PIA Dispatch - Wednesday, June 10, 2009

PGMA leads nationwide flag-raising rites; formally launches Mega Jobs and Livelihood Fair in celebration of the 111th Independence Day in Koronadal City on Friday
 
KORONADAL CITY, June 10 -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will lead the nationwide flag-raising ceremonies in observance of the 111th Philippine Independence Day on Friday at the Rizal Shrine in Region 12’s Regional Center — Koronadal City. 

At the same time, the President will formally launch the government's Mega Jobs and Livelihood Fair by switching on the electronic billboard showing the jobs available here and abroad. 

The President will be in South Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat Thursday and Friday to check on several government programs in the region. 

The President earlier said that this year’s celebration of Independence Day will be stripped of its usual pomp and pageantry as the government will focus on employment and jobs generation. 

It will be on this historic date that the Arroyo administration will formally launch its nationwide Comprehensive Livelihood and Emergency Employment Program (CLEEP). 

The CLEEP -- the administration's nationwide effort intended to protect the country's most vulnerable sectors, such as the poor, returning expatriates, workers in the export industry and out-of-school youths from threats and consequences of reduced or lost income as a consequence of the global economic crisis by providing emergency employment and funding and supervising livelihood projects -- targets to create 220,000 jobs. 

It is aimed at achieving two crucial objectives, namely, to build the capacities of Filipino workers and afford them the skills they need to compete in tougher job markets; and to create as many jobs as possible in the least possible amount of time for the poor through investments in public works and enterprise development. 

President Arroyo has assigned each member of her Cabinet as steward to a specific region in order to ensure and oversee the implementation of identified CLEEP programs in that specific region. 

Funding for the CLEEP has been increased to P10 billion in 2009 and is being administered by the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) as the lead agency for the implementation of this program. 

As jobs generation is the main thrust of the CLEEP, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is the lead agency in the fulfillment of this endeavor. Nonetheless, other line departments and agencies have the jobs generation event in their agenda. 

These jobs created under the CLEEP will help improve the country’s infrastructure, push the growth of rural enterprises, improve public health care and food security, and stimulate private investments. 

The government has already started the initial phases of implementation of a number of projects under CLEEP in various parts of the country. 

The initial phase of the program involved the setting up of public facilities that will benefit some 1.5 million Filipinos, improve services for 7,352 families, 353 business establishments, 222 cooperatives, 1,287 barangays and nine agrarian-reform communities. 

Many of the jobs generated under the first phase of the CLEEP were also designed to hasten the pace of agricultural development in the country as its initial component will speed up key irrigation and farm-to-market road projects, as well as state-initiated efforts designed to improve environmental protection, waste management and manufacturing services nationwide. 

The DOLE said some 50,000 plantilla and emergency employment positions in several government agencies are up for grabs starting Friday. 

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources has 6,000 vacancies, while the Department of Education needs 8,000 workers. 

The Department of National Defense, Department of Health, Department of Trade and Industry and Metro Manila Development Authority will also allot employment slots at the jobs fair. 

About 30,000 emergency jobs nationwide will also be provided to displaced and other unemployed workers under the President’s CLEEP, while the private sector will open up some 70,000 jobs on June 13, the second day of the three-day event. 

Jobs overseas will cap the big event, where 50,000 sea-based and land-based jobs, mostly in services and sales industry and skilled sector, will be available. Half of the job orders will be from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Hong Kong, Russia and Bahrain.


PGMA appoints Ermita as Lakas-Kampi-CMD president

MANILA, June 10-- President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, national chair of the powerhouse Lakas-Kampi-Chrisian Muslim Democrat (CMD) Party, has named Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita as the party's national president. 

Quezon City Mayor Feliciano Belmonte, in a press conference on Wednesday held at Annabel's restaurant in Quezon City, said the President also appointed House Speaker Prospero Nograles, former Lakas-CMD president; and Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno, a former Kampi chairman, as vice chairmen of the merged Lakas-Kampi-CMD party. 

Former president Fidel Ramos is chairman emeritus in recognition of his "unquestioned patriotism and unblemished commitment" to the party's principles and program of government. 

The President also appointed Cebu Rep. Pablo Garcia as the party's executive vice president; Deputy Speaker and Maguindanao Rep. Simeon Datumanong as senior vice president for internal affairs; Quezon City Mayor Belmonte as senior vice president for external affairs; Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez as senior vice president for finance; and Political Adviser Gabriel Claudio as secretary general. 

Belmonte said all nine senior officers of the Lakas-Kampi-CMD, along with 54 other officers, will serve in an interim capacity. 

He noted the President's appointment of the top echelon leadership "signifies the start of a major party push to consolidate its membership from top to bottom and prepares to select its national and local candidates based on the most stringent set of criteria." 

"The President has great confidence in the party's new leaders and their ability to achieve our objectives. We have a lot to do, the two parties' merger was just a start," he said. 

Belmonte said the Executive Secretary's strength is his closeness to President Arroyo being the "Little President" in Malacanang, while Puno's party position "confirms his status as a serious contender for vice president, shifting his role from being a complete campaign strategist and planner to a candidate raring to try his strength on the stump." 

On the other hand, Nograles represents Mindanao while Garcia represents Cebu, considered as the administration's bailiwick in Central Visayas; while Claudio holds a powerful post "that does justice to his excellent abilities as a political manager and guru, perseverance and work ethic." 

Belmonte said the Lakas-Kampi-CMD's next moves "are very critical to the party's victory in 2010." 

""We are leaving no stone unturned to ensure that we end up with a successful campaign and a significant mandate to govern," he said


British firms to invest more in RP 

MANILA, June 10 -- Unfazed by the impact of global financial crisis, more British companies are keen to invest in the Philippines, particularly in business process outsourcing (BPO), energy and mining sectors. 

This was bared in an interview with Ambassador to the Philippines Peter Beckingham at the sidelines of the launch of the Philippine Learning Centre for Trade and Investment Place (PLACE). 

Beckingham said they hope to develop these sectors in the next few years. These involve new investments and expansion plans. 

He said the Philippines is still a country where British firms operate successfully. 

“Overall, the country seems to be withstanding the recession pretty well. British companies are not worried, most of whom the big ones that I have spoken to are still doing very well,” he added. 

The ambassador further said his country is also keen to increase trade with the Philippines. 

Beckingham said UK is one biggest exporter in the country of transport equipment, retail trade goods and pharmaceutical products. 

On the other hand, it is an importer of clothing, baked food products; and coconut oil and coconut products, he said. 

PLACE, the first and premiere private sector-led trade policy and training center in Southeast Asia, is designed to train and equip private stakeholders with knowledge and information on trade policy and negotiations. 

Donald G. Dee, Universal Access to Competitiveness and Trade (U-ACT) chairman and chief executive officer, said PLACE is necessary for private sector to become effective partners in trade policy making and negotiations strategy. 

“We, in the private sector, have been directing all our efforts towards empowering the various stakeholders for them to be able to utilize the trade and market opportunities brought about by the various trade agreements, of which we are a party to,” he said. 

PLACE program covers various training to chief executive officers, trade personnel, specialists and advocates on trade policy, trade agreements and negotiations strategy and techniques through the application of specialized/ customized, certified business and trade curriculum/modules on trade policy and trade agreements. 

The center will start its supplemental courses on June 22 and 23 and will run until February 2010. It will run a weeklong course program for chief executive officers and trade personnel this September


PGMA won’t intervene with Congress on cha-cha 

MANILA, June 10 – President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is not stopping the passage of the Constituent Assembly (Con-Ass) to amend the 1987 Constitution. 

”The President Arroyo will not intervene and ask her allies in the House of Representatives to stop pushing for Charter change (Cha-cha), which has once again sparked suspicions that she is planning to stay in power beyond 2010,” said Presidential Adviser on Political Affairs Secretary Gabriel Claudio over radio station DZMM 

"It has been a policy of our President not to interfere with Congress on Charter change," Claudio said. 

”Despite Mrs. Arroyo's obvious support for constitutional reforms, which she started advocating in 2004, the President has made a promise not to dictate on Congress how and when lawmakers should start talking about amendments to the Constitution,” Claudio said. 

Claudio pointed out that Mrs. Arroyo doesn’t want to talk about Cha-cha during meetings with her Cabinet and members of Lakas party. 

Mrs. Arroyo's critics have accused her of masterminding Cha-cha moves in the House of Representatives, particularly the passage of House Resolution 1109, which calls for a constituent assembly to tackle proposed amendments to the Constitution. 

On Tuesday, Malacanang welcomed Wednesday’s planned rally against Charter Change to hear and consider all viewpoints after the passage of Resolution 1109 which empowered Congress to convene itself into a Constituent Assembly (Con-Ass) to amend the 1987 Constitution. 

In a media briefing this afternoon in Malacanang, Cabinet Secretary Silvestre Bello III said the planned rally is the constitutional right of all to peaceably assemble and air their grievances against Con-Ass. 

Bello said the opposition is free to conduct their rally as long as they do it “peacefully and not at the expense of the general welfare.” 

Bello reiterated that the convening of the Con-Ass is an independent act of Congress the purpose of which needs to be explained to the people. 

“Con-Ass is an act of Congress. And as a co-equal body, we (Malacanang) give respect to the decision of Congress. When Congress came up with Resolution 1109, I am sure they had reasons in passing this resolution. And I am also sure that Congress can explain this to the people,” Bello said. 

Bello said Malacanang’s position is very clear with Presidential Political Adviser Gabriel Claudio stating there is no more time to conduct Con-Ass at the moment. 

But Bello said Congress is an independent and co-equal branch of government which cannot be dictated upon by Malacanang. 

“They make their own decisions. And whatever they feel will be good for the country, they are free to do so,” Bello said.


Duque to schools: continue reporting any unusual rise in students with flu/ while 23 previously confirmed mild cases now discharged

Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III today urged school authorities across the country to continue reporting to their respective local government executives any unusual occurrence of flu-like symptoms among their students especially those who travelled last summer to countries affected with the A (H1N1). 

”This effort is part of the readiness of the Department of Health (DOH) to shift from containment to mitigation”, Duque said.  

Duque made this call as he reported on Wednesday, 23 more confirmed mild A (H1N1) cases that are related to the cluster of schools that have already voluntarily suspended their classes due to the novel virus. These schools include De La Salle University Taft, East Asia College, De La Salle-College of St. Benilde, St. Andrews School Parañaque, and Ateneo de Manila High School. The new cases bring the total to 77 mild A (H1N1) confirmed cases. Twenty-three of these 77 mild cases have been discharged. 

Duque said that the increase in cases was due to the relentless contact tracing done by the DOH in the five affected schools. Duque also said that the 23 new confirmed mild cases are responding well to treatments.

Duque stressed that there is still no community spread yet as the new cases were all traced to one case that earlier caught the virus during a travel to an A (H1N1) affected country.

The 23 new confirmed cases include 19 Filipinos and 4 foreigners. There are 18 males and 5 females with an age range of 8-49 years old. Seven of the new confirmed cases have a history of travel. The said cases travelled to the US and Japan.

Since May 1, 2009, the DOH has monitored a total of 667 Cases Under Observation (CUOs). Of these, 77 were positive A (H1N1) cases, 85 have pending laboratory results, and 505 were negative and have been discarded. There were 68 new CUOs reported on Wednesday.

In their latest report dated June 8, the World Health Organization has reported 25,288 cases and 139 deaths from 73 reporting countries.