PGMA to discuss governance issues with Mindanao local gov’t leaders
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President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will attend the closing ceremonies of the 2009 Mindanao-Island Cluster
Conference to be held at Hotel Stotsenberg in Clark, Pampanga tomorrow (Thursday, Sept. 3).
The President is expected to oversee and discuss various local governance issues with local government
leaders in Mindanao.
Hosted by the League of the Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP), the Mindanao-Island Cluster Conference
supports the FOURMULA 1 initiative of the Department of Health (DOH) and the Solid Waste Management
Program of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
The FOURMULA 1 of DOH seeks to strengthen the country’s health system and to give maximum health
benefits to Filipinos.
The four strategic thrusts under the initiative are: health regulation, which ensures the highest quality and
affordability of health goods and services; health service delivery, which seeks to secure the accessibility and
availability of basic and essential health care for all, especially the poor; health financing, which seeks to foster
greater, increased, and sustained investments in health; and good governance, which envisions to boost
performance of the entire health system.
As part of the advocacy of the President, LMP’s role in implementing solid waste management program in their
respective municipalities will be discussed during the conference.
DENR and LMP had previously held a Zero Basura Caravan in line with the directive of President Arroyo to
address global warming and climate change.
Mindanao local leaders will also present and consolidate their accomplishments and compliance with waste
management and the FOURMULA 1 program during the conference.
In attending the conference, the President will be able to define the concrete mechanisms and measures that
local leaders need to undertake to address the challenges in their respective municipalities.
The LMP’s thrusts supports the government’s attainment of the United Nations-initiated Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs), specifically in ensuring the environmental sustainability of the country and the
promotion of maternal and child health.
The LMP has established island clusters in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao which are mandated to hold their
respective annual conferences to discuss local governance issues and concerns affecting their clusters.
The island clusters are likewise institutionalized to promote greater inter-municipality cooperation and to
address island-specific governance challenges and opportunities requiring appropriate actions from the LMP,
the national government, the private sector, the civil society and other stakeholders of local governance.
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PGMA to meet war veterans tomorrow
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President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will meet Filipino World War II veterans tomorrow and inform them of her
administration’s continuing advocacy to secure and ensure the provision of their long-overdue benefits.
The President will be the guest of honor and speaker during the Filipino WW II Veterans Assembly at the
Tejeros Hall of Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City.
Among those expected to welcome her are Department of National Defense (DND) Secretary Gilbert Teodoro,
Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Victor Ibrado, Col. Emmanuel de Ocampo, national president of the Veterans
Federation of the Philippines (VFP); and Philippine Veterans Affairs Office (PVAO) Administrator and DND
Undersecretary Ernesto Carolina.
During her visit to Washington last July, the President thanked the US government for its various economic
assistance that include the long–overdue $190 million compensation package for the old and frail Filipino
veterans of World War II.
The compensation package is part of the $787 billion economic stimulus measure signed into law by US
President Barack Obama that is expected to benefit some 18,000 Filipino World War II veterans including an
estimated 6,000 Filipino veterans living in the US.
While in Washington, the President received a resolution of gratitude from the families of Filipino World War II
veterans for her continuing advocacy to secure recognition of service and the grant of long-overdue financial
benefits for the ageing Filipino World War II veterans particularly from the US government.
During her visit to Washington in 2001, the President brought before US President Bush the plight of Filipino war
veterans whose benefits compare poorly with those of their American counterparts.
In the Araw ng Kagitingan rites in April 2007, the President also assured World War II veterans that government
will be able to catch up with its arrears on pension payments as she instructed the release of P1.8 billion for the
payment of pension arrears in 2008.
Last year, the President signed Republic Act No. 9499 or the “Filipino World War II Veterans Pensions and
Benefits Act of 2008” allowing Filipino veterans to continue receiving their pensions and benefits from the
Philippine government in addition to similar pensions and benefits to be provided by the US government.
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