BY REGINA BENGCO

CABINET Secretary Ricardo Saludo yesterday said government should avoid measures which could undermine the country’s economic surge.

Saludo was referring to the proposal of Sen. Manuel Roxas II to postpone the 12 percent value added tax on petroleum products. Malacañang has said the postponement would result in revenue losses amounting to P60 billion.

He said the country’s economic surge would remain secure only if government maintains the policies that lifted investor confidence in the Philippines such as fiscal strength, massive infrastructure and development programs for the people.

He said government is accelerating public works and social services, and is waiting for Congress to pass the P1.227 trillion budget for 2008 to sustain its programs.

In Switzerland, President Arroyo on Wednesday ordered the labor department to review the contracts of overseas Filipino workers to ensure that their remittances are protected from fluctuations in the peso-dollar rate.

Arroyo said wages of OFWs should be paid by foreign employers in dollars or pesos, whichever is stronger, to protect Filipino workers from monetary fluctuations.

She said her directive is part of government’s hedging program that include the OFW bond which she will unveil when she goes to Dubai after the 2008 World Economic Forum in Davos.

On Thursday, Arroyo attended the interactive sessions with the WEF governors for information and communications technology and had a bilateral meeting with Pascal Couchepin, president of the Swiss Confederation.

She also met with officials of Intel, Citigroup Inc., and the Aragon Group, and with World Trade Organization director general Pascal Lamy.