MikeLigalig.com

Rainbow coalition strengthens

Team Aumentado’s stronghold



Forsaken by its gubernatorial standard-bearers, the Lakas-Kampi-CMD team in the second district launched last Friday a rather much stronger sail onwards the campaign trail with the rainbow coalition that attracted major strongholds of the Nacionalista Party, the Liberal Party, and LDP.

        In lieu of Lakas-Kampi-CMD gubernatorial bet Congressman Edgar Chatto, who prefers to back Trinidad Mayor Judith Cajes for the congressional seat in the 2nd district, the rainbow coalition Team Aumentado has adopted the Nacionalista Party team-up of Vice-Governor Julius Herrera for governor and former provincial administrator Tomas Abapo Jr. for vice governor.

        The Bien Unido slate of NP, under the leadership of reelectionists Mayor Rey Niño Boniel and Vice-Mayor Petronilo Justiniane, followed suit.

        The LDP group of Getafe led by its mayoraly bet Vice-Mayor Cary Camacho and runningmate Councilor Camilo “Lolo” Torremocha also joins Team Aumentado.

        The Liberal Party group in Talibon led by former Trinidad Mayor Adel Garcia and Judge Avelino Puracan is also supporting the Team Aumentado of the 2nd district Lakas-Kampi-CMD stronghold.

        As regional and 2nd district chair of Lakas-Kampi-CMD, Governor Erico Aumentado proclaimed Gilbert Teodoro as the rainbow coalition’s standard-bearer, along with Team Aumentado’s line up for the Provincial Board to represent the 2nd district- -Board Member Josephine Socorro Jumamoy, Liga ng mga Barangay (LnB) exec. vice-president Dr. Romulo Cepedoza of barangay Poblacion in the town of Danao, and Dr. Mutya Kismet Tirol-Macuno- -daughter of former governor David Tirol and BM Amalia Tirol.

        Aumentado also proclaimed the rest of the Team Aumentado’s line-up in 10 of the 14 municipalities in 2nd district include the slates of Mayor Juanario Item and former mayor Robesito Artiaga in Talibon, Mayor Jose Jono Jumamoy and Vice-Mayor Wenceslao Lao in Inabanga, Mayor Elsa Tirol and Vice-Mayor Ronald Lowell Genson "Sample" Tirol in Buenavista, Mayor Louis Thomas Gonzaga and Vice-Mayor Jose Torregosa in Danao, Vice-Mayor Allen Ray Piezas and Mayor Hermogenes Diezon in Clarin,  Pastor Gudea and Mayor Jimmy Torrefranca in Sagbayan, Mayor Apolinar Gumanid Jr. and Eudoxio Asoy in San Isidro, Mayor Germinio Relampagos and Councilor Pablo Leo Mayol Jr. in Dagohoy, and the LDP slate of Camacho and Torremocha in Getafe.

        Herrera proclaimed NP’s line-up in Bien Unido that supports Team Aumentado, led by Mayor Rey Niño Boniel and Vice-Mayor Petronilo Justiniane.

        The slates of Item and Relampagos are among the orginal Lakas-Kampi-CMD group that the Comelec had declared independent candidates for being challenged by corresponding sets of candidates fielded by the group of Cajes.

        The proclamation rally dubbed as “LAwas of KASingkasing sa Segundo Distrito para ni Gibo-Aumentado” last Friday gathered over 3,000 supporters who jampacked the cultural center of Talibon.

        In his unity speech, Aumentado emphasized statesmanship, values, anti-dynasty, stop the practice of overpricing the cost estimates of project funded by the Priority Development Assistance Fund of congressmen.

        As Team Aumentado goes full swing in the campaign trail, the governor launched the rainbow coalition’s sail to victory through an honest, orderly and peaceful election without the taint of money and use of physical force and guns to harras voters.

        Aumentado also launched the crusade to stop irregularities in managing the Priority Development Assistance Fund of congressmenm,citing as example, the distribution of defective computers.

        The governor proposes the implementation of the Gearing Up Internet Literacy and Access for Students (GILAS) Project in partnership with Ayala Foundation and Glob, and the revival of Sine-Eskwela through the partnership with ABS-CBN.

        He also challenged critcs to check his track record since the start of his political career in 1967 until the present, citing that he never fieled any of his children nor his wife to run for any position to perpetuate political dominance.

        Aumentado hinted that the right man for the Congressional seat is one who can present his/her proposals and arguments before the Congress without a script, especially that the deliberation will be in English.

        The governor leads in the recent Bohol Poll survey of the Holy Name University Research Center where he got 53 percent preference among the respondents and his governance earned a +75 rating, while his archrival to the congressional seat in the 2nd district only got 15 percent.

        Aumentado attributed his political feat to the late Boholano president Carlos P. Garcia who launched him as a candidate for the Provincial Board in 1967, lending him P5,000 as campaign funds.

        In the next layer of political advancement, Aumentado said that Garcia lent him P12,000 to finance his campaign, since the his salary then as Provincial Board member was only P700 with transportation allowance of P300.

        Aumentado said Garcia entrusted the fulfillment his dreams for Bohol when he lost in the attempt to a second presidency term in 1961.

        These dreams included the concreting and opening of major roads in Bohol, establishment of irrigation facilities, power supply and electrification of the barangays and an international airport.

        Indeed, in his three-term stint as congressman of 2nd district from 1992 to 2001- -serving as only Boholano deputy speaker of the House, the 2nd district of Bohol as the only congressional district in the entire country that has a masterplan that served as guide and blueprint in fulfilling some of Garcia’s dreams for Bohol.

        Eventually, the mega-projects- -Bohol Circumferential Road Improvement Project (BCRIP) phases 1 and 2,  Bohol Irrigation Project phases 1 and 2 (BHIP), and Leyte-Bohol Power Interconnection Project- -that fulfilled these dreams had also served as the strong groundwork of Aumentado’s governance.

        In his first term as governor of Bohol, Aumentado has also been the only Boholano president of League of Provinces of the Philippines (LPP), Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP).

        To follow are the third phase of BCRIP and BHIP, the Panglao-Bohol International Airport Development Project, and the Bohol-Cebu Multi-Access Friendship Bridge.

        Aside from improving the transport access to Cebu and vice versa, the super-bridge will serve as access for cables that will bring in the projected 1,000 MW excess power supply from Cebu by 2011 after the installation of three 850-MW power plants in Cebu.

        In return, Bohol will supply excess water from its major rivers to Cebu to be conveyed also through the super bridge.

        With its Bohol point in Getafe, the project will complement the multi-industry cluster that will hold base at the eyed special economic zone in the nearby town of Talibon.

        The special economic zone will house the Algae Bio-ethanol Research and Development Center of the Korean government’s Algahol Philippines and its US150-million bio-ethanol processing plant that will utilize the cottoni variety of red algae cultivated in the coastal towns of Bohol.

        Other projects up for completion during the governor’s return to the Congress include the P1.6-billion Bohol Backbone Transmission Project of TRANSCO (now National Grid Corp. of the Philippines) that will enhance power distribution in the province from 69 kilovolts to 138 KV through a high tension overhead steel towers from the LBIP Ubay substation to the new station in Corella.

        Moreover, to hit the ground running when he makes to the Congress again, Aumentado had already signed the memorandum of understanding with NEDA-7 for the drafting of the 2nd district Barangay Masterplan of Development based on the integrated area development strategy, for which he had allocated P1 million from his Provincial Development Initiative Fund.

angay anang mga hilabtanon, ikiha.duna gyuy mga tawo nga gawas sa way income, mahilig manghilabot og laing tawo.puno sa kasuya ang ilang galamhan.angay na ipa-imbestigar og ikiha gyud kay para di mag-anad.ako usa sa nabiktima sa pagpangdaut bag-o pa lang and i think kini tingaling nangdaut ni mike ligalig, pareho ra nig dugo sa nangdaut nako. pero, naa may ginoo.

Thank you.

Ladies and gentleman, good afternoon. Before I begin my report to the nation, please join me first in a moment of prayer for President Aquino.

Thank you, Speaker Nograles. Senate President Enrile, Speaker Nograles, Senators, Representatives, Vice President De Castro, former President Ramos, Chief Justice Puno, Ambassadors, friends:

The past twelve months have been a year for the history books. Financial meltdown in the West spread throughout the world. Tens of millions lost their jobs; billions across the globe have been hurt -- the poor always harder than the rich. No one was spared.

It has affected us already. But the story of the Philippines in 2008 is that the country weathered a succession of global crises in fuel, in food, then in finance, and finally the economy in a global recession, never losing focus and with economic fundamentals intact.

A few days ago Moody’s upgraded our credit rating, citing the resilience of our economy. The state of our nation is a strong economy.

Good news for our people, bad news for our critics.

I did not become President to be popular. To work, to lead, to protect and preserve our country, our people, that is why I became President. When my father left the Presidency, we were second to Japan. I want our Republic to be ready for the first world in 20 years.

Towards that vision, we made key reforms. Our economic plan centers on putting people first. Higit sa lahat, ang layunin ng ating patakaran ay tulungan ang masisipag na karaniwang Pilipino. New tax revenues were put in place to help pay for better healthcare, more roads, a strong education system. Housing policies were designed to lift up our poorest citizens so they can live and raise a family with dignity. Ang ating mga puhunan sa agrikultura ay naglalayong kilalanin ang ating mga magsasaka bilang backbone ng ating bansa, at bigyan sila ng mga modernong kagamitan to feed our nation and feed their own family.

Had we listened to the critics of those policies, had we not braced ourselves for the crisis that came, had we taken the easy road much preferred by politicians eyeing elections, this country would be flat on its back. It would take twice the effort just to get it back again on its feet -- to where we are now because we took the responsibility and paid the political price of doing the right thing. For standing with me and doing the right thing -- thank you, Congress.

The strong, bitter and unpopular revenue measures of the past few years have spared our country the worst of the global financial shocks. They gave us the resources to stimulate the economy. Nabigyan nila ang pinakamalaking pagtaas ng IRA ng mga LGU na 40 billion pesos itong taon, imparting strength throughout the country and at every level of government. Compared to the past, we have built more and better infrastructure, including those started by others but left unfinished. The Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway is a prime example of building better roads. It creates wealth as the flagship of the Subic-Clark Corridor.

We have built airports of international standard, upgraded domestic airports, built seaportsand the Roll-on/Roll-off System. I ask Congress for a Philippine Transport Security Law.

Some say that after this SONA, it will be all politics. Sorry, but there’s more work.

Sa telecommunications naman, inatasan ko ang Telecommunications Commission na kumilos na tungkol sa mga sumbong na dropped calls at mga nawawalang load sa cellphone. We need to amend the Commonwealth-era Public Service Law. And we need to do it now.

Kung noong nakaraan, lumakas ang electronics, today, we are creating wealth by developing the BPO and tourism sectors as additional engines of growth. Electronics and other manufactured exports rise and fall in accordance with the state of the world economy. But BPO remains resilient. With earnings of six billion dollars and employment of 600,000, the BPO phenomenon speaks eloquently of our competitiveness and productivity. Let us have a Department of ICT.

In the last four years tourism almost doubled. It is now a five billion-dollar industry.

Our reforms gave us the resources to protect our people, our financial system and our economy from the worst of shocks that the best in the west failed to anticipate. They gave us the resources to extend welfare support and enhance spending power. For helping me raise government salaries through Joint Resolution No. 4 -- thank you, Congress.

Cash handouts give the most immediate relief and produce the widest stimulating effect. Nakikinabang ang 700,000 na pinakamahihirap na pamilya sa programang Pantawid Pamilya.

We prioritize projects with the same stimulus effects plus long-term contributions to progress.

Sa pagpapamahagi ng milyun-milyong ektaryang lupa, 700,000 na katutubo at mahigit isang milyong benepisyaryo ng CARP ay taas-noong may-ari na ng sariling lupa. Hinihiling ko sa Kongreso na ipasa agad ang pagpapalawig ng CARP, at dapat ma-condone ang 42 billion pesos na land reform liabilities dahil 18.0 percent lamang ang nabayaran mula 1972. Napapanahon because it will unfreeze the rural property market. Ang mahal kong ama ang nag-emancipate ng mga magsasaka. Iemancipate naman natin ngayon ang titulo.

Nakinabang ang pitong milyong entrepreneur sa 165 billion pesos in microfinance loans.

Nakinabang ang sandaan libo sa emergency employment ng ating economic resiliency plan. Kasama natin ngayon ang isa sa kanila, si Gigi Gabiola. Dating household service worker sa Dubai, ngayon siya ay nagtatrabaho sa DOLE. Good luck! Gigi.

Nakinabang ang isang milyong pamilya sa programang pabahay at palupa, mula Pag-IBIG, NHA, community mortgage programs, certificates of lot award, at saka yung inyong Loan Condonation and Restructuring Act. Salamat.

Our average inflation is the lowest since 1966. Last June, it dropped to 1.5 percent. Paano? Proper policies lowered interest rates, which lowered costs to business and consumers.

Dahil sa ating mga reporma, nakaya nating ibenta ang bigas NFA sa P18.25 per kilo kahit tumaas ang presyo sa labas mula P17.50 hanggang P30 dahil sa kakulangan sa supply sa mundo. Habang, sa unang pagkakataon, naitaas ang pamimili ng palay sa mga magsasaka -- 17 pesos mula sa 11 pesos.

Dahil sa ating mga reporma, nakaya nating mamuhunan sa pagkain -- anticipating an unexpected global food crisis. Nakagawa tayo ng libu-libong kilometro ng farm-to-market roads, at kasama ng pribadong sektor, natubigan ang dalawang milyong ektarya. Mga Badjao gaya ni Tarnati Dannawi ay tinuruan ng modernong mariculture. Umabot na sa 180,000 pesos ang kinita niya mula noong nakaraang taon. Congratulations, Tarnati! We will help more fisherfolk shift to fish farming with a budget of one billion pesos.

Dahil dumarami na naman daw ang pamilyang nagugutom, mamumuhunan tayo ng panibago sa ating hunger mitigation program na sa nakaraan ay napatunayang mabisa. Tulungan niyo ako dito, Kongreso.

Mula pa noong 2001, nanawagan na tayo ng mas murang gamut. Nagbebenta tayo ng gamut na kalahating presyo sa libu-libong Botika ng Bayan at Botika ng Barangay sa maraming dako ng bansa. Our efforts prodded the pharmaceutical companies to come up with low-cost generics and brands like RiteMed. I supported the tough version of the House of the Cheaper Medicine Law, I supported it over the weak version of my critics. The result: the drug companies volunteered to bring down drug prices, slashing by half the prices of 16 drugs. Thank you, Congressmen Cua, Alvarez, Biron, Locsin.

Pursuant to law, we are placing other drugs under a maximum retail price. To those who want to be President, this advice: If you really want something done, just do it. Do it hard, do it well. Don’t pussyfoot. Don't pander. And don’t say bad words in public.

Sa health insurance, sakop na ng 86.0 percent ang ating populasyon.

Sa Rent Control Law ng 2005 hanggang 2008, di pwedeng lumampas ng 10.0 percent ang pagtaas ng upa taun-taon. Ayon sa kapipirma nating batas may isang taong moratorium, tapos hanggang 7.0 percent lamang ang maaaring pagtaas. Salamat, Kongreso.

Noong isang taon, nabiyayaan ng tig-500 pesos ang mahigit pitong milyong tahanan bilang Pantawid Kuryente sa mga small electricity users. Yung presyo ng kuryente, ang EPIRA natin ang pangmatagalang sagot. EPIRA dismantled monopoly. Ngunit minana natin ang power purchase agreements, kaya hindi pa natin makakamtan yung buong intended effect. Pero happy na rin tayo, dahil isang taon na lamang yan. And the next generation will benefit from low prices from our EPIRA. Thank you.

Samantala, umabot na sa halos lahat ng barangay ang elektrisidad. We increased indigenous energy from 48.0 percent to 58.0 percent. Nakatipid tayo ng dollars tapos malaki pa ang na-reduce na oil consumption. The huge reduction in fossil fuel is the biggest proof of energy independence and environmental responsibility. Further reduction will come with the implementation of the Renewable Energy Act and the Biofuels Act. Again, thank you.

The next generation will also benefit from our lower public debt to GDP ratio. It declined from 78.0 percent in 2000 to 55.0 percent in 2008. We cut in half the debt of government corporations from 15.0 percent to 7.0%. Likewise foreign debt from 73.0 percent to 32.0 percent. Kung meron man tayong malaking kaaway na tinalo, walang iba kung hind ang utang, yung foreign debt. Those in the past conjured the demon of foreign debt. We exorcised it.

The market grows economies. A free market, not a free-for-all.

To that end, we improved our banking system to complement its inherent conservatism. The Bangko Sentral has been prudent. Thank you, Governor Tetangco, for being so effective. The BSP will be even more effective if Congress will amend its Charter.

We worked on the Special Purpose Vehicle Act, reducing non-performing loans from 18.0 percent to 4.0 percent and improving loan-deposit ratios.

Our new Securitization Law did not encourage the recklessness that brought down giant banks and insurance companies elsewhere and laid their economies to waste. In fact, it monitors and regulates the new-fangled financial schemes. Thank you, Congress.

We will work to increase tax effort through improved collections and new sin taxes to further our capacity to reduce poverty and pursue growth. Revenue enhancement must come from the Department of Finance plugging leaks and catching tax and customs cheats. I call on taxpaying citizens and taxpaying businesses -- help the BIR and Customs spot those cheats.

Taxes should come from alcohol and tobacco, and not from books. Tax hazards to lungs and livers, do not tax minds. Ang kita mula sa buwis sa alak at sigarilyo ay dapat gamitin sa kalusugan at edukasyon. Pondohan ang Philhealth premiums ng pinakamahihirap. Pondohan ang mas maraming classrooms at computers.

Pardon my partiality for the teaching profession. I was a teacher.
Kaya namuhunan tayo ng malaki sa edukasyon at skills training. Ang magandang edukasyon ay susi sa mas magandang buhay, the great equalizer that allows every young Filipino a chance to realize their dreams.

Nagtayo tayo ng 95,000 na silid-aralan, nagdagdag ng 60,000 na guro, naglaan ng 1.5 billion pesos para sa teacher training, especially for 100,000 English teachers.

Isa sa pinakamahirap sa Millennium Development Goals ay yung ‘Education para sa Lahat’ pagdating ng 2015. Ibig sabihin, lahat ng nasa tamang edad ay dapat nasa primary school. Halos walang bansang makakatupad nito. Ngunit nagsisikap pa rin tayo. Nagtayo tayo ng mga paaralan sa higit sanlibong barangay na dati walang eskwelahan upang makatipid ng gastos sa pamasahe ang mga bata. Tinanggal natin ang miscellaneous fees para sa primary school. Hindi na kailangan ang uniporme sa mga estudyante sa public school. In private high schools, we financed half of the students.

We have provided college and post-graduate education for over 600,000 scholars. One of them, Mylene Amerol-Macumbal, finished Accounting at MSU-IIT, then she went to law school, and placed second in the last bar exam -- the first Muslim woman bar topnotcher. Congratulations!

In technical education and skills training, we have invested three times that of three previous administrations combined. Narito si Jennifer Silbor, isa sa sampung milyong trainee. Natuto siya ng medical transcription. Now, as an independent contractor and lecturer for transcriptions in Davao, kumikita siya ng 18,000 pesos bawat buwan. Good job, Jennifer!

The Presidential Task Force on Education headed by Jesuit educator Father Bienvenido Nebres has come out with the Main Education Highway towards a Knowledge-Based Economy. It envisions seamless education from basic to vocational school or college.

It seeks to mainstream early childhood development in basic education. Our children are our most cherished possession. In their early years we must make sure they get a healthy start in life. They must receive the right food for a healthy body, the right education for a bright and inquiring mind, and the equal opportunity for a meaningful job.

For college admission, the Task Force recommends mandatory Scholastic Aptitude Tests. It also recomends that higher private education institutions and state universities and colleges should be harmonized, and also that CHED should oversee local universities and colleges. For professions seeking international recognition -- engineering, architecture, accountancy, pharmacy and physical therapy -- the Task Force recommends radical reform: 10 years of basic education, two years of pre-university before three years of university.

Our educational system should make the Filipino fit not just for whatever jobs happen to be on offer today, but also for whatever economic challenge life will throw in their way.

Sa hirap at ginhawa, pinapatatag ang ating bansa ng ating overseas Filipinos. Iyong padala nilang 16 billion dollars noong isang taon ay record. Itong taon, mas mataas pa.

I know that this is not a sacrifice joyfully borne. This is work where it can be found in faraway places, among strangers with different cultures. It is lonely work, it is hard work. Kaya nagsisikap tayong lumikha dito sa atin ng mga trabahong maganda ang sahod, so that overseas work will just be a career choice, not the only option for a hardworking Filipino.

Meanwhile, we should make their sacrifices worthwhile. Dapat gumawa tayo ng mas epektibong proteksyon at pagpapalawak ng halaga ng kanilang pinagsikapang sweldo. That means stronger consumer protection for overseas Filipinos investing in property and products back home. Para sa kanila, pinapakilos natin ang Investors Protection Task Force.

Hindi ako nag-aatubiling bisitahin ang ating taong-bayan at kanilang mga host sa buong mundo mula Hapon hanggang Brazil, mula Europa at Middle East hanggang sa American Midwest, nakikinig sa kanilang mga problema at pangangailangan, inaalam kung paano sila matulungan ng ating pamahalaan -- by working out better policies on migrant labor, or by saving lives and restoring liberty.

Pagpunta ko sa Saudi, pinatawad ni Haring Abdullah ang pitong daang OFW na nasa preso. Pinuno nila ang isang buong eroplano at umuwi kasama ko.

Mula sa ating State Visit sa Espanya, it has become our biggest European donor. At si Haring Juan Carlos ay nakikipag-usap sa ibang mga bansa para sa ating mga namomoblemang OFW. Ganoon din si Sheikh Khalifa, ang Prime Minister ng Bahrain.

Pagpunta ko sa Kuwait, Emir Al-Sabah commuted death sentences. We thank all our leaders, all the world leaders who have shown compassion for our overseas Filipino workers. Maraming salamat
Our vigorous international engagement has helped bring in foreign investment. Net foreign direct investments multiplied 15 times during our administration. Kasama ng ating mga OFW, they more than doubled our foreign exchange reserves. Pinalakas ang ating piso, naiwasan ang lubhang pagtaas ng presyo. They upgraded our credit because while the reserves of our peers have shrunk this past years, our reserves grew by three billion dollars.

Our international engagement has also corrected historical injustice. The day we visited Washington, Senator Daniel Inouye successfully sponsored benefits for our veterans as part of American’s stimulus package.

I have accepted the invitation of President Obama to be the first Southeast Asian leader to meet him at the White House, later this week. That he sought out the Philippines testifies to our strong and deep ties. High on our agenda will be peace and security issues. Terrorism: how to meet it, how to end it, how to address its roots in injustice and prejudice. And first and always how to protect lives.

We will discuss nuclear non-proliferation. The Philippines will chair the review of the Nuclear Weapons Non-proliferation Treaty in New York in May 2010. The success of the talks will be a major diplomatic achievement for us.

There is a range of other issues we will discuss, including the global challenge of climate change, especially the threat to countries with long coastlines. And there is the global recession, its worse impact on poor people, and the options that can spare them from the worst.

In 2008 up to the first quarter of 2009 we stood among only a few economies in Asia-Pacific that did not shrink. Compare this to 2001, when some of my current critics were driven out by people power. Asia was then surging but our country was on the brink of bankruptcy.

Since then, our economy has posted uninterrupted growth for 33 quarters; more than doubled its size from 76 billion dollars to a 186 billion dollars. The average GDP growth from 2001 to the first quarter of 2009 is the highest in 43 years.

Bumaba ang bilang ng mga nagsasabing mahirap sila sa 47.0 percent mula 59.0 percent. Maski lumaki ang ating populasyon, nabawasan ng dalawang milyon ang bilang ng mahihirap. GNP per capita rose from a Third World 967 dollars to 2,000 dollars. Lumikha tayo ng walong milyong trabaho, an average of a million a year, much, much more than at any other time.

In sum: First, we have a strong economy in a strong fiscal position to withstand political shocks; second, we built new and modern infrastructure and completed unfinished ones: third, the economy is more fair to the poor than ever before; fourth, we are building a sound base for the next generation; fifth, international authorities have taken notice that we are safer from environmental degradation and man-made disasters.

As a country in the path of typhoons and in the Pacific Rim of Fire, we must be prepared as the latest technology permits to anticipate natural calamities when that is possible; to extend immediate and effective relief when it is not; the mapping of flood-and-landslide-prone areas is almost complete. Early warning, forecasting and monitoring systems have been improved, with weather-tracking facilities in Subic, Tagaytay, Mactan, Mindanao, Pampanga.

We have worked on flood control infrastructure like those for Pinatubo, Agno, Laoag, and Abucay, which will pump the run off waters from Quezon City and Tondo flooding Sampaloc. This will help relieve hundreds of hectares in this old city of its age-old woe.

Patuloy naman yung sa CAMANAVA, dagdag sa Pinatubo, Iloilo, Pasig- Marikina, Bicol River Basin, at saka river basin ng Mindanao.

The victims of typhoon Frank in Panay should receive their long-overdue assistance package. I ask Congress to pass the SNITS Law.

Namana natin ang pinakamatagal na rebelyon ng Komunista sa buong mundo. Si Leah de la Cruz isa sa labindalawang libong rebel returnee. Sixteen pa lang siya nang sumali sa NPA. Naging kasapi sa Regional White Area Committee, napromote sa Leyte Party Committee Secretary. Nahuli noong 2006. She is now involved in an LGU-supported andicraft livelihood training of former rebels. We love you, Leah!

There is now a good prospect for peace talks with both the Communist Party of the Philippines and the MILF, with whom we are now on ceasefire.

We inherited an age-old conflict in Mindanao, exacerbated by a politically popular but near-sighted policy of massive retaliation. This only provoked the other side to continue the war.

In these two internal conflicts, ang tanong ay hindi, “Sino ang mananalo?” kung hindi, “Bakit pa ba kailangang mag-laban ang kapwa Pilipino tungkol sa mga isyu na alam naman nating lahat na di malulutas sa dahas at mareresolba lang sa paraang demokratiko?”

There is nothing more that I would wish for than peace in Mindanao. It will be a blessing for all its people, Muslim, Christian and Lumads. It will show other religiously divided communities that there can be common ground on which to live together in peace, harmony and cooperation that respects each other’s religious beliefs.

At sa lahat ng dako ng bansa, kailangan nating protektahan ang ating mga mamamayan kontra sa krimen -- in their homes, in their neighborhoods, in their communities. How shall crime be fought? With the five pillars of the justice system, including crime fighters. We call on Congress to fund more policemen on the streets.

Real government is about looking beyond the vested to the national interest, setting up the necessary conditions to enable the next more enabled and more empowered generation to achieve a country as prosperous a people as content as ours deserve to be.

The noisiest critics of constitutional reform tirelessly and shamelessly attempted Cha-Cha when they thought they could take advantage of a shift in the form of government. Now that they feel they cannot benefit from it, they oppose it.

As the seeds of fundamental political reform are planted, let us address the highest exercise of democracy -- voting! In 2001, I said we would finance fully automated elections. We got it, thanks to Congress.

At the end of this speech I shall step down from this stage, but not from the Presidency. My term does not end until next year. Until then, I will fight for the ordinary Filipino. The nation comes first. There is much to do as head of state to the very last day.

A year is a long time. Patuloy ang pamumuhunan sa tinatawag na three E’s ng ekonomiya, environment at edukasyon. There are many perils that we must still guard against.

A man-made calamity is already upon us, global in scale. As I said earlier, so far we have been spared its worst effects but we cannot be complacent. We only know that we have generated more resources on which to draw, and thereby created options we could take. Thank God we did not let our critics stop us.

As the campaign unfolds and the candidates take to the airwaves, I ask them to talk more about how they will build up the nation rather than tear down their opponents. Give the electorate real choices and not just sweet talk. Meanwhile, I will keep a steady hand on the tiller, keeping the ship of state away from the shallows some prefer, and steering it straight on the course we set in 2001.

Ang ating taong-bayan ay masipag at maka-Diyos. These qualities are epitomized in someone like Manny Pacquiao. Manny trained tirelessly, by the book, with iron discipline, with the certain knowledge that he had to fight himself, his weaknesses first, before he could beat his opponent. That was the way to clinch his victories and his ultimate title: ang pinakadakilang boksingero sa kasaysayan. Mabuhay ka, Manny!

However much a President wishes it, a national problem cannot be knocked out with a single punch. A President must work with the problem as much as against it, turn it into a solution if she can.

There isn’t a day I do not work at my job or a waking moment when I do not think through a work-related problem. Even my critics cannot begrudge the long hours I put in. Our people deserve a government that works just as hard as they do.
A President must be on the job 24/7, ready for any contingency, any crisis, anywhere, anytime.

Everything right can be undone by even a single wrong. Every step forward must be taken in the teeth of political pressures and economic constraints that could push you two steps back if you flinch and falter. I have not flinched, I have not faltered. Hindi ako umaatras sa hamon. And I have never done any of the things that scared my worst critics so much. They are frightened by their own shadows.

In the face of attempted coups, I issued emergency proclamations just in case. But I was able to resolve these military crises with the ordinary powers of my office. My critics call it dictatorship. I call it determination. We know it as strong government.

But I never declared martial law, though they are running scared as if I did. In truth, what they are really afraid of is their weakness in the face of this self-imagined threat.

I say to them: Do not tell us what we all know, that democracy can be threatened. Tell us what you will do when it is attacked.

I know what to do: As I have shown, I will defend democracy with arms when it is threatened by violence; with firmness when it is weakened by division; with law and order when it is subverted by anarchy; and always, I will try to sustain it by wise policies of economic progress, so that a democracy means not just an empty liberty but a full life for all.

I have never expressed the desire to extend myself beyond my term. Many of those who accuse me of it tried to cling like nails to their posts.

I am accused of misgovernance. Many of those who accuse me of it left me the problem of their misgovernance to solve. And we did it.


I am falsely accused, without proof, of using my position for personal profit. Many who accuse me of it have lifestyles and spending habits that make them walking proofs of that crime.

We can read their frustrations. They had the chance to serve this good country and they blew it by serving themselves. Those who live in glass houses should cast no stones. Those who should be in jail should not threaten it, especially if they have been there.

Our administration, with the highest average rate of growth, recording multiple increases in investments, with the largest job creation in history, and which gets a credit upgrade at the height of a world recession, must be doing something right, even if some of those cocooned in corporate privilege refuse to recognize it.

Governance however is not about looking back and getting even. It is about looking forward and giving more to the people who gave us the greatest, hardest gift of all: the care of a country.

From Bonifacio at Balintawak to Cory Aquino at EDSA and up to today, we have struggled to bring power to the people, and this country to the eminence it deserves.

Today the Philippines is weathering well the storm that is raging around the world. It is growing stronger with the challenge. When the weather clears, as it will, there is no telling how much farther forward it can go. Believe in it. I believe.

We can and we must march forward with hope, optimism and determination. We must come together, work together and walk together toward the future.

Bagamat malaking hamon ang nasa ating harapan, nasa kamay natin ang malaking kakayahan. Halina’t pagtulungan nating tiyakin ang karapat-dapat na kinabukasan ng ating Inang Bayan.

And to the people of our good country, for allowing me to serve as your President, maraming salamat.

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas!

‘Bohol sentimental slice of SONA’

By ANGELINE VALENCIA

It was in Bohol that the President and some Cabinet members spent the longest session in the preparation of the details of the State-of-the-Nation Address (SONA), spanning from Tuesday evening last week up to 5 am the next day.
   â€œYou know, the President is meticulous. She paid so much attention to language, etc. Last night was the longest session we have. It’s still a work in progress until finalized,” Press Secretary Cerge Remonde told members of the media in the morning of July 22 as he explained why the President failed to show up in the scheduled interview with ABS-CBN’s Nadia Trinidad and Bohol Tri-Media Association past president Peter Dejaresco at Amorita Resort in Panglao, where she stayed during her visit to Bohol last week.
   President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was not really rehearsing, but was actually finalizing the script and the content of the SONA, Remonde told the media gathered for the press conference at the out-door garden set of Amorita Resort prepared by Press Assistant Secretary Cecil Kristin O’Brien.
   In lieu of the President, Remonde explained the SONA over-time must have exhausted the President that waking up late left her no time for the scheduled interview and had to proceed to the next event in the itinerary.
   According to Secretary Hermogenes Esperon Jr. of the Presidential Management Staff (PMS), Bohol must have been very conducive as working environment.
   Esperon and Remonde answered questions from the media during the interaction, while O’Brien-- former actress and presently hosting TV programs “People’s Government Mobile Action (PGMA)” and “Serbisyo Muna” at the state-run television channel NBN-4- -served as moderator.
   Remonde said President Arroyo's State of the Nation Address (SONA) tomorrow will include clarification on many political issues and enumeration of accomplishments achieved in her eight-year stint.
   Remonde cited that the crisis affecting all countries in the world will serve as backdrop of the speech to sketch clearly how Philippines managed to perform well, prepare for this and accomplish a lot.
   The President will be citing political reform, together with economic reform, being the pillars of government, Remonde said.
   "No surprise, but I think the SONA will clarify a lot of interesting issues," he added.
   Meanwhile, Remonde confirmed that, indeed, Governor Erico Aumentado is so close with the President and this closeness finds form in the many infrastructure projects in Bohol that the national government had helped fund.
   â€œThat never happened in other administrations,” Remonde added.
   He also said the President is now setting the stage for good governance to facilitate a smooth transition to whoever will succeed in 2010.
   On the other hand, Remonde confirmed his support to the move to include media practitioners in the absentee voting process, citing his personal experience of having difficulty to vote when covering the elections in his 30-year stint in Cebu media.
   It will then up to the media outfits to certify their personnel as legitimate media practitioners.
   On the other hand, Esperon officially announced in his opening statement during the presscon that the Road Board approved that day, the release of P500 million from the road user’s tax or the Motor Vehicle User’s Charge (MVUC) to fund anti-pollution projects.
   Republic Act 8794 provides that all the proceeds of MVUC shall be allotted for pollution control through the Special Road Funds.
   â€œThe Department of Budget and Management has transferred the amount to the Philippine Postal Savings Bank,” Esperon told the media.
   The P500-million allocation will be loaned out to cooperatives and individuals who want to convert their vehicles to be liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)-run in compatibility to alternative fuels such as compressed natural gas.
   Malacañang has already directed the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board and the Land Transportation Office to assist interested groups in availing of the fund, Esperon said.
   â€œIn fact, there are already applications from Metro Manila motorists,” he said.
   Remonde explained that the government gives attention to climate-related projects “for furtherance of the Green Agenda”.
   He said the Cabinet meeting on July 21 included discussion on promotion of green building.

President Arroyo skirts media

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo left all the explaining to Press Secretary Cerge Remonde and press assistant secretary- -TV host and former actress Cecil Kristin “Baby” O’Brien- -when she went straight to the second event in the itinerary, though time element would tell she was still in Amorita Resort in Panglao when the local media arrived there for the national and regional media interview yesterday morning as scheduled.

What had been planned as a two-on-one interview with ABS-CBN senior reporter Nadia Trinidad and past Bohol Tri-Media Association president Peter Dejaresco was reduced to a small media interaction with Secretary Remonde and Secretary Hermogenes Esperon Jr. of the Presidential Management Staff (PMS).

Some members of the local media were there even just take down notes to help disseminate any good news that the President would announce.

The rest in the itinerary pushed through about one hour ahead of schedule- -ribbon-cutting ceremony of the Sandugo Regional One Town, One Product or OTOP Trade Fair at the Island City Mall, inauguration of the twenty-million-peso Bohol Medical Care Institute building in Barangay Dao, Tagbilran City and the conferment of Datu Sikatuna Award of Excellence by the provincial government to the President during the commemorative program for the 155th Bohol Foundation Day in Bohol Cultural Center.

Media left out in the Presidential visit

Usherettes in yesterday’s commemorative program of Bohol Foundation Day in the cultural center gave away the seats reserved for the media to others in the audience and reprimanded a news writer who went out her way to get three chairs from the pile for her colleagues who needed to sit to be able to take down notes.

The usherettes told them that those chairs in the pile that they were about to add to the seats in the audience were not for the media.

The signing of the memorandum of agreement on the jatropha project between the provincial government and PNOC-AFC followed at Bohol Tropics, oblivious to the many members of the local media.

Some reporters managed to get a ride to the venue upon learning it from a community organizer of BPRMO at the end of the commemorative program. But again, there was no table reserved for the media in the venue.

SURROGATE

Sensationalizing the already sensations null, este, sensational. That's the score of the hide din ako, este, Hayden Kho and Katre na halili (take over), este, Katrina Halili blackbutt…butt…este, blockbuster.

At first, I thought the woman in the issue would suffer if we proceed to talking about it. At first, I hesitated reacting on the issue to avoid stirring more curiosity. But it has grown into a curse to every atom in the society, shaking everyone.

Flashback...the leading lady in the blockbuster intentionally indulged in the business of teasing the imagination of men by posing sexy and nude in men's magazine, and even striving to get the sexiest woman title.

Present. Isn't it ultimate accomplishment for her original advocacy to have really come up with that cursed blockbuster?

Now, she's complaining of being "abused repeatedly" every time a pair of eyes enjoy her blockbuster. What difference is there when she had her sexy pose in the men's magazine which pages men flipped back and forth, even folding a dog ear in the page with her skin all-out to blow brains? Well, there is. The talent fee or royalty. That maybe is the exploitation they're talking about.

For a dim-lit career, the leading man just got his break.

I wonder how much are they receiving from the proceeds of the blockbuster?

Technology facilitated low-cost or even costless promotions, of course, with the careless care (as if they care) of the media.

It was just gossip circulating around a circle of people in short radius until big TV news programs exploded.

You admit it, your knowledge about the scandal had its firmer confirmation from the TV news programs.

You admit it, your knowledge about its availability in the bangketa came from the TV news programs which had nothing more important in mind than ratings.

Congratulations to the TV news programs. It's A+ for effective ad campaign.

Before it exploded in top TV news programs, very few or it could be that only the cast of characters knew about the movie, este, scandal. Only very few then knew it is available at the youtube.

The TV news programs and newspaper headlines offered effective promotion of the sour product for free. For free?

And the politicians envy that. They cannot just let the chance slip through, without their take in the daily sequel.

The blinds of media exposure is addictive that our legislators cannot anymore function without cameras focused on them. That's the pill they mean. That makes Hayden Kho a doctor. He prescribed that. Well, a med rep actually.

The TV, in particular, is the biggest retailers of Hayden's pill and Katre's most convincing bugaw of all. To the TV networks, is it, our "surrogate parents". We bow our heads.

While Sandra Seifert first had her public debut in bikini and skimpy suits before claiming the prestigious beauty title, she will be judging a no-bikini pageant, fresh from her conquer of Miss Philippines-Earth 2009.
   Loay Mayor Rosemarie Lim-Imboy confirmed that Miss Philippines-Earth 2009 Sandra Seifert of Negros Occidental will be judging the Miss Loay 2009 pageant on June 4.
   Mayor Imboy has also reinvented the Miss Loay pageant into an event far grander than the past attempts, including the prize package which minimum afloats at above P9,999.
   Different from previous beauty pageants, Miss Loay 2009 will shun the bikini portion. This is to maintain the rapport between the local government unit and the church. Instead, Mayor Imboy prefers to have a portion where the candidates wear sporty attire. This is also a way of preserving the dignity of the candidates.
   The 19 officials candidates, who will vie for the Miss Loay title now designed in real contest format, have prepared three production numbers. They will be trimmed down to ten along the pageant. And, five will have to make it to the finals.
   There had been Miss Loay pageants in the past. But this time, it will be a real competition based on beauty and brain or total personality, according to Jorendel- -the main event coordinator.
   Fresh from a series of personality enhancement sessions, the candidates were presented to the media on Monday last week at the Loay Sangguniang Bayan session hall.
   After the press conference, Imboy had a personalized interaction with the candidates in her office where she urged them to value more the pre-pageant activities that offer a lot of learning experiences that enhance their personalities, as she gave them tips on staying cool and encouraged them to aim for the best.

tinood ba nga suko ang Ginoo sa mga b***t ug tomboy?