PIA Dispatch - Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Aquino welcomes US-ASEAN Business Council

President Benigno S. Aquino III welcomed members of the US-ASEAN Business Council who called on the Chief Executive in Malacañang on Wednesday to express the group’s renewed interest to expand its business interests in the country.

The President, who was joined by Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert Del Rosario and Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima, welcomed the US-ABC delegation led by its president Alex Feldman to the Heroes Hall of Malacañang Palace at around 10 a.m.

In his opening remarks, Feldman expressed confidence that the group’s meeting with the President represented the beginning of a “partnership” between the Philippines and the US-ABC to expand trade and investment and improve the competitiveness of the Philippines.

“We believe that the success of this mission will be a source of continued positive first impressions and the start, hopefully, of more aggressive efforts to re-brand the Philippines as “open for business and under new management” and expand trade and investment and improve the competitiveness of the Philippines and hence the investment environment,” Feldman said.

“The reform process tackling corruption and attracting strategic investors as you’ve outlined will be critical to achieving your vision of unlocking the full potential of the Filipino people and Philippine society and creating new jobs, increasing healthcare and supporting new infrastructure development,” he added.

In response, Finance Sec. Purisima said the Aquino administration remains committed at implementing government reforms that will allow the Philippines to finally take off, noting that the country has taken a turn for the better since President Aquino assumed office in June last year.

"The national debt level has considerably gone down by almost half from 105 percent of GDP in 1988 to 57 percent now while growth has been pegged at 7.3 percent, the highest since 1976," Purisima said.

He added that the country’s heavily favored industries such as business process outsourcing, semiconductor, mining and ship building have been posting steady growth numbers owing to renewed investor confidence in the Aquino administration.

He pointed out that the government is keen at addressing obstacles that have held back the country, namely the infrastructure gap, graft, corruption and poverty.

The Finance secretary called on the US-ABC to partner with government in addressing these stumbling blocks in order to help the country grow and prosper.

“We look forward to working with you in a public-private partnership so that we can create a better Philippines,” Purisima said.

The US-ASEAN Business Council, which was founded in 1984, represents American-based businesses in Southeast Asia and has offices in five countries in the region.

These businesses include those in: information communication technology, customs, corporate citizenship, defense, energy, financial services, health and life sciences, and food and agriculture. (PCOO)


Malacañang says gov't to break illegal activities of drug pushers

Malacañang assured to break the illegal activities of drug pushers, which entrap people that eventually destroy lives in pursuit of their unscrupulous illegal trade.

In an official statement released on Wednesday from the Office of the Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda on the execution of three Filipinos Ramon Credo, Sally Ordinario-Villanueva and Elizabeth Batain in China, the Palace said the government is resolved to ensure that the chain of victimization will be broken condemning the destruction of lives in pursuit of the illegal drug business.

“We are resolved to ensure that the chain of victimization, as pushers entrap and destroy lives in pursuit of their trade, will be broken. Those who traffic in illegal drugs respect no laws, no boundaries, and have no scruples about destroying lives.” the statement read.

“Our response must be relentless, with government and the citizenry working together to ensure vigilance and mutual support to prevent our countrymen from being used by drug pushers as sacrificial pawns, whether at home or abroad”, it added.

The Aquino administration expressed sympathies with the families of the condemned, sharing their sense of looming loss. The government said that the deaths of the three Filipinos are a vivid lesson in the tragic toll the drug trade takes on the entire families.

The three Filipinos, Credo, 42; Batain, 38; and Villanueva, 32 were convicted of drug trafficking in China. They were originally scheduled to be executed last February 20 and 21. The executions stayed following the humanitarian visit to Beijing of Vice President Jejomar Binay upon orders of President Benigno S. Aquino III.

Binay is also the concurrent Presidential Adviser on Overseas Filipino Workers’ Concerns.

In the statement, Lacierda said the Philippine government took every available opportunity to appeal to the authorities of China for clemency in the cases of the three. "In the end, however, the sentence was imposed," he said.

Ordinario-Villanueva was convicted for smuggling 4,110 grams of heroin on Dec. 24, 2008 into Xiamen, while Credo was convicted for smuggling 4,113 grams of heroin on Dec. 28, 2008 in the same city.

Batain, meanwhile, was convicted for smuggling 6,800 grams of heroin on May 24, 2008, in Shenzhen.

Under the Chinese criminal code, smuggling of 50 grams of heroin or any narcotic drug into China is punishable by death. (PCOO)