Gloria still pushing cha-cha,
unfazed by moves to derail it
BY CARLA GOMEZ

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo yesterday remained unfazed despite the opposition's campaign to derail Charter change as she urged local government officials to continue to join her in the push towards a shift to a parliamentary form of government.

So much can be done for the country but "the rough and tumble of partisan politics have strewn our path with obstacles," the President told about 1,500 participants of the national conference of the Vice Mayors League of the Philippines in Bacolod City.

"We can act to clear the way for fundamental change founded on the deep-seated aspirations of the people," she said.

'We need to
wipe out poverty'
BY NANETTE GUADALQUIVER

A member of the Charter Change Advocacy Commission said yesterday that the Philippines should do away with the restrictive economic provisions of the Constitution to attract much-needed foreign investments that will address joblessness and unstable incomes among the Filipinos.

We need Charter Change now to reform the economy in order to wipe out poverty by creating jobs and stable incomes, lawyer Romela Bengzon, who chairs the committee on economic liberalization, said.

Bengzon spoke before participants of the 16th National Convention of the Vice Mayors' League of the Philippines at the Bacolod Convention Plaza Hotel whom President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo also addressed earlier.

Arroyo backs Sipalay tourism,
lauds Bacolod for call centers
BY CARLA GOMEZ

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo yesterday stressed the need to develop Sipalay's beaches as major tourism destinations, lauded Bacolod for the opening of call centers, and emphasized the need to build a convention center to boost the local economy.

Arroyo, who was in Bacolod City as keynote speaker of the Vice Mayors League of the Philippines, said "there is indeed tourism potential in Negros Occidental."

She congratulated Negros Occidental and Sipalay City because, in the last convention of Women and Travel, the Sipalay beaches and other tourism attractions were named as the Philippines most outstanding "secret" tourism destinations.