She quickly squelched speculation that she was actually campaigning for the 2004 presidential election, amid widespread expectation that she would rejoin the race.
"This is my way of personally giving appropriate action to the problems of our people, be it in education, agriculture, trade, commerce, transportation and communications, energy and water supply, tourism, and peace and order," Mrs. Arroyo said.
"It is the duty of the President to personally see the extent and results of government’s security and development initiatives, especially in poverty-stricken areas."
A president "cannot be satisfied with merely reading reports from the field," she said. "A President must make personal, on-the-spot assessments of the most vital problems facing our people."
Mrs. Arroyo visited Koronadal City in South Cotabato last Friday to condole with families of victims of a terrorist bombing of a market that killed three people and wounded 27 others, many of them children.
According to her tentative schedule, Mrs. Arroyo will visit Negros Occidental to attend a necrological service for Bacolod City Bishop Antonio Fortich and spend the night in Iloilo.
On Wednesday, the President will swing through Basey, Western Samar, Borongan, Eastern Samar and spend the night in Tacloban City, Leyte.
Her last stop is Catbalogan, Northern Samar. She will be back in Manila by Friday afternoon.
The following week, from July 21 to 24, Mrs. Arroyo will go on another sortie — a swing through Rizal, Laguna, Quezon, Camarines Sur, Naga, Albay and Masbate provinces.
In a move that stunned the nation on Dec. 30, Mrs. Arroyo announced that she was pulling out of next year’s elections so she could concentrate on strengthening the sluggish economy during her remaining months in office.
Many believe Mrs. Arroyo’s decision to withdraw was due to her sagging popularity.
However, now that her opinion poll ratings have gone up, many now expect Mrs. Arroyo to seek a full six-year term. She replaced Joseph Estrada, who was toppled by a military-backed popular uprising in January 2001, 31 months into his term.
Despite her insistence that she would not change her mind, many believe Mrs. Arroyo would reconsider her decision. But her chief of staff Rigoberto Tiglao said she might run if the "national interest" calls for it.
Last Tuesday, former President Ramos said Mrs. Arroyo should make up her mind soon on whether or not she would rejoin the 2004 presidential election.
He said the administration party Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats, of which Ramos is chairman emeritus, needs to finalize its list of official candidates 10 months before the May elections.
The best time for the President to announce her plans would be one week before she delivers her State of the Nation address before a joint session of Congress on July 28, Ramos said.
Lakas has been in a quandary on who to field in the presidential election after Mrs. Arroyo decided to withdraw from the race.
Many Lakas members have been encouraging Mrs. Arroyo to run but a number have also endorsed tycoon Eduardo Cojuangco Jr. as the party’s candidate.
Cojuangco’s party, the Nationalist People’s Coalition, is an ally of Mrs. Arroyo’s political alliance, the People Power Coalition.