‘A year of urgent change for RP’
By Marichu Villanueva
The Philippine Star 01/01/2005

President Arroyo called on the nation yesterday to "lead with me" and help her implement urgent reforms that would bring about better lives for the people this year.

"2005 is a year of urgent change for the Philippines," the President said in her New Year’s message broadcast from the Mansion House in Baguio City where the First Family is spending the holidays.

Like other Filipinos, Mrs. Arroyo admitted she was also getting "impatient" to achieve the short- and medium-term reform goals of her administration.

"I know the people cannot wait. I’m impatient, too, for the urgent change to be made," she said.

The President identified the passage by Congress of the so-called "sin" tax law and other pending vital tax measures as well as the proposed 2005 budget bill as part of her fiscal reform package.

Out of the eight tax measures aimed at generating P80 billion in additional revenues, Congress was able to pass into law only the "sin" tax bill, which imposes higher excise taxes on tobacco and alcohol products.

The President has called Congress to a special session from Jan. 5 to 7 to pass the proposed lateral attrition bill and other revenue measures.

"I call on Congress, the private sector and civil society to lead with me. With unity and fortitude, we shall prevail," Mrs. Arroyo said. "We must act now as one nation... We have passed a season of triumph and tragedy."

"As your leader, I pledge to you that we will improve tax collection, pass a budget that will support our 10-point plan and pro-poor agenda and take executive action to break the culture of corruption," she vowed.

Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye echoed the same appeals for unity. "I wish that each Filipino would take responsibility for the future of our country... We should realize that every individual act, words and deeds impact the public welfare, whether positively or negatively," he pointed out. Reform and change
Communications director Secretary Silvestre Afable described 2004 as an extremely challenging year for the Arroyo administration as it was "reform and change driven."

"When a leader starts to take bold steps to change the national landscape, there is bound to be resistance, frustration and disenchantment, but these will pass," he said.

Mrs. Arroyo, he added, had exercised strong leadership even at the expense of her own popularity to commit to a long-term vision of stability and growth.

"We are past the era of hate politics and people are settling down to doable, community-centered solutions and listening to sensible leadership; the opposition should read the writing on the wall," he stressed.

Afable, however, credits the Filipino people for their resilient and patriotic spirit that has contributed to a stable economy and relative political peace.

Mrs. Arroyo’s major accomplishments for the year, according to Afable, include: 6.3 percent economic growth in the third quarter of the year, foreign direct investment growing by 322 percent in the first nine months, lowest rate of strike incidence in 26 years, election of the Philippines as chair of the APEC Counterterrorism Task Force, free trade agreement with Japan that will help reduce prices of electronic products and increase Filipino nurses who can work in Japan and the takeover of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 (NAIA-3).

"Next year’s opening of NAIA-3 will serve as a symbol of our economic renaissance as we defeat corruption and bring our economic house to order," Afable said.

Meanwhile, administration lawmakers led by Isabela Rep. Edwin Uy and Bacolod Rep. Monico Puentevella said the people should provide motivation and encouragement to the Arroyo administration in addressing the problems facing the nation.

Uy, chairman of the House committee on bases conversion, said members of Congress should help find solutions to the country’s fiscal problem by acting on the President’s priority economic and reform agenda. "Criticizing the President will not solve our problems. We should instead provide her with our understanding and support so we can more easily surmount these," Uy said.

Puentevella, chairman of the committee on transportation and communications, said that the President must work within daunting limitations like scarce government resources and inherited the bulk of the problems from her predecessors.

"No superman today can fix the problems overnight in this country. We must work together, we must act constructively and not destructively." — With Paolo Romero