Thank you very much Secretary Teves.

Other members of the cabinet; Governor Tetangco and the other officials of the Bangko Sentral; officers, members and guests of the FOCAP, the MOPC and the EJAP; members of the diplomatic corps; leaders and shakers of industry and business; members of academe; ladies and gentlemen.

Thank you all for coming. And thank you Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the foreign correspondents association of the Philippines, the Manila Overseas Press Club, and I understand, the Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines, thank you for putting together the audience for this briefing.

2007 was the best year for the Philippine economy in over 30 years. Economic growth was 7.3 percent, as we have seen and you all know; a million new jobs were created; unemployment is down, poverty is down; the stock market is up; the peso is at its highest level in many, many years. (applause)

Investment from abroad is pouring in. We have been cited by the Financial Times of London as the "offshore destination of the year" and by the International Data Corporation as the top global outsourcing destination after India.

Our billion-dollar investment club includes Texas Instruments with its new -- well, rising -- 1.6 billion-dollar wafer fabrication facility; two shipyards of Hanjin, one up and one coming up costing 3.7 billion-dollar total which makes us the fourth biggest shipbuilder in the world; Marubeni, Tokyo, AES have all invested billions of dollars in our power sector. And most recently, Mittal Global joined the ranks of Intel and Proctor and Gamble, to name but a few of our major investors.

2008 holds real promise for a different reason. Not only do we expect strong growth in the seven percent zone, but as a result of our total economic overhaul, as we have seen in the video, we are well-positioned to weather a global economic slowdown.

The real story for 2008 is that our macroeconomic fundamentals are stronger than ever due to tough choices on boosting revenues, cracking down on tax cheats, bringing reform to our revenue collection and modernizing our banking and financial sector. We have reformed our budget to be in balance ahead of the medium- term plan schedule of 2010.

Last year, our deficit was only P9.4 billion, the lowest in ten years and far below the ceiling of P63 billion. Revenues were up 16 percent from 2006. Seven years ago, no one thought we could do it, but we have. We are continuing the pace of progress that has made our economy so strong.

This maturity in our economy has brought a new confidence that forms the foundation of sustained economic growth moving forward. We are at a tipping point. And I’m confident that the Philippines will tip forward in pursuit of reaching the status of first world within a generation.

We should all be proud of what we have accomplished. I thank our economic managers. I thank the leaders of industry and most important, all the hardworking and dedicated Filipino workers leading this nation to a new beginning.

It is the people of this nation whom we serve, whom our government serves, and it is to the people that we owe our allegiance and dedication to advance this nation every single day. We have weathered a global transformation together as we fight to rise above the political noise in order to uplift the poor and dispossessed who deserve a rightful place at the table of economic opportunity and social justice.

The global economy is facing challenges. The slowing of the economy in North America and Europe, as we have seen also in the audio-visual presentation, is top of mind in our calculations to protect our economy. To that end, we have developed a program that includes: first, to ensure a surge in investments in people and infrastructure; second, to ensure that we continue to pursue anti-corruption initiatives and to cut red tape; and third, to blunt the global rise in energy by providing targeted relief to the poorest amongst us who suffer the most from the high price of global energy.

We take the ZTE issue very seriously. I moved quickly to cancel the project as soon as I could after proper consultation with the government of China, which after all is our largest export market. We want to fight corruption. The Ombudsman, who is constitutionally independent, has announced that she will carry out a review of this issue and the related allegations. And I have given clearance to the Secretary of Justice to investigate those implicated who are not within the jurisdiction of the Ombudsman. I cannot comment more on this until the reviews are complete except to say that I trust that the Ombudsman will investigate this issue thoroughly and I trust that she will ensure a transparent process in doing so. And I instruct the Secretary of Justice to be likewise thorough and transparent in his investigation.

And let me also note that these types of charges have regularly emerged even in previous administrations as part of our less than impressive political culture. I just hope that this set of charges will not be a political football.

We do not want to tolerate corruption. There is no room in the development of our country wasting money on corruption when so much remains to be done to invest in the nation. It is a sad fact that the Philippines has a legacy of political corruption. While that legacy will not be erased overnight, we have made tremendous strides. We have made anti-corruption one of the key areas of focus for reform in the remainder of our term.

Last year, we organized the Anti-red Tape Task Force headed by Trade and Industry Secretary Peter Favila, and many of you are helping him in that. We also organize a procurement transparency group headed by Budget Secretary Andaya. Last week, I reminded them to link up with the business sector, academe and the church to implement reforms in government systems. But as Andaya has reminded the public in a very beautiful interview a few days ago, as early as last year, he already had representatives of the Makati business and clergy -- Nonoy? -- in his procurement transparency group, so the reforms are underway.

The foundation of our economic renaissance is built on a vision for our nation that includes strong global engagement, tough economic reforms, and huge investments in people and infrastructure to move our nation forward. Our day in the sun will come if we redouble our efforts to achieve a moral transformation, social justice and economic equality.

The work of governance is difficult. The ability to change the status quo is an uphill fight every day as exemplified by the struggles we have to go through in our tax reforms. We battle to liberate every Filipino from poverty and invest in their health, education and welfare.

We will not rest until we leave office in 2010 from keeping this nation on the path of progress. We have come a long way, but we have a long way to go. Though poverty has gone down, both by objective measure and by self-rated poverty, there are still too many poor. Though hunger has gone down, there are still too many hungry. There are still too many left out of our political processes. And there are too many who cloak themselves in easy rhetoric and lazy charges who would put personal ambition ahead of national progress.

We call on our political leaders of all parties and preferences to look to our future. We call on them to ensure stability for the sake of the nation. Let us put aside partisan wrangling as candidates jockey for the presidency.

Let us focus on a common agenda of growth, hope and opportunity that lifts up rather than tears down our nation at this important time in our history.

The results of 2007 show the promise of what the Philippines can and should be. Let us work together to make sure we attain this promise uninterrupted.

We are confident and bullish on our economy, our people and our ability to join hands to move this nation forward. As the theme of this economic briefing succinctly puts it, “the Philippines is defying gravity, rising steadily.”

Thank you. (applause)