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GMA is first RP prez, first Asian leader,
first woman to preside over UN Security Council
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MADAME PRESIDENT: President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo bangs the gavel as she presides over the powerful United Nations Security Council on September 14. To her left is UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.
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NEW YORK --- It was a shining moment for the Philippines as chair of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) when the 15 member states of the most powerful UN organ voted unanimously on Wednesday (September 14, New York time) for the approval of vital draft resolutions pending before it -- on terrorism and conflict.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo took center stage when she presided over the third Security Council Summit in the history of the United Nations.
The Philippines currently holds this month the rotating presidency of the UN body.
Dressed in a red business suit which brightly contrasted with the black suits worn by other world leaders and representatives of the 15 UNSC member states, the President boldly stood out among the all-men round table.
On Thursday, Arroyo also addressed the UN General Assembly.
With UN Secretary General Kofi Annan seated at her right, President Arroyo, the first Philippine president, the first woman head of state and the first Asian leader to preside over a UN Security Council Summit, banged the gavel to mark the start of the session.
She immediately set to order the agenda of the session -- to vote on two vital draft resolutions. The first, presented by the United Kingdom, seeks to urge all nations to ban incitement to terrorists action.
The second, presented jointly by Algeria, Benin and Tanzania, seeks to prevent conflict in Africa and elsewhere.
Shortly after she called for separate voting on the two measures, President Arroyo, as UNSC presiding officer, announced that all of the 15 member states of the Security Council unanimously approved the resolutions.
In her introductory message, the President expressed deep sympathies and concerns to the American people led by President George Bush, for the loss of lives and damage to properties inflicted by Hurricane Katrina.
She expressed confidence the US could overcome this “natural disaster” even as she noted that man-made disasters like terrorism and armed conflicts continue too elude comprehensive solution.
“The UN was born because of conflict and it is also its job to continue to prevent conflict. Although its charter did not foresee the threat of terror in its form today, it is adequate to provide the Security Council appropriate means to meet this challenge,” the President noted.
The UNSC has five permanent members and 10 non-permanent members. The five permanent members are China, France, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Its incumbent 10 elected non-permanent members are Algeria, Benin, Brazil, the Philippines, Romania, the United Republic of Tanzania, the Hellenic State, Argentine Republic, Denmark and Vietnam.
The 15 member states unanimously agreed that terrorism and conflict in Africa and elsewhere should be resolved through deeper cooperation among UN member states. They were also unanimous in the position that the UNSC, as the headquarters of the anti-terrorist drive, must be strengthened further by expanding its membership.
They likewise all reaffirmed their full support and commitment to the fight against terrorism and the peaceful resolution of conflict to achieve development and reduce poverty worldwide.
The UNSC stressed that preventing terrorism and conflict is better than fighting these problems and that peace is better preserved by the active participation in it by all nations.
“Collective action is needed to maintain peace and prevent war,” China President Hu Jintao pointed out.
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NEW YORK --- In a month or two, the Philippine Congress will start its inquiry into policies governing fund disbursements of the country’s embassies and consular offices abroad.
The inquiry will use as a specific case -- the reported $10,000 monthly expense paying Consul General Cecilia Rebong’s posh apartment here in New York.
Robert Roy, Executive Director of the Philippine Forum, said Gabriela Party List Representative Liza Masa has already agreed to initiate the probe in the Lower House.
He said the probe will focus on how the budgetary orientation of the Department of Foreign Affairs can realistically reflect the prevailing austerity efforts of government as it tries to reigns in the country’s ballooning budgetary deficit.
The Bayan Muna party list has also agreed to take on the issue as its primary concern following the House’s decision to throw out the impeachment charges filed against President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
Roy said even Migrante, which does not have a congressional representative, will do whatever it can in its capacity to push for a no-nonsense probe.
Roy added that the Philippine Forum and the New York Committee on Human Rights have asked congressmen to conduct an inquiry on the apartment of Philippine Consul General to New York Cecilia Rebong, which rents for US$10,000 a month.
Rebong has been staying in the two-room apartment in Manhattan’s Trump Tower since July this year. Its lease contract ends early next year.
The two-bedroom apartment is located near the United Nations headquarters in Manhattan.
In a news conference, Rebong admitted that the government was indeed paying the amount for her apartment rental, but said it had the approval of the Department of Foreign Affairs.
The consul general has been insisting that she was well within the budgetary parameters set by the DFA although she would have wanted a place that pays less rent.
She said her office has been searching for alternatives, but so far it found none.
She, however, promised to transfer to a building owned by the DFA along 66th Street once revonation work is finished.
Sources said the renovation may still take two years at the most.
Roy said the country, which is reeling from dire economic hardship, could not afford to spend that much. “Its just plain and simple lavish.”
“We condemn her lavish spending of the Filipino people’s money in the light of the hardships the Filipinos are experiencing now,” said Roy.
He said they expect taxes and other fees they pay to the government to be used to give better service to migrant workers, not for profligate spending of government officials.
He said for her to say she was not violating any DFA disbursement procedures is not an excuse.
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NEW YORK --- Hundreds of Filipino Americans gathered in a chapel in downtown Manhattan to enshrine the statue of San Lorenzo Ruiz, with Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo herself gracing the occasion.
“It’s a great honor to be here to dedicate the church to San Lorenzo, which in turn is dedicated overseas Filipino workers,” said Ms. Arroyo.
With over eight million Filipinos abroad, over 3.5 million of them in the US, Ms. Arroyo urged Filipinos in America to increase their remittances to keep the Philippine economy afloat.
Ms. Arroyo led the prayer to San Lorenzo Ruiz and asked the first and only Filipino saint to be the country’s protector and to take care of Filipinos living in the US and abroad.
“San Lorenzo is an example of Christian fortitude. May he sustain our faith and make it spread and grow strong all around us,” Ms. Arroyo said. “May we have one Philippines under San Lorenzo,” she added.
Fr. Erno Diaz, director of the San Lorenzo Ruiz Church, said the Filipino Apostolate of the Archdiocese of New York was grateful to Edward Cardinal Egan, archbishop of New York, for designating the chapel for Filipinos.
“This is dream fulfilled for many of his devotees in this part of the world. It will stand as a beautiful symbol of the devout faith of the Filipinos in New York and in the US.”
The church is located at 378 Broome St., between Mulberry and Mott Streets in Little Italy, downtown Manhattan. San Lorenzo’s feast day is celebrated on the last week of September. During a ceremony yesterday, the golden statue of San Lorenzo was unveiled at the church.
San Lorenzo was a Filipino-Chinese, a priest acolyte who was falsely accused of crimes in Manila. His life was in danger and decided to join the Spanish missionaries in Japan to propagate Christian faith in Asia.
In Japan, he was tortured, beaten and hanged to death by Japanese who persecuted Christians. But he remained strong and never gave up his faith up to his last hour.
People who were touched by his miracles, claimed they had been cured from cancer by praying to him. He was beatified as saint by the late Pope John Paul ll in Rome in 1997.
For many Filipinos here, San Lorenzo is a guiding star to help them grow spiritually.
“Finally, we have our own church. We have a place we can call our own and devotees can come to honor San Lorenzo,” said Alma Cruz, a member of the Couples for Christ in Staten Island.
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MANILA --- The US Attorney’s Office has filed charges of conspiracy against former Philippine National Police Senior Superintendent Michael Ray Aquino and a Filipino American an FBI intelligence analyst for allegedly stealing and passing classified information about the Philippine government.
The Fox News Channel website reported that Leandro Aragoncillo leaked more than 100 Federal Bureau of Investigation documents, dozens of which contained secret information about Filipino leaders to Aquino, a former top-ranking official of the defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force.
Assistant US Attorney Karl Buch said Aragoncillo “essentially admitted that he took classified information,” after his arrest. FBI officials said Aquino passed the documents to several former and current Philippine government officials. They declined to give details.
The lawyer for Aquino, Felix Vinluan, meanwhile, clarified that the former high-ranking police official was not the principal but merely a co-conspirator in the case.
Aquino was a long-time aide of opposition senator and former chief of the Philippine police Panfilo Lacson.
Arragoncillo was held without bail following an appearance before the US Magistrate Patty Shwar. The FBI suspended Aragoncillo on September 12.
Philippine-born Aragoncillo, 46, a naturalized US citizen, was arrested by agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation at his home in Woodbury, New Jersey, on September 11.
FBI officials took Aquino, 39, into custody also on Saturday. Aquino lives in Queens in New York City.
Federal prosecutors said Aragoncillo started printing and downloading secret information from the bureau since January this year. Aragoncillo was hired to work at Fort Monmouth in July 2004. The base is an Army facility in South New Jersey.
Investigators found that from May to August of this year, Aragoncillo was able to print or download 101 documents.
US Attorney Christopher Christie said there was no evidence yet to prove that the Philippine government or the opposition was involved in the conspiracy. Investigators learned, however, that Aragoncillo may have been exchanging the information for money since he had $500,000 in debts.
FBI’s probe on the conspiracy began after immigration department authorities arrested Aquino in March because of overstaying on a tourist visa used to enter the US in July 2001.
After Aquino’s arrest, the FBI learned that Aragoncillo inquired about the former police official. This prompted a bureau review of Aragoncillo’s work at Monmouth.
Aside from charges of conspiracy, Aquino faces charges of acting as unregistered foreign agent which carries a sentence of up to 10 years and a $250,000 fine. Aragoncillo was also charged with unauthorized use of government computers carrying a sentence of up to 10 years and a $250,000 fine.
Philippine Consul General Cecilia Rebong, on the other hand, said that Aquino will receive full assistance from the consulate. She said the they will treat Aquino’s arrest like any ordinary case handled by consular officials.
Rebong heads the Philippine consulate in New York which has jurisdiction over New Jersey. (MNS)
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