Quotes from Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

The Philippines was with the U.S. in the Second World War, in the Korean War, in the Vietnam War, and now in the war against terrorism.

The contracts for Iraqi rebuilding are commercial contracts. I think being in the coalition of the willing puts us in the radar screen, but we also have to compete with other countries that are in the coalition of the willing, but the Philippines is a country that has produced world-class skilled workers that we have seen all over the world.

I'm not worried. I'm in control.

Now I ask you to make your sacrifice. Take a gamble. I took the plunge and I'm glad of it.

The Philippines ranks among top off-shoring hubs in the world because of cost competitiveness and, more importantly, our highly trainable, English proficient, IT-enabled management and manpower.

The power of one, if fearless and focused, is formidable, but the power of many working together is better.

As a country in the path of typhoons and in the Pacific Rim of Fire, we must be prepared as the latest technology permits to anticipate natural calamities when that is possible, to extend immediate and effective relief when it is not.

Camiguin, Romblon and Camarines Norte got out of the list of poorest provinces in 2003. With tourism, these provinces can become rich.

On the economy, the U.S. cumulatively is our most important investor, most important trading partner, most important sort of tourists, and we have now a tie that will... a link that will be here for many, many years to come, and that is the big Philippine-American community in the United States - three million of them.

We may disagree among ourselves, but let us never lose sight of that greater battle for one people, one country, one Philippines.

We must promote solid traits such as work ethics, a dignified lifestyle, matching actions to rhetoric, performance rather than grandstanding.

In a global arena, what our businessmen need in order to be competitive is transparency and a level playing-field.

It is simply the truth that the political system that I am part of has degenerated to the point that it needs fundamental change.

I was invited by President Bush to come to the United States on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the mutual defense treaty.

I want to create economic opportunity at home and abroad. I don't want just one or the other. I want both.

I will not stand idly when anyone gets in the way of the national interest and tries to block the national vision. From where I sit, I can tell you, a president is always as strong as she wants to be.

We have scaled the heights of Mount Everest, dominated the Southeast Asian games, we have won international beauty titles, and of course punched our way to triumph in the boxing world. Our people compete and win every day in every imaginable job throughout the world.

To our men and women in the armed services, the huge and deep core of your loyalty has earned the nation's accolade.

I was at Ground Zero, and it was, to me, such a graphic illustration of what terrorism has done to our world.

A president can be as strong as she wants to be.

I believe that the war against terrorism and the war against poverty in these times of turmoil go together. So you - when you fight one, you have to fight the other.

Better talk than fight, if nothing of sovereign value is anyway lost. Dialogue has achieved more than confrontation in many parts of the world.

We will downsize the government, motivate excess employees to become entrepreneurs, and increase the pay of a lean and mean bureaucracy.

You have 60 countries in the world with a terrorist problem. That's two-thirds of the world. We have this group in Basilan, which is a small island in the far south of the Philippines, and the island itself has a population of - what? - 300,000.