MANADO, Indonesia – President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Friday signed with five other Asia-Pacific leaders the Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI) on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security at the Grand Kawanua Convention Center (GCKK).
The five other signatories were Malaysia Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak, Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Michael Somare, Indonesia President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Solomon Islands Prime Minister Derek Sikua, and Democratic Republic of Timor Leste President Jose Ramos Horta.
The signing of the Leaders Declaration officially launched the CTI Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security (CTI-CFF) “to address threats to the marine, coastal, and small island ecosystems within the Coral Triangle region through accelerated and collaborative action, taking into consideration multi-stakeholder participation in all of our six countries.”
Agreeing that the CTI “primarily focuses on areas of cooperation in relation to coral reefs, fisheries, food security, and adaptation to climate change,” the six heads of state affirmed the Joint Statement of the first Ministerial Meeting of CTI-CFF held in Port Moresby, PNG on March 10, 2009.
The leaders also adopted the CTI Regional Plan of Action -- describing it as “a living and non-legally binding document” – in an effort to conserve and sustainably manage coastal and marine resources within the CT region while taking into consideration the laws and policies of each country.
The leaders also vowed to “recognize that the implementation of the CTI-CFF is a voluntary cooperation and without prejudice to the sovereignty, territorial integrity, sovereign rights of the six countries respectively over their marine resources, and the position of each state on the on-going and future negotiation on delimitation of maritime boundaries between the countries.”
The declaration stressed that the cooperation of CTI-CFF shall be subject to the laws, regulation, national policies and priorities of the respective countries; and subject to the application of relevant sustainable development principles to trans-boundary management, conservation and development within the CT region.
It also takes into consideration relevant multi-lateral, regional and bilateral environmental agreements.”
The leaders also tasked the “relevant ministers” of their respective governments to “to formulate the implementation modalities of CTI-CFF with a view to enhancing the cooperation.”
Agreeing to establish a permanent secretariat for CTI-CFF to service the ongoing CTI-CFF implementation process, the CTI leaders called for the “mobilization and effective allocation of sustainable financial resources needed to implement the CTI regional and national plans of action.”
They also expressed appreciation to CTI-CFF partners “for their continuing support towards the successful implementation of CTI-CFF programs in the region,” and welcomed the participation by new partners.
They agreed to convene the next CTI summit “when deemed necessary, on a date mutually agreed by the CTI countries, to help ensure that a high level of political commitment continues to be dedicated in furthering the attainment of the goals of CTI-CFF.
PGMA urges vigilance vs. lax regulations on protection, preservation of environment
MANADO, North Sulawesi, Indonesia -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Friday called on Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI) leaders, development partners and delegates to be more vigilant in implementing the CTI program.
“During times of economic hardship, the pressures are greatest to abandon our obligation to the environment or to loosen the rules. That is precisely why, now, we must be even more vigilant in advancing the CTI program,” President Arroyo said in her statement before the signing of the CTI Leaders Declaration.
Thanking Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono for “making this summit happen,” the President stressed that the CTI is “genuine good news,” especially “at a time when the world seems mired in bad news…”
“Here we have nations coming together in common purpose to protect a vital segment of our common global environment.
“To a world struggling with global warming, we are showing the way toward a united front to keep our biodiversity intact, our food resources strong and our environment pristine,” President Arroyo said, pointing out that “the coral triangle is potentially the world’s most important ‘refuge’ for marine life—but only if we do our part to keep it in good health.”
“It is time,” she pointed out, to “rebalance our approach: develop a strong economy; provide full employment; and maintain the sacred relationship of human beings to mother earth.”
“This is not an either-or proposition. This must be a win-win solution to not just stopping the degradation, but also improving, restoring and enhancing our ecology. We rely on the sea for food, jobs and pleasure. Let us not destroy this resource,” she said.
The President said she had signed Executive Order 797 “mandating the Philippine National Plan of Action that follows the general outline of the CTI regional plan and adopts the guiding principles enunciated by our six Coral Triangle countries in 2007.”
“My earlier Executive Order 533 -- adopting integrated coastal management as a national strategy to ensure the sustainable development of our nation’s coasts, oceans and marine resources -- is further adherence to the CTI,” she added.
President Arroyo also revealed that her administration had “taken decisive action at the community, local government, provincial, district and national levels on coastal resource management and multi-sectoral climate change adaptation planning, with national budget funding equivalent to what President Yudhoyono has committed for Indonesia.”
“We have also allocated funds this year in our national government appropriations to support the conservation of important species and management of several protected areas, including the Apo Reef Natural Park, the Turtle Islands Wildlife Sanctuary and the renowned Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park, a UNESCO world natural heritage site,” she said.
The President was accompanied to the Manado Summit by Press Secretary Cerge Remonde, Natural Resources Secretary Jose Atienza, BIMP-EAGA Special Envoy Efren Abu, Presidential Adviser on Global Warming and Climate Change Secretary Heherson Alvarez, and other government officials.
Palace acts to stop deficit from growing
This, in view of reports that the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has failed to meet its target collection of P100 billion which could trigger a bigger deficit this year.
Presidential Spokesperson on Economic Affairs Gary Olivar said revenue collections are affected by the current global economic conditions, “but we are doing our best in the face of that (reality).”
He said the government is more realistic about its deficit projections for the year “recognizing the fiscal stresses created by the global recession and by our efforts to maintain the economy stable amid that recession will have a cost in terms of the size of the deficit.”
“What we are shooting for is that the cost remains manageable and that we are taking the appropriate steps to resolve the problem with the deficit as soon as we can go ahead with that in terms of the recession starting to move away,” Olivar said.
Reports said that economic managers were already looking at the possibility that deficit might shoot up to P250 billion by yearend, the same level that President Arroyo inherited in 2001.
Olivar said “if the deficit she inherited in 2001 was P250 billion people should remember that at that time we did not have a global recession. We also did not have the US and major export markets sliding the way they are doing now and we did not have even the possibility of a threat to our labor and export markets, an environment totally different 2001 compared to 2009.”
“So the way she ought to be judged is against the global environment that she has to run an economic policy within,” Olivar said.
There is need to maintain infrastructure spending (through pump priming) and to provide direct support to our people through programs like conditional cash transfers, the need to maintain that service when a currency is not depreciating as a result of global conditions all of these leads to deficit issues, Olivar said.
The important thing is to look at the backdrop against which deficit is taking place, and to look at what government is doing now not only to mitigate the problems but to prepare for eventual recovery, Olivar pointed out.
RP economy remains resilient despite global recession
Olivar was reacting to speculations on the possible downgrade of the country’s credit rating by Standard & Poor’s, a leading international ratings agency.
He described a rating downgrade as a “remote possibility.”
Olivar said this is part of S&P’s “stress testing of their credit judgments on countries and borrowers.”
“In fact their view was that the Philippines was doing fairly well relative to its neighboring countries. So this is a worst case scenario that is even remote in S&P’s own words,” Olivar said, referring to the possibility of a credit downgrade.
Another international investment analyst, Nielsen Ratings, said that consumer confidence in the Philippines ranks sixth highest in a sample it made involving 50 countries.
“This information tells us that the economy continues to be resilient and continues to do well despite the global recession,” Olivar added.
All of the policies and programs being implemented by the administration are precisely intended to maintain economic stability and resiliency in the face of the recession, he said.
“This is what the various agencies see even in the case of S & P when it mentioned the worst case scenario like that it considered it only a remote possibility,” he said .
“Our moves continue to enjoy the endorsements from independent analysts and observers abroad,” Olivar said
COMELEC: computerized elections will go as scheduled
In an interview with “Punto Perfecto”, the commission’s Special Bids and Awards Committee (SBAC) Chair Ferdinand Raffanan dispelled rumors that polls will not go on as scheduled.
“Tuloy na tuloy ang automated elections (Automated elections will push through),” Raffanan said, “nakikita natin mangyayari ito at magtatagumpay sa 2010 (we see this happening and it will succeed in 2010).”
Raffanan said the committee is done with more than half of the selection process for the most appropriate supplier of automated counting machines.
He said improvements in the procedures as well as their learning experiences helped the process move faster.
“Magkaisa tayo dito. Ipakita natin ang Pilipino ay may optimism. May kumpiyansa sa sarili na kung anong pangarap na mabuti ay mapapatupad (Let’s be united. Let us show that the Filipino has optimism, and confident that anything that is good can be done),”
As of Friday, one more bidder fell out of the eligibility race.
Raffanan said AMA Holdings and Election Systems and Software International (AMA- ESMS) was declared ineligible after failing to submit a certificate of acceptance for a project in the US.
The surviving firms are Smartmatic International and Total Information Management Corp. the consortium of Indra Sistemas, Hart Intercivic and Strategic Allicance Holdings and the Gilat consortium.
SBAC will evaluate the technical proposal of each company on deployment of personnel and the holding of trainings in the provinces.
Raffanan said the COMELEC would be needing 80,000 machines to be deployed in all precincts.
Next week, the three eligibles will submit their machines to COMELEC for demonstration.
Raffanan said machines must have alternative power sources to survive power blackouts for at least 12 hours.
PAGASA says people must prepare as more rains are coming
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said people must prepare as the rainy season has begun.
PAGASA Office of the Administrator Officer in Charge Nathaniel Servando explained that the country had above normal rainfall for past several weeks due to rain producing weather systems such as Low Presssure Areas (LPAs), inter-tropical convergence zone (ITCZ) and Tropical Cyclones.
Parts of Luzon and the Visayas experienced heavy downpour after series of LPAs developed into tropical cyclones such as Crising, Dante and Emong and were embedded in the ITCZ.
The early migration of the ITCZ is enhancing the southwest wind flow over the western and southern parts of the country.
