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Thursday, May 13, 2004
Arroyo thanks INC, El Shaddai for support
* President goes back to work, to reconvene Cabinet
PRESIDENT Arroyo Wednesday expressed gratitude to the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) and the Catholic charismatic group El Shaddai for their support to her in last Monday's elections.
She also assured them that she would not forget the promises that she made which helped gain their support.
"I will cherish this as an inspiration to uphold moral leadership that truly lives in the fountain of the Almighty. Ka Erdie Manalo (INC Executive Minister) and Brother Mike Velarde (El Shadadi head) and I share a deep commitment to the welfare of the people and I shall maintain this shared promise for a better tomorrow for the Filipino people," she said.
Deputy Presidential spokesman Ricardo Saludo clarified that they do not have any advance or specific information as to who and how many of the INC and El Shaddai members have actually voted for her.
Meanwhile, Arroyo Wednesday buckled down to work as she attended a mass for the late National Artist Jose Maceda at the Parish of the Holy Spirit at the University of the Philippines (UP) in Diliman, Quezon City.
Arroyo also called for the reconvening of her Cabinet on Friday in Malacañang to discuss the implementation of her six-point agenda, which she announced during her campaign.
The President said she is thinking of reviving the regular press conferences or informal luncheon with members of the Malacañang Press Corps, which she prefers over ambush interviews.
She added that ambush interviews would be more limited when the luncheon resumes. The luncheon was held every Wednesday in 2002.
Arroyo attended the mass to convey her sympathies to the family of the 87-year-old Maceda, a UP professor and composer, who built an archive of ethno-musicological research at the UP College of Music where hundreds of hours of field recordings from the Philippines and other parts of the world are stored. The recordings are being duplicated digitally to ensure its preservation.
The President returned to Malacañang after the mass.
Deputy presidential spokesman Ricardo Saludo said Arroyo would be holding her first Cabinet meeting since the May 10 elections on Friday morning to discuss the steps in the implementation of her six priority pledges for the poor.
"With the elections over, the President wants to immediately begin work on her governance agenda. The heads of implementing departments shall outline programs and measures to accelerate the delivery of the President's promises," Saludo said.
The six-point agenda includes the creation of one million jobs a year until 2010; supply of clean water to all barangays; electrification of 1,500 barangays a year and cutting of electricity costs; tripling of the loans to small business and the self-employed; construction of 3,000 schoolhouses a year and putting up of at least one computer set in every school; scholarships for children in every poor family; and reducing to half the price of medicines frequently used by the poor.
Presidential campaign spokesman Michael Defensor said Arroyo's Cabinet members and other government appointees who went on leave to help in her campaign have also started to return to work Wednesday.(JMR)
(May 13, 2004 issue)
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