The President expressed her gratitude for Libya’s full backing of the search for a lasting peace in Mindanao during her meeting Monday afternoon with the members of the World Islamic Call Society (WICS) led by its secretary general, Dr. Mohammed al-Shariff, at the WICS compound in the outskirts of this city.

She said she visited Libya to convey personally to Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi her country’s gratitude for Tripoli’s support for the Mindanao peace process and her administration’s war against terrorism.

The President said that Colonel Qaddafi had been supporting the Philippines long before the infamous 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center in New York which the Libyan leader also condemned.

"When the Abu Sayyaf hostaged a group of tourists in Dos Palmas in southern Philippines, I was able to talk on the phone to ask the help of Colonel Qaddafi because I wanted to fight the Abu Sayyaf rather than pay ransom and the Libyan leader helped me," she said.

The President revealed that following her call to Colonel Gaddafi, the Libyan leader denounced the kidnap-for-ransom activities of the ASG. With the Libyan leader’s support, together with the help of other members of the international community, the Philippines was able to stop and defeat the ASG, she added.

"Even as we thank Libya for helping us win the peace in Mindanao, we look at the world around us and see that peace is not yet with us in the whole world. Today therefore, the Philippines joins the international community in seeking for the peaceful resolution of the Israel-Lebanon conflict," she said.

She pointed out that tensions between Israel and Lebanon have made Filipinos more appreciative of the support Libya has extended to the Philippine peace process since the signing of the 1976 Tripoli Agreement, including the country’s war against terrorism.

The looming crisis brought about by the Israel-Lebanon conflict has prompted the Philippine government to implement contingency plans to assess if there is a need to evacuate or repatriate the more than 30,000 Filipinos in Lebanon.

Earlier last Sunday night during a 45-minute closed door meeting with President Arroyo, the Libyan leader assured his guest that his country cherishes its good relations with the Philippines.

The one-on-one meeting between the two leaders took place only a couple of hours after President Arroyo’s arrival here on a two-day state visit.

In a briefing Monday morning on the results of the talks between the two heads of state, Press Secretary Ignacio R. Bunye reported that the Libyan leader was particularly interested in finding out how the Philippines was treating its cultural minorities, especially the Muslims, and expressed hope of their gradual integration into the mainstream of Philippine society.

"Naging mainit ang pagtanggap ni Qaddafi at maganda ang talakayan nila (Qaddafi gave the President a warm welcome and their discussion was interesting)," said Bunye of the meeting that preceded the state banquet at Qaddafi´s fortress-like residence in the outskirts of this city.

The President informed the Libyan leader that the provisions of the 1976 Tripoli Agreement were being gradually being met, including giving qualified Muslims important roles or positions in the government.

She said that the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) is headed by a Muslim while former rebel fighters have been integrated to the mainstream.

.Qaddafi validated the President’s statement that the Philippines is giving equal opportunities to all sectors, including not only the Muslims but even the Lumads and other minorities.

Bunye said that President Arroyo’s visit here is important in the sense that Libya is an important member of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) where the Philippines has been campaigning for a regular observer status.

The President offered a wreath Monday morning at the Al-Hani Monument and the grave of Mohammad Abussalam Abu Miniar Qaddafi, father of the Libyan leader.

The Al-Hani monument is in memory of the martyrs of the Hani battle, considered one of the heroic battles by Libyan fighters during the period of Italian colonization in 1911.

At around noontime, the President addressed the meeting between the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Libyan Union of Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture.

The Philippines steered the UN Security Council debate on Resolution 1624 which institutionalized interfaith dialogue as a mechanism for international cooperation and "broaden understanding among civilizations in an effort to prevent the indiscriminate targeting of different religions and cultures."

The Philippines pushed for the passage of the resolution, which also underscores the important role of interfaith dialogues in resolving conflicts and restoring peace as pioneered in Mindanao by the Bishops-Ulama Conference.

The Bishops-Ulama Conference is composed of Catholic and Protestant bishops, Muslim religious leaders and representatives of indigenous peoples.

The President expressed her gratitude to the WICS Monday afternoon during a meeting with representatives of the Islamic society at the WICS compound here.

WICS’ membership comes from more than 250 Islamic organizations worldwide devoted to serve Muslims and non-Muslims alike in addressing educational, cultural, humanitarian, and social concerns and issues.

WICS is a member of the UN’s non-governmental unit and an associate member of UNESCO, which has regional offices and representatives in 35 countries, including the Philippines.

"In all of these things that we are doing, interfaith dialogues within the Philippines, especially in Mindanao, interfaith dialogues all over the world, I reiterate my gratitude to the World Islamic Call Society because you had been supporting the interfaith initiative of the Philippines," the President said.

Early this year, the Asia-Pacific Interfaith Dialogue was held in Manila. The Philippines also successfully hosted the Cebu Dialogue on Regional Interfaith Cooperation for Peace, Development and Human Dignity which the Philippines, Indonesia, Australia, and New Zealand co-chaired.

In a statement following the meeting between officials of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) and the Libyan Union Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture (LUCCIA) at the Al-Kaber hotel here, the President noted that the MOA further deepens the ties that bind Libya and the Philippines.

"The Great Leader (Col. Muammar Qaddafi) of Libya has supported the Philippines since 30 years ago in our peace process and in the course of my administration, in the war against terrorism since 2001. Now, let us move into a new stage of our relationship with the Libyan community as our new companion in our journey towards greater peace and prosperity between our two countries," she said to the applause of the Filipino and Libyan businessmen.

The MOA, signed between PCCI president Donald Dee and LUCCIA counterpart Mohammed Kanoun, identified four areas of cooperation namely, in construction, furniture/furnishings, tourism and health services.

Under the agreement, the Philippines will organize a main construction company in Manila in partnership with Libya with the PCCI spearheading the recruitment of workers that the LUCCIA needs.

Instead of the Philippines sending nurses to Libya under the health services sector agreement, the government, according to Dee, would rather train Libyan nurses in the country since Filipino heath workers are in demand also in other parts of the world.

What is interesting, according to Dee, is that Libya wants the Philippines to help them remodel their hotels and offices. He plans to send two sets of furniture workers with the high end servicing the hotels and the low end, the offices.

"Libya is opening up right now very rapidly. With accelerating economic and development activities, it also needs accelerating human resource recruitment in Manila," the President said in her speech.

That is why, she said, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) will set up a special desk to assess the Libyan recruitment on a government-to-government basis. Libya, in turn, will assign a labor attaché to Manila within this month.

Aside from labor and human resources, the President said she is looking forward to improved trade between the two countries. The Philippines she said, can take advantage of its being the third largest exporter of bananas in the world to attract Libyan import.

The Chief Executive also endorsed the Halal food of the Philippines as well as furniture and furnishings which she described as world class. She invited Libyan businessmen to invest not only in Mindanao but also in other parts of the country like the Clark Special Economic Zone in Pampanga.

This gesture of solidarity for the faithful wherever they are is heartwarming and I pray to the Lord that the trials and the dangers will soon pass so that the people in the area of conflict, regardless of creed and origin, can start picking up the pieces of their shattered lives.

Meanwhile, our Government is closely coordinating with its counterparts of the countries adjacent to Lebanon in order to expedite and facilitate the transport of Filipino workers to places out of harm’s way.

Waving miniature Philippine flags and cheering wildly, Filipino migrant workers here gave President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo both a warm welcome on her arrival here Sunday, and a fitting sendoff on the final day of her historic state visit to Libya Monday.

Close to a thousand contract workers, who showed up for the Filipino community’s toast to the first ever Filipino head of state to visit this predominantly Muslim nation in North Africa, turned the Golden Tent hall in Omar El Mokhtar Street in downtown Tripoli into a virtual rally zone, as they cheered and applauded the President who greeted them in various Philippine dialects.

Some 3,000 Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) are based in this capital city, most of them working in hospitals and hotels.

Saying she is happy to be with them, the President thanked the OFWs for helping the country shore up its dollar reserves which has now reached $21 billion.

"Lahat nang yan naging possible dahil sa inyo (And this is all because of you)," she told the members of the Filipino community.

Applause again disrupted the President’s speech when she announced the 3 percent increase in benefits for migrant workers that the host government has approved since 2002 as part of joint RP-Libya efforts to protect the OFWs.

She also told them about the Philippine government’s contingency program for migrant workers trapped in the Lebanon-Israel conflict "to keep them out of harm’s way."

The Chief Executive thanked her host, Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi, for his continued support of her administration’s peace and development efforts in Mindanao and ardent advocacy of the Philippine bid for observer status in the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC).

The Tripoli Agreement of 1976, which led to the signing of a final peace accord with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in 1996, had paved the way for former rebels to return to the mainstream, and some of whom have gone on to occupy key positions in government, she pointed out.

She introduced to the OFWs members of her delegation, including former MNLF commanders Deputy Speaker Abdulgani Salapuddin of Basilan, Marawi Mayor Omar Ali, Sulu Gov. Benjamin Loong, a brother of another former MNLF commander, and ARMM Representative Faysah Dumarpa.

When it was time to go, the President was virtually mobbed as she exited, with everyone trying to get close to her and say their hellos, giving her Filipino and Libyan security a tough time.

Salie is a high school graduate and one of 35 Filipinos who applied for scholarship and was lucky to have been accepted in an institution that nurtures nearly 700 scholars from various Muslim countries throughout the world.

Along with Muhammad Tahir Jamail of Zamboanga City and Abdul Malik Pacalna from Marawi City Salie spent four years -- the equivalent of a regular college education -- at WICS studying such courses as Islamic Law, The Call and Civilization and Arabic Language which required him an additional year of study due to its intricate nature.

But Salie doesn´t mind. Like the rest of his young peers, he receives a monthly stipend of 30 Libyan dinars (roughly P1,200) as a scholar looking forward to propagate their faith in madrasas back home.

And Salie knows he will make it, someday.

Monday afternoon, garbed in their black and green toga symbolic of having hurdled the requirements of their courses, Salie, Muhammad and Abdul were fidgety in their seats, eagerly awaiting the arrival of the guest of honor – President Arroyo -- who travelled all the way from the Philippines.

The President had taken time off of her two-day state visit here to address an institution that she said has done so much for the Muslim minority in the Philippines.

When the President finally arrived, Salie, Muhammad and Abdul were among the eager welcomers, who proudly showed her their respective diplomas.

The President was equally proud, knowing that more than their being Muslims, Salie and company are Filipinos.

"The WICS has done so much for the Filipino Muslims," she said in her address before a gallery that included WICS officials and her delegation.

The establishment of the WICS Philippine office in 2003, the President said, is but one of the many examples showing that the Philippines and Libya had been friends long before the reconciliation of Tripoli and Washington following the US raid of Libya in 1986.

She thanked Libyan leader, Col.Muammar Qaddafi, for brokering the talks between the Philippine government and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) that led to the signing of the Tripoli Agreement of 1976 and 2001 and expressed optimism that the good relations with Libya would endure.

The Chief Executive noted that the signing of the Final Peace Accord with the MNLF in 1996 led to the integration of former MNLF commanders into the mainstream, with some of them now holding key positions in government.

"Hopefully, the Tripoli Agreement of 2001 that led to the ongoing talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) would be as successful and end in lasting peace for Mindanao," she said.

The President, who is scheduled to be back in Manila tonight from a successful two-day state visit to Libya, also expressed hopes that the conflict between Lebanon and Israel would be settled soonest to avoid further destruction of lives and property.

"This gesture of solidarity for the faithful wherever they are is heartwarming and I pray to the Lord that the trials and the dangers will soon pass so that the people in the area of conflict, regardless of creed and origin, can start picking up the pieces of their shattered lives," the President said, referring to the use of the churches as sanctuaries of the OFWs caught in the middle of the Israeli-Lebanese hostilities.

The Philippines, through the Vatican’s ambassador to the Philippines, Archbishop Fernando Filoni, has appealed to the Vatican to allow Filipinos to seek refuge in Catholic churches in Lebanon.

To date, three Roman Catholic churches -- the Church of the Miraculous Medal in Achrafieh, St. Joseph Church and an unnamed church -- were reportedly turned into relocation sites for some of the more than 30,000 Filipinos in Lebanon.

The President assured the families of the OFWs in Lebanon of the safety of their loved ones, saying that the government is speeding up the evacuation of Filipino workers out of the areas of conflict.

"Meanwhile, our Government is closely coordinating with its counterparts of the countries adjacent to Lebanon in order to expedite and facilitate the transport of Filipino workers to places out of harm’s way," she said.

"Our contingency plan is in place and we assure the families of the OFWs in Lebanon that the safety of their loved ones is in the good hands of our experienced and competent officials," the President added.

The Philippine government, through the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Middle East Preparedness Team headed by Ambassador Roy Cimatu, has mapped out a contingency plan that includes the evacuation of all Filipino workers out of Lebanon.