Independence Day parade to feature PGMA’s strong republic
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This year’s 112th Independence Day celebration on June 12 will restore the pomp and significance of the civic-
military parade at the Rizal Park Grandstand (Luneta) in Manila.
“For the last two years, we have been focusing on major programs and projects of the government and did
away with the usual civic military parade. This time, we are returning the parade to showcase the
achievements of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo especially before she bows out on June 30,” said
Ludovico Badoy, executive director of the National Historical Institute (NHI), which was designated the lead
agency for this year’s Independence Day celebration.
This year’s parade will feature 10 floats highlighting the 10-point agenda during the nine-year term of President
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. An eleventh float will honor the country’s modern-day heroes, particularly those who
have made names for themselves here and abroad in their respective fields of endeavor.
Badoy will flesh out the details for the Independence Day celebration and the coming Flag Awareness Day on
May 28 during this afternoon’s meeting of the Technical Working Group, which he chairs.
The Independence Day festivities will be launched on May 28, with Education Secretary Mona Valisno as the
guest of honor and speaker in an event in Cavite City to commemorate the Battle of Alapan where the
Philippine flag was first hoisted at Teatro Caviteno by Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo in 1898.
Flag will be simultaneous raised nationwide at 8 a.m. To give homage to the flag, NHI will ensure that the
Philippine flags are prominently placed in all major thoroughfares.
Badoy also urged both the public and the private sectors to proudly display the flag not just outside their offices
but also outside their homes.
On Independence Day, “we expect the President to be there at 6:45 a.m. and lead the flag raising
simultaneously with other local government officials all over the country,” Badoy added.
There will be the usual simultaneous flag-raising and wreath-laying ceremonies at 7 a.m. at the Rizal
monument.
The parade will take place in the afternoon. There will be a fireworks display immediately after the parade.
To help Metro Manila residents celebrate Independence Day , the Department of Transportation and
Communication (DOTC) may give free train rides (for rapid transit systems like MRT-2, MRT-3 and Light Rail
Transit).
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PGMA successor to inherit a stable bureaucracy -- Palace
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Malacañang today expressed confidence that the next administration will inherit a government in good state
and with stable bureaucracy.
Presidential Management Staff Director-General Maria Elena Bautista-Horn said that the blueprint for next
month’s turnover includes a situationer on the state of government that the next administration is going to
inherit.
“I can look them straight in the eye with all pride that we delivered the bureaucracy in good condition to the next
president,” Bautista-Horn said.
She said that the Malacañang transition plan that covers the different functions of the offices in the bureaucracy
and the assets and resources that will be transferred to the next administration was presented in cabinet
meeting Tuesday and was approved.
Meanwhile, Executive Secretary Leandro Mendoza said that if President Arroyo’s successor so desires,
Malacañang is willing to walk him through the Palace grounds and offices just like what outgoing US President
George W. Bush did to his successor Barack Obama at the White House in November 2008.
“We are open to that (walk-through visit). As a matter of fact, that is part of the preparations we are doing,” said
Mendoza during a press briefing in Malacañang where he was joined by Secretary Bautista-Horn.
Bautista also said during the briefing that the Arroyo administration will be turning over to the incoming
administration a little over 1,000 unfilled middle to high level positions.
“We did not fill the vacancies up because these are positions which had been vacated by those who were
promoted and which we did not touch anymore,” said Bautista.
For the co-terminus appointees, we have 67 vacancies of which 25 are plantilla posts and 42 are non plantilla
posts (or positions that automatically gets dissolved when President steps down).
The 67 does not include heads of agencies and the attached bureaus of the 21 line departments, 181 bureaus
and attached agencies under the Office of the President which will all be vacated since most of them are co
terminus with the President.
On whether they would give the incoming administration any advise or suggestion on how to fill up these
positions, Bautista said “we are not in a position to give unsolicited advise but we are here to oversee the
smooth turnover of the bureaucracy to the next administration.”
Definitely the career officials will be staying on and the Civil Service made it that way “because you need an
institutional memory to ensure the continuation of services to the people,” she said.
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