ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / September 18, 2008) – President Gloria Arroyo on Thursday handed over tens of millions of pesos in various infrastructure and development projects in the southern Philippine province of Zamboanga del Sur.
Arroyo was in the province as guest of honor on its 56th founding anniversary held in Pagadian City, the regional capital of Western Mindanao. “My anniversary wish is for everybody to be united in the spirit of the Megayon (festival) because if there is no unity, there will be no progress,” Arroyo, who spoke in the local dialect, told a huge crowd that gathered to welcome her.
The Megayon Festival is the grandest festival in the province which celebrates the cultural tradition of the ethnic Subanen tribe.
Arroyo distributed checks worth millions to Zamboanga del Sur Governor Aurora Cerilles for government projects in the province, including land certificates to more than 300 farmers in 24 towns under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program and funds for various livelihood cooperatives.
Arroyo was in the province as guest of honor on its 56th founding anniversary held in Pagadian City, the regional capital of Western Mindanao. “My anniversary wish is for everybody to be united in the spirit of the Megayon (festival) because if there is no unity, there will be no progress,” Arroyo, who spoke in the local dialect, told a huge crowd that gathered to welcome her.
The Megayon Festival is the grandest festival in the province which celebrates the cultural tradition of the ethnic Subanen tribe.
Arroyo distributed checks worth millions to Zamboanga del Sur Governor Aurora Cerilles for government projects in the province, including land certificates to more than 300 farmers in 24 towns under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program and funds for various livelihood cooperatives.
She also inaugurated many infrastructures projects that also included farm-to-market roads worth over P20 millions and farm implements and market and day-care centers.
Arroyo also set aside P 1 million in scholarship fund for poor, but deserving students in Zamboanga del Sur and another P 1 million in medicine fund for the elders, who do not have retirement pensions.
But while Arroyo was promoting government welfare in the province, former President Joseph Estrada, whom she deposed in 2001 in a people-backed revolution, was also busy visiting places in nearby province of Zamboanga Sibugay, where his supporters were campaigning for his possible return to the presidency.
Estrada was pardoned by Arroyo after he was convicted and jailed for plunder. His followers were gathering signatures that would push for Estrada to run again in 2010 if opposition parties fail to unite and support one common presidential candidate.
Estrada, accompanied by former foe-turned-political ally Senator Loren Legarda, was in Zamboanga City on Wednesday and Thursday where he attended a social gathering and met with his supporters here. (Mindanao Examiner)
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