PGMA's Speech during the 40th Anniversary of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) |
| ADB Auditorium, ADB Ave. Ortigas Center, Pasig City, 19 Dec 2006 |
| Thank
you very much, Miss Quon. President Kuroda and all the officers and staff of the Asian Development Bank; Secretary Teves; Governor Tetangco; Governor Lerias and all the officials of the Philippine government who are here with us today; ladies and gentlemen: Happy 40th anniversary to the Asian Development Bank! We welcome the foreign staff and visitors who are here. Please enjoy the beauty of the Philippines. We are indeed proud to host Asia's premier development institution. And this jubilee is especially personally important for me because I vividly remember my father, President Diosdado Macapagal, working very hard for ADB to be located in the Philippines. And today, as he predicted, ADB plays a key role in the growth of the Asian region, and also in boosting the quality of Filipino lives. Thank you ADB for agreeing that "The Philippines is back" during the media briefing of the 650 milllion-dollar power sector development program loan. This is the largest ADB assistance to the Philippines in eight years. Thank you so much for that. Thank you also for the financial reform loan and thank you for your untiring effort in working for poverty alleviation in the Philippines. Thank you especially in behalf of Governor Lerias and the people of Southern Leyte for the Southern Leyte landslide assistance project and, as you mentioned President Kuroda, ADB's sympathy for all the victims of all the other disasters in the Philippines. Thank you for the assistance in the study of the vulnerable areas in the Philippines which strengthens our hand in overall disaster management. Thank you also for helping BIMP-EAGA. And thank you -- because I've mentioned other countries in BIMP-EAGA -- thank you for your positive response on the appeal of the Philippines and other developing member countries to lower commitment fees. We also hope that ADB will act positively on the request of the Philippines and other DMCS to ease the bank's conditionalities. Because that will provide developing countries better opportunities to enjoy the benefits of ADB's development assistance. In 2003, we were bracing ourselves for an economic slowdown brought about by the upward spiral of oil prices, complicated by political intrigue. Since then, we adopted draconian fiscal measures: more selective and judicious spending, revenue collection efficiency, and most of all and most painful of all -- new taxes. But as a result, creditor and investor confidence have come back. And that's why we thank you for your latest public statements for support for the reforms of the Philippine government. We are working to continue on reforms beyond our tax reforms. We have adopted, for instance, measures to curb corruption such as our executive order 564 on the infrastructure monitoring pro-performance system. Also the use of the 20 million dollars assistance from the U.S. millennium challenge account to curb corruption. We hope that the donor community appreciates the efforts of our government for the needed reforms even with the difficulties that they face. We assure you that all our reforms go through democratic procedures including our political reforms. Let me therefore take this opportunity to say a few things on Charter Change. Actually, three realities that we face as a nation: One, that the people accept the need for charter change to overhaul the system; two, that there is a need for a unified consensus on the means and the timetable; and three, that this is a platform commitment of our administration that will be pursued with urgency and fervor. These realities will continue to shape our actions for the better future of the Philippines, working closely and inclusively with all stakeholders and institutions, observing transparency, and backing up the entire process with a strong economy, social payback and values programs. This is a matter of paramount national interest and our leaders must all rise to the challenge. I thank you ADB for your support in all the reforms that we have tried to do across the broad spectrum of our needed reforms -- fiscal reforms, financial reforms, power sector reforms, governance reforms. And, of course, thank you ADB for more than a thousand local professional Filipino staff. We're proud of all of you, our Filipinos in ADB. We're proud that the ADB has been vocal in your appreciation of your local staff. Thank you for taking care of the Filipino staff. And we urge you to continue this and we trust that ADB practices the well-acclaimed equal opportunity system. We also propose that ADB, like any other large organization, will embark on social responsibility projects in the Philippines, being its headquarters. This could be in the form of a special social fund for social responsibility projects. For indeed, ADB has helped pull many Filipinos out of poverty. I'm happy that as we celebrate today, 40 years of ADB's existence, 40 years of ADB being in the Philippines that both our statistically measured poverty rate, 23 percent, and self-rated poverty rate, 51 percent last September compared to 63 percent in 1986, that both the statistically measured poverty rate and the self-rated poverty rate are at their lowest averages in our administration compared to other times since the statistics began. But we have miles to go before we can achieve our goal and vision of being first world in 20 years. And just as ADB has been with us in the last 40 years of our journey, we hope that as we go on our journey in the next 20 years, ADB will stay with us in the Philippines in our quest and that beyond that ADB will stay with us as the headquarters for making life better in the entire great continent of Asia. Congratulations! And happy ruby anniversary once again to all of you! |