Speech
of
Her Excellency Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
President of the Philippines
During the “ALDO NING PARANGAL: A Tribute to the Past Presidents of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines-Pampanga Chapter”
[Delivered at Ballrooms 1 & 2, Holiday Inn Resort Hotel, Clark Freeport Zone, February 24, 2009]
Dakal a salamat.
Dakal a salamat Secretary Ed Pamintuan ing Cabinet Officer for Regional Development in Region III, ing Chairman ning NorthRail, ing Chairman ning Subic-Clark Alliance for Development, ampu Luzon Urban Beltway Super Region Champion. Salamat king introduction at ali tinuknang mag text para mumunta ku ngeni.
Our Cabinet members who are here today, Congressman Lazatin alibang opisyales keti pu queng Pampanga. Karing judges, i Attorney Tuazon, ing malagu tamong presidenti ning IBP Pampanga. Past presidents, prosecutors at karing aliwa pang mamuntukan at miyembro na ning Integrated Bar of the Philippines keni king Pampanga, mayap a oras kekongan.
Muna, salamat king kekayung pamagsuporta king kakatamung administrasyon at karing inisyatibo tamu para king panyulung na ning kekatang bansa lalo na ing probinsya tang Pampanga.
Mayap a oras mu rin karing kekatamung parangalan keni, nung sabyan ko ngan, balamu meg roll call tamu karing peka magaling na ning legal profession alimu keti king Pampanga, but in the entire country.
Congratulations!
At salamat kaniting oportunidad a makisabe kekayu king panahun a kailangan mag join hands tamu kontra king global economic crisis.
The global financial turmoil has spread and jeopardized the well-being of billions of people across the world. Two-thirds of the world ing mekaranas yang pamagbagsak na ning kayang GDP. In the fourth quarter of 2008, Japan’s GDP declined by 12.7 percent, U.S. by 5.1 percent, Taiwan by 9.2 percent, Thailand by 4.3 percent, Singapore by 3.7
percent, South Korea by 5.6 percent. But in that same quarter, the Philippines managed a 4.5 percent growth. And for the whole year a GDP growth of 4.6 percent and a GNP growth of 6.1 percent.
Ing rason? We “rebooted” our economy several years ago. We took our economic medicine through fundamental economic reform by raising taxes, cutting down on smugglers, reforming our tax collection system and banking laws. Our reforms paid off with revenue for investments in human and physical infrastructure.
Deng gagawan ning Japan ampo U.S. a paralan para misalba ing karelang ekonomiya — ini ngan pegumpisan ta nang gawan bayu pa mika crisis ing ekonomiya king mabilug a yatu. In 2008 in January we approved a stimulus of 1.4 percent of GDP and implemented it in March as the global food crisis erupted. Though the stimulus package is 1.4 percent of GDP, the deficit that we had to suffer to achieve that was less than 1.0 percent of GDP.
Ketang milabas a Marso, biklat ta ne ing SCTEX. Ding balang lalabas at manakit, metung mu ing sasabian da: “Metung yang karing pekamasanting diling dalan king mabilug a yatu.” Metung karing apulong legacy program cu, ya ing gawan ing Clark-Subic Corridor ing metung a competitive international service and logistics center king rehiyon. Alimu quing rehiyon Region III, but the region, the Southeast Asian Region. Lalam na ning kekatamung pamanungkulan, dininan tayang bie ing Diosdado Macapagal International Airport keti king Clark. Deti agawa tamu ngan kapamilatan da ring infrastructure development programs — king pamanyalese karing kekatamung airport facilities, pati na ing bagya-bagya tamung pamag implement karing policy reforms na memuklat pasbul, para karing mas marakal a international flights. Nung dati 44 la mu ding international flights a linub nyang 2003, when we started our development of Clark Airport. King kasalukuyan, atin ta ng 54 international flights kilub ning paruminggu. Ing milabas a paruminggu, mibuklat ing logistics hub na ning Samsung keti king Clark.
Tungkul karing policy reforms na kailangan para akwa ta ya ing patalakad tamung metung a competitive logistics hub king Subic-Clark Corridor, ing SCAD na penigobra de ing harmonization na ning immigration, customs at quarantine policies. One of the big achievements of Ed Pamintuan anti mung chairman na ning Subic-Clark Alliance for Development para king Clark at Subic. Pegumpisan ta ne inyang Disyembre ing pamag automate karing admission and transit procedures para king flow of logistics king Clark at Subic. King daratang a bulan ning Marso, target tamung apa-implement ing revised visa and work permit program, pati na ing customs admission rules at ing revised immigration, customs and quarantine manual para king Clark at Subic.
And of course, now you can travel by car from Clark to Boracay or Jolo. And you all know that it has cut down the time on travel from Clark to Metro Manila by one-half. You can travel by car from Clark to Jolo or Boracay, island-hopping on our Roll-on/Roll-off Ferry Nautical Highway System. We are likewise investing unprecedented amounts in expanded education, health care and other social services. We have accelerated our investments here in 2009. Our 300-billion peso stimulus spending or 7 billion dollars is bigger than Indonesia’s 6 billion dollars, Malaysia’s 4 billion dollars, and Thailand’s 3 billion dollars, but it will not break our bank. We have brought forward investments to further stimulate our economy, to help our people, and to sustain the growth that has been so important to our economic success.
We remain mindful that this acceleration of investments must be balanced. We cannot abandon our hard-fought gains in fiscal discipline. We are well aware that we must both spend wisely and be prudent if we are to leave our nation in a healthy condition for the next generation. That is the road we were on before the onset of the global crisis. That is the road on which we would like the country to continue when this challenge has passed.
We pump-prime the economy primarily by front-loading infrastructure investments in the first half of the year and by raising the absorptive capacity of government agencies to make them use their budgets more productively and efficiently. In parallel, we are also focused on further raising revenues through improvements in tax administration where our lawyers can help so much and a public-private sector fund to support resiliency plan initiatives.
On the corporate front, we have provided tax relief for your clients in the private sector by reducing corporate income tax from 35 to 30 percent. Also by exempting minimum wage earners from personal income tax and increasing personal exemptions.
To further enhance social protection, we are doubling the allocation of conditional cash grants for the poorest households. We are doubling the allocation for PhilHealth — my half Kapampangan Cabinet member Pingkoy Duque is here — to ensure the full national government contribution to the national health insurance programs. And we are doubling the budget for the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority. These, among other healthcare and education initiatives. And we have our Kapampangan from Tarlac Cabinet Member Jing Lapus here with us today along with Angie Reyes and our own Manny Angeles.
Finally, we are ensuring that adequate support is provided to our workers both domestically and overseas through retraining programs among which will be right here in Clark to ensure that our workers remain competitive, fully take advantage of job opportunities because there’re still are job opportunities. In fact, POEA is processing 3,000 new jobs a day. And therefore, we want to have our workers find higher paying jobs, or avail of reintegration services and livelihood assistance should any expatriate workers return to the Philippines, or for the export workers who get retrenched.
Ding economic indicators a pepakit na ning kekatamung bansa, mepansin la karing international economic institution and credit rating agencies. For example, para kang Dr. Victor Fung, ing Presidente na ning International Chamber of Commerce, ing ekonomiya na ning Pilipinas ing pekamatingkad king South East Asia. Sinangayun ya mu naman ing Moody’s Rating Agency king positive rating outlook na ning bansa. Mimie lang pamangilala ing IMF at ing ADB karing kekatamung gewa para iangat taya ing kekatamung ekomiya. Ikayu mo, bilang abugado at huwes, nanu kaya ing pwede yung agawa para makasaup kayu para a sulung i momentum na ning national economy arapan da ring mangabayat at kapagsubukan? Well, I am not a lawyer, you see, although my father was a lawyer, a Kapampangan lawyer, number one in the bar, but I’m not lawyer so I need lots of help from lawyers. I’m an economist not a lawyer that’s one way by which you can help. Di ba ing objective ning IBP, ay i Attorney Tuazon, “to ensure that the Bar discharges its public responsibility more effectively.” Ing buri ng sabian ning “public responsibility,” kalupa ne mu rin ing pamag-angat ning bie pang ekonomiya ding kekatamung memalen. Nung mag-survey tamu, ali ta na mabibigla nung keraklan karing kekatamung politiku, abugadu la. Pero ing sobrang pamamulitika, aliwa ne, lalu na ngening panahun, a mas kailangan tamung pi abe-abe ing kekatamung sikanan para arapan ing peka-matinding kapagsubukan ning yatu king kekatamung bie.
Maka pamie tula na ara karing surveys ding kekatamung memalen manatili lang matas a pag asa king kinabukasan na ning kekatamung bansa. In fact, we had the survey that said that 92 percent of the Filipinos look forward to the New Year with hope. Mamasa ku sana makasaop-saop tamu, in nurturing that sense of optimism among our people, by continuing to do our best. Bilang panauli, paburen yu kung saludu karing magaling a miyembru ning IBP-Pampanga. Kayabe ko karing kekatamung bayani. Thank you so much for your support. Mayap a oras.
Source: www.op.gov.ph
Macapagal-Arroyo, G. (2009). President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s speech during the “ALDO NING PARANGAL: A Tribute to the Past Presidents of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines-Pampanga Chapter”. Retrieved from https://web.archive.org/web/20100412105147/http://www.op.gov.ph/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=21253&Itemid=38
