PGMA to ask Comelec for exemption from project campaign ban
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For the first time in the country’s electoral history, the construction of roads and bridges in most parts of Luzon
may be allowed even during the campaign period leading to the May national elections.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will ask the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to exempt infrastructure
projects identified by the Special National Public-Private Reconstruction Commission (SNPPRC) from the ban
imposed every time the nation .prepares to go to the polls.
The President’s request will be based on SNPPRC’s recommendations, which start consolidating its list of
projects on Jan. 14, said SNPPRC secretary-general Ricardo Saludo during this morning’s technical meeting at
the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo.
The meeting was attended by representatives of government agencies involved in the reconstruction of
infrastructure projects damaged by typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng on September and October last year.
The World Bank (WB) estimates the damage caused by these back-to-back typhoons at P206 billion or 2.7
percent of gross domestic product (GDP), which is the sum of all goods and services produced in the country.
More than 90 percent of the damage was sustained by the private sector.
SNPPRC is expected to submit to the President by the end of the month the list of projects that can be
immediately implemented and their funding sources for the first half of the year.
As of today, SNPPRC’s list includes projects worth a total of P3.36 billion. These projects will help unaligned
funds of P1.47 billion from the 2009 budget and the unprogrammed P12 billion specifically allocated by both
House of Congress for typhoon victims last year.
Congress has also approved another P50 billion this year to help typhoon victims.
“To be on the same safe side, the government agencies involved should already look into how they can align
their budgets so that priority projects can be implemented quickly,” said Saludo.
Based on NDCC’s criteria, top priority will be given to “emergency repair and rehabilitation of vital public
infrastructures and lifelines” such as hospitals and health facilities, schools, major roads and bridges, and
farm-to-market roads.
As of today, the SNPPRC list of projects does not include the repair of school buildings
“Maybe, the Department of Education (DepEd) has the budget for it but we will eventually have to ask DepEd, if
only to satisfy (our curiosity) on what it’s doing (in terms of repairing damaged schools),” Saludo said.
SNPPRC’s work was praised by World Bank country manager Bert Hofman , who said today that “things are
falling into place nicely.”
He cited four factors in the $4.4 billion reconstruction of Luzon over the next three years that can help SNPPRC
priotize its projects:
• Although the private sector bore the brunt of the damage caused by the typhoons, government action is
important;
• Micro-enterprises were badly hit, in part because these were stocking up for the Christmas holiday, but these
can be “running again with a little bit of help” from government;
• Relocation is not just about land; it must be near places of work for the relocates; and
• At the very least, investments in flood control should put Metro Manila back to the 1960s and 1970s when the
system worked.
WB was a major donor in the last December’s pledging session for typhoon victims that garnered $5 billion
from both international donors and the local private sector.
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PGMA holds Common Tao Day in Sampaloc
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Residents of Zone 44 in Sampaloc, Manila enjoyed an extraordinary day today with President Gloria Macapagal-
Arroyo where they celebrated hope, confidence, empowerment and approval of the services the government
provided them.
The President held her first “Common Tao Day” for this year in this depressed area where the Office of the
President through the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) provided medical, dental and optical
services to some 2,000 residents of the 22 barangays in the area.
The Common Tao Day was also an occasion for the beneficiaries, PCSO volunteers and ordinary folks to
demonstrate their confidence in and affirmation of their government and the President as they sang and danced
to the AHA –“Aprub Happy Ako” expression to the tune of today’s top hit “Nobody.”
The President gave out wheelchairs to a physically impaired and a kidney patient and gave out medical kits
consisting of assorted medicines, blood pressure apparatus, syringes, surgical gloves, bandages, breast
pumps, and specimen bottles to barangay health center representatives.
The President also distributed certificates of guarantee to Luz Banga-an, Serena Hipolito and Luzviminda
Corpus, who will no longer worry about the cost of their medical treatment.
She also distributed Christmas gift packs consisting of rice,noodles and canned goods.
The PCSO’s "Common Tao Day" was launched in the President's hometown Lubao on Sept. 25, 2009.
The event was patterned after the “Common Man's Day” that was conceptualized by the President's father, the
late President Diosdado Macapagal, who set aside a fixed day for interacting with common citizens.
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PGMA certifies 8 bills urgent
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Malacañang today said President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will make sure that the newly constituted
Presidential Commission Against Private Armies perform its task despite the criticism against it.
In a media briefing today, Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said the members have stated that they will not
allow anyone to deter them from achieving the commission’s objectives.
Under Administrative Order No. 275, the President mandates the creation of a commission to investigate the
existence of private armies and, if they do exist, to dismantle them before the May elections.
“We are very happy that the commission is already in place and the members have already started work,”
Remonde told reporters in his first briefing for the year
Intelligence reports have it that there are 68 armed groups that fall under the category of private armies. It is
these reports, Remonde said, that have compelled the President to seriously address the issue and create the
commission.
He said the idea of a commission composed of representatives from different sectors of society was first
broached by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP).
On the need for security, Remonde said, “that is precisely why the government keeps the state of emergency in
force in Maguindanao, Cotabato, and Sultan Kudarat.
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Investor interest in RP remains keen—PGMA
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CALAUAN, Laguna--- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today said keen investor interest in the Philippines,
both here and abroad, will continue to prop up the economy this year.
“Based on the roadshow of Finance Secretary Margarito Teves to sell Philippine bonds abroad, there is keen
investor interest in the country,” the President said.
The country hopes to raise this week as much as $1.5 billion in dollar-denominated bonds although order
books, mostly in Asia, are now over $5 billion.
Global ratings agencies Moody’s Investors Service and Standard & Poor’s assign foreign currency rating of Ba3
with a stable outlook and BB-senior unsecured debt rating, respectively, on the bonds.
Proceeds from the 10- and 25-year bonds due in 2020 and 2034, respectively, will help pay off or refinance
foreign debts due this year.
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) data placed the country’s full-2009 balance of payments (BOP) at $5 billion,
an improvement over the previous year’s $89 million but lower than $8.58 billion generated in 2007. A BOP
surplus means the economy generated more dollars from exports, remittances, and borrowings than it paid for
inputs and debt servicing.
The President has yet to sign the P1.541 trillion national budget, which is 8.6 percent higher than the 2009
budget. In her message for this year’s budget, the President stressed that she intends to complete the flagship
projects since she assumed the presidency in 2001.
Immediate beneficiaries of the Arroyo administration’s flagship projects are the 3,000 relocatees at the National
Housing Authority’s Southville 7 housing projects here. “This is just one district that benefited from the budget
and we have more of these all over the country. There are lots of relocation sites and housing projects for those
who want to be relocated,” the President explained.
The President turned over deeds of donation for the 30 school buildings built by NHA in its Southville and
Northville projects to the Department of Education, saying that these elementary schools must operate on two
shifts—one in the morning and another in the afternoon.
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PGMA set to certify as urgent a bill institutionalizing pro-poor scheme
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CALAUAN, Laguna—President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo this morning said she will certify as urgent a proposed
measure institutionalizing the administration’s pro-poor initiative called 4Ps or the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino
Program.
The President asked Deputy Speaker and Mindoro Rep. Amelita Villarosa to fast-track passage of the bill.
In her talk with reporters, the President who was in town to distribute livelihood checks to the former squatters
relocated to Southville Phase 7, said she wants succeeding administrations to ensure that the most
marginalized members of society get the proper support from the government continuously.
The 4Ps program is being implemented and budgeted on the basis of an executive order.
“I want it continued by the leaders who follow me, long after I have left the government,” she said.
The President has patterned the pro-poor scheme after a program she saw in Brazil when she visited that
country in June last year. The program there is continuously implemented whoever is in power.
On another area of concern, the President was pleased to hear the report of Vice President Noli de Castro that
his office will soon sign a memorandum of agreement with EEI on the one-month skills training for some of the
residents so they can be absorbed for jobs here and abroad.
The MOA will be signed by the EEI on one hand and the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council
and National Housing Authority, both under the Vice President, on the other.
The Vice President said he is also talking with an investor to finance mushroom production for the local market.
It is noted that Southville 7 alone has a population of 3,000, which could easily absorb agricultural products
grown in the area.
“We are in the process of making this village a wholesome community, where there is livelihood for the
residents, schools for the children, and soon, even a public market,” the Vice President said.
The community already has 30 schoolbuildings.
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