PGMA's Remarks during the Launching Ceremony of the Northrail-Southrail Linkage Project |
PNR Tutuban Station, Manila (December 15, 2005) |
| Thank you very much. His Excellency President Roh Moo-Hyun and Madame Roh; Vice President de Castro; Speaker de Venecia and our other congressmen who are here today; Secretary Romulo and the other members of the Cabinet and agencies who are here today; Mayor Atienza; our friends from the Korean delegation; ladies and gentlemen: Your excellency in behalf of the Filipino people, let me once again extend my warmest welcome to you and your delegation. In the Korean War, Filipinos and Koreans shed blood and sacrificed lives for our common dream of freedom. The Republic of Korea won the war with the help of friends like the Philippines and I am glad that up to today we have become even better friends. Just as the Philippines was there for Korea in the battle against communism in the 1950s, I am grateful that now the Republic of Korea is with us here in our war against poverty today. This ceremony on the occasion of President Roh's state visit to the Philippines is an expression of our special gratefulness that the Republic of Korea will finance the modernization of the train system across Metro Manila. President Roh and the Korean government have been very generous to extend a soft loan of 50.42 million dollars for the 34-kilometer Caloocan to Alabang railroad which we call the Northrail-Southrail linkage project. This is a major contribution to one of the ten points of our pro-poor agenda which is the decongestion of Metro Manila. With this groundbreaking our next ambition is to extend the project to Calamba, Laguna and onwards to Bicol. This project is part of the many projects of assistance and investment both from the Korean government and the Korean business community. For instance, there is an investment by Hanjin, a Korean company in the shipyard in Subic, Zambales that will ramp up to one billion U.S. dollars. On the occasion of this visit we will also have the opportunity to celebrate the KEPCO (Korean Electric Power Company) expansion in Batangas of 600 million U.S. dollars and 200 million dollars in Naga in Cebu. And on occasion of KEPCO's expansion of an additional 600 million dollars in its Batangas plant, we will also be working on a 200 million-dollar connection from the power plant of KEPCO in Batangas under the water to Mindoro island. Also, we are very grateful for the assistance of the Republic of Korea in the preparation and hopefully the start of the construction of the airport in Misamis oriental in Mindanao. All these projects that I am describing which will consist of assistance from the government of the Republic of Korea as well as private sector investments of the business community of Korea, all in all amount to more than two billion U.S. dollars. And this morning, President Roh and I witnessed the signing by our two foreign ministers of an arrangement for a loan of 22.3 million dollars also from the economic development cooperation fund of the Republic of Korea for a loan agreement for the widening of the San Fernando-Gapan road and emergency dredging projects for my province of Pampanga. This morning in our bilateral meeting, President Roh and I also discussed South Korean commitments to invest more in Philippine industries like the energy sector as well as the setting up a 'one-stop shop' for investors in the board of investments to make it easier for more Korean investors to invest in the Philippines. Mr. President, I hope you are happy that our Filipino students are cheering you here this afternoon. And I take this opportunity to say that we welcome the many Korean students who are also studying here in the Philippines. Once again, Mr. President, welcome to the Philippines! And thank you for the friendship that we are enjoying between our two countries and peoples. Kamsahamnida. |