Work, work and more work!

This was the directive that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo personally delivered to members of her Cabinet during the Cabinet Workshop Tuesday in Malacanang on the eve of her departure for a three-day state visit to China.

Press Secretary and concurrent Presidential Spokesman Ignacio R. Bunye today said the President told the Cabinet officials to stay focused on the 10-point development agenda and on how their respective departments could contribute their share to the success of the program.

The President has emphasized the need for teamwork in her selection of new members of her Cabinet.

Bunye said the Cabinet was divided into groups, including economic, security, political and in-house, each of which will tackle problems within their own sphere of responsibility.

While the whole Cabinet would meet only once every quarter, the working groups would be convened every week. The President also requires regular feedbacks on the output of the various working groups, including schedules of meetings, to enable her to keep tabs on the status of the work sheets of the working committees, Bunye said.

Bunye said that during the workshop, the Chief Executive asked individual members of her official family to come up with concrete plans on how they could contribute to the success of the 10-point program.

He added that the President exacted from the various Cabinet officials the assurance that they would deliver on their commitment to contribute their share to the success of the 10-point development program.

The main topic of the Cabinet Workshop was the proposed Medium Term Philippine Development Plan (MTPDP), an overall strategy to eradicate poverty and bolster the country’s economy.

The President explained that to create economic opportunity at home and abroad, it was imperative that "we put our economic house back in working order," Bunye said.

The Cabinet Workshop, the first since the President won a six-year mandate last May, was held to identify concrete measures to implement the 10-point development agenda of government.