PGMA's Speech during the Unveiling of the Marker and Inauguration of the Bugallon Bridge

Bugallon, Pangasinan (April 21, 2001)

THANK YOU VERY MUCH. MARAMING SALAMAT SECRETARY DATUMANONG. MAYOR JOSE, TANSANSARAY MAYORS, DIYAD FIRST TAN SECOND DISTRICT IN PANGASINAN; GOVERNOR VICTOR AGBAYANI; TANSARAY OPISYALES ED PROVINCIAD PANGASINAN, CONGRESSMAN TEDDY CRUZ, VICE GOVERNOR LAMBINO. Y CABINET MEMBERS, I WILL NOT MENTION ALL OF THEM BECAUSE I'D RATHER MENTION THE SENATORIAL CANDIDATES LATER EXCEPT THAT I WILL MENTION THE CABINET MEMBER FROM PANGASINAN, SECRETARY NANNY BRAGANZA, AND TO LET YOU KNOW THAT WE HAVE STILL ANOTHER CABINET MEMBER FROM PANGASINAN WHO IS NOT HERE WITH US TODAY SECRETARY LEONY MONTEMAYOR. EVEN THE LIFE OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINES IS IN THE HANDS OF SONS OF PANGASINAN BECAUSE MY SENIOR MILITARY ASSISTANT IS THE SON OF ALAMINOS AND MABINI, GENERAL BOYSI BRAGANZA, AND THE COMMANDING GENERAL OF THE PRESIDENTIAL SECURITY GROUP IS FROM SAN NICOLAS, PANGASINAN AND THAT IS GENERAL GLENN ROBONZA. MY LIFE IS IN THE HANDS OF PEOPLE OF PANGASINAN BECAUSE SIYAK ED PANGASINAN. A PLEASANT GOOD AFTERNOON TO ALL OF YOU. MAGANDANG HAPON SA INYONG LAHAT. IT IS MY PLEASURE TO BE WITH YOU TODAY TO UNVEIL THE MARKER AND FORMALLY OPEN THE BUGALLON BRIDGE, THE COMPLETION OF WHICH IS PART OF, AS MENTIONED EARLIER, THE FIRST PHASE OF THE P1.1 BILLION AGNO AND ALLIED RIVERS URGENT REHABILITATION PROJECT FUNDED BY THE JAPAN BANK FOR INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION. AND THAT IS WHY WE'D ALSO LIKE TO ACKNOWLEDGE CHARGES D'AFFAIRES OF THE JAPANESE EMBASSY, HONORABLE YOSHI SADAUKA. AND I WISH TO ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THE JAPANESE GOVERNMENT HAS CONSISTENTLY BEEN AN IMPORTANT PARTNER IN HELPING US MEET THE COUNTRY'S FINANCIAL AND TECHNICAL NEEDS. THIS OCCASION TODAY IS FURTHER PROOF OF THIS BENEVOLENT AND SINCERE DESIRE TO HELP OUR PEOPLE. IN BEHALF OF THE PHILIPPINE GOVERNMENT, I THEREFORE EXTEND OUR SINCEREST GRATITUDE TO THE JBIC, THE FUNDING AGENCY OF JAPAN -- AND THE REPRESENTATIVE OF JBIC IS HERE TODAY, MR. SEICHI KITASAWA -- AND THE JAPANESE GOVERNMENT FOR THEIR CONTINUED AND VALUABLE ASSISTANCE TO THE FILIPINO PEOPLE. THIS BRIDGE IS A TESTAMENT TO THE SPIRIT OF COOPERATION BETWEEN OUR TWO COUNTRIES AND, IN THIS SENSE, THIS NEW BRIDGE IS MORE THAN A TRANSPORTATION LINK. YOU COULD SAY THAT THE CONSTRUCTION OF THIS BRIDGE ALSO GIVES US THE OCCASION TO BUILD MANY SMALLER BRIDGES OF COOPERATION ALONG THE WAY, AND, FOR THIS REASON, I SEE OUR CEREMONIES TODAY AS A CELEBRATION OF WHAT PEOPLE CAN ACHIEVE BY WORKING TOGETHER. ED SICAYON KABALEYAN CO DIAD PANGASINAN, LIM-MAAC DIA NATAN ANDI LABAT YA MANLUCAS ED SAYA'Y BALON TAYTAY NA BUGALLON AG INGEN TA PERSONAL YA MISALAMAT TAC ED SICAYON AMIN ED PATULOY NIYON PANSUPORTA ED ADMINISTRASYON CO. AND SPEAKING OF THOSE WHO SUPPORT OUR ADMINISTRATION SO OUTSTANDINGLY, MAY I ALSO THANK FORMER SPEAKER JO DE VENECIA FOR THAT SUPPORT, AND FORMER PRESIDENT FIDEL RAMOS, THE FIRST SON OF PANGASINAN TO BECOME PRESIDENT REPRESENTED HERE BY HIS DAUGHTER CRISTY RAMOS. TINAWAG TA CAYON CABALEYAN CO TA SI INAC ET TAGA-BINALONAN TAN SI LOLAC ED TAGA-SAN CARLOS CITY KUMON AYAN TAYTAY ET MANSILBING SIMBOLO NA PANTUTULUNGAN TAYO TAN ALIGUAS NA BILAY. ANTAC YA IMPORTANTE YAN TAYTAY PIANO MAGANON NAAWIT SO PRODUKTO NIYO MANLAPPUD BARRIO UNLAD BALEY. THE COMPLETION OF THE BUGALLON BRIDGE WILL NOT ONLY ENHANCE THE MOBILITY AND PRODUCTIVITY OF RURAL FOLKS, IT WILL ALSO FACILITATE THE FLOW OF GOODS AND SERVICES AND, SUBSEQUENTLY, MAXIMIZE AND EVEN CREATE NEW BUSINESSES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR OUR PEOPLE. TOGETHER WITH THE OTHER FLOOD CONTROL COMPONENTS, THE PROJECT WILL ALSO GREATLY REDUCE THE PROBABLE DAMAGE WITHIN THE AREA INSIDE THE FLOOD PLAIN BETWEEN THE PARALLEL DIKES AND DOWNSTREAM AREAS IN MORE THAN 14 BARANGAYS MENTIONED BY SECRETARY DATUMANONG WITHIN THE TOWNS OF BUGALLON AND LINGAYEN. THE OFFICIAL OPENING OF THIS BRIDGE THEREFORE SYMBOLIZES OUR COMMON EFFORT TO BUILD OUR LOCAL AND NATIONAL ECONOMIES AS PARTNERS, BENEFITING FROM EACH OTHER'S RESOURCES. IT ENHANCES OUR COMMON FIGHT AGAINST POVERTY BECAUSE ONE OF THE CONCRETE STEPS TOWARDS POVERTY ALLEVIATION IS THE AGGRESSIVE IMPLEMENTATION OF INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS LIKE ROADS AND BRIDGES, ESPECIALLY IN THE PROVINCES. AND I WOULD LIKE TO SAY APO PADI WHO GIVE OUR OPENING PRAYERS HE ASKS US TO CONTINUE THIS PROJECT AND WE WILL DO SO AS LONG AS WE'RE ABLE TO COVER THE BUDGET DEFICIT THAT WE HAVE INHERITED FROM THE PREVIOUS ADMINISTRATION. HE ASKED US TO GIVE GOOD OFFICIALS FOR OUR COUNTRY AND I TELL YOU MY CABALEYANS HERE IN BUGALLON FOR US TO HAVE GOOD OFFICIALS IN OUR COUNTRY VOTE FOR THE PEOPLE POWER CHAMPION IN THE SENATE -- V-O-T-F-O-R-D-C-H-A-M-M-P. AND SO THAT YOU WILL REMEMBER, BALBALEG YE SALAMAT YOU GLORIA AND 13-0 YOU TRUST ME TRUST ME, TRUST MY SENATORIAL CANDIDATES. SA V ED VILLAR, LET US WELCOME MANNY VILLAR AND VOTE FOR HIM FOR SENATOR. O IS FOR OBET. EARLIER, OBET, DOON SA SAN CARLOS CITY PAGKATAPOS NIYONG UMALIS DOON SA MULTISECTORAL MEETING 'YUNG MGA COOPERATIVES MARAMING HINIHINGING KINAKAILANGAN NA PALITAN 'YUNG BATAS TUNGKOL SA KOOPERATIBA ANG AKING SAGOT SA KANILA KUNG ANONG REFORMANG GUSTO NIYO SA KOOPERATIBA TULUNGAN NATIN 'YUNG ATING KAMPIYON NG KOOPERATIBA SI OBET PAGDANGANAN. T IS FOR TAÑADA, SI TAÑADA ANG GAPON NATAN BECAUSE HE IS IN MINDANAO BUT, WE WANT TO VOTE FOR TAÑADA FOR SENATOR BECAUSE EVEN IF WE ARE A GLOBAL ECONOMY -- AND WE HAVE FRIENDS LIKE JAPAN -- WE STILL NEED TO PROTECT THE RIGHTS OF OUR OWN PEOPLE, WE STILL NEED TO REMEMBER THE PRINCIPLES OF NATIONALISM AND THAT IS WHY WE MUST VOTE FOR TAÑADA FOR SENATOR. OUR F IS FLAVIER. HE IS NOT HERE BECAUSE HE HAD TO BE THE ADVANCE PARTY TO OUR NEXT APPOINTMENT IN DAGUPAN BECAUSE EVEN OUR HOST SPEAKER DE VENECIA IS STILL HERE WITH US BUT YOU ALL KNOW, FLAVIER BECAUSE IN THE LAST ELECTIONS ED ELECSYON 1995 PARA SENADOR SO NUMBER ONE ED PANGASINAN ET GLORIA MACAPAGAL-ARROYO SO NUMBER TWO ET JUAN FLAVIER. AND O AGAIN, IS FOR OSMEÑA AND HE IS NOT HERE WITH US TODAY BECAUSE HE IS ALSO IN THE SOUTH. BUT HERE IN PANGASINAN MANY OF US ARE CONCERNED ABOUT BIG PROJECTS LIKE THE SAN ROQUE DAM THAT WE MAY FORGET TO TAKE CARE OF THE WELFARE OF THOSE WHO MIGHT BE DISPLACED -- AND OSMEÑA IS THE CHAMPION OF THE LITTLE PEOPLE WHO WERE AFFECTED BY BIG DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS. THAT IS WHY WE MUST VOTE SERGE OSMEÑA FOR SENATOR. AH AYUN PALA EH, OK OSMEÑA PROXY. SO R ET ... HA? RECTO. SA D, ANGGAPO NI D, NI DRILON. DRILON IS OUR FORMER SENATE PRESIDENT BUT HE SACRIFICED HIS POSITION IN ORDER TO FIGHT FOR JUSTICE AND GOOD GOVERNANCE. LET US RETURN DRILON TO THE SENATE. SA C, ET CHATO, THE CHAMPION OF THE WOMEN BUT HER ... SHE IS NOT HERE TODAY BECAUSE SHE IS ALSO IN THE SOUTH ATTENDING TO OTHER PROCLAMATION RALLIES. BUT THE WOMEN, TO THE WOMEN OF PANGASINAN, I ASK YOU TO BE THE CAMPAIGN MANAGERS FOR CHATO FOR THE SENATE. SO H, ET HERRERA. OH, VERY GOOD. SI HERRERA ET CHAMPION ED WORKING CLASS; CHAMPION ED PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES, THE DISABLED; CHAMPION AGAINST DRUG MENACE, CHAMPION AGAINST THE DRUG TRADE IN THE PHILIPPINES. AND SO IF WE WANT TO PROTECT OUR WORKERS, IF WE WANT TO PROTECT OUR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES, AND IF WE WANT TO PROTECT OUR YOUTH AGAINST THE MENACE OF THE DRUG PUSHERS LET US VOTE FOR BOY HERRERA FOR SENATOR. SO A, POPULAR NA POPULAR, ARROYO. UNTAN MET. SO M, MAGSAYSAY -- POPULAR MET BECAUSE LIKE ME, LIKE CRISTY RAMOS, IS THE SON OF A FORMER PRESIDENT, A WORTHY SON OF A FORMER PRESIDENT JUN MAGSAYSAY FOR SENATOR. ISA PANG M, MARENG WINNIE MONSOD -- BABAE MET, EKONOMISTA. ETO HINDI BABAE PERO ANAK NI WINNIE MONSOD. AND FINALLY SA P, OKAY, PANGILINAN. TANSARAY CABALEYAN. PINAGPABLIGIRAN TAN AGAGI DIAD BUGALLON TAN PANGASINAN. THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR BEING WITH US TODAY. AND DO NOT FORGET VOT FOR D CHAMMP. BRING THE PEOPLE POWER COALITION TO THE SENATE. BALBALEG YA SALAMAT SICAYON AMIN.

World Trade Center - New York City
9-11 Terrorist Attacks

Suicide aircraft attacks on The World Trade Center and the Pentagon left untold numbers injured or dead and threw the cities into chaos on September 11, 2001. It began at the height of a morning rush hour in the nation's largest city. A plane, reportedly a hijacked American Airlines jet, slammed into one tower of the 110-story World Trade Center. As smoke and flames poured out of the building and rescue workers battled to save victims, a second plane hit the second tower. The two towers soon collapsed. Huge clouds of smoke hung over Manhattan. The nearby Wall Street financial markets were shut down. A short time later, another plane struck the Pentagon, touching off a massive explosion and fire, and tearing a hole in one side of the historic building.

President Bush vowed 'terrorism will not stand' and immediately broke off a visit to Florida to return to Washington. Police and military forces all around the country are on alert. Special anti-terrorist units were mobilized in many cities. The United Nations and the Sears Tower in Chicago were also evacuated.

The Trade Center was the target of another terrorist strike eight years ago, a car bomb that damaged the building and caused casualties but did not bring either of the towers down. The attack on the World Trade Center Tuesday was not the first on the 110-story twin towers. In February 1993, a truck bomb exploded there, killing six people, and displacing business in the complex for six months. Six Islamic militants were convicted in the bombing, and sentenced to life in prison. The attack was meant to pressure the United States to stay out of the Middle East and curb its support of Israel.

Until Tuesday's attack, the most serious case of terrorism in the United States occurred in April of 1995, when a truck bomb exploded at a federal government office building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people. Timothy McVeigh was convicted of federal murder charges and executed in June. In a more recent terrorist incident, the US-S Cole was refueling in Yemen's port of Aden in October of last year when a small boat pulled alongside it and detonated explosives, killing 17 US servicemen. US authorities suspect Saudi exile Osama bin Laden was responsible for the incident.

In August of 1998, bombings at the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania killed 224 people. Osama bin Laden is again blamed. In one of the worst cases of terrorism in the air, 270 people were killed when Pan Am 103 (a Boeing 747) exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, on a flight from London to New York in December 1988.

In Saudi Arabia in June 1996, an attack on the US military complex at Khobar Towers killed 19 Americans. Members of a Saudi militant group were indicted for the attack. Seven months earlier, a car bomb detonated at a US military headquarters in Riyadh, killing five American service personnel.

In June 1985, Shiite Muslim gunmen seized a TWA passenger jet, forcing it to Beirut. They demanded the release of 700 Arabs held by Israel. A US navy diver was killed and 39 Americans were held until their release a month later after Syrian mediation. In October of that year, a disabled American Jewish man, Leon Klinghoffer, was killed by Palestinian militants were had seized the Italian cruise liner Achille Lauro. One year earlier, in September 1984, a car bomb at US embassy annex in east Beirut, killed 16 and injured the ambassador. In December 1983, Shiite extremists set off car bombs in front of the US and French embassies in Kuwait City, killing five people and wounding 86. In October of that year, Shiite suicide bombers blew up the French military headquarters and a US marine barracks in Beirut, killing 241 marines and 58 French paratroopers. In April 1983, suicide bombers blew up the US embassy in Beirut, killing 17 Americans.

Located in downtown Manhattan, the World Trade Center is on a 16 acre site, stretching from Church Street on the east to West Street on the west, and Vesey and Barclay streets in the north to Liberty Street on the south. Owned and operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, a self-supporting agency of the two states, the Center was developed and constructed by the Port Authority to serve as a headquarters for international trade within the bi-state port area. The World Trade Center's North Tower first opened to tenants in December 1970 and the South Tower recieved its first tenant in 1972. By 1992 the Port Authority had invested roughly $1.2 billion into the World Trade Center.

The decision to build the World Trade Center was made in 1961, with the unveiling of the building plans in 1964, the commencement of site excavation in 1966, and the steel construction phase beginning in 1968.

In all the World Trade Center included some seven buildings: One and Two World Trade Center consisted of two 110-story office towers, Seven World Trade Center was a 47-story office building, Four and Five World Trade Center are 9-story office buildings, Six World Trade Center is an 8-story U.S. Custom House, and Three World Trade Center was a 22-story hotel were all constructed around a central five-acre landscaped Plaza. All seven buildings have entrances onto the Plaza as well as onto surrounding city streets. The Mall at the World Trade Center, located immediately below the Plaza was the largest enclosed shopping mall in lower Manhattan, as well as the main interior pedestrian circulation level for the complex, stations for three of New York's subway systems (IRT, IND, BMT) were located below the tower in the Mall.

The two office towers, each rising 1,350 feet, were the tallest buildings in New York City and the 5th and 6th tallest in the world. The Center contained approximately 12 million square feet of office space, including the two million square feet of office space in Seven World Trade Center. In the two tower buildings, each floor was approximately one acre in size, and each tower contained 4.8 million gross square feet of floor area.

Some 50,000 people worked in the World Trade Center. Another 150,000 to 200,000 business and leisure visitors came to the center daily.

More than 200,000 tons of steel were used in the World Trade Center's construction. Construction of the Trade Center used 425,000 cubic yards of concrete. There were 43,600 windows in the two Tower buildings -- over 600,000 square feet of glass. There were 99 elevators, including 23 express elevators in each Tower building. There were five levels below ground including parking for almost 2000 cars.

The existence of "sky lobbies" at the 44 and 78 floors in each Tower thus made each tower essentially three buildings, one on top of another, no regular passenger elevator ran all the way to the top.

PHILIPPINE president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

Curriculum

I. FAMILY

a. Date and Place of Birth: April 5, 1947; San Juan
b. Parents:
Father: Diosdado Pangan Macapagal
9th President of the Republic of the Philippines
Born, September 28, 1910; Died, April 21, '97
Mother: Dr. Evangelina Macaraeg-Macapagal
Born, Nov. 1, 1915; Died, May 16, 1999
c. Husband:
Atty. Jose Miguel Tuason Arroyo
(Ateneo School of Law 1972)
Born, June 27, 1946
Married on August 2, 1968
d. Children:
Juan Miguel
Born, April 26, 1969
Graduate Diploma in Business Administration, University of California at Berkeley
Evangelina Lourdes
Born, June 5, 1971
MS in Foreign Service, Georgetown University
Diosdado Ignacio Jose Maria
Born, September 4, 1974
BS in Legal Management, Ateneo de Naga

II. EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND:
Primary
Assumption Convent High School; 1954-1960
Secondary
Assumption Convent HS; 1960-1964; Valedictorian
Tertiary
Georgetown University, 1964-66,
AB Economics; Dean’s Lister
Assumption College, 1968, AB Economics Magna cum Laude
Post Graduate
Ateneo de Manila University, 1978,
MA Economics
UP School of Economics, 1985,
Ph.D. in Economics

III. CONCISE PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND:

Assistant Professor, Ateneo de Manila University; 1977-87
Chair, Economics Dept, Assumption College; 1984-87
Professor, UP School of Economics; 1977-87
Professor, Mary Knoll College
Professor, St. Scholastica’s College
Assistant Secretary, Department of Trade and Industry; 1987-89
Executive Director, Garments and Textile Export Board; 1988-90
Undersecretary, Department of Trade and Industry; 1989-92
Senator, 1992-1998
Secretary, Department of Social Welfare and Development, July 1998-October 2000
Vice President, July 1998-January 20, 2001
President, January 20, 2001-present
Other positions held:
Chairman and President, UP Health Maintenance Organization (1989-1998)
Executive Director, Philippine Center for Economic Development (1994-1998)
Chairman, UP Economic Foundation (1994-1998)
Member, Presidential Task Force on Tax and Tariff Reforms (1994-1998)
Member, Technical Working Group of the Philippine National Development Plan for the 21st Century (Committee on National Framework for Regional Development and Macroeconomics Framework for Development Financing)

IV. MEMBERSHIP IN ORGANIZATIONS (Past & Present):

Association for Philippines-China Understanding (APCU)
Philippine Economics Society
Georgetown Club of the Philippines
Concerned Women of the Philippines

V. Elective Positions Held in Specific Years:

Senator, 1992-1998
Vice President, July 1998-January 20, 2001

VI. Awards / Commendations / Citations:

Magazine, Public Eye Magazine, Trade Union Congress of the Philippines, and by Emil Jurado (Manila Standard Columnist)
Woman of the Year, Catholic Education Association of the Philippines
Ulirang Ina, Ulirang Ina Awards Committee, 13 May 2001
One of Asia’s Most Powerful Women, Asiaweek
Making a Difference for Women – Women of Distinction Award, Soroptimist International of the Philippines Region, 30 May 2003
Most Distinguished Alumna, University of the Philippines Alumni Association (UPAA), 16 June 2001

VII. Others:

Doctor of Laws degree, honoris causa, Waseda University, Japan, May 2002
Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws, Fordham University, 21 May 2003
Honorary Community College Associate Degree in International Relations, Honoris Causa, City College of San Francisco, August 2003
Doctorate Degree in Economics, honoris causa, Tsinghua University, 30 October 2001
Degree of Doctor of Humanities (honoris causa), Mapua Institute of Technology, 29 January 2004
Doctor of Laws (honoris causa), La Trobe University, 2000
Honorary Degree of Doctor of Law, honoris causa, Old Dominion University, April 2003
Recipient of the Rockefeller Foundation Scholarship (1978-1983)
Recipient of the Japan Foundation Grant (1976-1977)
Recipient of the UPSE Fellowship (1970-1971)