MANILA, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) -- Philippine President
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is scheduled to visit China's quake-hit Sichuan province
to console families of quake victims on Thursday before she leaves for Beijing
to attend the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games on Aug. 8, the Philippine
government announced Tuesday.
The president will leave at Thursday dawn for
Chengdu, capital of the southwestern Sichuan province, as her first stop to
"commiserate with the earthquake victims" in the upland city which she first
visited in June last year, a press release issued by the office of Press
Secretary Jesus Dureza said.
The province was devastated by an 8.0-magnitude
earthquake on May 12 and nearly 70,000 people lost their life in the quake.
After meeting with Sichuan provincial officials,
Arroyo will be "motoring" to Dujiangyan, one of the most devastated areas hit by
the killer quake, and visit the shrine built in memory of the earthquake
victims.
She will visit the resettlement site for the victims
and present Philippine-made goodies to the children who survived the disasters.
Arroyo is among the heads of the states around the
world who expressed condolence to Chinese President Hu Jintao immediately after
the quake hit Sichuan.
"We share in the suffering of our Chinese brethren.
On behalf of the Filipino nation, we reiterate our heartfelt sympathies to the
earthquake victims," Arroyo was quoted by local media as saying when she
attended the Sino-Philippine Friendship Day celebration held in Manila this
June.
Arroyo said she believes the Chinese people, under
the leadership of President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao, will recover
swiftly from this tragedy, rebuild their lives and march on towards greater
progress.
The government press release said Arroyo will fly to
Beijing on Thursday afternoon and fete the 15 Filipino athletes participating in
the Beijing Olympic Games.
She will end her three-day visit on Saturday after
touring the Olympic Village and meeting with the Filipino community in Beijing.
