Noy debuts on world stage, to speak before UN

NEW YORK – President Aquino arrives here tomorrow for his debut on the world stage, highlighted by a speech on Sept. 24 (Manila time) before the United Nations General Assembly on the Philippines’ Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The 65th UN Summit on the MDGs, convened by the 192-member assembly, begins in New York today and is expected to attract nearly 140 heads of state, as well as dozens of representatives from civil society groups, foundations and the private sector.

The Philippines hopes to achieve all its millennium development goals - reducing poverty, fighting disease, stopping environmental degradation and boosting health including the promotion of maternal health and decreasing child mortality - by 2015.

The President will deliver his address before the UN on Sept. 24 (Sept. 25 in Manila) after attending the United States-Association of Southeast Asian Nations Leaders’ meeting.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said in reports that the MDGs were “a blueprint to help those most vulnerable and poorest people, to lift them out of poverty.”

Mr. Aquino said in a recent speech in Manila that his administration was committed to pursuing its five-year MDGs through good governance, transparency and accountability in government.

“Better governance, transparency and accountability will ensure more efficient use of funds for MDGs and will minimize leaks and waste in the use of public funds,” he said earlier.

“The millennium goals are a reflection of humanity’s aspirations – to break the chains of ignorance and disease, poverty and injustice,” Mr. Aquino said.

A recent Palace statement indicated that Mr. Aquino, in his US working visit, would have an opportunity to hold bilateral meetings with US President Barack Obama as well as with his counterparts in the ASEAN, among them Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, Vietnamese Prime Minister Ngyuen Minh Triet and Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.

The President will also have a meeting with the UN secretary general.

This is the first overseas trip of Mr. Aquino since becoming president in June.

The Philippines is the country coordinator for the ASEAN-US Dialogue relations from 2009 to 2012.

While in New York, the President will also attend the signing of the $434-million Millennium Challenge Compact Agreement between the Philippines and the US Millennium Challenge Corp. with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The President will also meet with World Bank president Robert Zoellick, as well as with some chief executive officers, top businessmen and potential investors. Mr. Aquino will also address an economic conference organized by Citibank.

Also in the President’s schedule are meetings with the Filipino-American communities in New York and in San Francisco.

There are an estimated 2.84 million Filipinos living in the US, accounting for 34 percent of the total number of Filipinos overseas, according to figures from the Commission on Filipinos Overseas. They contribute about 42 percent of the total remittances sent to the Philippines. 

Review steps to MDG

Meanwhile, Sen. Loren Legarda has called on concerned government agencies to evaluate the initiatives and steps that they have taken toward achieving the MDGs.

“We need to review the progress of the Philippines towards the achievement of the MDGs as adopted under the United Nations Millennium Declaration, vis-a-vis the progress of countries worldwide and the importance of implementing disaster risk reduction measures in order to protect the country’s accomplishments,” Legarda said.

Legarda has filed a Senate resolution calling for a legislative review of the country’s effort to reach the MDGs. “Congress must watch over our country’s progress and investments made, goal by goal, with disaster risk reduction as a crucial tool. Through our influence in spending, laws and policy, we can create an enabling environment for achieving disaster-resilient development,” she said.

“We can accelerate the achievement of our MDGs and at the same time reap economic gains through the implementation of disaster risk reduction measures,” she added.

Legarda, chair of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and Climate Change, noted that “there is a strong correlation between reducing disaster risk and the achievement of our MDGs.”

“Disaster risk reduction pays. We have country experiences to prove this. China spent $3.15 billion on flood control between 1960 and 2000, which is estimated to have averted losses of about $12 billion,” she said.

 P-Noy’s delegation

1. President Aquino

2.Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo

3.Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima

4.Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo

5.Erlinda Basilio – Foreign Affairs undersecretary for policy

6.Amb. Miguel Perez Rubio – Chief, presidential protocol and presidential assistant on foreign affairs

7.Felicitas Agoncillo-Reyes – Assistant secretary, Investment Promotions Group, Board of Investments, DTI

8.Carmen Mislang –  Assistant secretary for PCDSPO

9.Reynaldo Delantar – Special assistant to the President

10.Jay Morales – Close-in photographer

11.Gil Nartea – Official photographer

12.Col. Jeffrey Delgado – Senior military aide

13.Maj. Francis Anthony Coronel – Junior military aide (DAP2)

14.Jaime Ascalon – Deputy chief of presidential protocol

15.Aquino Sultan – Protocol officer

16.Renato Marfil – Assistant secretary, Presidential Communications Group (PCG)

17.Elizaldo de Layola – PCG

18.Francisco Lopez Banos – PCG

19.Jo Paulo Espiritu – Head, Media Accreditation and Relations Division

20.Saul Paa – PCG

21.Elvira delos Santos – PCG

22.Carmelo Paolo Bayarcal – PCG

23 to 40. Presidential Security Group

41. Virgilio Nadal Jr. – Radio-TV Malacañang (RTVM)

42. Marianette Bernardino – RTVM

43. Luis Enrico Eleazar – RTVM

44. Marco Paolo Bombase – RTVM

45. Danilo Abad – RTVM

46. Leopoldo Lubid Jr. – RTVM

47. Rene Villaflor – RTVM

48. Eulogios Burlaos – RTVM

49. William Mensenares Jr. – RTVM

50. Arman Lapitan – RTVM

51. Eugenia Celerina Lolarga – RTVM

52. Virgilio Indefenzo Jr. – RTVM

53. Evariste Cagatan – Director for international marketing, Board of Investments, DTI

54. Claro Fernandez – Executive director, Investor Relations Office, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas

55. Ronel Almores – RTVM

Businessmen

1. Ramon del Rosario

2. Manuel Abellada

3. Ramon Aboitiz

4.Ramon Ang

5. Jose Antonio,

6. Joselito Campos Jr.

7. Francis Chua

8. Antonio Conjuangco

9. Isidro Consunji

10. Jose Cuisis Jr.

11. Jose Roberto Delgado

12. Manny Dimaculangan

13. Antonio Go

14. Francis Enrico Gutierrez

15. Doris Magsaysay Ho

16. Domingo Lim

17. Roger Lim

18. Alberto Lina

19. Eugenio Lopez III

20. Oscar Lopez

21. Romeo Mercado

22. Aurelio Montinola

23. Rizalino Navarro

24. Cirilo Noel

25. Manny Pangilinan

26. Enrique Razon

27. Teresita Gozon

28. Jesus Tambunting

29. Antonio Tan Caktiong

30. Alfonso Uy

31. Myla Villanueva

32. Jaime Augusto Zobel Ayala III

33. Mark Opulencia

– With Christina Mendez