GMA to continue travels — Ermita

President Arroyo has no plan to scrap future trips abroad in the wake of the ouster of Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra while he was in New York, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said yesterday.

"The President is so confident of the political situation, especially with the support of this august chamber, that whether she leaves for two days, five days, 10 days or even 15 days, things are okay," he told a House budget hearing.

He said what happened in Thailand would not happen here.

He said Mrs. Arroyo is firmly in control of the situation and forces out to destabilize are constantly being monitored by the military and the police.

Ermita was commenting on concerns expressed by Davao del Sur Rep. Douglas Cagas that Mrs. Arroyo could suffer Thaksin’s fate since she has been on several foreign trips this year and would apparently continue on her missions abroad in the future.

Cagas informed the Palace official that congressmen had congratulated the President for returning safely over the weekend from a nine-day trip to Europe and Hawaii.

After hearing Ermita’s assurances, the Davao lawmaker suggested in jest that maybe, the House should give the President a bigger budget for foreign travel.

‘Economic gains irreversible’

Meanwhile, Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr. said the country’s economic gains are irreversible and are strong enough to withstand any storm — including the possible economic backlash from the recent military coup in Thailand that ousted Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

"We just have to protect the economic gains that we have and all of these are irreversible," said Andaya, who arrived in Davao City Wednesday afternoon to address a conference of the association of government budget officers.

Andaya told The STAR the country’s economic fundamentals are firmly established, so the government is unperturbed by the political rumblings in nearby Thailand.

"With or without what is happening in Thailand, our economic gains are strong enough to weather whatever would take place," Andaya added.

He expressed confidence that the coup in Thailand will not adversely affect the country’s economic gains under the Arroyo administration: "Our economic fundamentals remain very strong."

The continued appreciation of the peso, now almost hitting the 49-to-$1 mark, Andaya said, is an indication that the country’s economy is growing stronger.

The Philippine stocks have also recovered tremendously, despite destabilization moves by anti-Arroyo groups in the past months.

Government also boasted of a marked increase by 10 percent in direct foreign investments, indicating continued investor confidence in the country.

Government economic planners believe the Arroyo administration’s determined efforts to balance the budget and improve the country’s overall security situation as it pushes for growth and development are factors that boost investor confidence.

The Arroyo administration is also looking forward to the early passage of the proposed P1.3-trillion 2007 budget, which economic planners say will pave the way towards bringing the country’s budget deficit down to zero by 2008.

However, Andaya was also quick to point out that the real challenge at the moment is how to rein in the budget deficit, with the P125 billion deficit target set for this year.

"It is a tight balancing act but what is important is that the problems of the past are no longer there," Andaya added.

The recent passage by the Senate of the P49-billion supplemental budget, he said, will help government attain the projected budget deficit for this year.

Andaya said government has learned valuable lessons from the reenacted budget, which is awash with cash but is caught in a spending limit for lack of authority.

"That is what you call the happy problem. The happy problem on how to spend it," Andaya told The STAR.

The government has said it did well in cushioning the impact of destabilization moves and protecting the economic gains it had made. The government has also worked hard to stabilize the prices of prime commodities as well as ensure that basic commodities reach the grassroots. — Jess Diaz, Edith Regalado