental from Cagayan de Oro City with P500,000 worth of fixed assets.
The Entrepreneur of the Year went to Engr. Ramir Bonghanoy of Bon- Ace Fashion Tools in Minglanila, Cebu (who won P350,000); the Outstanding Agri-based Entrepreneur went to spouses Myrna and Benjamin Casta Sr. of 3M Grains Dealer in Lupao, Nueva Ecija who won P250,000; and Outstanding Non-Agri-based Entrepreneur went to spouses Samuel and Jeanette Lam of JASA Builders Inc. in Bolinao, Pangasinan.
Winners under the Non-Agri-based category were: National Irrigation Administration Region IV Employees Multi Purpose Cooperative (MPC) in Pila, Laguna (1st place) with P300,000; Dingle Government Workers Development Cooperative in Dingle, Iloilo (2nd) with P250,000; Sta. Cruz Savings and Development Cooperative in Sta. Cruz, Ilocos Sur (3rd) with P200,000; Escalante Public and Private School Teachers and Employees MPC in Escalante City, Negros Occidental (4th) with P150,000 and Kapalong MPC in Kapalongb, Davao del Norte with P100,000 (5th).
The Gawad Pitak agri-based category winners were: San Joaquin MPC in Sarrat, Ilocos Norte (1st place) with P500,000; Kabalikat sa Diyos at Bayan MPC in Odiongan, Romblon (2nd) with P400,000; Barbaza MPC in Barbaza, Antique (3rd) with P300,000; Bagumbayan PMPC in Bagumbayan Llanera, Nueva Ecija (4th) with P200,000; and Catmon MPC in Sta. Maria Bulacan (5th) with P100,000.
Relatedly, LBP president Pico said the outstanding loans of Land Bank to the countryside stood at P17.4 billion as of June 2010 benefiting 3.7 million farmers/fisherfolk.
For SMEs, lending reached P19.5 billion of which P4.8 billion went to micro SMEs and the balance to SMEs, Pico said. (rdlc)
