PIA Dispatch - Monday, July 13, 2009

PGMA bound for Egypt to attend 15th NAM

MANILA, July 13 - President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo leaves on Tuesday for Egypt to attend the 15th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Leaders Summit slated on July 15 and 16.

Deputy Presidential Spokesman for Economic Affairs Prof. Gary Olivar said during today’s press briefing that the summit which will have for its theme “International Solidarity for Peace and Development.”

Olivar said it will be held at the Sharm El-Sheikh, a famous tourism destination also known as “The City of Peace” due to the numerous international peace conferences that have been held in that place.

He said the President, a NAM vice president for Asia, was earlier invited by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to speak on behalf of the Asian leaders during the opening on Wednesday.

Mrs. Arroyo has been the leading voice of developing countries on the war against terrorism and promoting interfaith dialogue to achieve durable peace and nuclear non-proliferation.

The President has been also pushing for the promotion of the rights of migrant workers, urgent efforts to address piracy in the high seas, and the revitalization of international finance institutions to help developing countries effectively address the current global economic crisis and similar crises that may arise in the future.

During the trip, the Philippines will also call for the active participation of all NAM members in the Special NAM Ministerial Meeting on Interfaith Dialogue and Cooperation for Peace and Development that will be held in Manila on December 1-3 this year.


PGMA to bring up poverty alleviation program, economic resiliency plan in meeting with Obama - Remonde

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will have an opportunity to discuss with US President Barack Obama the country’s poverty alleviation program and economic resiliency plan during her planned visit to Washington on July 30.

In a radio interview Monday morning, Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said the President has accepted the invitation to be the first Southeast Asian leader to meet with President Obama at the White House.

Remonde said the Chief Executive and President Obama will likely discuss global issues on terrorism and climate change, as well as her poverty alleviation and economic resiliency programs.

The President has been a strong partner of the international community in the war against terrorism particularly since the 9/11 attacks on US soil.

The Philippines is also at the forefront in urging the world, particularly industrialized economies, to drastically reduce their greenhouse gas emissions under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change UNFCCC and the 1997 Kyoto Protocol which was ratified by 184 countries and took effect in 2005.

Remonde said the President will also likely discuss the Arroyo administration’s anti-poverty programs that are being implemented through the additional funds generated from earlier fiscal and financial reforms.

Another likely topic is the P330-billion Economic Resiliency Plan including accelerated spending for human and physical infrastructure that was put in place to ensure sustainable growth, create and save jobs, mitigate hunger, and protect the most vulnerable sectors against the harsh effects of the present global crisis.

While in Washington, the President will also meet with other key US officials and businessmen.


BSP exec hopes improvement on RP economy in Q2 ‘09

MANILA, July 13 - A Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) official hopes that all government initiatives to pump-prime the economy will pay off and result to more positive figures for the second quarter this year.

BSP Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo said government expenditures in the first five months this year grew by about 16 percent after it reached P579.3 billion against year-ago’s P501.2 billion.

The jump in national government (NG) spending was made even as revenues dropped by 5.4 percent year-on-year during the said period after it only reached P456.2 billion against year-ago’s P482.2 billion.

“Assuming that all of those were actually utilized and the cash position of the government should show that, then we should be looking at better public spending and therefore, higher GDP (gross domestic product),” he said.

In the first quarter this year, output of the domestic economy was almost flat at 0.4 percent but economic managers said this is still better since it is still on the positive territory compared to the contraction registered by other economies in the region.

Relatively, the BSP has initiated several measures to support the continued growth of the economy.

Guinigundo said about P100 billion has been infused in the economy after the central bank reduced banks’ reserve requirements to two percent and increased re-discounting rates from P20 billion to P60 billion.

He also said that another major factor is the continued decline in the central bank’s policy rates, which has been reduced by 200 basis points since December 2008 as inflation continue to decline.

Loan growth continue to be healthy to date but Guinigundo admitted that some of these funds were not used solely for more economic activity but to pay off existing debts.

Guinigundo said this situation is “sort of repairing what is broken during the height of the crisis and making for a more durable and sustainable kind of economic performance.”

He said there is the “need to lay down the groundwork” during the adjustment phase.

“The global economy shows continued improvement (so) I hope by the second half we should see better signs of economic growth,” he said.

And as inflation continue to decelerate, with the June rate at 1.5 percent from the previous month’s 3.3 percent, Guinigundo added that this would further support economic growth.


Palace welcomes Jalandoni's return to RP --Remonde

Manila, July 13 — Malacanang welcomes the return of the chief negotiator of the National Democratic Front (NDF) Luis Jalandoni to the country and hopes for the resumption of a formal peace talks between the government and the communist movement.

Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said that the Palace was hopeful that Jalandoni’s return to the country would pave the way for the resumption of formal peace talks with the NDF and its affiliate groups Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and New Peoples Army (NPA).

”The pursuit of peace has always been a policy of government, despite efforts by some sectors to obstruct it,” Remonde told a radio interview this morning.

Jalandoni and his wife Consuela Ledesma arrived in Manila from The Netherlands after the Palace restored the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantee (JASIG) for the NDF’s negotiators and its staff members.

According to Bayan-Muna Representative Satur Ocampo, Jalandoni was in the country to visit his sick sister.

Ocampo also told a radio interview that the observance of the government for the JASIG was a good sign for the resumption of the peace talks.

NDF peace panel can travel without fear of being arrested while a safe conduct passes is in effect.
Malacanang and NDF on July 8 announced that they have started making preparations for the formal resumption of the peace talks which were suspended in 2004.

"On behalf of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), I wish to announce that preparations are being made by the Negotiating Panels of the NDFP and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) for the resumption of formal talks in the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations in Oslo in Norway sometime in August 2009," Jalandoni said in an article posted on the CPP Web site last July 8.

According to Jalandoni, the government and NDF panels had agreed on the implementation of the Jasig.

The Jasig allows negotiators to participate in the preparatory meeting and formal talks in August, he said.

"Legal teams of the two panels are currently working and cooperating to ensure the implementation of the Jasig," Jalandoni also said in the website.

Jalandoni said both panels had also agreed to exchange, within July, their respective drafts of the Joint Statement that should be unified in a common draft.

"The Joint Statement shall embody the agenda and points of agreement of the panels in the formal talks," he said.

Jalandoni also said that Norway would, again, be the third-party facilitator in the talks.
The NDF chief negotiator also said that Norway had helped GRP representatives and the NDF Negotiating Panels to meet in The Hague last June 15 and agreed on the necessary preparations for the resumption of formal talks.

"It is now making the arrangements for the preparatory meeting and formal talks to be held in Oslo in August 2009," he said.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo suspended the Jasig on Sept. 2, 2005 after government and the NDF peace panels failed to agree to resume the peace talks.


Palace assures 50 percent price rollback on selected medicines

MANILA, July 13 - Malacañang today assured a half the price rollback on selected medicines, including those taken by the elderly, within the next 10 days.

Press Secretary Cerge M. Remonde said the reduction of the prices of vital medicines is part of the administration’s implementation of the Cheaper Medicines Law that President Arroyo certified as urgent when the law was still hotly debated in Congress.

Remonde described Sen. Mar Roxas as “mentally dishonest” and “ignorant of the law” when the latter insisted on summoning the president on today’s hearing at the Senate on the Cheaper Medicines Law.

“It was very irresponsible of Sen. Mar Roxas to issue a summon for President Arroyo for Monday’s inquiry considering the law prohibits the invitation of the head of a co-equal branch of government,” Remonde said.

“Either Sen. Roxas is ignorant of the law or mentally dishonest about it,” he said.

He also cited statements from other opposition officials and lawmakers revealing that Roxas was among those who opposed the passage of the Cheaper Medicines Law.

He said Roxas was “making it appear that he is a champion of cheaper medicines but it’s turning out now…that’s he’s opposing reduction of the prices of medicines.”

Remonde tweeted Sen. Roxas, saying he (Sen. Roxas)is doing cartwheels in an effort to become president of the Philippines”.