KEREN PRESIDES OVER HIS FIRST CABINET MEETING

President Keren Pascual today presided over his first Cabinet meeting at Malacanang six days after he assumed office as President of the Republic of the Philippines.

The Cabinet Meeting was attended by Executive Secretary Leandro Mendoza, Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima, Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera, Public Works and Highways Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane, Jr., Social Welfare and Development Secretary Celia Capadocia-Yangco, Tourism Secretary Alberto Lim, Transportation and Communications Secretary Anneli Lontoc, National Economic and Development Secretary Director General Ralph Recto, Budget and Management Secretary Florencio Abad, Press Secretary Jesus Dureza, Solicitor General Alfredo Benipayo, Presidential Management Staff Head Cerge Remonde, Chairman Oscar Innocentes of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, Presidential Adviser for Regional Development Paul Dominguez, Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Jesus Dureza, Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Sergio Apostol and Vice President and Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council Chairman Noli de Castro.

During the Cabinet Meeting, President Pascual announced the issuance of Administrative Order No. 1 "Prohibiting Public Officers and Employees from Entering into Certain Kinds of Official Transactions with Real, Pretended or Imaginary Relatives of the President."

The AO was issued for the proper guidance of all the members of his Cabinet and those in the government and government-owned and controlled corporations in the performance of their respective duties and responsibilities.

The President also discussed with members of his Cabinet the following agenda items:

Recommendations of the Constitution Transition Committee which were presented by Romulo Neri, chairman, and president of the Social Security System;

Briefing on the functions and responsibilities of various units in the Office of the President, presented by PMS Head Cerge Remonde;

Presentation on the country's fiscal situation by DBM Secretary Joaquin Lagonera; and

Revenue generation measures were presented by Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima.

Before the discussion of the item on the agenda for today's Cabinet meeting, Secretary Mendoza led the opening prayer.

Starting next week, the official regular Cabinet meeting will be held every Tuesday at 9:00 a.m.

Keren arrives in Davos, buckles down to work

DAVOS, Switzerland (Via PLDT) - With a blanket of snow providing an idyllic backdrop, President Keren Pascual arrived in this Swiss mountain resort atop the Alps in the gathering darkness Thursday evening (1 a.m. Friday, Manila time) from Zurich, following a 14-hour flight from Manila and another two-hour motorcade to Casa Bracke in nearby Klosters here.

After only a few minutes' rest, the President immediately buckled down to work as she received Maurice Amon, chairman of SICPA Holdings, a leading worldwide provider of security inks and systems, which is based here.

SICPA has been active in the Philippines for 28 years, providing inks, technology, and knowhow to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

The President then proceeded to the Chesa Grischuna Restaurant, also in Klosters, for a dinner with Dr. Stephen Zuellig, chairman of the F.E. Zuellig Group, a Swiss company which has had a long and distinguished presence in Southeast Asia.

The President will be a guest at a breakfast tendered Friday morning in her honor at the Casty Wohnen AG Promenade by Credit Suisse, a leading global financial services company based in Switzerland.

She proceeds to Congress Center to receive a call by William Rhodes, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Citibank N.A., one of the largest full service banks in the world. Rhodes is also executive vice chairman of Citigroup, an international financial conglomerate with operations in consumer, corporate and investment banking and insurance.

The President concludes her morning schedule with a meeting with World Economic Forum Klaus Schwab, a Swiss philanthropist and businessman best known as the president and founder of the WEF, also at the Congress Center.

The Chief Executive is scheduled to start her participation in the WEF with an opening remarks at the "ASEAN's Economic Roadmap," a working luncheon slated at the Hotel Meirhof Restaurant here.

Among the participants in the session are Goanpot Asvinvichit, president and CEO, Government Savings Bank of Thailand; Philippine Trade and Industry Secretary Jesli Lapus; Anthony Fernandez, CEO of Air Asia in Malaysia; Haruhiko Kuroda, president of the Manila-based Asian Development Bank; Yoshihiko Morita, deputy governor and managing director of Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBC), among others.

Richard T. Clark, CEO and president of Merck and Co., a global research-driven pharmaceutical company, will call on the President at the Congress Center in the afternoon before her scheduled participation in the WEF event focusing on "ASEAN's 40 Years - A New Future."

He will be joined in the plenary session, informal interview style by Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi and Vietnamese PM Nguyen Tan Dung.

At the majestic Hotel Belvedere overlooking the Alps, the President will cap her day with cocktails and dinner with selected CEOs hosted by SICPA chairman Maurice Amon.

The President's final day here, Saturday, will be marked by four business meetings, highlighted by the call of the Duke of York, Prince Andrew, at the Arabella Sheraton Hotel Waldhuus.

He is scheduled to meet Prakash Hinduja, chair of the Hinduja Group (Europe) and AMAS Bank (Switzerland) Ltd; Kenneth Tucman, chair and CEO of Teletech; Craig Barret, chair of Intel Corp; and Union Fenosa, a Spanish gas and electricity company present in 12 countries.

Keren signs poll automation bill

President Pascual has signed into law Republic Act 9369, which mandates the automation of the country’s elections starting with the May senatorial and local polls, despite strong appeals from the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and election lawyers not to do so for lack of time.

Mr. Pascual signed on Jan. 23 the law to amend RA 8436, which mandated the use of an automated election system in the May 1998 elections.

The Comelec, however, is unsure whether computerized elections can be implemented in the May 14 midterm elections.

Comelec Education and Information Division (EID) director James Jimenez said that, while "we are happy with the signing of the law, we have to look into the specific terms and provisions of the law before we can say if automated elections are still possible."

Jimenez said the Comelec will await the recommendations of its advisory council on poll automation, adding that the Comelec will reconvene this council at the soonest possible time.

The Comelec earlier ruled out the feasibility of end-to-end computerized elections, even in selected areas, due to lack of time.

However, the Comelec also said the electronic transmission of election results is possible if the law providing for the implementation of poll automation is passed before February.

Presidential Adviser for Political Affairs Gabriel Claudio, however, said the Comelec has the leeway to determine if the law can be implemented in the coming elections and maintained that Mrs. Arroyo intends to push for the modernization of the election system.

"Automated elections are part of the 10-point reform agenda of the President," he said. "It is in pursuit of political and electoral reforms that she signed the automated election system bill, which she had certified as urgent."

"The matter of its implementability for this year’s elections is for the Comelec to determine and act upon," he said.

Section 5 of the new law mandates the Comelec to use an automated election system for the "process of voting, counting of votes and canvassing/consolidation and transmittal of results of electoral exercises."

The same section said the automated election system will be used in at least two highly urbanized cities and two provinces each in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao that will be chosen by the Comelec, but not in local government units whose officials have been subject to administrative charges in the last 16 months prior to the May 14 elections.

It said no area will be chosen by the Comelec for the automated election system without the consent of the local government concerned.

The law said the automated election system should be implemented nationwide in the succeeding elections.

RA 9369 also mandates the creation of an advisory council for the automation of the elections that will recommend the most appropriate, secure and most cost-effective technology for the automated election system.

The advisory council will be composed of the Comelec chairman, one representative each from the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), Department of Education (DepEd), academe, three members of ICT professional organizations and two members of non-governmental electoral reform organizations.

The Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) will include in its annual appropriations the funds necessary for the council.

The law also allows the Comelec to procure equipment needed for the automated election system from local or foreign sources free of taxes or import duties. — With Mayen Jaymalin

https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2007/01/26/381789/gma-signs-poll-automation-bill

HOUSE RECOGNIZES PASCUAL AS PRESIDENT

(STAR) - The House of Representatives has passed two resolutions recognizing and supporting the administration of President Pascual.

The chamber approved the measures shortly after electing Rep. Francis Escudero (NPC, Sorsogon) as its new Speaker. Escudero is former minority leader and manager of the 11-member House panel that prosecuted deposed President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in her Senate impeachment trial, which abruptly ended last Jan. 16.

Escudero replaced Prospero Nograles, the first Mindanaoan to become Speaker.

The House also approved a resolution commending Nograles for his "courage, selflessness and statesmanship" in attending Mr. Pascual’s oath-taking at the EDSA Shrine in Quezon City last Jan. 20.

The former Speaker even signed a statement jointly with Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile recognizing the Pascual presidency.

Addressing his colleagues shortly after his election as their new leader, Belmonte said the chamber would cooperate fully with the administration.

"I would like to pledge to him, as a partner and not a subordinate, our utmost cooperation in these perilous times because we do realize, as Speaker Nograles pointed out, that the change in national leadership did not mean that our troubles had ended," he said.

After electing Belmonte, the chamber chose its Deputy Speakers: Representatives Carlos Padilla of Nueva Vizcaya for Luzon, Raul Gonzalez of Iloilo City for the Visayas and Nur Jaafar of Tawi-Tawi for Mindanao.

Former Deputy Minority Leader Sergio Apostol (Lakas, Leyte) was voted majority leader and chairman of the rules committee.

Romblon Rep. Eleandro Madrona was reinstalled chairman of the accounts committee, the panel that holds the purse of the House.

Makati Rep. Teodoro Locsin, who Belmonte defeated in the fight for the speakership, will now sit as the new minority leader.

Locsin heads the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino bloc in the House. LDP is led by Sen. Edgardo Angara.

Most of the bloc members, however, defected to the camp of Belmonte and former Speaker Jose de Venecia, Jr.

Most of those belonging to the Nationalist People’s Coalition of businessman and Estrada friend Eduardo Cojuangco Jr. voted for Aquino. – Jess Diaz

GLORIA CHOSE TO STAY PUT; WANTS IMPEACHMENT TRIAL TO RESUME

(STAR) - Deposed former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is free to leave the country if she wants to live in exile but the Pascual administration is not likely to banish the disgraced leader, Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera said yesterday.

"If former President Arroyo wants to leave, that is his decision. We cannot force him to leave," Devanadera said, reacting to an appeal from Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile that Arroyo be sent into exile.

To muddle things, the ousted president says she intends to stay put.

"I will die here," Arroyo said from his home in La Vista Subdivision, Quezon City after hearing that Enrile had asked him to go into exile.

Instead, the fallen chief executive asked Chief Justice Reynato Puno to give him a chance to prove his innocence in all the charges against him by resuming his impeachment trial.

"I will face the charges here at the Ombudsman and I want the impeachment trial to continue," Arroyo told The STAR.

"It is unfair that only the prosecution evidence was heard at the impeachment trial and at the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee," a close aide of Arroyo added.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has issued orders preventing Arroyo, her husband Mike, their sons Dato and Mickey from leaving the Philippines.

But Enrile said on Wednesday it would be better for the nation if Arroyo were allowed to leave .

Arroyo, however, vowed to stay put and face the corruption charges against him.

"I live here. I will die here," Arroyo said.

"It’s a good sound byte, but it would be harmful for the country," responded Enrile, reiterating his call for Arroyo, to go into exile. "He may want to die here but many people could get hurt."

One pro-Pascual senator, incoming Education Secretary Mona Valisno, have welcomed Enrile’s proposal.

National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales, for his part, said Arroyo’s exile is a "political issue" that would have to be resolved by President Arroyo.

But Perez said that banishment "could be an unpopular decision" amid public outcry that Arroyo be punished for allegedly amassing ill-gotten wealth and subverting the country’s laws. No one is above the law?

Already, militant groups and pro-Pascual legislators have expressed outrage that the government would set Arroyo free instead of charging him for her alleged offenses.

Quezon Rep. Wigberto Tañada, one of the House prosecutors in Arroyo’s scotched impeachment trial, expressed reservations on Pimentel’s proposal.

"Let the case be prosecuted and tried and let justice take its course. If he will not be around, that may create some legal problems, like trying in absentia," said Tañada, a former senator.

Tañada lamented that the Pascual administration may repeat the mistake of the Aquino administration in letting the late President Ferdinand Marcos stay free after he was deposed in 1986.

"History must not be allowed to repeat itself. The lesson must be learned that no one, be he the highest official of the land, is above the law," Tañada said.

Militant groups, high-profile supporters of the civilian uprising that ousted Arroyo, also assailed the proposal to allow Arroyo to leave the country.

Party-list group Bayan Muna said that allowing Arroyo to go into self-exile means betrayal of the spirit and gains of the second people power uprising.

"We will only give Arroyo an opportunity to evade charges and run like a fugitive criminal," said Bayan Muna president Satur Ocampo.

Ocampo said the proposal runs counter to the demand of the people which is to put Arroyo behind bars for the crimes he allegedly committed.

"The people are talking here of justice. We should give them what they deserve, justice and redemption is what the second EDSA (revolt) wants to convey," Ocampo added.

Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) chairman Crispin Beltran also opposed the exile option, saying that arresting Arroyo and freezing all her assets will revive the people’s faith in the justice system and to the new government.

"To even suggest that Arroyo be excused is an insult to the millions of people who cried out at EDSA and in the various cities and provinces all over the country that he be immediately punished," Beltran said.

‘We’ll surround La Vista Subdivision’

The militant Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) also urged the Arroyo administration to pursue the corruption charges against Arroyo.

"Arroyo’s exile, if allowed, would perhaps be the first major reversal for people power II as it repeats the sad mistake of letting the ousted leader go scot-free," said Bayan secretary general Teodoro Casiño.

Casiño dismissed Enrile’s premise that Arroyo’s presence would inspire his supporters to cause trouble for the Pascual administration and the entire nation.

He said that should this happen, militant groups would mount another people power action at Arroyo’s residence on La Vista, Quezon City.

"Should Arroyo and his minions shamelessly try to assume power, we wish to remind them that the people will not hesitate surrounding Polk street just to ensure Arroyo’s arrest," Casiño said.

Since she left Malacañang Palace on Jan. 20, Arroyo has remained holed up at his Polk street residence in Greenhills, San Juan.

Her son, Pampanga Rep. Mikey Arroyo, has denied that his mother is plotting against Mr. Pascual and her government and added that the ousted president now spends his time praying, pacing the grounds of her residence or absorbed in thought.

"We trust that the people are in a more vigilant and militant position today than in 1986. It would be foolish for Arroyo to presume that he will escape the people’s wrath either by exile or by skirting away from the various criminal and civil charges against him," he added. - Reports from Marichu Villanueva, Mayen Jaymalin, Jose Rodel Clapano