Philippine president's agenda includes issues of concern to bishops

Published: 2007-07-26

QUEZON CITY, Philippines (CNS) -- The agenda President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo announced for the second half of her term includes issues that some Philippine bishops have targeted as concerns. In her State of the Nation address July 23, Arroyo told officials and guests that her administration will focus on fighting poverty and hunger and generating foreign investments. "It is my wish that the Philippines be among the ranks of developed nations in 20 years," Arroyo said. "By then," she added, "poverty shall have been marginalized and the (formerly) marginalized raised to a robust middle class." The president, whose term ends in 2010, said her administration will work to counter poverty and hunger through infrastructure and other projects focused in underdeveloped regions, such as Mindanao in the southern Philippines.

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