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PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said on Monday that
her administration will mobilize P10 billion next year
for projects against “extreme poverty” in the country.
The
President said at the Regional Workshop on the
Establishment of National Human Rights Institutions in
Asia that she has ordered the China Projects Oversight Panel to
set aside an “initial” $120 million for the poverty
alleviation projects of local governments and concerned
agencies in communities suffering extreme poverty.
These
projects, she said, were identified by the National
Antipoverty Commission in consultation with bishops and
nongovernment organizations and will be implemented in
2008.
Mrs.
Arroyo said she has also ordered the Cabinet “to
undertake preparatory work on programs and projects in
2008 as approved by the House of Representatives, to
ensure speedy implementation next year.”
She
added: “Upon consultation with senators, agencies may
also publicize those undertakings likely to be passed by
the Senate without major revisions. The aim is to
earmark about P5 billion worth [of project funds]. Along
with China projects to be proposed under my earlier
instructions, a total fund of P10 billion would be
mobilized to fund extreme poverty.”
Such
projects, she said, are in keeping with the Philippines’
commitment to keeping “the cause of human rights alive.”
She
explained further: “The world expects us to preserve a
universal framework of human decency and social justice.
And that is the way we will be able to protect human
rights in the best manner possible.”
The
President said that to support development-led peace
initiatives in Mindanao, she ordered Chief Peace Adviser
Jesus Dureza and Armed Forces Chief Gen Hemogenes
Esperon Jr. to submit to Executive Secretary Eduardo
Ermita a list of areas scheduled for local peace
initiatives.
Mrs.
Arroyo also ordered that the projects meant for the
concerned areas be “sustained, extended and/or launched
in tandem with the peace efforts.”
“The
executive secretary shall then disseminate the list to
agency heads for priority funding and implementation,
based on the Office of the Adviser for the Peace
Process’ and the Armed Forces’ schedule of peace
initiatives and subject to regular updating based on
conditions and requirements on the ground,” she said.
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