TOKYO, Japan, June 17 -- Two Official Development Assistance (ODA) loan packages worth 456 million dollars that would open at least 53,000 new jobs will be signed during President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s June 17-20 working visit here.
Teves said the yen loan packages are the 148-million dollars (Y14.6 billion) Agricultural Credit Support Project (ACSP) to be executed by LandBank, and the 308-million dollars (Y30.38 billion) Logistics Infrastructure Development Project (LIDP) to be executed by DBP.
DOF Undersecretary for International Finance Rosalia de Leon said the proposed loan agreements are scheduled to be signed on June 18 between Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo and his counterpart Japan Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone right after the President’s bilateral meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso at the Kantei (Prime Minister’s Office) here.
In its first five years of implementation, ACSP is expected to benefit 43,000 farmers and fishers, 220 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and 30 large agribusinesses.
On the other hand, the Logistics Infrastructure Development Project (LIDP) is an investment financing facility that can be accessed by private corporations, government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) and local government units (LGUs) to finance infrastructure and support systems for the Strong Republic Nautical Highway, particularly access/toll roads, bulk grains highway, and cold chain highway.
On top of the JICA loan, Teves added, the government will secure a 500-million dollars additional ODA from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to help bridge the government's budget deficit this year.
Teves says RP may tap Samurai funds
TOKYO, Japan, June 17 - The Philippines can tap 1 billion dollars to 1.5 billion dollars in Samurai funds within the year to help finance its projected P50-billion increased 2009 budgetary deficit and other pump-priming projects to sustain modest economic growth.
Samurai funds are proceeds of yen bonds that can be issued by international organizations, foreign corporations and foreign governments with a shorter maturity period and usually with a fixed interest rate.
The Japanese government earlier announced the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) will provide a guarantee of up to 500 billion yen to other Asian countries affected by the global crisis if they will issue yen-denominated Samurai bonds.
In a media interview at the Imperial Hotel here, Department of Finance (DOF) Secretary Margarito Teves said the possibility of floating Samurai bonds will likely be one of the topics President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will discuss with Japan’s Finance Ministry officials and private financial institutions during her June 17-20 working visit here.
Teves said the Philippines can issue Samurai bonds worth 1 billion dollars to 1.5 billion dollars depending on the terms and how much can be availed of from its Official Development Assistance (ODA) package.
“We raised our deficit from P177 billion to P199 billion then to P250 billion, so we need to look for other facilities that will help finance this additional deficit,” Teves explained.
He said the government has lowered this year’s economic growth projection to between 0.8 percent and 1.8 percent from the earlier target of 3.1 to 4.1 percent due to the impact of the global financial crisis.
Presently, Teves said the country’s overall deficit of about 3.2 percent of GDP (Gross Domestic Product) is still lower compared to the 4.3 average of other countries including Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand.
Teves said floating bonds or tapping grants and various loan sources are normal alternatives in managing budgetary deficits particularly during times of global financial crisis.
“So the Samurai bonds can be available to emerging economies or developing countries which are suffering from the effects of the global financial crisis,” Teves said, adding that Japan currently has lots of liquid resources to spare.
Teves, however, said Samurai bonds are a little bit more expensive compared to traditional ODA loans that have longer maturity periods extending up to 30 years with a 10-year grace period.
As it is, Teves said, floating Samurai bonds is an option considering its availability at this time unlike ODAs that sometimes take a lot of time to secure aside from having certain tight conditionalities.
“However, if there are some other types of ODA packages that are relatively cheaper then we can tap them,” Teves said.
He said if reasonable terms and the necessary approval can be acquired, Samurai bonds can be floated between now and the end of the year.
Duque reports 64 new cases while 8 more fully recovered patients are sent home on Wednesday
Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III reported on Wednesday that eight (8) more fully recovered patients were sent home while confirming 64 new cases, all mild in nature.
Forty of the cases are male, while the rest of the 24 are female. The age range of these cases is from 1 to 62 years old with a median age of 18 years old. All but two of the 64 are Filipinos. These new additional cases bring the total count to 311.
Duque announced that the 8 fully recovered patients bring the total count of recovered A (H1N1) cases to 93.
“So far the country has no reported case of death or severe illness in all of the 311 documented positive cases,” Duque stressed.
In their latest report dated June 15, the WHO has reported 35,928 cases and 163 deaths from 76 reporting countries.
On NPA losses
NPA leader in Abra Surrenders
by Bradley de leon
A high ranking official of the New People’s Army in Abra surrendered to the Cordillera Police Intelligence Group after a negotiation.
Cordillera Regional Director Chief Supt. Orlando Pestaño identified the NPA officer as Corpus Saboy alias Ka Lander who is one of the officers of Kilusang Laragan Guerilla North East operating in Malibcong, Tineg, Lagangilang and San Juan in province of Abra.
According to Pestano, Saboy is in the 11th position in the order of battle of Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police.
Current NPA's strength down to lowest level since the '80s
By the Philippines News Agency
MANILA, June 17 (PNA Feature) -- The strength of the communist New People’s Army (NPA) has been reduced drastically by more than 30 percent since President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ordered the military to defeat the country's four-decade old insurgency problem three years ago.
Figures culled from the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) indicated that at least 2,296 insurgents have been neutralized from 2006 up to May this year, bringing down the current rebels' strength to just about 4,874 from 7,170 in 2006.
The current NPA strength is the lowest since the 1980s when the communist movement reached its peak strength of more than 24,000. Also, the number of communist guerrilla fronts is now down to 75 from 100 in 2006.
Peace talks between the government and the communists bogged down in 2004 after the communist-led National Democratic Front (NDF) left the negotiating table to protest the inclusion of the NPA and its political wing -– the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) -– in the list of foreign terrorist organizations.
“General Ibrado ordered to prioritize support and focus resources on target goals and provide appropriate support to the field units to make sure they have what they need to finish the job,” said Holganza.
“General Ibrado also reiterated previous policy guidelines to include respect for human rights and strict adherence to the principle of command responsibility,” said Holganza.
“The one who will win this war is the one who gets the support of the people; we have a task to perform, a deadline to meet and a challenge to surpass, we cannot postpone this opportunity to finish the insurgency problem any longer so that we can all move forward and give our fellow Filipinos the environment conducive to progress and prosperity,” Holganza stressed.
The official also said the military is aiming to make certain adjustments to ensure that the mission to defeat the insurgency problem is met.
“For example, our garisson duty personnel in the Navy, Air Force and Army, we will be making use of them. We will be making use of our allies in the Philippine National Police (PNP). We are going to work on the other stakeholders, knowing for a fact that insurgency is not a military problem alone,” he added.
Despite the continuing downtrend of the NPA strength, Holganza said the military still considers the communist movement as the country’s No. 1 security threat, above the Abu Sayyaf Group, the rogue Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels, among other threat groups.
Holganza said the military cannot actually reduce the NPA at a zero strength. He stressed that the military mission is to reduce them into a smallest group as possible that they will turn to be a mere police problem.
“You really cannot totally eliminate that but what we can do is to reduce them, to reduce them to a level wherein they are no longer a national security concern. We want to decrease them to a level where they are simply what we can call threats to development, not threats to national security, meaning they will no longer be a big enough problem to really threaten our national patrimony,” he added.
“No one is more satisfied than me and the President. They have done so much with so little. You go and ask every expert in the Armed Forces and they will tell how amazed they are how we are accomplishing our mission,” said Teodoro.
“We are attending four fronts -– the CPP/NPA, rogue MILF and the Abu Sayyaf and natural disasters and calamities. We are addressing these at the same time. The mere fact that the country’s security situation is still stable, this is already a big accomplishment by our military and the police,” said Teodoro.
“To me, let's see what are the things that would be discussed and if it's their surrender to government and laying down their arms, let's see the condition, I am not averse to the talks. But if we are going to be compelled to stop our efforts against criminality in the country, we can't agree to that,” said Teodoro.
