PRESIDENT Arroyo yesterday vowed to shun politics and to continue focusing on the economy in the face of the global financial crunch.

“I don’t want to talk about 2010; politics is not foremost in my mind. Let’s talk economics and not politics,” she told reporters in Baguio City.

“We were lucky in 2008. The year 2008 was tumultuous for the world due to the global economic recession that, thankfully, has not become a crisis in the Philippines. But no country is immune, so we have to prepare.”

She made her statement even as Catholic leaders asked the government to set aside funds for the poor to ease their poverty.

“The extreme poverty of the poorest of the poor is neither natural nor normal: it is man-made and can be overcome or eradicated by acts of justice, honesty, compassion and charity,” Jaro, Iloilo Archbishop Angel Lagdameo said in his New Year message.

Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales said peace could be achieved if poverty was resolved, and this could be made possible through compassion and sharing.

Mrs. Arroyo said her administration’s priority was to ensure food sufficiency for 2009 as analysts had predicted the full impact of the global crisis would be felt next year.

“Even as the whole world felt the crisis, we never ran out of rice, and the price of rice remains lower here,” she said.

“We saw early on that there will be a shortage, so we bought from other countries even before prices increased.”

The President had earlier approved a P300-billion plan to help the country reach its target of 4.7-percent growth in the gross domestic product next year.

Economic Planning Secretary Ralph Recto has said the package will finance quick-moving infrastructure and job-generating projects, as well as provide P10 billion to 640,000 poor families.

Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr. said the government’s pump-priming should be done within the first semester to ensure private companies continued with their spending.

“Corporations have the tendency to hold back on their spending, so we must take the lead,” he said.

“But we must do that within the first six months or it might be too late. The doomsday scenario can happen if we don’t act quickly.” Joyce Pangco Pañares with Arlie Calalo