OFFICE OF VETERANS AFFAIRS OF THE PHILIPPINE EMBASSY CONDUCTS A FORUM ON
FILVETS BENEFITS APPEALS PROCESS
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he Office of Veterans Affairs of the Philippine Embassy conducted a forum on the appeals process of the Filipino
Veterans Equity Compensation Fund Benefits to address issues surrounding the claims of veterans with
denied applications.
Veterans Program Officer Ron Saguddan of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) provided an update on
the current status of grants and claims of veterans benefits that has been processed by the VA. He was
assisted by Philippine Embassy Veterans Service Officer Percival Abu. END.
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PGMA confers Presidential Award on Child Friendly Municipalites and Cities
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President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo conferred today the Presidential Award on Child Friendly Municipalities and
Cities in recognition of the local government units’ (LGUs) sustained promotion of children’s rights to survival,
development and protection at the local level.
This year’s national winners are the New Lucena, Iloilo (4th to 6th class municipality); San Mateo, Isabela (1st to
3rd class municipality); Vigan City (component city); Naga City (independent component city); and Olongapo City
(highly urbanized city).
The conferment of the annual award is pursuant to Executive Order No. 184 as part of the Philippines’
commitment as signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) adopted by the United Nations
(UN) General Assembly on November 20, 1989.
The President awarded the trophy and P300,000 cash incentives to the mayors of the winning LGUs during a
simple awarding ceremony at the Malacanang Heroes’ Hall.
The President also awarded Presidential citations and P300,000 cash incentives for the Child Health
Conscious LGUs to New Lucena, Iloilo (4th to 6th class municipality; Tayabas, Quezon (1st to 3rd class
municipality); Tagaytay City (component city); and Naga City (independent component city).
Assisting the President during the awarding rites were Health Secretary Esperanza Cabral, Interior and Local
Government Undersecretary Austere Panadero, Social Welfare Undersecretary Alicia Bala, and Council for the
Welfare of Children (CWC) executive director Parisya Taradji.
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Palace lauds IMF’s growth upgrade
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Malacañang today lauded the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for upgrading the country’s growth forecast for
2010 to 3.6 percent from an earlier forecast of 3.25 percent.
“I would like to commend the IMF for its recent decision to upgrade its growth forecast for the Philippines this
year. Its forecast for 2011 is even higher growth at four percent,” Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Gary Olivar
said in a news conference in Malacañang today.
He said the IMF forecast is in line with other multinational lending institutions (MLI).
Last week, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) raised its Philippine growth forecast from 3.3 percent to 3.8
percent; and the World Bank from 3.15 percent to 3.5 percent.
These positive forecasts are within the target growth range of 2.6 percent to 3.6 percent set by the inter-agency
Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC).
Olivar also noted the IMF improved its forecast for Philippine inflation to five percent inflation rate this year and a
more moderate four percent in 2011, well within the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) target range of 3.5
percent to 5.5 percent.
“But we should be happy about such conservatism. As any good manager will tell you, it is always better to
under-promise but over-deliver,” he explained.
“We take to heart the IMF’s prognosis for our country that ‘private domestic demand is expected to be the main
driver of growth’, and its advice for us to focus on ‘improving the environment for private investments’ to support
domestic demand growth,” he said.
But while the country is performing better against DBCC expectations, Olivar said the Philippines still has to
catch up with the rest of its neighbors in Southeast Asia.
IMF growth forecast for the original Association of South East Asia Nation (ASEAN)-5 are 5.4 percent this year
and 6.5 percent next year.
While he recognized the substantial contribution of overseas Filipino workers (OFW) remittances as a major
engine behind the growth of domestic demand, Olivar urged: “We should continue to work for the day when
enough local jobs are being created by mush higher levels of investment within out country, so that our workers
have more options to stay home as well as leave.”
“The President has already done much to improve the investment environment on her watch, mainly through
fiscal reforms that were instrumental in promoting macroeconomic stability and financial liquidity;
unprecedented support for both physical and digital infrastructure that has permanently brought down the
logistical cost of doing business and created whole new sunshine industries; and massive investment in
education infrastructure to sharpen the competitive edge of our human resources. She also pursued aggressive
trade and investment diplomacy during her trips abroad,” Olivar said.
Olivar expressed hope the next administration will take up and push with as much vigor and success as the
President has shown with her own agenda over the last nine years.
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