Palace to use inaugural to promote reconciliation

Pursuing her inaugural theme of unity and reconciliation, President Arroyo wants to have "continuing inaugural events" on June 30.

The President intends to carry her inaugural through the cities of Manila, Cebu and Davao to complete her Luzon-Visayas-Mindanao unity campaign.

Palace organizers of the inaugural events next week, chaired by Executive Secretary Alberto Romulo, have also prepared a post-inaugural program of activities on July 1 in Davao City and, possibly, northern Leyte, Bohol and Samar.

Sources told The STAR yesterday that Mrs. Arroyo would fly to Davao City on July 1 for the continued inaugural events.

June 30, the President said, "will be a day of the people, who are the real winners in the elections."

"We prepare for this day with the whole nation in mind and to mark the sacrifice and heroism of Filipinos here and around the world," she said, adding that "the mandate is theirs and I will be faithful to it."

In an official statement issued by the Palace yesterday, Mrs. Arroyo announced she would hold her inaugural day on June 30 on a "continuing event" basis that will kick off in Manila and Cebu City.

She plans to visit Butuan City on July 1 and then fly later in the day to Clark Field, Pampanga, for a Cabinet meeting and cap the day with a trip to Rosales, Pangasinan.

The President’s inaugural "will be marked with austerity and simplicity, reflective of the spirit and sacrifice needed to meet the tough times facing our people," she said. "It will be a day for all freedom-loving nations that witnessed the triumph of democracy in the Philippines."

While there are no official estimates or statements regarding how much money is allocated for the inaugural festivities, the President asked that the expenses be kept to a minimum.

"I have requested that any money intended for grand festivities in Cebu instead be donated to pro-poor projects," she said.

However, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña called the Palace yesterday and insisted that the city government of Cebu has long planned and prepared for the inaugural reception, dubbed Sinugbayanihan.

The plans for the inaugural reception include street dancing and a feast of grilled food, or sinugba in Cebuano, along Fuente Osmeña Boulevard, which will be closed to all vehicular traffic from afternoon to evening.

Palace organizing committee member Cerge Remonde said that while Mrs. Arroyo wants an "austere and simple" inauguration, she cannot impose upon her Cebuano hosts her wish for austerity and simplicity.

"This is their own activity in Cebu and we cannot stop them," Remonde said.

The President and Vice President-elect Noli de Castro will take their oaths of office in Cebu City before Cebuano Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr. at high noon on June 30.

Cebu province delivered Mrs. Arroyo’s biggest winning margin in the May 10 elections and the President has decided with finality that she will deliver her inaugural address in the Cebuano language, which she speaks flawlessly.

Before flying to Cebu, Mrs. Arroyo will deliver a message to the Filipino people in Tagalog and witness the civic-military parade and "extravaganza show" organized in her honor by the Department of Tourism (DOT) at Quirino Grandstand in Luneta Park, Manila at 8 a.m. before she flies to Cebu City at 10 a.m. to make her inaugural address.

The President and De Castro will host the traditional vin d’honneur for the diplomatic community at Cebu’s Shangri-La Hotel at 1 p.m.

Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal will celebrate a thanksgiving Mass for the President at the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral, which will be followed by the mass oath-taking of Cebu province’s newly elected congressional and local government officials.

Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye told government-run Radyo ng Bayan that the Palace would announce the details of the inaugural activities to the public at a later date.

He said the President "continues to extend her hands of unity and reconciliation to all the different sectors of our society."

In wanting a simple and austere inaugural, the President "would like to begin her six-year mandate on this very humble and simple note," he said.

This full, six-year term will also be one with many firsts for the President, Bunye added, citing the facts that Mrs. Arroyo is succeeding herself and that De Castro is also part of the administration coalition ticket that carried the President as standard-bearer.