Thus said Philippine Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs Rosario G. Manalo today as she unveiled her 13-point program of reforms for the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, which is picking a new leader this November to succeed outgoing 2-term Director General Federico Mayor.

Manalo, the only woman among the 11 candidates for post, told the 53-member Group of Commonwealth States, that while UNESCO continues to have relevant and meaningful programs for the underprivileged and marginalized peoples of the world, the UN agency ''must modernize and renew itself to make it more responsive to present and future challenges.''

Outlining her reform plan for UNESCO, Manalo said the agency, which counts some 186 member state, ''should now review, update and synergize the working methods of its three Constitutional organs - the Executive Board, the Secretariat and the General Conference - so they can efficiently deliver UNESCO's services.''

''Forward-looking studies, strategies and programs should be devised to keep UNESCO relevant to the times, '' Manalo told the Group of Commonwealth States. We will restructure relevant organic units and evolve a light and flexible bureaucracy to cope with trans-disciplinary projects and employ a permanent and systematic process of evaluation,'' she said.

Manalo, a lawyer and diplomat of 36 years, is Secretary General of the UNESCO National Commission of the Philippines and has served as ambassador to the European Economic Community, France, Belgium, the Scandinavian states and as Permanent Philippine Delegate to UNESCO.

The Philippine candidate told the Commonwealth ambassadors that as Director General her guiding principle would be ''transparency and integrity, cultivating an administrative culture in UNESCO based on respect for the rule of law and reforming work ethics based on a culture of quality. I want to be the Director General who will bring a a new way of doing things in UNESCO, a renewed spirit of efficiency, ethical responsibility and reforms,'' she stressed.

Responding to observations about UNESCO's diminishing resources in recent years, Ambassador Manalo said she would put into practice ''a results-based system for implementing UNESCO's programs, making sure that every cent allotted for the agency's core missions are spent for its target beneficiaries in civil society.''

''As Director General, I will concentrate on the essentials - the fulfillment of UNESCO's mission and objective to defend peace, putting education as the priority of priorities as education is the most formidable and enduring defense of peace,'' Manalo said.

''More than ever, in the Third Millennium, UNESCO must focus all its energies on building pathways toward peace,'' Manalo told the Group of Commonwealth States.

Earlier in the past week, the Philippine candidate to UNESCO's top post spoke before the 33-member Group of Latin American and Caribbean States (GRULAC) and the Council of Non-Governmental Organizations, stressing to them the need for the next Director General to '' bring back and expand its solidarity with the various sectors of civil society and the international community.

Manalo told GRULAC that UNESCO, with its "ethical mission for global solidarity and cooperation, must lead in providing solutions to problems brought about by conflict and violence, poverty and nature's degradation."

This will be possible, she said, "if UNESCO effectively applies its competences in education, science, culture and communication --- and, as mandated by its Constitution, mobilizes the will and intellect of humanity towards lasting peace."

She said UNESCO's first Director General of the Third Millennium "should work in close alliance with member states and the civil societies in leading the fight against illiteracy and ignorance, and in sustaining life-long education for all."

Such an effort, Manalo said, should focus "on reducing in half, the number of over 1-billion illiterates all over the world, the majority of whom are women and girls."

"Consistent with the fight against illiteracy," the Philippine candidate for the top UNESCO post cited "the need to put high priority on cultural education" as the agency enters a new millennium.

"The total expression of individual and collective cultures is as fundamental to people and societies, as are basic freedoms and human rights, " Manalo said, pointing out that "the dominance of any culture or cultures over others is antithetical to international solidarity and peace."

Apart from her meetings with the informal discussion groups of UNESCO member states, the Filipino candidate is also continuing one-on-one consultations with the Permanent Delegations accredited to the 58-member Executive Board.

The body will meet in mid-October to interview the 11 candidates and select a single nominee for consideration by the 30th Session of the UNESCO General Conference in November.

This vision was underlined here today by Philippine Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs Rosario G. Manalo in a letter to the Coordinating Committee for Press Freedom Organizations (CCPFO) based in Reston, Virginia, USA.

Manalo, who is the only woman among the 11 candidates in the upcoming election of a new UNESCO Director General, said, ''media, particularly the press, are among UNESCO's most significant and vigorous partners in the pursuit of its ethical and moral mission'' to promote a culture of peace.

The CCFPO had sent Ambassador Manalo and the other candidates copies of a resolution it sent to the UNESCO Executive Board seeking their commitment to continue the current policies on press freedom of UNESCO.

The resolution was signed by the International Press Institute, World Association of Newspapers, International Association of Broadcasting, World Press Freedom Committee, North American Broadcasters Association, Inter American Press Association, International Federation of the Periodical Press, Commonwealth Press Union and the Committee to Protect Journalists.

In her letter, Ambassador Manalo told the press freedom organizations: ''I fearlessly stand with you in the defense and promotion of press freedom, and together we will champion the unrestricted pursuit of truth and the free exchange of ideas and knowledge.''

Manalo told the CCPFO she believed all journalists and media practitioners share her commitment for UNESCO to strengthen the free flow of ideas.

She noted that on countless occasions journalists have ''vigorously performed their roles as the vanguards of truth, the leading advocates of good government and protection of the environment and most importantly as the defenders of basic freedoms and human rights.''

The Filipino diplomat praised the ''unswerving commitment'' of the press freedom organizations in ''upholding the rights and ensuring the safety of working journalists, and in steadfastly pursuing the search for truth in the public interest.''

Ambassador Manalo, who is also Secretary General of the UNESCO National Commission of the Philippines, is in Paris on the final stretch of her campaign for the UNESCO's top post.

Aside from addressing select forums in UNESCO, "Ambassador Manalo has intensified her campaign by holding intensive one-on-one consultations with the various heads of the Permanent Delegations and presenting her Vision for UNESCO in the 21st Century - Building Pathways Toward Peace".

Over the past several months, Mrs. Manalo has also personally visited 53 of the 58 member states comprising the UNESCO Executive Board to consult with them on the issues and challenges facing the organization.

Their call is contained in a three-paragraph statement issued at the end of the latest ASPAC Group last September 20 and transmitted to all the 186 Permanent Delegations accredited to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization.

The ASPAC Group said that Asia Pacific "as the world's most diverse geographical region, is well placed to promote multi-culturalism."

Directing their call to the UNESCO Executive Board and the General Conference, the Asia Pacific group requested "the support of all UNESCO Member States to elect and appoint the next Director General from this region."

"We also draw attention to the principle of equitable geographic representation, underpinning UNESCO specifically and the United Nations system more generally, which further supports the claim of the Asia Pacific candidates, given that there has never been a UNESCO Director General elected from the most populous region in the world," the ASPAC Group said.

The 39 ASPAC nations also called attention to Article VI (4) of the UNESCO Constitution which provides that the appointment of staff to the UN body's Secretariat, including the position of Director General, will be "subject to the paramount consideration of the highest standards of integrity, technical competence and on as wide a geographical basis as possible."

They said adherence to the provision is needed "in order to enrich the organization through more equitable involvement of different cultures and civilizations."

There are a total of 12 aspirants to the post being vacated this November by two-term Director General Federico Mayor who, before being elected in 1987, served as Minister of Education of Spain and UNESCO Deputy Director General.

Aside from the Philippine candidate, Foreign Affairs Under-Secretary Rosario G. Manalo, the four other Asia Pacific candidates are from Indonesia, Japan, Sri Lanka and Australia.

Supporting the statement of the ASPAC Group, Ambassador Manalo said even insiders in the UNESCO Secretariat acknowledge that "after 53 long years and with poverty and illiteracy continuing to bedevil the Asia Pacific and the rest of the developing world, it is time for an Asian to take UNESCO's reins."

"It is of paramount importance that somebody from our region, with a pulse for the needs and problems of the developing world and a program of reform and renewal for UNESCO is given the chance to lead the institution," the Filipino diplomat said.

"Indeed the fact that Asia Pacific has not just one, but five candidates is a reflection of the huge pool of visionary leaders and administrators that our region can offer to an organization like UNESCO, whose mission it is to harness education, science, culture and communication to promote global peace," Manalo said.

The forthcoming election of a new UNESCO Director General on the eve of the new millennium is seen as crucial, in the face of the diversity and magnitude of issues the UN agency faces, among them ethnic strife in various regions of the world, grinding poverty and illiteracy, the protection of intellectual property rights, genetic manipulation and cloning and the protection and preservation of World Heritage sites, among others.

Even as it struggles to champion cultural, scientific and economic issues, particularly those in the developing world, UNESCO has seen its budget dramatically reduced in the last 15 years, from over $608 million in 1984-85 to the current $544 million and the staff from a high of 3,000 plantilla positions in 1987 to about 2,100 today.

In her own vision for UNESCO in the 21st century, the Philippine candidate has said that while UNESCO continues to have "relevant and meaningful programs for the underprivileged and marginalized peoples," the UN agency should "modernize and renew itself to make it more responsive to present and future challenges."

"We need to restructure relevant organic units and evolve a light and flexible bureaucracy to cope with trans-disciplinary projects and employ a permanent and systematic process of evaluation. I want to be the Director General who will bring a new way of doing things in UNESCO, a renewed spirit of efficiency, ethical responsibility and reforms," she says.

"Side by said with modernizing its structure and operations," Manalo says UNESCO should keep faith with its "ethical mission for global solidarity and cooperation and must lead in providing solutions to problems brought about by conflict and violence, poverty and nature's degradation."

UNESCO's 58-member Executive Board is meeting from October 11 to 22, and will, among other things, interview the candidates for Director General. It will, after a maximum of five ballotings, then submit the name of one nominee to the organization's 30th General Conference which will meet from October 26 to November 18.