PORAC, PAMPANGA?President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was back in her home province of Pampanga on Monday, barely 12 hours after returning from Thailand where she attended the 15th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit.

Ms Arroyo had just been to Pampanga two days before Monday?s visit, on the day before she left for Thailand.

She is scheduled to return to the province on Tuesday to head a Cabinet meeting that would discuss, among other things, solutions to flooding.

She inspected farm-to-market roads and water systems and tracked the progress of anti-insurgency and poverty alleviation programs with local officials before heading for Angeles City later in the day.

Presidential Deputy Spokesperson Lorelei Fajardo said the President wanted to make sure that poverty alleviation programs in the province were being managed properly because Pampanga was ?special to her.?

She also said Ms Arroyo wanted to leave what she described as ?legacy programs? before her term ends in 2010.

Asked why the President did not leave inspections to local officials, Fajardo said, ?Everything is the work of the President.?

Ms Arroyo also awarded a scholarship certificate to Karen Palo, the 300,000th ?Pangulong Gloria? scholar.

In Angeles City, she met with officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways and discussed ways to address the perennial flooding in the province.

She asked the DPWH and local officials to review a proposal to dredge the Pampanga River that is being opposed by nongovernment organizations in the province and to find out if the project could actually lessen flooding. Charlene Cayabyab, Inquirer Central Luzon