| PGMA and McCain agree to further strengthen RP-US relations |
| WASHINGTON D.C. --- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Republican
presidential candidate John McCain agreed to further strengthen the long
standing bilateral relations of the Philippines and the United States. In a brief meeting held Saturday mid noon (Washington time) at the Willard Hotel here, the President and McCain exchanged pleasantries and discussed RP-US relations. ''The Filipinos are watching this elections in the US and hoping for the new government to continue the relations of the US and the Philippines,'' the President told McCain. The President said she and McCain also discussed US's support in the achievement of peace in Mindanao, through the application of the ''hard and soft'' approach. She thanked McCain for supporting the Veterans Equity bill. The President also asked the US to lead the efforts in addressing food security concerns. ''I would like to thank President Arroyo for taking time out to meet me,'' McCain said even as he ''looks forward to further affirming'' RP-US relations. The meeting between the President and McCain, according to Ambassador Marciano Paynor is'' quite normal in the overall scheme of bilateral relations.'' |
| PGMA arrives at 2:30 a.m. tomorrow after a successful 10-day working visit to the U.S. |
| All is set for the inaugural opening of the Passenger Terminal 3 of the
Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) where President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
will disembark from the Philippine Air Lines (PAL) PR Flight # 105 at 2:30
a.m. (not at 5:30 a.m. as earlier reported). The NAIA’s Terminal 3 is just across a wing of the Philippine Air Force (PAF) where the President is expected to send off planes-load of relief goods for the victims of super typhoon Frank. The PAL 747 plane – which will also have the President’s delegation on board – shall take off from San Francisco. To inform the plane’s other passengers and their waiting families about Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) processing at NAIA 3 instead of NAIA 2, the Philippine Airlines is planning on distributing flyers at the San Francisco Airport to the flight’s passengers for advanced information. In a coordination meeting of concerned agencies Wednesday (June 25), airport officials led by Angel Atutubo, assistant manager for security, assured that the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) was already readying the airconditioning, the X-ray machines, security arrangements, the paging system, the ramp, the television camera and other requirements for the President’s arrival cum inspection and inaugural opening of NAIA Terminal 3. Also then being installed were the bearings for the conveyor belt of Carousel #7 – and possibly also Carousel #6 – for their initial operation for the first batch of luggage and baggage to be unloaded from the said commercial flight. Airport authorities said they had also simulated the arrival of a 747 at Terminal 3. Representatives from the Bureau of Customs (BOC) and the Bureau of Immigration (BI) also started installing their computers in the arrival area as early as mid-week. Atutubo requested the BOC to install and man some 20 counters to hasten CIQ processing; while the BI pledged to send 8-10 personnel to man four counters. NAIA-3 Task Force head Michael Defensor and airport officials also conducted a walk-through of the President’s route upon disembarking from the PAL plane. President Arroyo shall enter through Bay 116 of Terminal 3 where she will be given arrival honors by PAF Honor Guards. She shall then go through the terminal’s immigration area on the second floor; down to the Customs area on the ground floor where she is expected to deliver her arrival statement. The President’s contingent will then motor to the nearby PAF Base Operation Center of Villamor Air Base (VAB) to sendoff relief goods for the victims of howler ‘Frank’ whose international codename, ‘Fengshen,’ means god of the wind. |
| PGMA lists gains in her 10-day working trip to the U.S. |
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BALER, Aurora – Commitments for more investment, job creation and pledges of interest from the American business leaders are only a few of the many “pasalubong” President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo brought home for the Filipino people after her 10-day successful working visit to the United States. “We once again secured more investment, job creation and pledges of interest by many new business leaders,” the President said. Instead of reading it at the airport, the President has incorporated her arrival statement with her speech at the 109th anniversary celebration of the Baler Siege and 6th Philippine-Spanish Friendship Day. The President arrived early this morning via a PAL commercial flight at the Terminal 3 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA). In her speech here, the President said that the US Senate has passed the Philippine Veterans Equity Bill after 62 years of waiting on the part of Filipino veterans. She expressed confidence that the US House would also pass the bill after some of the congressional leaders informed her delegation that there is majority of support for the Philippine veterans. “So we are cautiously optimistic about the bill’s passage, but it is not a sure thing,” she said adding that under the bill two-thirds of the money is for US veterans, and the issue is now on the domestic US politics “of how to pay for the entire bill.” The President also said her recent trip to the US reaffirmed the strong ties between the Philippines and the US, just like what the continued improving relationship of the country to its long-time friend, the Spanish government. With regards to the relationship with Spain, the President revealed that the King of Spain served as the bridge of the Philippine government to the Emir of Kuwait to save the lives of Marilou Ranario, a Filipina domestic helper charged with killing her Kuwaiti employer on January 10, 2005. The President said that while she was in Spain last year, the King of Spain who happened to be the close friend of the Emir of Kuwait, personally help her to convince the latter to commute Ranario’s death sentence into life imprisonment. She said the reason why the King of Spain heeded her pleading is because the government of Spain is against the death penalty just like the position of the European Union. “Dahil halos limang siglo ang ating pinagsamahang kasaysayan at kultura, lagi nating bibigyan halaga ang ating espesyal na pagkakaibigan sa Espanya. Pagtutulungan sa kultura at ekonomiya ang lakas na nagsusulong ng pagsasama ng Pilipinas at Espansa ngayon,”the President stressed. |