PARIS: GMA AT UNESCO

PARIS (PLDT), September 30, 2003  (STAR) President Arroyo cited yesterday the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) for promoting a "holistic approach" to help developing countries like the Philippines wage the war on poverty by empowering the people in their fight against ignorance and economic exclusion.

The President said that by taking the lead in the global war against poverty and terrorism, the Unesco serves as an inspiration to the Philippines in its effort to use education, culture and science as tools to empower Filipinos.

"Unesco’s mandate, after all, renders it uniquely able to fight and win the war against poverty through education, science and culture," she said.

Mrs. Arroyo underscored this in her much-applauded, 20-minute speech at the 32nd general conference of Unesco at the world body’s headquarters here.

Ahmad Jalali, temporary president of the Unesco general conference, told those gathered at Unesco headquarters that they "learned much" from Mrs. Arroyo’s address.

"Thank you very much for your illuminating speech," Jalali told the President.

Mrs. Arroyo was accompanied to the Unesco gathering by her husband, First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo, their children and official delegation headed by Philippine representative to Unesco Preciosa Soliven and Ambassador to France Hector Villaroel.

In her speech, Mrs. Arroyo acknowledged Unesco as the only United Nations system that promotes a "holistic approach" to the eradication of poverty and ignorance in the same way the Philippine government has implemented these measures.

"Among the institutions at the UN system, Unesco embodies the holistic approach to development," she said.

"As the leader of a developing country faced with a challenge of winning the battle against poverty, I firmly believe that empowering individuals (is) the key to achieving these goals," Mrs. Arroyo said. "Education, culture and the sciences are indispensable tools for empowerment."

But the President said that while the world has made great progress in science and technology, progress remains elusive, particularly in developing countries like the Philippines.

"Conflicts are symptoms of this elusive progress and of the inequities around us," she said. "Without meaningful access to economic opportunities, people feel excluded. Exclusion breeds resentment, which, in turn, makes the excluded easy recruits for those who espouse violent means for their own selfish and radical agendas."

Mrs. Arroyo said the Philippine government has adopted a comprehensive approach to the battle against poverty with a market environment to create jobs, strong institutions of governance, social safety nets and agricultural modernization founded on social equity.

"Education is the key to all these components of our war against poverty."

"Resolving the digital divide in knowledge societies would require holistic plans and programs for our economy, human capacity, enterprise applications, content and infrastructure that can serve as catalysts to development," she said.

This is why the Philippines continues to pursue greater international cooperation in education through agencies like Unesco, she said.

"Unesco’s medium-term strategy addresses this issue and we are, therefore, in accord with Unesco’s goals and implementation programs," she said.

"Our government is pursuing greater access to education by closing the classroom gap and mainstreaming distance learning in our developing country with meager resources," she added.

Since the Philippines is a "multi-ethnic" society, the President said, the government is "mainstreaming" Islamic schools or "madrasah" into the formal education system.

Mrs. Arroyo also discussed the challenges of information and communication technology (ICT) in promoting education. "ICT is basically a private sector endeavor, so one of Unesco’s challenges is how to make the private sector provide access to ICT for the poor... so that they can have access also to their own graduation from poverty and then the quest for development and peace."

President Arroyo spoke at the Unesco on behalf of developing countries while Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi spoke on behalf of developed countries. Mrs. Arroyo and Ciampi met for a closed-door talk about her just-concluded one day state visit to the Vatican in Rome for a private audience with Pope John Paul II.

Meanwhile, the Unesco welcomed the United States back as a member of its system after a 19-year absence. US First Lady Laura Bush addressed the Unesco session yesterday.

Mrs. Bush told reporters traveling with her from Washington Sunday that rejoining the Unesco will help spread the word through an increasingly skeptical world that America shares UNESCO’s goals.

In February, Mrs. Bush signed on to be Unesco’s honorary ambassador for the UN Decade of Literacy, an effort that aims to help 860 million adults and 113 million children.

Formed in 1945 to promote international exchanges, Unesco helps modernize education systems, establish standards on and preserve cultural and natural treasures through its World Heritage List. — Marichu Villanueva, AP