PGMA assures Filipinos in Spain everything is calm

MADRID, December 3 (via PLDT) -– President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo told the Filipino community here Sunday night that the quick, forceful but peaceful resolution of last Thursday’s coup attempt in the Philippines demonstrated to the world that the country’s democratic institutions are safe, secure and stable.

“Everything is calm back home,” she said, adding that those behind the “extreme madness” that was the short-lived siege of the Manila Peninsula Hotel in Makati City last week would be punished to the fullest extent of the law.

The new adventurism mounted by soldiers, who are under detention for their role in previous attempts to topple the government, was resolved expeditiously, forcefully but peacefully, she said.

The President thanked the Filipinos here for their continued support for the Philippines and her administration during an interaction at the La Salle Colegio Nuestra Senora de las Maravillas, her first major engagement in Spain.

More than 1,000 Filipinos from various parts of Spain showed up at the La Salle Colegio de las Maravillas to welcome the President, who is on a four- day state visit here. She noted that the group was much bigger than the one that she met here when she visited Spain last June.

“Thank you for your support,” the President said, referring to the manifesto of support that they presented to her. The manifesto was signed by officials of the various Filipino organizations all over Spain.

“Panatag na ang sitwasyon sa Pilipinas ngayon (Everything’s calm now in the Philippines),” she said.

Life is back to normal in the Philippines, the President added, and true to police commitment at the height of the Makati City disturbance, the 12 midnight to 5 a.m. curfew declared Thursday night in Metro Manila and a few other areas in the country was lifted immediately the following night.

The President assured her countrymen here that the “institutions are stable” and that “the rule of law prevailed.”

“I assure you that the transgressors will not hold our nation hostage with impunity,” and “justice shall be served to the extent of the law and the interest of the people preserved,” she said.

The President also paid tribute to the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), calling them today’s heroes of the country. They are hardworking, unlike others who make a lot of noise, she added.

“Yung mga agresibo, yun ang mga paparusahan…yung mga labis ang kabaliwan,” she said.

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