I would like to greet also Tony Lopez, MOPC vice president and I thank Tony for telling me the story of MOPC. I was surprised to hear that MOPC is the oldest press club in the country as Max said. And I said Tony, "Is that true, older than the National Press Club?" And Tony said, "Yes." Actually the National Press club is a daughter of the Manila Overseas Press Club. Tony said that the press club was founded during the time of General Mc Arthur by the reporters covering his beat. I think that is very appropriate to our subject matter tonight.

I would like to greet also Emil Jurado, vice president. And I would like to tell you that I think his observation is very well taken that PAGCOR should not be put in the supervision and control of the Department of Finance. See, I read columnists and I follow their advice when their advice is wise and sound and objective.

Past president Dong Puno, thank you for emceeing tonight and thank you for having me on previous nights of MOPC.

Officers and members of the Manila Overseas Press Club, I would like to greet some of our distinguished guests who are here. I see the name of Senator Fred Lim. And I would like to greet the members of the Diplomatic Corps. Thank you for being here.

When Max brought me in he said, "You know, Ricciardone is here." What a gesture of friendship, thank you very much for that gesture of friendship. And of course, the Cabinet members led by Executive Secretary Bert Romulo as well as the other officials of the Philippine government. And, to you the MOPC, thank you, for once again giving me this opportunity to speak with the overseas press corps. And as I said earlier, it is also an opportunity to acknowledge once again, Max not only Uncle Max but for his stature in Philippine policy making. And to let him know that not only do I appreciate his supporting my father when my father ran for President in 1961 but to let him know that in my private surveys after that "Impact" interview we had shortly before elections, my rating went up significantly. So, thank you Max for contributing to my victory in the last elections.

Tonight, being a night with overseas media and because with so many members of the Diplomatic Corps here tonight, I want to reiterate my foreign policy. I say reiterate because, Oh, Ambassador Adams knows this, way back in early 2001 when I first become President of the Philippines, I already said my foreign policy that, and I say it again, that my foreign policy consists in protecting the interest of the Philippines by responding to eight realities in the global and regional environment. The DFA has heard this two times but of course I have to repeat my foreign policy so it will be good for them to hear it the third time.

The first reality is that the United States, China and Japan, have a determining influence in the security situation and economic evolution of East Asia. The second reality is that more and more Philippine foreign policy decisions have to be made in the context of ASEAN. Third, the international Islamic community becomes more and more important to the Philippines. Fourth, the coming years will see the re-definition of multilateral and inter-regional organizations like WTO in promoting common interests. Fifth, the defense of the nation’s sovereignty and the protection of its environment and natural resources can be carried out to the extent while it gets others to respect its rights over maritime territory. Number six, the country’s economic growth will continue to require a lot of direct foreign investments. Number seven, a country as beautiful as the Philippines can benefit most quickly from international tourism. And, eight, our overseas Filipinos will continue to play a critical role in the country’s economic and social stability.

Tonight, I want to elaborate on an aspect of that foreign policy that is now hugging the front pages, our relationships with the United States. As I said, it is an issue of foreign policy that is frequently on the front pages these days.

For the region as a whole, the United States continues to be an important factor because of its dominant military and economic power. But for the Philippines the importance of the United States is much more than that. Our peoples have enduring historical, cultural and economic ties with America personified by the three million Filipinos who live in the United States. No President can break those bonds because they are held together by a permanent history. They are more than a century old bond tightened by common political tradition, by world wars fought together, by tens of thousands of brave soldiers who died in the battlefield of freedom. After 9/11, those bonds became more even stronger. I committed our nation to join the fight against global terrorism that erupted as a result of the 9/11 tragedy in the United States. And, I did so with the full support of the Filipino people knowing our people’s sense of outrage and sense of justice. The Filipino people supported me because the Philippines has felt the pain of terrorism in our country for too many years. And the people who are most often terrorized are the poorest among us.

Why then did I bring our Filipino troops back home from Iraq. I trust that our allies will come to understand that the Philippines is in a special circumstance unlike the U.S. or Australia or Bulgaria and other countries, eight millions Filipinos live and work abroad; 1.5 million Filipinos live and work in the Middle East; four thousand Filipinos are working in Iraq today. The special anguish of Flor Contemplacion for our countrymen and the fact that the Philippines gets one-tenth of its GNP from overseas workers, indeed, is one of the eight realities of our foreign policy. Many of these workers, in fact, are in the Middle East, so that resonates throughout our foreign policy. The Filipinos in Iraq are the largest contingent of private foreign workers. They are driving trucks, building bridges, providing medical treatment and other vital services to Iraqis in need rather working in a comfortable air-conditioned office indoors. The life and livelihood of these courageous OFWs is hazardous enough without the threat of being held as a pawn in some terrorists’ chess game. Truck drivers and construction workers are highly vulnerable to terrorists’ attacks. In contrasts, combat troops of other Coalition members are by definition, not as vulnerable. They are armed, they stay in camps. Our people, our OFWs, are vulnerable. I sought to reduce that vulnerability by authorizing the departure of our Philippine troops after the turnover of sovereignty to the Iraqi people last June 28th.

The abduction of Anegelo dela Cruz merely accelerated the timetable for the decision had been made before hand. I have taken responsibility, I have no apologies, and I stuck to my oath but let me emphasize that our people and our nation remain committed to our friends and allies abroad even us we remain true to our conviction here at home.

We enjoy a strong relationship with the Bush administration and we value its role in helping the Philippines. We share the same goal even if we will not always walk in the same path. There are others, perhaps, even more meaningful ways to strengthen our strategic relationships with the United States. We shall always work to keep the relationship firm in propelling the common commitment to fight terrorism, domestically, regionally, and worldwide.

My highest priority for our country is economic growth and job creation. That drives our foreign policy. And to achieve economic growth and job creation, we need to come to terms with the Mindanao problem. The importance of the Philippine fight against terrorism in Mindanao overshadows whatever the country could contribute to a Coalition of the Willing in Iraq itself. Anything distracting our Administration from getting its act together for the struggle for Mindanao needs to be put aside. And if our country is divided over the issue of Angelo dela Cruz, we will not be able to effectively address the Mindanao problem. I took that into consideration.

The four thousand private workers in Iraq are more valuable to Iraq than the 100 peacekeepers notwithstanding the fine work they have performed in Iraq. They are less valuable, 100 peacekeepers are less valuable than 4,000 civilian workers. On the other hand, there is that struggle for Mindanao, that is of the essence. It is one of the most important front in the war against terror. It is a substantive war, it is a substantive struggle, not a symbolic one. Even as I speak now, American troops are in joint training with our own troops in Carmen, North Cotabato. They are also conducting medical services among the poorest communities in Mindanao where the recruits of terrorism are breed. This partnership between the Philippines and the U.S. to share fighting skills and intelligence as well as humanitarian services has been going on for the past two years. Aid from the United States has also spurred livelihood for former rebels of the MNLF. Ambassador Ricciardone has been instrumental for all these endeavors. Thank you, Frank for your passion. I have been witness to that passion. Ambassador Ricciardone grabs the chance to go with me whenever I go to those difficult places in Mindanao. He was with me along with the other Muslim Ambassadors in Abu Bakr. And, because my car is right behind his car, I saw his car gets stuck in the mud in a raging storm, in a raging river with the boulders, big, big boulders threatening to come down anytime to crush his car into pieces. But thanks God, he was able to get out of that river on time. These gestures cement Philippine-American friendship and they push forward our common fight against terror. In the midst of all these, we are also sharing intelligence and operational information with our allies, in Indonesia and Malaysia to curtail the movements of the JI and the al-Qaeda cells in the Region. There is worldwide interest in the terrorists enclave suspected to be building up in South East Asia. We are not denying its potential but we are doing our share in destroying it and our gains are both far-reaching and deep. We have crippled the Abu Sayyaf, JI cells are falling one-by-one and not one man (incomprehensible) that we are able to get one or two of the operatives and capture their deadly explosives.

Yes, we are committed to the war against terrorism and is neither lip service or posturing. Filipino soldiers and Filipino civilians had given up their lives besides Americans in this fight. And this fight will last as long as our shared democratic traditions and love for freedom hold. This fight is true for the Philippines, it is true for the rest of the world.

Thank you.