Eight Things In The Philippine History you may not know.

1. Andres Bonifacio fall asleep prior to the cry of pugad lawin.

If you ever wondered why the revolutionary Bonifacio is not our national hero,
then wonder no more.

The so-called Cry of Balintawak was renamed in 1968 to the Cry of Pugad Lawin
solely because Andres Bonifacio screwed up, big time. According to multiple
members in the Katipunan during the early 1900s, that fateful night in August 26,
1896 in Balintawak was usurped three days earlier in Pugad Lawin because Andres
Bonifacio mistook the dry run in the latter as the actual event, depleting the
numbers once the former finally happened.

This was because a weary Bonifacio, exhausted from planning and mapping out

the revolution, ended up falling asleep during the dry run of the Sir Dem in
Pugad Lawin, and woke up thinking it was already the real thing. Because
Bonifacio’s actions were so convincing, in no small part due to his indefatigable
charisma, majority of those who were there in Pugad Lawin during the dry run did
not actually show up in Balintawak, for when they were all fully armed to fend off
the Spanish guards.

This resulted in disaster, as the Katipuneros were soundly trounced in Balintawak

because of Bonifacio’s mistake. From this point on, the revolution was
demoralized, and it took a two-pronged attack from Filipinos and the Americans
before Spain decided to relinquish its three-century long rule on the Philippines.

2. The real reason the manila film center was abandoned.

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It’s commonly accepted that the reason the Manila Film Center was abandoned
was due to the 1990 earthquake, which supposedly left the building unstable.

What people are forgetting was that even before former president Ferdinand
Marcos was ousted from power, the building already fell into disuse as of 1982,
yet nobody actually knew the reason why.

It turns out that one of the major propaganda material meant to glorify the
Marcos regime hinged on a biopic entitled “Marcos and the Golden Republic,”
and this was a film that Imelda and Ferdinand were willing to pull out all the stops
for, in hopes of launching it in the film center to international audiences in
January, 1983. The script was penned by the late Lino Brocka, and set to star in
the role of Ferdinand Marcos was the matinee idol, Eddie Gutierrez.

Unfortunately, at the last minute, Gutierrez, in a change of heart, bailed out on

the project, and left the Marcos biopic without a star to carry it and give it the
gravitas it needed. With the project abandoned, there was little reason to keep
the Film Center in use any longer.

3. Marcos was proctecting Ninoy.

Everyone knows that Ninoy Aquino and Ferdinand Marcos were rivals, a
competition that culminated in the assassination of the former and the deposition
of the latter. Yet research by the managing editor of Filipinas magazine Gemma
Nemenzo asserts that the two politicians were actually close friends.

Ninoy in fact benefited from Marcos’ protection, and was only killed when he
came home because Marcos’ ill-health and consequential inability to control his
people weakened this benefit.

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“Ninoy and FM (Ferdinand Marcos) were more than friends. When Ninoy was in
detention, he and FM would speak with scrambler telephones. During FM’s state
visit to the U.S. in 1982, the two of them talked for an hour about good times. FM
was actually considering Ninoy as his successor. He admired Ninoy for his being a
courageous fighter and his vigor. They were on the same wavelength.”

4. Diosdado Macapagal authobiography predicted his daugther's rise to power.

Diosdado Macapagal was known for bringing land reform to the Philippines, and
for pursuing anti-graft and-corruption reforms that were rendered useless by a
non-cooperative congress. His daughter Gloria however doesn’t enjoy the same
kind of reputation.

Interestingly, the senior Macapagal did predict that Gloria would also become
president many decades later. In his autobiography, which was also a criticism of
Marcos’ conversion of “our traditional democracy to a dictatorship in 1972,”
Diosdado writes about his daughter’s drive:

“Because of my love for my children, I have always wanted them to be proud of

me, which made me strive harder in my career. Gloria in particular I hope to be a
great role model for; from a young age she has shown an understanding of the
intricacies of power, a knowledge of how to bring about a change for the better
through an exceptional and innate gift of influence.”

5. There really is no Yamashita Treasure.

For over 50 years, treasure hunters from all over the world have scoured the
Philippines to look for the fabled war loot hidden by Japanese General Tomoyuki
Yamashita. It’s said that the treasure was or is hidden in a series of underground

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tunnels somewhere in the country, that the American military officials found and
used it to finance Cold War operations in the Asia Pacific, or whatever fanciful
story cooked up by conspiracy theorists.

The reality is less exciting, as suggested by American military historian Alfred E.

Nueman: “For if so much hidden gold was available to it, the United States would
not have been so desperate to close the gold pool as its reserves were depleted.
Nor would the U.S. government through the years since World War II been so
insistent on preventing a free gold market from developing. Indeed, if gold was
actually as common as the Yamashita stories maintain, the Federal Reserve,
Treasury Department, and Bank of England already would have arranged for
[prizes made of gold] to be inserted as prizes in Cracker Jack and children’s cereal
boxes.”

6. The person on the old 20 peso bill isn't Manuel Quezon.

Take a look at historical photos of the second Philippine President, and you’ll see
that he doesn’t exactly look like the person on the old 1993 20 Philippine Peso
bill. Very odd, when you consider that the portrait on older (and the newest) 20
Peso bills look more similar to the famous historical figure.

Why? If you look closer at the eyes and eyebrows, you’ll see that they’re exact
copies of each other, except flipped. Any portrait artist will tell you that no one
has exactly the same eye shape for both sides. Turns out while the master
printing plate was being built, the artist was too busy and decided to duplicate
the left eye for the right, hoping that no one at Bangko Sentral would notice. No
one did, and that’s why Manuel Quezon on the 1993 20 Peso bill has a slightly
weird appearance.

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7. Jose Rizal's real final words.

Everyone knows Rizal took a page from Jesus Christ, saying as his last words
“consummatum est” (“It is finished” in Latin). Yet that’s not the whole story. The
British author of Rizal: Philippine Nationalist and Martyr Austin Coates wrote:
“With a normal pulse, Rizal quietly uttered ‘Consummatum est, o tempora o
mores! Quo usque tandem abutere, cives, patientia nostra!’”

In other words, Rizal also quoted the famous orator Cicero: “It is finished. O the
times, o the morals! How long shall you abuse our patience, citizens!” Coates later
commented that the complete final words of Jose Rizal signalled his despair over
how his fellow Filipinos lacked passion for the revolutionary cause.

8. Lapu-lapu defeated Magellan with foreign help.

Everyone knows about the Mactan ruler defeating the Spanish explorer despite
the superior technology of the Europeans. Lost in history is the contribution of
visiting Chinese, as recorded by Antonio Pigafetta, who chronicled the Magellan
expedition’s circumnavigation of the world:

“When we reached land, [the natives] had formed in three divisions to the
number of more than one thousand five hundred persons. When they saw us,
they charged down upon us with exceeding loud cries… The musketeers and
crossbow-men shot from a distance for about a half-hour, but uselessly. We were
told that the natives learned from visiting merchants that our muskets were of no
use over a cross-bow flight…”

The “visiting merchants” were of course Chinese, who had regularly frequented
Mactan Island for trade long before Magellan and his crew ever saw the

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Philippines. It’s quite possible, coming from a society that had developed firearms
over three hundred years earlier, the Chinese knew about the lack of accuracy
and effectiveness of gunpowder-based weapons over long range.

Indigenous peoples of the Philippines

The Philippines consist of numerous upland and

lowland indigenous ethnolinguistic groups living in the country,
with Austronesians making up the overwhelming majority, while full or
partial Australo-Melanesians scattered throughout the archipelago. The highland
Austroneians and Australo-Melanesians have co-existed with their lowland
Austronesian kin and neighbor groups for thousands of years in the Philippine
archipelago. The primary difference is that they were not absorbed by centuries
of Spanish and United States colonization of the Philippines, and in the process
have retained their customs and traditions. This is mainly due to the rugged
inaccessibility of the mountains and
established headhunting and warrior cultures, which discouraged Spanish and
American colonizers from coming into contact with the highlanders.

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A map of the highland ethnolinguistic nations of the Philippines by province.

In the interest of clarity, the term indigenous as used in the Philippines refers to
ethnolinguistic groups or subgroups that maintain lt of partial isolation, or
independence, throughout the colonial era. The term indigenous when applied to
the Philippine population can be a deceptive misnomer, connoting alien migrant
populations who have over time become the majority ethnolinguistic and cultural
group in the land and thereby pushing indigens to the fringes of socio-cultural
inclusion, such as in the Americas, Middle East, Australia, or New Zealand.
Contrarily, the vast majority of people in the Philippines descend from the same
Austronesian and Australo-Melanesian ancestral populations indigenous to the
archipelago, regardless of cultural, religious, ethnolinguistic or tribal affiliations.
(Ethnic groups in the Philippines).

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 Culturally-indigenous peoples of northern Philippine highlands can be grouped
into the Igorot (comprising many different groups) and singular Bugkalot groups,
while the non-Muslim culturally-indigenous groups of mainland Mindanao are
collectively called Lumad. Australo-Melanesian groups throughout the
archipelago are termed Aeta, Ita, Ati, Dumagat, among others. Numerous
culturally-indigenous groups also live outside these two indigenous corridors.
According to the Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino, there are 135 recognized local
indigenous Austronesian languages in the Philippines, of which one (Tagalog)
is vehicular and each of the remaining 134 is vernacular.] There are 134 ethnic
groups in the Philippines, the majority of which are indigenous, though much of
the overall Philippine population is constituted by only 8-10 lowland ethnic
groups.[

Alam
Alam is a masculine name derived from several ancient languages including :
1. Arabic: ‫( عالم‬ʿĀlam) meaning "world" or "universe"
2. Hebrew: cognate word ‫ עולם‬is transcribed as ʿOlam, also meaning "World"
3. Tagalog: Alam means "Knowledge" (Wisdom). adjective maalam, is referred to for
the one who is knowledgeable and wise.

Use in Literature

Arabic literature and ancient text, use Alam in phrases like "Rab-ul-Alam-een" =
"the Lord of all Worlds/Universes" referring to The Absolute and Highest Divinity.

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In Hebrew, Olam is used in phrases like "Adon Olam", meaning "Master of the
World," one of the names of God in Judaism.

Banjarmasin

Banjarmasin is the capital of South Kalimantan, Indonesia. It is located on

a delta island near the junction of the Barito and Martapura rivers. As a result,
Banjarmasin is sometimes called the "River City". Its population was 625,395 at
the 2010 Census and estimated to be more than 720,000 in late 2018.

Banjarmasin

City

Other transcription(s)

From top, left to right:

Kayu Tangi roundabout, Proclamation monument
of South Kalimantan, Sultan Suriansyah tomb
complex, Hotel G-Sign of Banjarmasin, Sabilal
Muhtadin Great Mosque, Soetji Nurani (EYD: Suci
Nurani) Temple, and Traditional Floating Market
of Kuin River.

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Seal

Nicknames:

Kota Seribu Sungai (Indonesian: City of Thousand

Rivers), the Venice of the East

Motto(s):

Kayuh Baimbai (Banjarese: 'Rowing Together')

Banjarmasin within South Kalimantan

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 Banjarmasin

Location in Kalimantan and Indonesia

China–Philippines relations

Relations between the Philippines and China have suffered due to the
worsening South China Sea dispute. The current policy of the president of the
Philippines aims for remedying relations between the Philippines and China at the
expense of the former's relationship with the United States, while the current
policy of the president of China aims for greater influence over the Philippines,
and the region in general, while combating American influence.

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Several major bilateral agreements were signed between the two countries over
the years, such as: Joint Trade Agreement (1975); Scientific and Technological
Cooperation Agreement (1978); Postal Agreement (1978); Air Services Agreement
(1979); Visiting Forces Agreement (1999); Cultural Agreement (1979); Investment
Promotion and Protection Agreement (1992); Agreement on Agricultural
Cooperation (1999); Tax Agreement (1999); and Treaty on Mutual Judicial
Assistance on Criminal Matters (2000). In May 2000, on the eve of the 25th
anniversary of their diplomatic relations, the two countries signed a Joint
Statement defining the framework of bilateral relations in the 21st century.
Bilateral relations between the Philippines and China have significantly
progressed in recent years. The growing bilateral relations were highlighted by
the state visit to China of Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on 29–31
October 2001. During the visit, President Arroyo held bilateral talks with top
Chinese leaders, namely President Jiang Zemin, NPC Chairman Li Peng, and
Premier Zhu Rongji. President Arroyo also attended the 9th APEC Economic
Leaders Meeting held in Shanghai on October 20–21, 2001, where she also had
bilateral talks with President Jiang. During President Arroyo's visit, eight
important bilateral agreements were signed.
A 2014 survey conducted by the Pew Research Center showed 93% of Filipinos
were concerned that territorial disputes between China and neighbouring
countries could lead to a military conflict.
Recently, Philippines has been rapidly improving relations and cooperating
with China on various issues, developing a much stronger and stable ties with the
country, as well as a successful Code of conduct with China and the rest of ASEAN.
However, the average trust view of Filipinos towards China is negative 33, dipping

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much lower in certain provinces such as Zambales and Palawan where it is at least
negative 45. In contrast, the average trust view towards the United States is
positive 66.

Legend Of The Ten Bornean Datus

SUMMARY OF MARAGTAS – In this topic, we will now read and discover the
summary of Maragtas, or The Legend of the Ten Bornean Datus.

Image from: Ocean Breeze

According to Libreamarkjoseph, also known as The Legend of the Ten Borneon

Datus or the Maragtas Chronicles of Panay, it is the history of rulers of the Panay
island in Western Visayas.

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This was during the time of ten Malay datus that live in the island of Borneo. It is
said that the ten datus are said to be the ancestors of Philippines in the
precolonial era.

The Ten Datus | Wives

 Datu Puti | Pinangpangan
 Datu Sumakwel | Kapinangan
 Datu Bangkaya | Katurong
 Datu Paiborong | Pabilaan
 Datu Paduhinogan | Tibongsapay
 Datu Dumangsol
 Datu Libay
 Datu Dumangsil
 Datu Domalogdog
 Datu Balensuela
Here is the summary of the story:
There are ten Bornean rulers who escaped the cruel ruler Sultan Makatunaw.
Datu Puti, as well as nine datus aimed to leave Borneo.

The ten datus ventured into the night with their boats across the ocean. They at
first thought that they will die in the middle of the sea but they finally reached the
island of Panay and made friends with the tribe called that Aetas led by chief
Marikudo.

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At first Marikudo was terrified of the Bornean datus but Datu Puti ensured that
they had peaceful intentions. Both parties eventually entered into a trade
alliance.

During the feast held by Marikudo, the chieftains negotiated the purchase of
Panay Island for a golden salakot. The Aetas agreed since the island is
overwhelmingly vast.

This led to the birth of the precolonial Philippine culture and population and the
Borneans and Aetas lived in peace and harmony.

Code of Kalantiaw

The Code of Rajah Kalantiaw was a supposed legal code in the epic
history Maragtas that is said to have been written in 1433 by Datu Kalantiaw, a
chief on the island of Negros in the Philippines. The code is now believed by many
historians to have been a hoax and that it had actually been written in 1913
by Jose E. Marco as a part of his historical fiction Las antiguas leyendas de la Isla
de Negros (English: The Ancient Legends of the Island of Negros), which he
attributed to a priest named Jose Maria Pavon.
In 1990, Philippine historian Teodoro Agoncillo described the code as "a disputed
document." Despite doubts on its authenticity, some history texts continue to
present it as historical fact.

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Chinese Influence

Contact between Japan and China goes back to around 200AD, according to the
Chinese histories, and the influence of China on Japan is as deep as it is long.
Whether you look at language, culture, political institutions, or the Nakasendo
itself, Chinese influence is readily apparent. At the same time, Japan has always
remained different, forced by the fundamental differences between things
Japanese and things Chinese to adapt rather than merely adopt Chinese
influences.

Japan’s earliest literary and historical records reveal the appeal of Chinese
civilization which was so far superior that there was an early tendency to take on

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Chinese models wholesale. Buddhism, Chinese language and literature, and the
technology of government proved at a glance to be more powerful than their
Japanese equivalents. Take language as an example; the Japanese had no written
language, so Chinese soon proved essential in the process of political unification
under the imperial house. The earliest historical records (the Kojiki and the Nihon
Shoki from the seventh century) were an attempt to weave together Japanese
religious beliefs such that the goddess of the imperial family was at the top. This
literary exercise was intended to underline the political supremacy of the family
using the power of the written word plus religion. Modern readers may easily
recognize inconsistencies in this semi-religious, semi-political structure, but
undeniably, setting it down in the only writing system available, Chinese, was
more effective than passing the message on by word of mouth.

The Buddhist religion came with the rest of early Chinese culture and made an
impact. Buddhism was a coherent set of beliefs which forced the native traditions
to define themselves as an alternative to the Chinese influence. At the same time,
Confucian concepts of government and society also arrived in Japan. Soon, the
imperial court was organized on Confucian principles with a bureaucracy which
paralleled the Chinese model in title, rank and function. Chinese concepts of cities
and agriculture were also brought in. The Japanese constructed a series of cities
based on Chinese plans for capital cities. Nara and Kyoto still show the inspiration
of this model. Chinese architecture, for example is much more ornate than
traditional Japanese architecture. The difference can easily be seen in Buddhist
temple (Chinese) and Shinto shrine (Japanese) architecture. A glance at an aerial
photograph of the areas around these old capitals shows a system of fields and

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irrigation carefully divided into even rectangle.

Although China was taken as a model, it did not fit well. Kyoto might be based on
the plans for northern Chinese capitals, but Japan was never able to fill out the
city limits until this century. Gradually, Chinese characters came to be read
sometimes with an approximate Chinese pronunciation and sometimes with a

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Japanese one: the character for ‘new’ can be read alternately as shin or atarashii.
Institutions of government failed to cope with the rise of civil disorder and the
samurai class which developed systems of rule that turned away from Chinese
models. In all these cases and many more, Chinese influence is discernible, but
centuries of experimentation to meet the strains of historical change brought
forth a very different, Japanese system.

Chinese civilization flowed out of China and into Japan in several waves,
depending on Chinese strength and Japanese receptivity. The late Warring States
and Edo periods saw the most recent surge. Contacts with China were renewed,
particularly in the decades surrounding 1600, and influence flooded in. Neo-
Confucian values, learning and philosophy, and Zen Buddhism were major
imports; use of a road system to speed communications and tighten control was
revived. Differences between the two societies, however, remained pronounced
and perhaps even became more so, for the Japanese now critically sought out
influences which would strengthen them and paid little or no attention to the
remainder.

History of Indian influence on Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia was under Indian sphere of cultural influence starting around 290
BC until around the 15th century, when Hindu-Buddhist influence was absorbed
by local politics. Kingdoms in the southeast coast of the Indian Subcontinent had
established trade, cultural and political relations with Southeast Asian kingdoms

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in Burma, Thailand, Indonesia, Malay
Peninsula, Philippines, Cambodia and Champa. This led
to Indianisation and Sanskritisation of Southeast Asia within Indosphere,
Southeast Asian polities were the Indianised Hindu-Buddhist Mandala (polities,
city states and confederacies).

Historic Indosphere cultural influence zone of Greater India for transmission of

elements of Indian elements such as the honorific titles, naming of
people, naming of places, mottos of organisations and educational institutes as
well as adoption of Hinduism, Buddhism, Indian architecture, martial arts, Indian
music and dance, traditional Indian clothing, and Indian cuisine, a process which
has been also aided by the ongoing historic expansion of Indian diaspora.

Unlike the Hindu kingdoms within the Indian subcontinent, the Pallava empire of
the southeastern coast of the India peninsula did not have culture restrictions on
crossing the sea. Chola empire also had profound impact on Southeast Asia, who
executed South-East Asia campaign of Rajendra Chola I and Chola invasion of
Srivijaya. This led to more exchanges through the sea routes into Southeast Asia.
Whereas Buddhism thrived and became the main religion in many countries of
the Southeast Asia, it died off on the Indian subcontinent.
The peoples of maritime Southeast Asia — present day Malaysia, Indonesia and
the Philippines — are thought to have migrated southwards from southern China

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sometime between 2500 and 1500 BC. The influence of the civilization of the
subcontinent gradually became predominant among them, and among the
peoples of the Southeast Asian mainland.

Southern Indian traders, adventurers, teachers and priests continued to be the

dominating influence in Southeast Asia until about 1500 CE. Hinduism and
Buddhism both spread to these states from India and for many centuries existed
there with mutual toleration. Eventually the states of the mainland became
mainly Buddhist.

Fashion and clothing in the Philippine

Fashion and clothing in the Philippines refers to the way the people of Filipino
society dress up in instances such as while they are at home, at work, travelling
and when attending special occasions.

A Filipino lady, 1897

1890s woman wearing the Maria Clara dress

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The Boxer Codex, showing the attire of a Classical period Filipino, made
of silk and cotton.

The clothing style and fashion sense of the Filipinos in the modern-day era have
been influenced by their native ancestors, the Spanish colonizers and the
Americans, as evidenced by the chronology of events that occurred in Philippine
history. At present, Filipinos conform their way of dressing, in addition to the
above factors, as a result of the influence of what is shown by the media on
television, fashion shows, among others.

Apart from colonial influences and media influence, the Filipino style of clothing
had been dictated by the climate in the Philippines. With a tropical climate (dry
and rainy seasons), early Filipinos – as well as the still extant tribal groups in the
Philippines – wore colorful woven clothes, often with intricate beadwork and
other ornam a type of a collarless shirt – which later became adorned with laces,
trimmings, buttons, and a collar – was where from the Barong Tagalog evolved.
On the other hand, the bahag was a type of loincloth or G-string.

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Present-day Filipinos, due to climatic reasons, prefer to wear T-shirts combined
with maong (jeans) trousers for men and skirts for women. The "jeans and T-
shirts" combination was introduced to the Filipinos by the Americans.

A common attire while at home are ordinary puruntongs (singular: puruntong, a

type of pair of shorts or Capri pants) combined with sleeveless shirts or T-shirts.
During the rainy season and cold evenings in December and January, some
Filipinos wear hooded jackets.

Funerary Ornaments14th–15th century or earlier

Philippines

The Philippines have an ancient tradition of gold working. The existence of early
mines suggests that gold deposits were already being exploited by the early first
millennium B.C. Gold objects were often buried with the dead. Metalworkers
fashioned gold foil covers for the eyes, nose, mouth, and other facial features,
such as those seen here, which were likely used for individuals of high status. In
the Philippines, this type of burial practice continued into the fourteenth and
fifteenth centuries, particularly in the area of Oton in Iloilo province and on the
island of Panay on the Visaya archipelago. Similar gold facial ornaments also have
been found in prehistoric burials in Java, Bali, Sulawesi, and northern Borneo.

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Garments and Ornaments

Male Attire: [Upper]óguys wore a sleeveless coat called "Kangan"; datus and
nobles wore a red kangan, while the average citizens wore blue or dark coats.
Guys likewise wore a headgear called "putong" (turban)ó a bit of fabric wrapped
around the head; a red putong demonstrated that the client slaughtered a man in
war, while a weaved putong showed that the client executed no less than seven.
[Lower]óguys wore a g-string called "bahag"ó a portion of material wrapped
about the midsection, going down between the ties. Female Attire:
[Upper]ófemales wore a coat with sleeves called "baro" or "camisa".
[Lower]ófemales wore a free skirt called "saya" or "patadyong"; a bit of red, white
or weaved material called "tapis" was normally wrapped around the abdomen.
The early Filipinos did not wear shoes or shoes. They strolled about barefooted.
They likewise embellished themselves "intensely". Both men and ladies troubled
themselves with so much trappings as armlets (kalumbiga), pendants, wrist
trinkets, gold rings, studs, and leg-lets. The teeth were enhanced with gold or
silver fillings. Inking was likewise polished. Both guys and females inked their face
and bodies. Tattoo was not just for beautification purposes. Among the guys, it
implied war records. The Spaniards called the inked guys of the Visayas area
"Pintados".

Social Classes

Maginoo (Nobles/Noblemen). This class was made out of the Datu and his family.
It ought to be noticed that the datu was not a lord, but rather a lot of a pioneer, a
middle person in question, and was in charge of the welfare of the general
population inside his locale. Timawa/Maharlika(Freemen). They were the

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warriors, vendors, specialists, and slaves who won their flexibility. The timawa
possessed his own property, had his own particular supporters but on the other
hand will undoubtedly serve the datu. The Tagalog maharlika rendered military
support of the datu at his own cost and imparted to his pioneer the crown jewels
of war. This class vanished at some point in the 1630's the point at which the
Spaniards could join differing connection gatherings. Alipin (Slaves/Dependents).
These were hostages of war, those not able to pay their obligations, all ill-
conceived youngsters; those acquired, and rebuffed culprits. In the Visayas, an
alipin was called oripun.

1. Aliping Namamahay (householder)- - had his own particular family, little

house and parcel, and served the ace amid planting and reaping season or
in the development of houses

2. Aliping Sagigilid (hearth slave)- - the individuals who are living with the ace,
had no property, and couldn't wed without the ace's assent. The sagigilid,;
in any case, could purchase his opportunity in gold. By the 1700's, one
could ascend to the timawa class by paying 90 pesos.

Ladies

Ladies, for the early Filipinos, were the equivalents of men for they were
profoundly regarded, could possess properties, and could progress toward
becoming chieftains without male beneficiaries. They as well, had the selective
appropriate to offer names to their kids. The ladies of Catanduanes, the Spaniards

composed, were talented in angling and raising harvests like their men.

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Filipino Wedding Traditions and Customs

Traditionally the groom’s family pays for the wedding and the grandparents act as
the primary witnesses or sponsors. The bride’s gown is often custom made and
both the bride and groom wear white. It is bad luck for the bride to try on her
dress before the wedding day and to wear pearl jewelry, which is considered a
bad omen. The groom wears a sheer, long-sleeve button-up shirt (barong tagalog)
that is worn un-tucked over black pants with a white t-shirt underneath.

As in Spanish weddings, the groom presents his bride with 13 gold pieces as a
pledge of his dedication to his wife and the welfare of his children. These are
carried in by a coin bearer who walks with the ring bearer. A white cord is draped
around the couple’s shoulders as a bond of infinite marriage and veils of white
tulle are draped on the bride’s head and groom’s shoulders to symbolize two
people clothed as one.

Another tradition that symbolizes the unity of the couple is the lighting of a unity
candle by two separate candles held by the bride and groom to represent the
joining of the two families and invoke the light of Christ. The bouquet is not
tossed and rather offered to a favorite saint, the virgin, or on the grave of a loved
one.

Knives and other sharp objects are not considered good gifts because they will
lead to a broken marriage. Raindrops are lucky because they bring prosperity and
happiness, and when the rice is tossed at the newlyweds it represents the rain.
The groom should always arrive before the bride; otherwise it will be bad luck.

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Inheritance succession is the order in which a person’s relatives receive their
property upon their death, if the deceased fails to leave a will describing how they
wish their property to be distributed. Although most people have strong opinions
about how they’d like their property distributed, not everyone leaves a will.

Inheritance succession is not typically an issue in cases where there is a will.

Those who do make wills usually leave their property to the people you would
expect, such as their spouses, children and other close relatives.

Wills can be contested if certain family members are cut out of them, and spouses
may petition to receive a share of the deceased’s estate if they are cut out of the
will. In general, though, wills are observed when they exist, and inheritance
succession becomes an issue when there is no will, and a probate court must
decide who the property goes to.

What is Government Law? This topic covers a broad area in the legal field. U.S.
Federal Government Law addresses government interactions on a national scale,
and is largely composed of administrative law and constitutional law. While State
and Local Government Law (state and municipal government law) deals largely
with how government operates on the state and local level, with state and city
governments and agencies, as well as interactions with businesses and private
citizens.

The U.S. Federal Government is composed of three branches: the legislative

27
branch creates law; the judicial branch interprets the law; and the executive
branch administers, or "executes" the law. This government is established by the
U.S. Constitution.

The Federal Government shares control of the United Sates with individual U.S.
State governments. State governments are made up of their own legislative,
judicial and executive branches and are given a fair share of autonomy to create
laws for their individual states, although federal law holds precedence. State law
also establishes and regulates local government for cities, towns, counties, and
other communities.

Local Government Law addresses a variety of issues, topics and legal areas. These
include, but are not limited to, the following: Sunshine laws for public access to
government records and processes; municipal planning for land use and zoning
law; licensing and regulatory law; labor rights, discrimination, wage laws and
FLSA, FMLA, ADA and more with regards to employment and personnel law for
government workers and employers; utilities and telecommunication law for
government entities such as gas, water & electric companies, cell phone towers
and easements; property taxes, assessments, user fees and other taxation law for
city revenues; eminent domain law; environmental law as it applies to
government regulations; HRA's and other housing agencies for development,
redevelopment and affordable housing issues; tax abatements and other forms of
public finance; and government contracts.

Additionally, there is Tribal Government law. This involves Native American tribes

28
and the powers and authority granted to them as members of various Indian
nations, tribes, bands, etc. Tribal Government law deals with the individual tribal
governments, rules and laws, as well as their interactions with the U.S. Federal
government and state governments.

Law is a system of rules created and enforced through social or governmental

institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of
longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and the art of
justice. State-enforced laws can be made by a group legislature or by a single
legislator, resulting in statutes; by the executive through decrees and regulations;
or established by judges through precedent, usually in common law jurisdictions.
Private individuals may create legally binding contracts, including arbitration
agreements that adopt alternative ways of resolving disputes to standard court
litigation. The creation of laws themselves may be influenced by a constitution,
written or tacit, and the rights encoded therein. The law
shapes politics, economics, history and society in various ways and serves as a
mediator of relations between people.

29
Iustitia ("Lady Justice") is a symbolic personification of the coercive power of
a tribunal: a sword representing state authority, scales representing an objective
standard and a blindfold indicating that justice should be impartial.

Legal systems vary between countries, with their differences analysed

in comparative law. In civil law jurisdictions, a legislature or other central
body codifies and consolidates the law. In common law systems, judges
make binding case law through precedent, although on occasion this may be
overturned by a higher court or the legislature. Historically, religious
law influenced secular matters, and is still used in some religious
communities. Sharia law based on Islamic principles is used as the primary legal
system in several countries, including Iran and Saudi Arabia.
Law's scope can be divided into two domains. Public law concerns government
and society, including constitutional law, administrative law, and criminal
law. Private law deals with legal disputes between individuals and/or
organisations in areas such as contracts, property, torts/delicts and commercial

30
law. This distinction is stronger in civil law countries, particularly those with a
separate system of administrative courts; by contrast, the public-private law
divide is less pronounced in common law jurisdictions.
Law provides a source of scholarly inquiry into legal history, philosophy, economic
analysis and sociology. Law also raises important and complex issues concerning
equality, fairness, and justice.

The judicial process is the series of steps a legal dispute goes through in the court
system. It deals with procedural issues, and it determines the roles of the judge
and the jury in a courtroom. The judicial process also deals with the role and
jurisdiction of individual courts over each type of law.

Divination and magic charms

Magic lore in the Philippines is extremely fascinating. We

have Mangkukulams and their deadly dolls, along with mysterious tales
of Agimat – powerful charms that can make someone become a god among men.
Of course we can never forget the mysticism brought by the Babaylan as they
invoke spirits and deities with their dance and trance.
If those are not enough to trigger your inner magician, here are some other
interesting and bizarre lore and rites. These are sure to make you realize the
culture of magic in the Philippines stirs both allurement and danger into a single
cocktail of folklore and mythology. A word of warning though: drink at your own
risk.

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Divination Magic
Divination is categorized as magic that enables someone to see future events.
Our ancestors had many methods for them to have a glimpse of things to come,
especially during sowing season or during special events like raids and hunting.

Economic life is the period over which an entity expects to be able to use an
asset, assuming a normal level of usage and preventive maintenance. Economic
life can also refer to the number of units produced; for example, the economic
life of a vehicle may be 100,000 miles, rather than three years.

Baybayin
Baybayin (Tagalog pronunciation: [bai̯ˈba:jɪn], pre-kudlit: ᜊᜊᜌᜒ, virama-krus-
kudlit: ᜊᜌ᜔ᜊᜌᜒᜈ᜔, virama-pamudpod: ᜊᜌ᜴ᜊᜌᜒᜈ᜴ ; also incorrectly
known as alibata) is a pre-Hispanic Philippine script. It is
an alphasyllabary belonging to the family of the Brahmic scripts. It was widely
used in Luzon and other parts of the Philippines prior to and during the 16th and
17th centuries before being supplanted by the Latin alphabet during the period of
Spanish colonization. The characters are in the Unicode Basic Multilingual Plane
(BMP), and were first proposed for encoding in 1998 by Michael Everson together
with three other known indigenous scripts of the Philippines. In the 19th and 20th
centuries, baybayin survived and evolved into the forms of Tagbanwa
script of Palawan, Hanuno'o and Buhid scripts of Mindoro, and was used to create
the modern Kulitan script of the Kapampangan, and Ibalnan script of the Palaw'an
tribe.[citation needed]The Archives of the University of Santo Tomas in Manila,
one of the largest archives in the Philippines, currently possesses the world's
biggest collection of ancient writings in baybayin. The chambers which house the

32
writings are part of a tentative nomination to UNESCO World Heritage List that is
still being deliberated on, along with the entire campus of the University of Santo
Tomas. Despite being primarily a historic script, the baybayin script has seen
some revival in the modern Philippines. It is often used in the insignia
of government agencies, and books are frequently published either partially, or
fully, in baybayin. Bills to require its use in certain cases and instruction in schools
have been repeatedly considered by the Congress of the Philippines

Literature

Noli Me Tángere (novel)

The Philippine literature is a diverse and rich group of works that has evolved
throughout the centuries. It had started with traditional folktales and legends
made by the ancient Filipinos before Spanish colonization. The main themes of
Philippine literature focus on the country's pre-colonial cultural traditions and the

33
socio-political histories of its colonial and contemporary traditions. The literature
of the Philippines illustrates the Prehistory and European colonial legacy of the
Philippines, written in both Indigenous and Hispanic writing system. Most of the
traditional literatures of the Philippines were written during the Spanish period,
while being preserved orally prior to Spanish colonization. Philippine literature is
written in Spanish, English, or any indigenous Philippine languages.
Some of the well known work of literature were created from the 17th to
19th century. The Ibong Adarna is a famous epic about an magical bird which was
claimed to be written by José de la Cruz or "Huseng Sisiw". Francisco Balagtas is
one of the country's prominent Filipino poets, he is named as one of the greatest
Filipino literary laureates for his contributions in Philippine literature. His greatest
work, the Florante at Laura is considered as his greatest work and one of the
masterpieces of Philippine literature. Balagtas wrote the epic during his
imprisonment. José Rizal, the national hero of the country, wrote the novels Noli
Me Tángere (Touch Me Not) and El Filibusterismo (The Filibustering, also known
as The Reign of Greed).
There have been proposals to revive all indigenous ethnic scripts or suyat in the
Philippines, where the ethnic script of the ethnic majority of the student
population shall be taught in public and private schools. The proposal came up
after major backlash came about when a bill declaring the Tagalog baybayin as
the national script of the country. The bill became controversial as it focuses only
on the traditional script of the Tagalog people, while dismissing the traditional
scripts of more than 100 ethnic groups in the country. The new proposal that
came after the backlash cites that if the ethnic majority is Sebwano, then the
script that will be taught is badlit. If the ethnic majority is Tagalog, then the script

34
that will be taught is baybayin. If the ethnic majority is Hanunuo Mangyan, then
the script that will be taught is hanunu'o, and so on.

Philippine dance

Philippine dance has played a tremendous role in Filipino culture. From one of
the oldest dated dances called the Tinikling, to other folkloric dances such as
the Pandanggo, Cariñosa, and Subli, and even to more modern-day dances like
the ballet, it is no doubt that dance in the Philippine setting has integrated itself in
society over the course of many years and is significantly imbedded in culture.
Each of these dances originated in a unique way and serve a certain purpose,
showcasing how diverse Philippine dances are.

35
DISTINCT MUSICAL TRADITIONS: KULINTANG MUSIC & SPANISH
LITURGICAL MUSIC
Kulintang music and Spanish liturgical music are two distinct musical traditions
from the influences of extremely different cultures.
During the pre-colonial period, Filipinos already had rich musical traditions. In the
Southern Philippines, particularly among the Magindanaon-Maranao and Tausug-
Samal-Yakan peoples, “the kulintang ensemble is often considered as the most
cultivated of the region’s musical expressions” (Hila 1989).
The kulintang refers to an ensemble of gongs laid in a row. It consists of seven,
eight, and as many as twelve gongs diminishing in size. It is
the kulintang instrument that provides the melody, and it is supported by other
instruments such as the gandingan (a set of suspended gongs), dabakan (goblet-
shaped drum), and other gongs such as agong and babendil. These other
instruments “act as drones constantly repeating a particular rhythmic pattern for
the duration of the music” (Hila 1989).
Kulintang music is usually heard in festive gatherings, official celebrations, rites
and rituals, weddings, and entertainment especially for respected visitors. Its
artistry is “considered comparable to the urban and court music of Europe and
Asia” (Maceda 1977). It is a musical concept that is believed to have come from
outside Mindanao and Sulu and is closely associated to Southeast Asia. The style
of kulintang performance varies in different parts of Mindanao. More than a
medium of entertainment and hospitality, kulintang music also serves as a
“vehicle for social interaction and group solidarity” (Hila 1989).
On the other hand, along with the Spanish colonization of the Philippines came
the influence of Western musical tradition, particularly through liturgical music.

36
“History relates that the Filipinos’ first encounter with Christian religious music
was during the Easter Sunday mass on 31 Mar 1521” (Javellana and Brillantes
1994). Friars utilized music as “an entry point in their task of evangelization” (Hila
1989).

In 1596, the Spanish educational system was established which required Filipinos
to play musical instruments such as the organ and flute, among others. Children
and natives were gathered and taught the rudiments of Western music to sing in
liturgical services, and when training was completed, they were tasked to teach
others as well. In 1601, the Augustinians, the first missionaries to arrive in the
Philippines, set up the first orchestra in the country, particularly in the Convent of
Guadalupe. Religious orders organized the schola cantorum (school of singers),
and the escuela de tiples or boys’ choirs. Among the notable Filipino musicians
during this age of church music in the Philippines is Marcelo Adonay.
Sources:
Butocan, A. (1987). Palabunibunyan: a repertoire of musical pieces for the
Maguindanaon kulintangan. Manila: The Philippine Women’s University.
Hila, A.C. (1989). Musika: an essay on Philippine music. Manila: Cultural Center of
the Philippines.
Javellana, R., & Brillantes, M.P. (1994). Liturgical music. In CCP encyclopedia of
Philippine art. (vol. 6, pp. 96-100).
Maceda, J.M. (1977). A tradition of gongs and lutes. In Filipino heritage: the
making of a nation. (vol. 3, pp. 772-776). [Manila]: Lahing Pilipino Publishing.
Maceda, J.M. (1998). Gongs & bamboo: a panorama of Philippine musical
instruments. Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press.

37
Photo:
Kulintang, Marawi City, 1970 (Source: Retrato Photo Archive)

Arts in the Philippines

Spoliarium by Juan Luna, a National Cultural Treasure

Arts in the Philippines refer to all the various forms of the arts that have
developed and accumulated in the Philippines from the beginning of civilization in
the country up to the present era. They reflect the range of artistic influences on
the country's culture, including indigenous forms of the arts, and how these
influences have honed the country's arts. These arts are divided into two distinct
branches, namely, traditional arts and non-traditional arts. Each branch is further
divided into various categories with subcategories.

38
39
40
INSTITUTIONAL IMPACT OF SPANISH RULE

The Spanish friars utilized the novel sights, sounds, and even smell of
Christianrituals and rites. They establishedFlores de MayoorSanta Cruzan,
Sinakulo(passion play), and Moro-Moro(Christian and Muslim conflict drama)All
these hypnotized the spirits of the Indios. Upon baptism, Filipinos weregiven
Christian names usually derived from the feast day of the saints when hewas born
or baptized which facilitated identification and recording ofpopulation for taw
collecting purposes.With thereduccion, the precolonial barangays metamorphosed
externally andinternally.The integration of Spanish customs and values, Christianity,
and the Castilian language which blended with the local culture.

Malolos Constitution

The Political Constitution of 1899 (Spanish: Constitución Política de 1899),

informally known as the Malolos Constitution, was the constitution of the First
Philippine Republic. It was written by Felipe Calderón y Roca and Felipe
Buencamino as an alternative to a pair of proposals to the Malolos
Congress by Apolinario Mabini and Pedro Paterno. After a lengthy debate in the
latter part of 1898, it was promulgated on 21 January 1899.

Malolos Congress in 1898

41
The church where the constitution was ratified

The constitution placed limitations on unsupervised freedom of action by the

chief executive which would have hampered rapid decision making. As it was
created during the fight for Philippine independence from Spain, however, its
Article 99 allowed unhampered executive freedom of action during wartime.
Unsupervised executive governance continued throughout the Philippine–
American War which erupted soon after proclamation.

Filipino-American Hostilities

Emilio Aguinaldo agreed to hold a peace conference between Filipino and

American leaders. The conference lasted from January 9 to 29 in 1899. It ended
without definite results, because the Americans were actually just biding time,
waiting for more reinforcements to arrive from the US. Hostilities finally exploded
between the Filipinos and Americans on February 4, 1899 in San Juan.
An American soldier named Robert Grayson, saw 4 armed Filipino men on San
Juan Del Mote Bridge and ordered them to stop, but they ignored him. This
prompted Grayson to fire at the men, who immediately fired back. The following
day MacArthur ordered his troops to openly engage the Filipinos in battle. The
Filipino American War was on. From San Juan, American soldiers marched on to

42
Pasig and nearby areas. In a matter of days, they were able to overrun Guadalupe,
Pateros, Marikina, and Caloocan.

General Antonio Luna and his men showed great heroism when they attacked
Manila on the night of February 24, 1899. They burned the living quarters of the
Americans in Tondo and Binondo, and reached as far as Azarraga Street (now
Claro M. Recto Avenue), where they met by formidable American troops. Luna
was forced to retreat to Polo, Bulacan two days later. When American
reinforcements arrived in the Philippines, General Elwell Otis immediately
attacked the northern part of Manila, while General Henry Lawton went to the
south. General Arthur MacArthu, Jr. marched to Malolos, which was then the
capital of the Philippine Republic. Malolos was taken on March 31, 1899. By this
time, however, Aguinaldo had already moved his headquarters to San Fernando,
Pampanga. General Fredrick Funston crossed the Pampanga River in April 1899
and entered San Fernando. On May 5, the Americans had gained control of
Pampanga. Fortunately, Aguinaldo was able to flee to San Isidro, Nueva Ecija.

COMPROMISE WITH COLONIALISM

The successful suppression of the various revolutionary outbreaks or

disturbances following the formal end of the Filipino-American. The involvement
during the Military Phase (1899-1913) Schurman commission was the first
significant body created by President Mckinley,with Jacob Schurman, president of
Cornell University as head. The cristian Filipinos, in the local levelwas the case of
Negros Island which had witnessed as early as 1898.Negros elite who eventually
became the stalvart of America rule. In the control government, the involvement

43
of Filipino elite in this level was represented by those who were appointed as
members of the Philippine Commission which performed executive and legislative
powers and function. Justice Arellano, who believed in the soverneity of the
United States over the Philippines.

There were two basic reasons for the elite’s readiness to accept colonialism.
Firstly, the natural fear of losing the security of their interest because of the
growing demand of the masses for the redistribution of economic benefits and
resources. The reason was the basic orientation of the elite which felt distrust in
the integrity and character of the masses whom the elite regarded as potential
troublemakers, bandits,and enemies of what they represented in society.

American teachers and missionaries opened the path to an understanding of

American benelovent policy through schools,religious mission,and especially
medical work. In their cultural communities,the most effective instruments of the
American educational policies was Dr. Najeeb M. Saleeby,a medical practitioner
turned educator. Charles R. Cameron, who succeeded Najeeb SAleeby as
Superintendent , continued the educational program for the muslims.

In cordilleras, their was a conflict between two Ifugao groups ((Sabangan

and Hapao). Humiwat,the leader of an Ifugao band that beheaded an American
soldier, surrendered and offered his cooperation in the American effort. The
Bates Treaty guaranteed peace between the Americans and Muslims in Sulu.

44
 The Carpenter-Kiram agreement (1915),the main part of this agreement
was the reference that made to certain political facts and realities as grounds for
the unquestionable assumption by the United States of sovereignty over all that
pertained to the Sultanate.

Carpenter, Governor of the Department of Mindanao and Sulu, Philippine Islands,

from 1913-1920, with the Sultan of Sulu, Jamalul Kiram II.

Source: https://rightways.wordpress.com/tag/sultan-of-sulu/

Those who could run for the for the office must be able to read and
write,and must be property owners, or have been government employees during
the Spanish period. In effect, the election law already limited participitation to
the elite. There was an election happened but several were Amricans. Filipinos
looked back to the time as the emergence of a dynamic Filipino leadership trying
to create its own democratic form.

45
Colonial Politics: Towards Complete Autonomy

On March 1921, the succeeding Republican Administration of Warren G.

Harding sought to verify Filipino preparedness for independence in view of the
rapid Filipinization that took place during the Harrison administration. There was
a special investigation mission, led by two old Philippine—hands former Governor
General W. Cameron Forbes and Maj. Gen. Leonard Wood-was appointed to look
into Philippines affairs.

The administration of Leonard Wood (1921-1927) was he took the position

that the Jones Law-the organic act operating in the Philippines- could not be
modified except by action of the U.S Congress itself.

On July 17, 1923, Manila’s metropolitan dailies headlined the resignation of

all Filipino members of Gov. Wood’s Cabinet, thus precipitating the “Cabinet
Crises” which brought the Philippines to focus of the US government and public
attention.

There was having trouble assuring his ascendancy among his own followers
and political rivals within the Nacionalista Party of Quezon on 1922.he found his
leadership none too secure-especially with the enhanced strength of the minority
Democrats after the elections of 1922.July 17,1922, and the office referred them
the next day to the Mayor of Manila, Ramon J. Fernandez, for investigation.

46
 Secretary Jose P. Laurel who had confirmed Conley’s appointment to the
police force. Quezon who was concerned about his political future, became
impatient and provoked, the Cabinet Crisis.

The veto power of Governor Wood, in the eyes of the Filipino leaders,
was being excessively exercised, ’’on the most flimsy motives”. From October
1923 to February 1924, the sixth Philippine Legislature passed 217 bills.

There were two Fundamental reasons advanced by Wood for getting the
government out of the business. First ,that that Philippine treasury needed the
money invested in the business enterprises to spend it for the greater benefit of
the public. Second, that the government were not qualified, in any nation of the
world, to conduct business or engage in any industries which would compete with
private initiative.

Henry L. Stimson was inaugurated Governor-General of the Philippines on

March 1, 1928.he established the “new era’’ of the Philippines. The most
significant achievement of Stimson’s year in the Philippines was “the cessation of
the period of acrimonious deadlock” and the substitution of cooperation and
friendly feelings between the American authority and Filipino leadership.

47
Third Republic

The Third Republic of the Philippines was inaugurated on July 4, 1946. It marked
the culmination of the peaceful campaign for Philippine Independence—the two
landmarks of which were the enactment of the Jones Law in 1916 (in which the
U.S. Congress pledged independence for the Philippines once Filipinos have
proven their capability for self-government) and the Philippine Independence Act
of 1934 (popularly known as Tydings-McDuffie) which put in place a ten-year
transition period during which the Philippines had Commonwealth status. The
Third Republic also marked the recognition by the global community of nations, of
the nationhood of the Philippines—a process that began when the
Commonwealth of the Philippines joined the Anti-Axis Alliance known as the
United Nations on June 14, 1942, receiving recognition as an Allied nation even
before independence. Thus, the inauguration of the Third Republic marked the
fulfillment of the long struggle for independence that began with the Philippine
Revolution on August 23, 1896 (recent scholarship suggests, on August 24) and
which was formalized on June 12, 1898 with the Proclamation of Philippine
Independence at Kawit, Cavite.

Hukbalahap (Huk)ho͝ok˝bälähäp´ [key], Communist-led guerrilla movement in the

Philippines. It developed during World War II as a guerrilla army to fight the
Japanese; the name is a contraction of a Tagalog phrase meaning People's Anti-
Japanese Army. ... Other Communist groups, however, have continued guerrilla
activities.

48
The Liberation of the Philippines

After the Battle of the Philippine Sea, Tinian and Guam were secured by American
forces in July, 1944 followed, after some of the fiercest fighting of the war, by
Peleliu in September (Map 35). These successes opened up a number of options
for the Americans. King wished to continue along the line of advance in the
Central Pacific, to Formosa (Taiwan), which would be a base for air and land
attacks on Japan and a linkage with the Chinese war effort. MacArthur was
determined to return to the Philippines as he had promised, and pressed for the
invasion of Luzon and Leyte, claiming they were strategically vital, and that the US
was under a moral obligation to liberate them. Nimitz wished for Iwo Jima and
Okinawa to be the targets, not Formosa, arguing that they would be equally good
as bases for bombing Japan. In a conference on Honolulu on 27–28 July 1944,
Roosevelt, MacArthur and Nimitz agreed on the Philippines route.

History of Taoism

The history of Taoism stretches throughout Chinese history. Originating in

prehistoric China, it has exerted a powerful influence over Chinese culture
throughout the ages. Taoism evolved in response to changing times, with its
doctrine and associated practices being revised and refined. The acceptance of
Taoism by the ruling class has waxed and waned, alternately enjoying periods of
favor and rejection. Most recently, Taoism has emerged from a period of
suppression and is undergoing a revival in China.
Laozi is traditionally regarded as the founder of Taoist religion and is closely
associated in this context with "original", or "primordial", Taoism. Whether he

49
actually existed is disputed, however, the work attributed to him - the Daodejing -
is dated to the 4th or 3rd century BC. However, Taoism clearly predates Laozi (Lao
Tzu) as he refers to "The Tao masters of antiquity" in Chapter 15 of the Daodejing
(Tao Te Ching). Moreover, the Yellow Emperor, Huangdi (2697–2597 BCE) Is often
associated with origin of the Tao.
Sinologist Isabelle Robinet identifies four components in the emergence of
Taoism:
1. Philosophical Taoism, i.e. the Daodejing and Zhuangzi
2. Techniques for achieving ecstasy

3. Practices for achieving longevity or immortality

4. Exorcism

Some elements of Taoism may be traced to prehistoric folk religions in China that
later coalesced into a Taoist tradition. In particular, many Taoist practices drew
from the Warring-States-era phenomena of the Wu (shaman) (connected to the
"shamanism" of Southern China) and the Fangshi (which probably derived from
the "archivist-soothsayers of antiquity, one of whom supposedly was Laozi
himself"), even though later Taoists insisted that this was not the case. Both
terms were used to designate individuals dedicated to "... magic, medicine,
divination,... methods of longevity and to ecstatic wanderings" as well as
exorcism; in the case of the wu, "shamans" or "sorcerers" is often used as a
translation. The fangshi were philosophically close to the School of Yin-Yang, and
relied much on astrological and calendrical speculations in their divinatory
activities.

50
Taoism

Taoism (/ˈtaʊ-/), or Daoism (/ˈdaʊɪzəm/, /ˈdaʊ-/), is a philosophical tradition

of Chinese origin which emphasizes living in harmony with
the Tao (Chinese: 道; pinyin: Dào; lit. 'the Way', also romanised as Dao). The Tao is
a fundamental idea in most Chinese philosophical schools; in Taoism, however, it
denotes the principle that is the source, pattern and substance of everything that
exists. Taoism differs from Confucianism by not emphasizing rigid rituals and
social order, but is similar in the sense that it is a teaching about the various
disciplines for achieving "perfection" by becoming one with the unplanned
rhythms of the universe called "the way" or "tao." Taoist ethics vary depending on
the particular school, but in general tend to emphasize wu wei (action without
intention), "naturalness", simplicity, spontaneity and the Three Treasures: 慈 ,
"compassion", 儉, "frugality" and 不敢為天下先, "humility".

Taoism

Tao, a Chinese word signifying the "way",

"path", "route", "road" or sometimes more

51
loosely "doctrine".

Chinese name

Chinese 道教

Hanyu Pinyin Dàojiào[1]

Literal meaning "The Way"

Transcriptions

Standard Mandarin

Hanyu Pinyin Dàojiào[1]

Bopomofo ㄉㄠˋ ㄐㄧㄠˋ

Gwoyeu Romatzyh Dawjiaw

Wade–Giles Tao4-chiao4

Yale Romanization Dàujyàu

IPA [tâu.tɕjâu]

Wu

Romanization Doh 入 goh 平

52
 Yue: Cantonese

Yale Romanization Douhgaau

Jyutping Dou6gaau3

IPA [tòu.kāːu]

Southern Min

Hokkien POJ Tō-kàu

Tâi-lô Tō-kàu

Middle Chinese

Middle Chinese dáw kæ̀ w

Old Chinese

Baxter–Sagart *[kə.l]ˤuʔ s.kˤraw-

(2014) s

Vietnamese name

Vietnamese alphabet Đạo giáo

53
 Chữ Hán 道教

Korean name

Hangul 도교

Hanja 道敎

Transcriptions

Revised Romanization Dogyo

McCune–Reischauer Togyo

Japanese name

Kanji 道教

Hiragana どうきょう

Transcriptions

Romanization Dōkyō

The roots of Taoism go back at least to the 4th century BCE. Early Taoism drew its
cosmological notions from the School of Yinyang (Naturalists) and was deeply
influenced by one of the oldest texts of Chinese culture, the I Ching (Yi Jing),
which expounds a philosophical system about how to keep human behaviour in

54
accordance with the alternating cycles of nature. The "Legalist" Shen Buhai (c. 400
– c. 337 BCE) may also have been a major influence, expounding
a realpolitik of wu wei. The Tao Te Ching (Dao De Jing), a compact book
containing teachings attributed to Laozi ( 老 子 ; Lǎozǐ; Lao³ Tzŭ³), is widely
considered the keystone work of the Taoist tradition, together with the
later writings of Zhuangzi.
Taoism has had a profound influence on Chinese culture in the course of the
centuries and Taoists ( 道 士 ; dàoshi, "masters of the Tao"), a title traditionally
attributed only to the clergy and not to their lay followers, usually take care to
note the distinction between their ritual tradition and the practices of Chinese
folk religion and non-Taoist vernacular ritual orders, which are often mistakenly
identified as pertaining to Taoism. Chinese alchemy (especially neidan), Chinese
astrology, Chan (Zen) Buddhism, several martial arts, traditional Chinese
medicine, feng shui and many styles of qigong have been intertwined with Taoism
throughout history. Beyond China, Taoism also had influence on surrounding
societies in Asia.
Today, the Taoist tradition is one of the five religious doctrines officially
recognised by the People's Republic of China. It is also a major
religion in Taiwan and claims adherents in a number of other societies, in
particular in Hong Kong, Macau and Southeast Asia.

THE CONTINUING CRISIS

The experience of the 1970s and 1980s contrasted sharply with that of the 1950s
and 1960s, though again the suspicion that conditions might have changed
spread only gradually. A recession in 1970–71 was quite widespread and long-

55
lasting, and Swedish output actually declined, but the boom seemed to return in
1973. Then in 1974–75 total output declined in nearly all western European
countries for the first time since the 1930s. Another boom year followed in 1976,
but recession returned in 1977 and again from 1979 to 1982, when most
countries experienced declines in output. ‘Recession’ began to sound less like an
analytical concept and more like an official euphemism intended to divert
attention from some unpleasant facts. In all western European countries average
rates of growth of total output were lower and fluctuations in the rates greater
during the 1970s and 1980s than during the late 1950s and 1960s. Some of the
contrasts were striking; for instance, during the 1970s Swiss industrial output
grew at less than one-tenth the rate maintained during the 1960s. Moreover,
though the eastern European economies had continued to expand relatively
rapidly until the mid-1970s, beginning in the late 1970s they too slowed.

Philippines Economy Profile

Economy - overview The economy has been relatively resilient to global

economic shocks due to less exposure to troubled
international securities, lower dependence on exports,
relatively resilient domestic consumption, large
remittances from about 10 million overseas Filipino
workers and migrants, and a rapidly expanding services
industry. During 2017, the current account balance fell into
the negative range, the first time since the 2008 global
financial crisis, in part due to an ambitious new
infrastructure spending program announced this year.

56
However, international reserves remain at comfortable
levels and the banking system is stable.

Efforts to improve tax administration and expenditures

management have helped ease the Philippines' debt
burden and tight fiscal situation. The Philippines received
investment-grade credit ratings on its sovereign debt under
the former AQUINO administration and has had little
difficulty financing its budget deficits. However, weak
absorptive capacity and implementation bottlenecks have
prevented the government from maximizing its
expenditure plans. Although it has improved, the low tax-
to-GDP ratio remains a constraint to supporting
increasingly higher spending levels and sustaining high and
inclusive growth over the longer term.

Economic growth has accelerated, averaging over 6% per

year from 2011 to 2017, compared with 4.5% under the
MACAPAGAL-ARROYO government; and competitiveness
rankings have improved. Although 2017 saw a new record
year for net foreign direct investment inflows, FDI to the
Philippines has continued to lag regional peers, in part
because the Philippine constitution and other laws limit
foreign investment and restrict foreign ownership in
important activities/sectors - such as land ownership and

57
public utilities.

Although the economy grew at a rapid pace under the

AQUINO government, challenges to achieving more
inclusive growth remain. Wealth is concentrated in the
hands of the rich. The unemployment rate declined from
7.3% to 5.7% between 2010 and 2017; while there has
been some improvement, underemployment remains high
at around 17% to 18% of the employed population. At least
40% of the employed work in the informal sector. Poverty
afflicts more than a fifth of the total population but is as
high as 75% in some areas of the southern Philippines.
More than 60% of the poor reside in rural areas, where the
incidence of poverty (about 30%) is more severe - a
challenge to raising rural farm and non-farm incomes.
Continued efforts are needed to improve governance, the
judicial system, the regulatory environment, the
infrastructure, and the overall ease of doing business.

2016 saw the election of President Rodrigo DUTERTE, who

has pledged to make inclusive growth and poverty
reduction his top priority. DUTERTE believes that illegal
drug use, crime and corruption are key barriers to
economic development. The administration wants to
reduce the poverty rate to 17% and graduate the economy

58
 to upper-middle income status by the end of President
DUTERTE’s term in 2022. Key themes under the
government’s Ten-Point Socioeconomic Agenda include
continuity of macroeconomic policy, tax reform, higher
investments in infrastructure and human capital
development, and improving competitiveness and the
overall ease of doing business. The administration sees
infrastructure shortcomings as a key barrier to sustained
economic growth and has pledged to spend $165 billion on
infrastructure by 2022. Although the final outcome has yet
to be seen, the current administration is shepherding
legislation for a comprehensive tax reform program to raise
revenues for its ambitious infrastructure spending plan and
to promote a more equitable and efficient tax system.
However, the need to finance rehabilitation and
reconstruction efforts in the southern region of Mindanao
following the 2017 Marawi City siege may compete with
other spending on infrastructure.

GDP (purchasing $877.2 billion (2017 est.)

power parity)
$822.2 billion (2016 est.)

$769.3 billion (2015 est.)

note: data are in 2017 dollars

59
GDP (official $313.6 billion (2017 est.)
exchange rate)

GDP - real growth 6.04% (2019 est.)

rate
6.34% (2018 est.)

6.94% (2017 est.)

GDP - per capita $8,400 (2017 est.)

(PPP)
$8,000 (2016 est.)

$7,600 (2015 est.)

note: data are in 2017 dollars

Gross national 24.3% of GDP (2017 est.)

saving
24% of GDP (2016 est.)

23.7% of GDP (2015 est.)

GDP - composition, household consumption: 73.5% (2017 est.)

by end use
government consumption: 11.3% (2017 est.)

investment in fixed capital: 25.1% (2017 est.)

investment in inventories: 0.1% (2017 est.)

exports of goods and services: 31% (2017 est.)

imports of goods and services: -40.9% (2017 est.)

60
GDP - composition agriculture: 9.6% (2017 est.)
by sector
industry: 30.6% (2017 est.)

services: 59.8% (2017 est.)

Population below 21.6% (2017 est.)

poverty line

Labor force 41.533 million (2020 est.)

Labor force - by agriculture: 25.4%

occupation
industry: 18.3%

services: 56.3% (2017 est.)

Unemployment rate 5.11% (2019 est.)

5.29% (2018 est.)

Unemployment, total: 6.7%

youth ages 15-24
male: 5.8%

female: 8.2% (2018 est.)

Household income lowest 10%: 3.2%

or consumption by
highest 10%: 29.5% (2015 est.)
percentage share

Distribution of 44.4 (2015 est.)

61
family income - Gini
index 46 (2012 est.)

Budget revenues: 49.07 billion (2017 est.)

expenditures: 56.02 billion (2017 est.)

Taxes and other 15.6% (of GDP) (2017 est.)

revenues

Budget surplus (+) or -2.2% (of GDP) (2017 est.)

deficit (-)

Public debt 39.9% of GDP (2017 est.)

39% of GDP (2016 est.)

Inflation rate 2.9% (2017 est.)

(consumer prices)
1.3% (2016 est.)

Central bank 3.56% (31 December 2017)

discount rate
3.56% (31 December 2016)

Commercial bank 5.63% (31 December 2017 est.)

prime lending rate
5.64% (31 December 2016 est.)

Stock of narrow $71.13 billion (31 December 2017 est.)

62
money $61.62 billion (31 December 2016 est.)

Stock of broad $71.13 billion (31 December 2017 est.)

money
$61.62 billion (31 December 2016 est.)

Stock of domestic $209.8 billion (31 December 2017 est.)

credit
$184.6 billion (31 December 2016 est.)

Market value of $352.2 billion (31 December 2017 est.)

publicly traded
$290.4 billion (31 December 2017 est.)
shares
$286.1 billion (31 December 2015 est.)

Agriculture - rice, fish, livestock, poultry, bananas, coconut/copra, corn,

products sugarcane, mangoes, pineapple, cassava

Industries semiconductors and electronics assembly, business process

outsourcing, food and beverage manufacturing,
construction, electric/gas/water supply, chemical products,
radio/television/communications equipment and
apparatus, petroleum and fuel, textile and garments, non-
metallic minerals, basic metal industries, transport
equipment

Industrial 7.2% (2017 est.)

production growth

63
rate

Current Account -$3.386 billion (2019 est.)

Balance
-$8.877 billion (2018 est.)

Exports $48.2 billion (2017 est.)

$57.41 billion (2016 est.)

Exports - semiconductors and electronic products, machinery and

commodities transport equipment, wood manufactures, chemicals,
processed food and beverages, garments, coconut oil,
copper concentrates, seafood, bananas/fruits

Exports - partners Japan 16.4%, US 14.6%, Hong Kong 13.7%, China 11%,
Singapore 6.1%, Thailand 4.3%, Germany 4.1%, South
Korea 4% (2017)

Imports $89.39 billion (2017 est.)

$78.28 billion (2016 est.)

Imports - electronic products, mineral fuels, machinery and transport

commodities equipment, iron and steel, textile fabrics, grains, chemicals,
plastic

Imports - partners China 18.1%, Japan 11.4%, South Korea 8.8%, US 7.4%,

64
 Thailand 7.1%, Indonesia 6.7%, Singapore 5.9% (2017)

Reserves of foreign $81.57 billion (31 December 2017 est.)

exchange and gold
$80.69 billion (31 December 2016 est.)

Debt - external $76.18 billion (31 December 2017 est.)

$74.76 billion (31 December 2016 est.)

Stock of direct $78.79 billion (31 December 2017 est.)

foreign investment -
$64.51 billion (31 December 2016 est.)
at home

Stock of direct $47.82 billion (31 December 2017 est.)

foreign investment -
$43.89 billion (31 December 2016 est.)
abroad

Exchange rates Philippine pesos (PHP) per US dollar -

50.4 (2017 est.)

47.493 (2016 est.)

47.493 (2015 est.)

45.503 (2014 est.)

44.395 (2013 est.)

Fiscal year calendar year

65
EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

External affairs, also often called external relations, covers a broad range of
functions for an organization. These may include media relations, fund raising,
marketing, communications, public relations, advocacy, outreach and government
relations. External-affairs professionals may work in a variety of employment
settings such as a large company, nonprofit organization or hospital.

Basics

External affairs departments are tasked with promoting the public image of an
organization and advancing its financial sustainability. Organizations that are
more heavily affected by government regulations may spend more time liaising
with government officials, while others may focus more on fund raising or
enhancing public awareness of the organization.

Duties

Specific job duties may vary by position level; however, external affairs
professionals are typically tasked with creating and implementing public relations,
marketing and/or communications strategies; developing fund raising plans;
department budgeting; building and fostering relationships with constituents; and
enhancing the organization's public image and brand.

Within the area of government relations, tasks may include acting as the
government liaison, working with the executive team to develop the

66
organization's legislative priorities and monitoring current legislation and
government regulations. Fund raising tasks may include organizing fund raising
events, direct mail campaigns, corporate donations and major gifts.
Communications and marketing tasks may include overseeing the design of
marketing materials such as brochures and advertising campaigns.

Qualifications

Higher-level external affairs positions, such as directors and vice presidents,

typically require a bachelor & rsquo;s degree in public relations, marketing,
communications or related field, with an advanced degree preferred. At least 10
years experience in a senior management position is also typically required. This
should include experience working with media, public and/or government
officials.

Skills

In addition to education and previous work experience, a number of personal

attributes are typically required for this field. Higher-level external affairs
positions tend to be very visible so strong interpersonal and presentation skills
are necessary, as is the ability to work well under pressure and within the public
eye.

Salary Information

According to Indeed.com, as of July 2010, the average annual salaries for external
affairs professionals are $74,000 for a director of external affairs, $91,000 for a
chief of external affairs and $67,000 for a coordinator of external affairs.

67
Social science

Social science, any branch of academic study or science that deals with human
behaviour in its social and cultural aspects. Usually included within the social
sciences are cultural (or social) anthropology, sociology, psychology, political
science, and economics. The discipline of historiography is regarded by many as a
social science, and certain areas of historical study are almost indistinguishable
from work done in the social sciences. Most historians, however,
consider history as one of the humanities. In the United States, focused programs,
such as African-American Studies, Latinx Studies, Women, Gender, and Sexuality
Studies, are, as a rule, also included among the social sciences, as are often Latin
American Studies and Middle Eastern Studies, while, for instance, French,
German, or Italian Studies are commonly associated with humanities. In the past,
Sovietology was always considered a social science discipline, in contrast to
Russian Studies.

Martial law

Martial law is the imposition of direct military control of normal civil functions or
suspension of civil law by a government, especially in response to a temporary
emergency where civil forces are overwhelmed, or in an occupied territory.
Martial law involves the temporary substitution of military authority for civilian
rule and is usually invoked in time of war, rebellion, or natural disaster. Abstract:
When martial law is in effect, the military commander of an area or country has
unlimited authority to make and enforce laws.

Typically, the imposition of martial law accompanies curfews; the suspension of

civil law, civil rights, and habeas corpus; and the application or extension of

68
military law or military justice to civilians. Civilians defying martial law may be
subjected to military tribunal (court-martial).

There are many opportunists and bad people out there that will thrive under
martial law. You will need to be able to defend yourself from such people.
Defending yourself from an attack is the worst case scenario and best avoided by
staying out of sight. ... Your welfare during martial law will depend on your
preparedness.

People Power Revolution

The People Power Revolution (also known as the EDSA Revolution,

the Philippine Revolution of 1986, EDSA 1986, EDSA I (pronounced as EDSA
One or EDSA Uno) and EDSA People Power) was a series of
popular demonstrations in the Philippines, mostly in Metro Manila, from February
22–25, 1986. There was a sustained campaign of civil resistance against regime
violence and electoral fraud. The nonviolent revolution led to the departure
of Ferdinand Marcos, the end of his 20-year presidential term and the restoration
of democracy in the Philippines.

People Power Revolution

69
 Hundreds of thousands of people filling
up Epifanio delos Santos Avenue (EDSA), facing
northbound towards the Boni Serrano Avenue-
EDSA intersection.
(February 1986)

It is also referred to as the Yellow Revolution due to the presence of yellow

ribbons during demonstrations (in reference to the Tony Orlando and Dawn song
"Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree") following the assassination of
Filipino senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, Jr. in August 1983 upon his return to the
Philippines from exile. It was widely seen as a victory of the people against two
decades of presidential rule by President Marcos, and made news headlines as
"the revolution that surprised the world".
The majority of the demonstrations took place on a long stretch of Epifanio de los
Santos Avenue, more commonly known by its acronym EDSA, in Metro
Manila from February 22–25, 1986. They involved over two million Filipino
civilians, as well as several political and military groups, and religious groups led

70
by Cardinal Jaime Sin, the Archbishop of Manila, along with Catholic Bishops'
Conference of the Philippines President Cardinal Ricardo Vidal, the Archbishop of
Cebu. The protests, fueled by the resistance and opposition from years of
governance by President Marcos and his cronies, culminated with the absolute
ruler and his family fleeing Malacañang Palace to exile in Hawaii. Ninoy Aquino's
widow, Corazon Aquino, was immediately installed as the eleventh President as a
result of the revolution.
Though sometimes described as a peaceful revolution, the People Power
Revolution coincided with more militant and violent revolutionary movements
that had formed during the Marcos dictatorship, namely the communist CPP–
NPA–NDF rebellion[7][failed verification] and the Muslim independence
movement of the Moro National Liberation Front.

71
72
73
74
ANDRES BONIFACIO AND THE KATIPUNAN

Andres Bonifacio was born on November 30, 1863 in a small hut at Calle
Azcarraga, presently known as Claro M. Recto Avenue in Tondo, Manila. His
parents were Santiago Bonifacio and Catalina de Castro.

Andres was the eldest in a brood of five. His other siblings were Ciriaco,
Procopio, Troadio, Esperidiona and Maxima. He obtained his basic education
through a certain Guillermo Osmeña of Cebu. The Bonifacio family was orphaned
when Andres was barely fourteen. With this, Andres assumed the responsibility
of raising his younger siblings.

In order to support the needs of their family, he maximized his skills in making
crafts and sold paper fans and canes. He also worked as messenger in Fleming &
Company. Eventually, he moved to Fressel & Company, where he worked as
warehouse man until 1896. Poverty never hindered Andres’ thirst for
knowledge. He devoted most of his time reading books while trying to improve
his knowledge in the

Spanish and Tagalog language. The warehouse of Fressel & Company served as
his library and study room.

Andres was married to Gregoria de Jesus who happened to be his second wife.
His first wife – Monica- died of leprosy a year after their marriage. Gregoria was
only sixteen years old and Andres was twenty-nine when their romance sprung.
At first, Gregoria’s parents were against their relationship, but in time, allowed

75
the couple to be married in Catholic rites. The two were married in 1892, both in
Catholic and Katipunan rites. Gregoria chose “Lakambini” as her nom de guerre.

76
77
List of presidents of the Philippines by previous executive experience

This is a list of the current and former Philippine Presidents by previous

Executive Experience before they became President of the Philippines. Executive
experience is defined as having been something to where one is the top decision
maker in a company, a regional constituency, a military unit, or something alike.
Positions like Army General, Governor, Vice Governor, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Vice
President of the Philippines, and Chief Executive Officer are included, though not
limited to just that.

Orde Previous Executive

President
r Experience

1 Emilio Mayor of Kawit, President of

Aguinaldo the Tejeros Revolutionary
Government, President of
the Biak-na-Bato Republic,
Dictator of the Dictatorial
Government & President of
the Revolutionary

78
 Government

Manuel L.
2 Governor of Tayabas
Quezon

Jose
3 Paciano Secretary of the Interior
Laurel

Governor of Cebu, Secretary

Sergio
4
Osmeña of Public Instruction, Vice
President of the Philippines

Manuel
5 Governor of Capiz
Roxas

Elpidio Vice President of the

6
Quirino Philippines

Military Governor
Ramon of Zambales, Secretary of
7
Magsaysay Department of National
Defense

Carlos
Governor of Bohol, Vice
8 Polestico
President of the Philippines
Garcia

9 Diosdado Vice President of the

79
 Macapagal Philippines

Member of the House of

Representatives for three
terms, Senator of the
Ferdinand Philippines in 1959, Senate
10 Edralin minority floor leader in 1960,
Marcos Executive Vice President of
the Liberal Party in and
served as the party president
from 1961 to 1964.

Corazon
No previous executive
11 Cojuanco
experience.
Aquino

Chief of Staff of the Armed

Fidel Valdez Forces of the Philippines,
12
Ramos Secretary of Department of
National Defense

Mayor of San Juan, Metro

Joseph Manila, Vice President of the
13 Ejercito Philippines, Chairman of the
Estrada Presidential Anti-Crime
Commission

14 Gloria Vice President of the

80
 Philippines, Secretary of
Department of Social
Welfare and Development,
Macapagal- Undersecretary of the
Arroyo Department of Trade and
Industry, Assistant Secretary
of the Department of Trade
and Industry

Secretary of the Interior and

Local Government, Deputy
Speaker of the House of
Representatives, Senator,
Senate Committee on Local
Benigno S.
15 Government, Vice-
Aquino III
Chairperson of the
Committee on Justice and
Human Rights, Chairperson
of the Senate Committee on
Local Government

Mayor of Davao City, Vice

Rodrigo Roa Mayor of Davao City
16
Duterte

81
Emilio Aguinaldo
president of Philippines

Emilio Aguinaldo, (born March 22/23, 1869, near Cavite, Luzon, Philippines—died
February 6, 1964, Quezon City), Filipino leader and politician who fought first
against Spain and later against the United States for the independence of
the Philippines

Emilio Aguinaldo

QUICK FACTS

BORN

March 22, 1869 or March 23, 1869

near Cavite, Philippines

DIED

82
 February 6, 1964
Quezon City, Philippines

ROLE IN

 Spanish-American War
 Battle Of Manila Bay
 Philippine Revolution

Aguinaldo was of Chinese and Tagalog parentage. He attended San Juan de Letrán
College in Manila but left school early to help his mother run the family farm.
In August 1896 he was mayor of Cavite Viejo (present-day
Kawit; adjacent to Cavite city) and was the local leader of the Katipunan, a
revolutionary society that fought bitterly and successfully against the Spanish. In
December 1897 he signed an agreement called the Pact of Biac-na-Bató with the
Spanish governor general. Aguinaldo agreed to leave the Philippines and to
remain permanently in exile on condition of a substantial financial reward from
Spain coupled with the promise of liberal reforms. While first in Hong Kong and
then in Singapore, he made arrangements with representatives of the American
consulates and of Commodore George Dewey to return to the Philippines to assist
the United States in the war against Spain.

Manuel Luis Quezon y Molina (19 August 1878 – 1 August 1944), also referred to
by his initials MLQ, was a Filipino statesman, soldier and politician who served as
president of the Commonwealth of the Philippines from 1935 to 1944. He was the
first Filipino to head a government of the entire Philippines (as opposed to the
government of previous Philippine states), and is considered to have been the
second president of the Philippines, after Emilio Aguinaldo (1899–1901).

83
His Excellency

Manuel L. Quezon

2nd President of the Philippines

In office
15 November 1935 – 1 August 1944

Vice President Sergio Osmeña

Preceded by Emilio Aguinaldo (1901)

Macario Sakay (1906)
Frank Murphy (Governor
General)

Succeeded by Sergio Osmeña

84
 José P. Laurel (de facto)

Secretary of National Defense

In office
16 July 1941 – 11 December 1941

Preceded by Teófilo Sison

Succeeded by Jorge B. Vargas

1st President of the Senate of the

Philippines

In office
29 August 1916 – 15 November 1935

Preceded by Position established

Succeeded by Gil Montilla (National

Assembly Speaker)

Senator of the Philippines

from the 5th District

In office
16 October 1916 – 15 November 1935

Serving with

85
Vicente Ilustre (1916–1919)
Antero Soriano (1919–1925)
José P. Laurel (1925–1931)
Claro M. Recto (1931–1935)

Preceded by Position established

Succeeded by Position abolished

Resident Commissioner of the Philippines

In office
23 November 1909 – 15 October 1916

Serving with Benito Legarda (1909–1912)

Preceded by Pablo Ocampo

Succeeded by Teodoro R. Yangco

House Majority Leader

In office
16 October 1907 – 23 November 1909

Preceded by Position established

Succeeded by Alberto
Barreto (Philippine

86
 Assembly)

Member of the Philippine Assembly

from Tayabas's 1st district

In office
16 October 1907 – 15 May 1909

Preceded by Position established

Succeeded by Filemon Pérez

Governor of Tayabas

In office
1906–1907

Preceded by Ricardo Paras

Succeeded by Alfredo Castro

Personal details

Born Manuel Luis Quezon y

Molina

19 August 1878
Baler, El

87
 Príncipe, Captaincy
General of the
Philippines

Died 1 August 1944 (aged 65)

Saranac Lake, New York,
U.S.

Resting place Quezon Memorial Circle

Political party Nacionalista Party

Spouse(s) Aurora Aragon

(m. 1918)

Children 4

Relatives Manolo
Quezon (grandson)

Education Colegio de San Juan de

Letran
University of Santo
Tomas

88
 Signature

Military service

Allegiance Philippines

Branch/service Philippine Revolutionary

Army
Philippine
Commonwealth Army

Years of 1899–1900
service 1941–1944

Rank
Major (1899–1900)

Battles/wars Philippine–American War

World War II
• Philippines Campaign
• Japanese occupation
of the Philippines

During his presidency, Quezon tackled the problem of landless peasants in the
countryside. His other major decisions include the reorganization of the islands'
military defense, approval of a recommendation for government reorganization,
the promotion of settlement and development in Mindanao, dealing with the
foreign stranglehold on Philippine trade and commerce, proposals for land

89
reform, and opposing graft and corruption within the government. He established
a government-in-exile in the U.S. with the outbreak of the war and the threat of
Japanese invasion.
It was during his exile in the U.S. that he died of tuberculosis at Saranac Lake, New
York. He was buried in the Arlington National Cemetery until the end of World
War II, when his remains were moved to Manila. His final resting place is
the Quezon Memorial Circle.
In 2015, the Board of the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation approved a
posthumous bestowal of the Wallenberg Medal upon President Quezon and to
the people of the Philippines for having reached out, between 1937 and 1941, to
the victims of the Holocaust. President Benigno Aquino III and then-94-year-old
Maria Zenaida Quezon Avanceña, the daughter of the former president, were
informed of this recognition.

José P. Laurel
president of the Philippines

José P. Laurel, in full José Paciano Laurel, (born March 9, 1891, Tanauan, Luzon,
Philippines—died November 6, 1959, Manila), Filipino lawyer, politician, and
jurist, who served as president of the Philippines (1943–45) during the Japanese
occupation during World War II.

Error! Filename not specified.00:2403:02

90
José P. Laurel

BORN

March 9, 1891
Tanauan, Philippines

DIED

November 6, 1959 (aged 68)

Manila, Philippines

TITLE / OFFICE

 President, Philippines (1943-1945)

POLITICAL AFFILIATION

 Nationalist Party

Laurel was born and raised in a town south of Manila. His father served in the
cabinet of Emilio Aguinaldo in the late 1890s. The younger Laurel received a law
degree from the University of the Philippines in 1915 and an advanced
jurisprudence degree in 1919 before earning a doctorate in civil law from Yale
University in the United States in 1920. He entered politics and was elected to the
Philippine Senate in 1925, serving there until he was appointed an
associate justice of the Supreme Court in 1936.

Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (December 1941), and the
subsequent Japanese assault on the Philippines, Laurel stayed in Manila;
President Manuel Quezon had escaped, first to the Bataan Peninsula and then to
the United States. Laurel offered his services to the Japanese, and, because of

91
his criticism of U.S. rule of the Philippines, he held a series of high posts in 1942–
43, climaxing in his selection as president in 1943. Twice in that year he was shot
by Philippine guerrillas, but each time he recovered. In July 1946 he was charged
with dozens of counts of treason, but he never stood trial; he shared in a
general amnesty declared by President Manuel Roxas in April 1948.

Laurel was the Nationalist Party’s nominee for the presidency of the Republic of
the Philippines in 1949, but he was narrowly defeated by the incumbent
president, Elpidio Quirino, the nominee of the Liberal Party. Elected to the Senate
in 1951, Laurel helped to persuade Ramon Magsaysay, then secretary of defense,
to desert the Liberals and join the Nationalists. When Magsaysay became
president, Laurel headed an economic mission that in 1955 negotiated an
agreement to improve economic relations with the United States. He retired from
public life in 1957.

Sergio Osmeña Sr. PLH (Spanish: [ˈseɾxjo ozˈmeɲa]; 9 September 1878 – 19

October 1961) was a Filipino politician who served as the fourth President of the
Philippines from 1944 to 1946. He was Vice President under Manuel L. Quezon.
Upon Quezon's sudden death in 1944, Osmeña succeeded him at age 65,
becoming the oldest person to assume the Philippine presidency until Rodrigo
Duterte took office in 2016 at age 71. A founder of the Nacionalista Party,
Osmeña was also the first Visayan to become president.

Sergio Osmeña Sr.

92
PLH

4th President of the Philippines

In office
1 August 1944 – 28 May 1946

Vice President Vacant

Preceded by Manuel L. Quezon

José P. Laurel (de facto)

Succeeded by Manuel Roxas

93
1st Vice President of the Philippines

In office
15 November 1935 – 1 August 1944

President Manuel L. Quezon

Succeeded by Elpidio Quirino

Secretary of Public Instruction, Health, and

Public Welfare

In office
1941–1944

President Manuel L. Quezon

Preceded by Jorge Bocobo

Succeeded by Carlos P. Romulo

Secretary of Public Instruction, Health, and

Public Welfare

In office
24 December 1941 – 1 August 1944

President Manuel L. Quezon

94
Secretary of Public Instruction

In office
1935–1940

President Manuel L. Quezon

Succeeded by Jorge Bocobo

2nd Senate President pro tempore of the

Philippines

In office
1922–1934

Preceded by Esperidion Guanco

Succeeded by José Clarin

Senator of the Philippines from the 10th

Senatorial District

In office
1922 – 15 November 1935
Serving with
Celestino Rodriguez (1922–1925)
Pedro Rodriguez (1925–1931)

95
Manuel C. Briones (1931–1935)

Preceded by Filemon Sotto

Succeeded by Position abolished

1st Speaker of the Philippine House of

Representatives

In office
16 October 1907 – 11 February 1922
Speaker of the National Assembly (1907–
1916)

Preceded by Office created

Succeeded by Manuel Roxas

Member of the Philippine House of

Representatives from Cebu's 2nd District

In office
16 October 1907 – 1922
Member of the National Assembly (1907–
1916)

Preceded by Office created

Succeeded by Vicente Sotto

96
Governor of Cebu

In office
1904 – 16 October 1907

Preceded by Juan F. Climaco

Succeeded by Dionisio A. Jakosalem

Personal details

Born Sergio Osmeña Sr.

9 September 1878
Cebu
City, Cebu, Captaincy
General of the
Philippines

Died 19 October
1961 (aged 83)
Quezon City, Philippines

Resting place Manila North

Cemetery, Santa

97
 Cruz, Manila, Philippines

Political party Nacionalista Party

Spouse(s) Estefania Veloso

(m. 1901; died 1918)

Esperanza Limjap

(m. 1920; his

death 1961)

Children 13 (including Sergio Jr.)

Education Colegio de San

Carlos (grade school)
San Juan de Letran
College (high school)

Alma mater San Juan de Letran

College (AB)

98
 University of Santo
Tomas (LLB)

Profession Lawyer, soldier

Signature

Military service

Allegiance Philippines

Branch/service Philippine Revolutionary

Army
Philippine
Commonwealth Army

Years of 1899–1900
service 1941–1945

Battles/wars Philippine–American
War
World War II
* Philippines Campaign
(1941–1942)
* Japanese Occupation
of the Philippines (1942–
1945)

99
 * Philippines Campaign
(1944–1945)

Prior to his accession in 1944, Osmeña served as Governor of Cebu from 1906 to
1907, Member and first Speaker of the Philippine House of Representatives from
1907 to 1922, and Senator from the 10th Senatorial District for thirteen years, in
which capacity he served as Senate President pro tempore. In 1935, he was
nominated to be the running-mate of Senate President Manuel L. Quezon for
the presidential election that year. The duo were overwhelmingly re-elected
in 1941.
He was the patriarch of the prominent Osmeña family, which includes his son,
former Senator Sergio Osmeña Jr., and his grandsons, senators Sergio Osmeña
III and John Henry Osmeña, ex-governor Lito Osmeña and Cebu City mayor Tomas
Osmeña.

Manuel Acuña Roxas (Tagalog pronunciation: [aˈkuɲa ˈɾohas]; born Manuel

Roxas y Acuña; January 1, 1892 – April 15, 1948) was the fifth President of the
Philippines who served from 1946 until his death in 1948. He briefly served as the
third and last President of the Commonwealth of the Philippines from May 28,
1946 to July 4, 1946 and then became the first President of the independent Third
Philippine Republic after the United States ceded its sovereignty over the
Philippines.

100
His Excellency

Manuel A. Roxas

5th President of the Philippines

(1st President of the Third Philippine
Republic)

In office
May 28, 1946 – April 15, 1948

Vice President Elpidio Quirino

Preceded by Sergio Osmeña

Succeeded by Elpidio Quirino

101
2nd President of the Senate of the
Philippines

In office
July 9, 1945 – May 25, 1946

President Sergio Osmeña

Preceded by Manuel L. Quezon

Succeeded by José Avelino

Senator of the Philippines

In office
July 9, 1945 – May 25, 1946

Executive Secretary

In office
December 24, 1941 – March 26, 1942

President Manuel L. Quezon

Preceded by Jorge B. Vargas

Succeeded by Arturo Rotor

Secretary of Finance

102
In office
August 21, 1941 – December 29, 1941

President Manuel L. Quezon

Preceded by Antonio de las Alas

Succeeded by Serafin Marabut

2nd Speaker of the Philippine House of

Representatives

In office
1922–1933

Preceded by Sergio Osmeña

Succeeded by Quintin Paredes

Member of the Philippine House of

Representatives from Capiz's 1st District

In office
1922–1938

Preceded by Antonio Habana

Succeeded by Ramon A. Arnaldo

103
Governor of Capiz

In office
1919–1922

Member of the Capiz Municipal Council

In office
1917–1919

Personal details

Born Manuel Roxas y Acuña

January 1, 1892
Capiz (now Roxas
City), Capiz, Captaincy
General of the
Philippines

Died April 15, 1948 (aged 56)

Clark Air Base,
Philippines

Cause of death Heart attack

Resting place Manila North

Cemetery, Santa Cruz,

104
 Manila, Philippines

Political party Liberal (1946–1948)

Other political Nacionalista (before

affiliations 1946)

Spouse(s) Trinidad de Leon

(m. 1921)

Children Gerardo Manuel Roxas

Ruby Róxas

Alma mater University of Manila

University of the
Philippines College of
Law

Profession Lawyer, Soldier

Signature

Military service

Nickname(s) Manuel

105
Allegiance Philippines

Branch/service Philippine
Commonwealth Army

Years of 1941–1945
service

Battles/wars World War II

* Japanese Occupation of
the Philippines (1942–
1945)
* Philippines Campaign
(1944–1945)

Coat of arms of Manuel Roxas

106
Elpidio Quirino y Rivera (November 16, 1890 – February 29, 1956) was
a Philippine lawyer and politician who served as the sixth President of the
Philippines from 1948 to 1953.

Elpidio R. Quirino

6th President of the Philippines

In office
April 17, 1948 – December 30, 1953

Vice None (1948–1949)

President Fernando Lopez (1949–1953)

Preceded Manuel Roxas

by

107
Succeeded Ramon Magsaysay
by

2nd Vice President of the Philippines

In office
May 28, 1946 – April 17, 1948

President Manuel Roxas

Preceded Sergio Osmeña

by

Succeeded Fernando Lopez

by

Secretary of Foreign Affairs

In office
September 16, 1946 – January 6, 1950

President Manuel Roxas

Himself

Preceded Post established

by

108
Succeeded Felino Neri
by

Secretary of Finance

In office
May 28, 1946 – November 24, 1946

President Manuel Roxas

Preceded Jaime Hernandez

by

Succeeded Miguel Cuaderno

by

In office
July 25, 1934 – February 18, 1936

President Manuel L. Quezon

Preceded Vicente Encarnación

by

Succeeded Antonio de las Alas

by

Secretary of the Interior

109
In office
1935–1938

President Manuel L. Quezon

Preceded Severino de las Alas

by

Succeeded Rafael Alunan

by

4th President pro tempore of the Senate of

the Philippines

In office
July 9, 1945 – May 25, 1946

President Sergio Osmeña

Preceded José Avelino (acting)

by

Succeeded Melecio Arranz

by

Senator of the Philippines

In office

110
July 9, 1945 – May 28, 1946

Senator of the Philippines from the First

Senatorial District

In office
1925 – November 15, 1935
Served with:
Isabelo de los Reyes (1925–1928)
Melecio Arranz (1928–1935)

Preceded Santiago Fonacier

by

Succeeded Position abolished

by

Member of the Philippine House of

Representatives from Ilocos Sur's 1st District

In office
1919–1925

Preceded Alberto Reyes

by

111
Succeeded Vicente Singson Pablo
by

Personal details

Born Elpidio Quirino y Rivera

November 16, 1890

Vigan, Ilocos Sur, Captaincy
General of the Philippines

Died February 29, 1956 (aged 65)

Novaliches, Quezon
City, Philippines

Resting Libingan ng mga

place Bayani, Taguig, Philippines

Citizenship Philippine

Nationality Ilocano

Political Liberal Party

party

Other Nacionalista (before 1945)

political

112
affiliations

Spouse(s) Alicia Syquia

(m. 1921; died 1945)

Relations Cory
Quirino (granddaughter)
Monique Lagdameo (great-
granddaughter)

Children Tomás Quirino

Armando Quirino
Norma Quirino
Victoria Quirino González
Fe Ángela Quirino

Alma University of the Philippines

mater

Profession Lawyer

Coat of arms of Elpidio Quirino

113
A lawyer by profession, Quirino entered politics when he became a representative
of Ilocos Sur from 1919 to 1925. He was then elected as senator from 1925 to
1931. In 1934, he became a member of the Philippine independence commission
that was sent to Washington, D.C., which secured the passage of Tydings–
McDuffie Act to American Congress. In 1935, he was also elected to the
convention that drafted the 1935 constitution for the newly
established Commonwealth. In the new government, he served as secretary of
the interior and finance under President Manuel Quezon's cabinet.
After World War II, Quirino was elected vice-president in the 1946 election,
consequently the second and last for the Commonwealth and first for the third
republic. After the death of the incumbent president Manuel Roxas in 1948, he
succeeded the presidency. He won the president's office under Liberal Party
ticket, defeating Nacionalista vice president and former president José P. Laurel as
well as fellow Liberalista and former Senate President José Avelino.
The Quirino administration was generally challenged by the Hukbalahaps, who
ransacked towns and barrios. Quirino ran for president again in 1953 but was
defeated by Ramon Magsaysay.

Ramon del Fierro Magsaysay Sr. (August 31, 1907 – March 17, 1957) was a
Filipino statesman who served as the seventh President of the Philippines, from
December 30, 1953 until his death in an aircraft disaster. An automobile mechanic
by profession, Magsaysay was appointed military governor of Zambales after his
outstanding service as a guerilla leader during the Pacific War. He then served

114
two terms as Liberal Party congressman for Zambales before being appointed
Secretary of National Defense by President Elpidio Quirino. He was elected
president under the banner of the Nacionalista Party.

His Excellency

Ramon Magsaysay

7th President of the Philippines

In office
December 30, 1953 – March 17, 1957

Vice President Carlos P. Garcia

Preceded by Elpidio Quirino

115
Succeeded by Carlos P. Garcia

Secretary of National Defense

In office
January 1, 1954 – May 14, 1954

President Himself

Preceded by Oscar Castelo

Succeeded by Sotero B. Cabahug

In office
September 1, 1950 – February 28, 1953

President Elpidio Quirino

Preceded by Ruperto Kangleon

Succeeded by Oscar Castelo

Member of the Philippine House of

Representatives Zambales' Lone District

In office
May 28, 1946 – September 1, 1950

Preceded by Valentin Afable

116
Succeeded by Enrique Corpus

Personal details

Born Ramon del Fierro

Magsaysay

August 31, 1907

Iba, Zambales, Philippine
Islands

Died March 17, 1957 (aged 49)

Balamban, Cebu,
Philippines

Cause of death Airplane crash

Resting place Manila North

Cemetery, Santa
Cruz, Manila, Philippines

Political party Nacionalista Party (1953–

1957)
Liberal Party[1][2] (1946–
1953)

Spouse(s) Luz Banzon

117
 (m. 1933; his death 1957)

Children  Teresita

 Milagros

 Ramon Jr.

Alma mater José Rizal University

Profession soldier, automotive

mechanic

Signature

Military service

Allegiance Philippines

Branch/service Philippine Army

Years of 1942–1945
service

Rank Captain

118
 Unit 31st Infantry Division

Battles/wars World War II

 Battle of Bataan
 Philippine
resistance against
Japan

He was the first Philippine president born during the 20th century and the first to
be born after the Spanish colonial era.

Carlos Polistico Garcia (November 4, 1896–June 14, 1971) was a Filipino teacher,
poet, orator, lawyer, public official, political economist, guerrilla, and
Commonwealth military leader who was the eighth President of the Philippines.

Carlos P. Garcia

119
8th President of the Philippines

In office
March 18, 1957 – December 30, 1961

Vice None (March 18 – December

President 30, 1957)
Diosdado Macapagal (1957–
1961)

Preceded Ramon Magsaysay

by

Succeeded Diosdado Macapagal

by

1st President of the 1971 Philippine

120
Constitutional Convention

In office
June 1, 1971 – June 14, 1971

President Ferdinand Marcos

Succeeded Diosdado Macapagal

by

4th Vice President of the Philippines

In office
December 30, 1953 – March 18, 1957

President Ramon Magsaysay

Preceded Fernando Lopez

by

Succeeded Diosdado Macapagal

by

Secretary of Foreign Affairs

In office
December 30, 1953 – March 18, 1957

President Ramon Magsaysay

121
Preceded Joaquin Miguel Elizalde
by

Succeeded Vacant
by Post later held by Felixberto
Serrano

Senator of the Philippines

In office
May 25, 1946 – December 30, 1953

Governor of Bohol

In office
December 30, 1933 – December 30, 1941

Member of the Philippine House of

Representatives from Bohol's 3rd District

In office
1925–1931

Preceded Teodoro Abueva

by

Succeeded Filomeno Caseñas Orbeta

by

122
Personal details

Born Carlos García y Polístico

November 4, 1896
Talibon, Bohol
Captaincy General of the
Philippines

Died June 14, 1971 (aged 74)

Quezon City, Metro Manila
Philippines

Resting Libingan ng mga

place Bayani, Metro Manila,
Philippines

Political Nacionalista Party

party

Spouse(s) Leonila Dimataga

(m. 1933; his death 1971)

123
 Children Linda Garcia-Campos

Alma mater Silliman University[1]

Philippine Law
School (National University)

Profession Lawyer

Signature

Coat of arms of Carlos P. Garcia

Diosdado Pangan Macapagal Sr. GCrM (Tagalog pronunciation: [makapaˈɡal],

[1] September 28, 1910 – April 21, 1997) was the ninth President of the
Philippines, serving from 1961 to 1965, and the sixth Vice-President, serving from
1957 to 1961. He also served as a member of the House of Representatives, and
headed the Constitutional Convention of 1970. He was the father of Gloria
Macapagal Arroyo, who followed his path as President of the Philippines from
2001 to 2010.

Diosdado P. Macapagal Sr.

124
GCrM OMRI

Diosdado Macapagal in 1962

9th President of the Philippines

In office
December 30, 1961 – December 30, 1965

Vice Emmanuel Pelaez

President

Preceded Carlos P. Garcia

by

125
Succeeded Ferdinand Marcos
by

2nd President of the 1971 Philippine

Constitutional Convention

In office
June 14, 1971 – January 17, 1973

President Ferdinand Marcos

Preceded Carlos P. Garcia

by

Succeeded Position abolished

by

5th Vice President of the Philippines

In office
December 30, 1957 – December 30, 1961

President Carlos P. Garcia

Preceded Carlos P. Garcia

by

126
Succeeded Emmanuel Pelaez
by

Member of the Philippine House of

Representatives from Pampanga's 1st
District

In office
December 30, 1949 – December 30, 1957

Preceded Amado Yuzon

by

Succeeded Francisco Nepomuceno

by

Personal details

Born Diosdado Pangan Macapagal

28 September 1910
Lubao, Pampanga, Philippine
Islands

Died 21 April 1997 (aged 86)

Makati, Metro

127
 Manila, Philippines

Resting Libingan ng mga

place Bayani, Metro Manila,
Philippines
14°31′11″N 121°2′39″E

Nationality Filipino

Political Liberal Party

party

Spouse(s) Purita de la Rosa

(m. 1938; died 1943)

Eva Macaraeg

(m. 1946–1997)

Children Ma. Cielo R. Macapagal-

Salgado

128
 Arturo Macapagal
Ma. Gloria M. Macapagal-
Arroyo
Diosdado M. Macapagal Jr.

Alma mater University of the Philippines

University of Santo Tomas

Profession Lawyer
Professor

Signature

Coat of arms of Diosdado Macapagal

A native of Lubao, Pampanga, Macapagal graduated from the University of the

Philippines and University of Santo Tomas, both in Manila, after which he worked
as a lawyer for the government. He first won election in 1949 to the House of
Representatives, representing a district in his home province of Pampanga. In
1957, he became vice president under the rule of President Carlos P. Garcia,
whom he later defeated in the 1961 election.
As President, Macapagal worked to suppress graft and corruption and to
stimulate the Philippine economy. He introduced the country's first land reform
law, placed the peso on the free currency exchange market, and liberalized
foreign exchange and import controls. Many of his reforms, however, were
crippled by a Congress dominated by the rival Nacionalista Party. He is also known

129
for shifting the country's observance of Independence Day from July 4 to June 12,
commemorating the day President Emilio Aguinaldo unilaterally declared the
independence of the First Philippine Republic from the Spanish Empire in 1898.
He stood for re-election in 1965, and was defeated by Ferdinand Marcos, who
subsequently ruled for 21 years.
Under Marcos, Macapagal was elected president of the Constitutional
Convention which would later draft what became the 1973 Constitution, though
the manner in which the charter was ratified and modified led him to later
question its legitimacy. He died of heart failure, pneumonia,
and renal complications, in 1997, at the age of 86.

Macapagal was also a reputed poet in the Chinese and Spanish language, though
his poetic oeuvre was eclipsed by his political biography.

Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Sr. (September 11, 1917 – September 28,
1989) was a Filipino politician and kleptocrat[8][9][10][11][12] who served as the
10th President of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. Espousing an ideology of
"constitutional authoritarianism" p414) under the New Society Movement, he
ruled as a dictator under martial law from 1972 until 1981, and kept most of his
martial law powers until he was deposed in 1986. One of the most controversial
leaders of the 20th century, Marcos' rule was infamous for its
corruption, extravagance, and brutality.

His Excellency

130
Ferdinand Marcos

Marcos in 1982

10th President of the Philippines

In office
December 30, 1965 – February 25, 1986

Prime Himself (1978–1981)

Minister Cesar Virata (1981–1986)

Vice Fernando Lopez (1965–

President 1972)

Preceded by Diosdado Macapagal

Succeeded Corazon Aquino

131
by

3rd Prime Minister of the Philippines

In office
June 12, 1978 – June 30, 1981

Preceded by Office established

(Position previously held
by Jorge B. Vargas as
Ministries involved)

Succeeded Cesar Virata

by

Secretary of National Defense

In office
August 28, 1971 – January 3, 1972

President Himself

Preceded by Juan Ponce Enrile

Succeeded Juan Ponce Enrile

by

In office

132
December 31, 1965 – January 20, 1967

President Himself

Preceded by Macario Peralta

Succeeded Ernesto Mata

by

11th President of the Senate of the

Philippines

In office
April 5, 1963 – December 30, 1965

President Diosdado Macapagal

Preceded by Eulogio Rodriguez

Succeeded Arturo Tolentino

by

Senator of the Philippines

In office
December 30, 1959 – December 30, 1965

Member of the Philippine House of

Representatives from Ilocos Norte's 2nd

133
District

In office
December 30, 1949 – December 30, 1959

Preceded by Pedro Albano

Succeeded Simeon M. Valdez

by

Personal details

Born Ferdinand Emmanuel

Edralin Marcos

September 11, 1917

Sarrat, Ilocos
Norte, Philippine Islands

Died September 28,

1989 (aged 72)
Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.

Resting Ferdinand E. Marcos

place Presidential Center, Batac,
Ilocos Norte
(1993–2016)

134
 Libingan ng mga
Bayani, Metro Manila
(since November 18, 2016)

Political Kilusang Bagong

party Lipunan (1978–1989)

Other Liberal Party (1946–1965)

political Nacionalista Party (1965–
affiliations 1972)
Independent (1972–1978)

Spouse(s) Imelda Romualdez

(m. 1954)

Children  Imee
 Bongbong
 Irene
 Aimee (adopted)
 Analisa Hegyesi Corr
(mother Evelin
Hegyesi)[1][2][3]

135
 Alma mater University of the
Philippines

Profession Lawyer, jurist, politician

Signature

Military service

Allegiance Philippines / United

States[a]

Years of 1942–1945
service

Rank First lieutenant

Major

Unit 21st Infantry Division

(USAFFE)
14th Infantry Regiment
(USAFIP-NL)

Battles/wars World War II

Marcos claimed to have played an active part in World War II, including fighting
alongside the Americans in the Bataan Death March and being the "most
decorated war hero in the Philippines". A number of his claims have been found

136
to be false, with United States Army documents describing his wartime claims as
"fraudulent" and "absurd."
Marcos began his career as a lawyer, then served in the Philippine House of
Representatives from 1949 to 1959 and the Philippine Senate from 1959 to 1965.
He was elected the President of the Philippines in 1965, and presided over an
economy that grew during the beginning and intermediate portion of his 20-year
rule, but ended in the loss of livelihood, extreme poverty, and a crushing debt
crisis. Marcos placed the Philippines under martial law on September 23,
1972, shortly before the end of his second term. The Constitution was revised,
media outlets were silenced, and violence and oppression was used against the
political opposition, Muslims suspected communists, and ordinary citizens
Before Marcos's presidency, the Philippines was the second largest economy in
Asia, behind only Japan He pursued an aggressive program of infrastructure
development funded by foreign loans, making him very popular throughout
almost all of his first term and eventually making him the first and only President
of the Third Philippine Republic to win a second term, although it would also
trigger an inflationary crisis which would lead to social unrest in his second term,
and would eventually lead to his declaration of martial law in 1972. Martial law
was ratified in 1973 through a fraudulent referendum.
After being elected for a third term in the 1981 Philippine presidential election,
Marcos's popularity suffered greatly due to the economic collapse which began in
early 1983, and the public outrage of the assassination of opposition
leader Senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr. later that year. This discontent, the
resulting resurgence of the opposition in the 1984 Philippine parliamentary
election, and the discovery of documents exposing his financial accounts and false

137
war records, led Marcos to call the snap election of 1986. Allegations of mass
cheating, political turmoil, and human rights abuses led to the People Power
Revolution of February 1986, which removed him from power. To avoid what
could have been a military confrontation in Manila between pro- and anti-Marcos
troops, Marcos was advised by US President Ronald Reagan through Senator Paul
Laxalt to "cut and cut cleanly." Marcos then fled with his family to Hawaii. He was
succeeded as president by Aquino's widow, Corazon "Cory" Aquino.
According to source documents provided by the Presidential Commission on Good
Government (PCGG, the Marcos family stole US$5 billion–$10 billion. The PCGG
also maintained that the Marcos family enjoyed a decadent lifestyle, taking away
billions of dollars from the Philippines between 1965 and 1986. His wife Imelda
Marcos, made infamous in her own right by the excesses that characterized her
and her husband's conjugal dictatorship, is the source of the term "Imeldific". Two
of their children, Imee Marcos and Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., are still
active in Philippine politics.

Maria Corazon Cojuangco Aquino (Tagalog pronunciation: [koɾaˈson aˈkino],

born Maria Corazon Sumulong Cojuangco; January 25, 1933 – August 1, 2009),
popularly known as Cory Aquino, was a Filipino politician who served as the 11th
President of the Philippines, becoming the first woman to hold that office.
Corazon Aquino was the most prominent figure of the 1986 People Power
Revolution, which ended the 20-year rule of President Ferdinand Marcos. She was
named Time magazine's Woman of the Year in 1986. Prior to this, she had not
held any elective office.

138
Her Excellency

Corazon C. Aquino

OMRI CCLH

11th President of the Philippines

In office
25 February 1986 – 30 June 1992

Prime Salvador Laurel (25

Minister February 1986 – 25 March
1986)

139
Vice Salvador Laurel
President

Preceded Ferdinand Marcos

by

Succeeded Fidel Ramos

by

Personal details

Born Maria Corazon Sumulong

Cojuangco

January 25, 1933

Paniqui, Tarlac, Philippine
Islands, U.S.

Died August 1, 2009 (aged 76)

Makati, Metro Manila,
Philippines

Resting Manila Memorial Park –

place Sucat, Parañaque City,
Philippines

Nationality Filipino

140
Political PDP–Laban
party

Other United Nationalist

political Democratic
affiliations Organization (1980–1987)

Spouse(s) Benigno Aquino Jr.

(m. 1954; his death 1983)

Relations Cojuangco family

Aquino family

Children 5,
including Benigno and Kris[1
]

Parents Jose Cojuangco (father)

Demetria Sumulong
(mother)

Relatives Josephine C. Reyes (sister)

141
 Jose Cojuangco Jr. (brother)

Alma mater College of Mount Saint

Vincent (BA)
Far Eastern University

Signature

Website coryaquino.ph

Nickname(s Cory
)

A self-proclaimed "plain housewife", she was married to Senator Benigno Aquino

Jr., the staunchest critic of President Marcos. She emerged as the leader of the
opposition after her husband was assassinated on 21 August 1983 upon returning
to the Philippines from exile in the United States. In late 1985, Marcos called for
a snap election, and Aquino ran for president with former senator Salvador
Laurel as her running mate for vice president. After the election held on 7
February 1986, the Batasang Pambansa proclaimed Marcos and his running
mate Arturo Tolentino as the winners; allegations were made of electoral fraud,
with Aquino calling for massive civil disobedience actions. Defections from
the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the support of the local Catholic
hierarchy led to the People Power Revolution that ousted Marcos and secured
Aquino's accession on 25 February 1986.
As President, Aquino oversaw the promulgation of the 1987 Constitution, which
limited the powers of the Presidency and re-established the bicameral Congress.

142
Her administration provided a strong emphasis on and concern for civil
liberties and human rights and on peace talks to resolve the ongoing Communist
insurgency and Islamist secession movements. Her economic policies centered on
restoring economic health and confidence and focused on creating a market-
oriented and socially responsible economy. In 1987, she became the first Filipino
to be bestowed with the prestigious Prize For Freedom Award.
Several coup attempts were made against Aquino's government; it also faced
various natural calamities until the end of her term in 1992. She was succeeded as
president by Fidel Ramos and returned to civilian life while remaining public
about her opinions on political issues. In recognition of her role in the world's
most peaceful revolution to attain democracy, she was awarded the
prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1998.
Aquino was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 2008; she died on 1 August 2009.
Her monuments of peace and democracy were established in the
capital Manila and her home province of Tarlac after her death. Her son Benigno
Aquino III became President of the Philippines from 30 June 2010 to 30 June
2016. Throughout her life, Aquino was known to be a devout Roman Catholic, and
was fluent in French, Japanese, Spanish, and English aside from her
native Tagalog and Kapampangan. She is highly regarded by the international
diplomatic community as the Mother of Democracy.

Fidel Valdez Ramos GCMG (Spanish: [fiˈðel βalˈdes ra.mos]; born Fidel Ramos y
Valdez; March 18, 1928), popularly known as FVR and Eddie, is a retired Filipino
general and politician who served as the 12th President of the Philippines from
1992 to 1998. He is the only career military officer who reached the rank of five-

143
star general/admiral de jure who rose from second lieutenant up to commander-
in-chief of the armed forces. During his six years in office, Ramos was widely
credited and admired by many for revitalizing and renewing international
confidence in the Philippine economy. At age 92, he is currently the oldest living
former Philippine President.

Fidel V. Ramos

GCMG

12th President of the Philippines

In office
June 30, 1992 – June 30, 1998

Vice Joseph Estrada

144
President

Preceded by Corazon Aquino

Succeeded Joseph Estrada

by

Secretary of National Defense

In office
January 22, 1988 – July 18, 1991

President Corazon Aquino

Preceded by Rafael Ileto

Succeeded Renato de Villa

by

Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the

Philippines

In office
February 25, 1986 – January 25, 1988

President Corazon Aquino

Preceded by Fabian Ver

145
Succeeded Renato de Villa
by

In office
October 24, 1984 – December 2, 1985

President Ferdinand Marcos

Preceded by Fabian Ver

Succeeded Fabian Ver

by

Chief of the Philippine Constabulary

In office
1972 – February 25, 1986

President Ferdinand Marcos

Preceded by Fabian Ver

Succeeded Renato de Villa

by

Personal details

Born Fidel Ramos y Valdez

146
 March 18, 1928 (age 92)
Lingayen,
Pangasinan, Insular
Government of the
Philippine Islands

Political Lakas-CMD II (2009–

party present)

Other Lakas-CMD I (1991–2009)

political LDP (1991)
affiliations

Spouse(s) Amelita Martinez

(m. 1954)

Children 5 (including Cristy)

Residence Asingan, Pangasinan

Makati City

Alma mater National University

United States Military

147
 Academy
University of Illinois at
Urbana–Champaign
National Defense College of
the Philippines
Ateneo de Manila
University

Occupation Soldier
Civil engineer

Awards See awards

Philippine Legion of Honor

Commander, Legion of
Merit
Military Merit Medal
United Nations Service
Medal
Vietnam Service Medal
Légion d'honneur
Distinguished Conduct
Star (Philippines)
United States Military
Academy Distinguished
Award

148
Korean Service Medal
Family Order of Laila
Utama (Brunei)
Commander, Order of
Dharma
Pratana (Indonesia)
Grand Order of
Mugunghwa
Collar, Order of Civil Merit
Honorary Knight Grand
Cross, Order of Saint
Michael and Saint
George Order of the British
Empire
Knight of the Collar, Order
of Isabella the Catholic[1]
Knight Grand
Cordon, Order of the White
Elephant
Order of Nishan-I-Pakistan
Collar, Order of Carlos III
Collar, Order of the Merit
of Chile
Knight Commander, Most
Excellent Order of the

149
 British Empire

Signature

Website Official website

Office of the
PresidentArchived

Military service

Nickname(s) Eddie, FVR

Allegiance Philippines

Years of 1950–1988
service

Rank General

Commands See commands

Platoon Leader, 2nd

Battalion Combat Team
(BCT), Counter-Insurgency
against the
Communist Hukbalahap,
1951
Infantry Company

150
Commander, 16th BCT,
Counter-Insurgency against
the
Communist Hukbalahap,
1951
Platoon Leader, 20th
BCT, Philippine
Expeditionary Forces to
Korea, United Nations
Command (PEFTOK-
UNC), Korean War, 1951–
1952
Duty, Personnel Research
Group, General
Headquarters, Armed
Forces of the Philippines,
1952–1954
Senior Aide de Camp to
Chief of Staff, Armed Forces
of the Philippines, 1958–
1960
Associate Infantry
Company Officer at Fort
Bragg, North Carolina, 1960
Founder and Commanding

151
Officer of the elite Special
Forces of the Armed Forces
of the Philippines, 1962–
1965
Chief of Staff of the
Philippine Military
Contingent-Philippine Civil
Action Group to Vietnam
(AFP-PHILCAG), Vietnam
War, 1965–1968
Presidential Assistant on
Military Affairs, 1968–1969
Commander, 3rd Infantry
Brigade Philippine Army,
1970
Chief of the Philippine
Constabulary, 1970–1986
Command and General
Staff of the Philippine
Army, 1985
Acting Chief of Staff of the
Armed Forces of the
Philippines, 1984–1985
Vice Chief of Staff of the
Armed Forces of the

152
 Philippines, 1985–1986
Military Reformist leader
during the People Power
Revolution, 1986
Chief of Staff of the Armed
Forces of the Philippines,
1986–1988
Secretary of National
Defense, 1988–1991
Commander in Chief of
the Armed Forces of the
Philippines, 1992–1998

Battles/wars Hukbalahap Campaign

Korean War, 1951–1952

(Battle of Hill Eerie, May

1952)
Vietnam War, 1965 to 1968
Battle of Marawi, 1972

153
 Coat of arms of Fidel Ramos

He rose to ranks in the Philippine military early in his career and became Chief of
the Philippine Constabulary and Vice-Chief-of-Staff of the Armed Forces of the
Philippines during the term of President Ferdinand Marcos.
During the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution, Ramos was hailed as a hero by
many Filipinos for his decision to break away from the administration of
President Marcos and pledge allegiance and loyalty to the newly-established
government of President Corazon Aquino.
Prior to his election as president, Ramos served in the cabinet of
President Corazón Aquino, first as chief-of-staff of the Armed Forces of the
Philippines (AFP), and later as Secretary of National Defense from 1986 to 1991.
[3] He was credited for the creation of the Philippine Army's Special Forces and
the Philippine National Police Special Action Force.

After his retirement, he remained active in politics, serving as adviser to his

successors.

154
Joseph Ejercito Estrada (Tagalog pronunciation: [ɛsˈtɾada], born José Marcelo
Ejercito; April 19, 1937), also known by the nickname Erap, is a Filipino politician
and former actor who served as the 13th President of the Philippines from 1998
to 2001, 9th Vice President of the Philippines from 1992 to 1998, and the
26th Mayor of the City of Manila, the country's capital, from 2013 to 2019. In
2001, he became the first president in Asia to be impeached from an executive
role and resigned from power.

His Excellency

Joseph Ejercito Estrada

Joseph Estrada in 2016

13th President of the Philippines

In office
June 30, 1998 – January 20, 2001

155
Vice Gloria Macapagal Arroyo
President

Preceded Fidel V. Ramos

by

Succeeded Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

by

26th Mayor of Manila

In office
June 30, 2013 – June 30, 2019

Vice Mayor Francisco "Isko Moreno"

Domagoso (2013–2016)
Honey Lacuna (2016–2019)

Preceded Alfredo Lim

by

Succeeded Francisco "Isko Moreno"

by Domagoso

9th Vice President of the Philippines

In office
June 30, 1992 – June 30, 1998

156
President Fidel V. Ramos

Preceded Salvador Laurel

by

Succeeded Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

by

Chairman of the Presidential Anti-Crime

Commission

In office
1992–1997

President Fidel V. Ramos

Senator of the Philippines

In office
June 30, 1987 – June 30, 1992

14th mayor of San Juan, Metro Manila

In office
August 5, 1969 – March 26, 1986

Preceded Braulio Santo Domingo

by

157
Succeeded Reynaldo San Pascual
by

Personal details

Born José Marcelo Ejercito

April 19, 1937 (age 83)

Tondo,
Manila, Commonwealth of
the Philippines

Political PMP (1997–present)

party

Other Nacionalista (1969–1988)

political Liberal (1988–1991)
affiliations NPC (1991–1997)
UNA (2012–2015)

Spouse(s) Luisa Pimentel

(m. 1959)

Children 11 (incl. Jinggoy, Joseph

158
 Victor)

Residence Santa Mesa, Manila

Alma mater Mapúa University

Central Colleges of the
Philippines

Occupation Actor, politician

Profession Businessman

Signature

Website erap.ph

Estrada gained popularity as a film actor, playing the lead role in over a hundred
films in an acting career spanning some three decades, and model, who was
started as a fashion and ramp model at the age of 13. He used his popularity as an
actor to make gains in politics, serving as Mayor of San Juan from 1969 to 1986,
as Senator from 1987 to 1992, then as Vice President under President Fidel V.
Ramos from 1992 to 1998.
Estrada was elected president in 1998 with a wide margin of votes separating him
from the other challengers, and was sworn into the presidency on June 30, 1998.
In 2000 he declared an "all-out-war" against the Moro Islamic Liberation
Front and captured its headquarters and other camps. Allegations of corruption
spawned an impeachment trial in the Senate, and in 2001 Estrada was ousted by

159
"People Power 2" after the prosecution walked out of the impeachment court
when the senator-judges voted "no" in the opening of the second envelope.
In 2007, Estrada was sentenced by a special division of
the Sandiganbayan to reclusión perpetua for the plunder of $80 million from the
government, but was later granted pardon by President and his former
deputy Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. He ran for president again in the 2010
presidential election, but was defeated by Senator Benigno Aquino III by a wide
margin. He later served as Mayor of Manila for two terms, from 2013 to 2019.

Maria Gloria Macaraeg Macapagal Arroyo (Tagalog pronunciation: [makapaˈɡal ɐ

ˈɾɔjɔ], born April 5, 1947), popularly known as GMA, is a Filipino academic and
politician who served as the 14th president of the Philippines from 2001 until
2010. Before her accession to the presidency, she served as the 10th vice
president of the Philippines from 1998 to 2001, and was a senator from 1992 to
1998. After her presidency, she was elected as
the representative of Pampanga's 2nd district in 2010 and later became
the Speaker of the House of Representatives from 2018 until her retirement in
2019. She is the first woman to hold two of the highest offices in the country: Vice
President and Speaker of the House.

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

160
Arroyo in 2018

Chairwoman of the Angeles University

Foundation

Incumbent

Assumed office
2020

14th President of the Philippines

In office
January 20, 2001 – June 30, 2010

Vice Teofisto Guingona (2001–

President 2004)

161
 Noli de Castro (2004–2010)

Preceded Joseph Estrada

by

Succeeded Benigno Aquino III

by

10th Vice President of the Philippines

In office
June 30, 1998 – January 20, 2001

President Joseph Estrada

Preceded Joseph Estrada

by

Succeeded Teofisto Guingona

by

25th Speaker of the House of

Representatives of the Philippines

In office
July 23, 2018 – June 30, 2019

162
Preceded Pantaleon Alvarez
by

Succeeded Alan Peter Cayetano

by

Secretary of National Defense

Acting

In office
November 30, 2006 – February 1, 2007

President Herself

Preceded Avelino Cruz

by

Succeeded Hermogenes Ebdane

by

In office
September 1, 2003 – October 2, 2003

President Herself

Preceded Angelo Reyes

by

163
Succeeded Eduardo Ermita
by

Secretary of Social Welfare and

Development

In office
June 30, 1998 – October 12, 2000

President Joseph Estrada

Preceded Lilian Laigo

by

Succeeded Dulce Saguisag

by

Senator of the Philippines

In office
June 30, 1992 – June 30, 1998

Deputy Speaker of the

Philippine House of Representatives

In office
August 15, 2016 – March 15, 2017

House Pantaleon Alvarez

164
Speaker

Preceded Roberto Puno

by

Succeeded Linabelle Villarica

by

Member of the
Philippine House of Representatives
from Pampanga's 2nd district

In office
June 30, 2010 – June 30, 2019

Preceded Mikey Arroyo

by

Succeeded Mikey Arroyo

by

Personal details

Born Maria Gloria Macaraeg

Macapagal

April 5, 1947 (age 73)

165
 San Juan, Rizal, Philippines

Political LDP (before 1998)

party KAMPI (1997–2009)
Lakas-CMD I (1998–2009)
Lakas-Kampi-CMD/Lakas-
CMD II (2009–2012)
PDP–Laban[1] (2017–2020)
Lakas–CMD[2] (2020–
present)

Spouse(s) Jose Miguel Arroyo

(m. 1968)

Children 3, including Mikey and Dato

Education Georgetown University

Assumption College San
Lorenzo (BA)
Ateneo de Manila
University (MA)
University of the Philippines
Diliman (PhD)

166
 Net worth ₱ 479.5 million (Dec 2018)[3]

Signature

Website Official website

Coat of arms of Gloria Arroyo

The daughter of former President Diosdado Macapagal, she studied economics

at Georgetown University in the United States, where she began a lasting friendly
relationship with her classmate and future U.S. President Bill Clinton. She then
became a professor of economics at Ateneo de Manila University, where her
eventual successor, President Benigno Aquino III, was one of her students. She
entered government in 1987, serving as the assistant secretary and
undersecretary of the Department of Trade and Industry upon the invitation of
President Corazon Aquino, Benigno's mother. After serving as a senator from
1992 to 1998, she was elected to the vice presidency under President Joseph
Estrada, despite having run on an opposing ticket.
After Estrada was accused of corruption, she resigned her cabinet position
as Secretary of Social Welfare and Development and joined the growing
opposition against the president, who faced impeachment. Estrada was soon
forced out from office by the Second EDSA Revolution in 2001, and Arroyo was
sworn into the presidency by Chief Justice Hilario Davide, Jr. on January 20 that
year. In 2003, the Oakwood mutiny occurred after signs of a martial
law declaration were seen under her rule. She was elected to a full six-year term

167
in the controversial 2004 presidential election, and was sworn in on June 30,
2004. Following her presidency, she was elected to the House of Representatives
through her home district, making her the second Philippine president—after José
P. Laurel—to pursue a lower office after their presidency.
On November 18, 2011, Arroyo was arrested and held at the Veterans Memorial
Medical Center in Quezon City under charges of electoral sabotage but released
on bail in July 2012. These charges were later dropped for lack of evidence. She
was rearrested in October 2012, on charges of misuse of $8.8 million in state
lottery funds. She was given a hospital arrest, allegedly due to "life-threatening
health conditions" certified by her doctors. On July 19, 2016, she was acquitted by
the Supreme Court by a vote of 11-4 under the administration of her ally, Rodrigo
Duterte, Also, the Supreme Court declared the DOJ's hold departure order
unconstitutional. Her lawyers afterwards stated that Arroyo no longer needed her
medical paraphernalia, releasing her from the hospital.[16]
She has since been a member of the Philippine Academy of the Spanish
Language after she announced her support to bring back Spanish as an official
language of the Philippines during her 9-year presidency.
On July 23, 2018, she was elected as the Speaker of the House of Representatives
of the Philippines under the Duterte Administration,
controversially replacing Pantaleon Alvarez. She spearheaded various
controversial bills, including a bill that sought to lower the age of criminal liability
to 12 years old.

Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino III (Tagalog pronunciation: [bɛˈniɡnɔʔ aˈkino],

born February 8, 1960), also known as "PNoy" or "Noynoy", is a Filipino politician

168
who served as the 15th president of the Philippines from 2010 until 2016. Aquino
is a fourth-generation politician and was the chairman of the Liberal Party from
2010 to 2016.

His Excellency

Benigno Simeon Aquino III

Aquino in 2015

15th President of the Philippines

In office
June 30, 2010 – June 30, 2016

Vice President Jejomar Binay

Preceded by Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

169
Succeeded by Rodrigo Duterte

Secretary of the Interior and Local

Government

Acting

In office
June 30, 2010 – July 9, 2010

Preceded by Ronaldo Puno

Succeeded by Jesse Robredo

Senator of the Philippines

In office
June 30, 2007 – June 30, 2010

Deputy Speaker of the House of

Representatives of the Philippines

In office
November 8, 2004 – February 21, 2006

Preceded by Raúl Gonzalez

Succeeded by Simeón Datumanong

Member of the Philippine House of

170
Representatives from Tarlac's 2nd District

In office
June 30, 1998 – June 30, 2007

Preceded by José Yap

Succeeded by José Yap

Personal details

Born Benigno Simeon

Cojuangco Aquino III

February 8, 1960 (age 60)

Sampaloc, Manila,
Philippines

Political party Liberal

Parents Benigno Aquino Jr.

Corazon Aquino

Relatives See Aquino family

Alma mater Ateneo de Manila

University

171
 Signature

Nickname(s) PNoy, Noynoy

On September 9, 2009, shortly after the death of his mother, Aquino officially
announced that he would be a candidate in the 2010 presidential election. He was
elected and on June 30, 2010 was sworn into office as the fifteenth President of
the Philippines at the Quirino Grandstand in Rizal Park, Manila, succeeding Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo. He ended his term on June 30, 2016, succeeded by Rodrigo
Duterte.
In 2013, Time named him one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World.

Rodrigo Roa Duterte[N 1] (born March 28, 1945), also known

as Digong and Rody, is a Filipino politician who is the current president of the
Philippines and the first from Mindanao to hold the office. He is the chairperson
of PDP–Laban, the ruling political party in the Philippines. Duterte took office at
age 71 on June 30, 2016, making him the oldest person to assume the Philippine
presidency; the record was previously held by Sergio Osmeña at the age of 65.

Rodrigo Duterte

172
Duterte in 2017

16th President of the Philippines

Incumbent

Assumed office
June 30, 2016

Vice Leni Robredo

President

Preceded Benigno Aquino III

by

Mayor of Davao City

In office

173
June 30, 2013 – June 30, 2016

Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte

Preceded Sara Duterte

by

Succeeded Sara Duterte

by

In office
June 30, 2001 – June 30, 2010

Vice Mayor Luis Bonguyan

Sara Duterte

Preceded Benjamin de Guzman

by

Succeeded Sara Duterte

by

In office
February 2, 1988 – June 30, 1998

Vice Mayor Dominador Zuño (acting)

Luis Bonguyan

174
 Benjamin de Guzman

Preceded Jacinto Rubillar

by

Succeeded Benjamin de Guzman

by

Vice Mayor of Davao City

In office
June 30, 2010 – June 30, 2013

Mayor Sara Duterte

Preceded Sara Duterte

by

Succeeded Paolo Duterte

by

In office
May 2, 1986 – November 27, 1987
Officer in Charge

Mayor Zafiro Respicio

Preceded Cornelio Maskariño

175
by

Succeeded Gilbert Abellera

by

Member of the
Philippine House of Representatives
from Davao City's 1st district

In office
June 30, 1998 – June 30, 2001

Preceded Prospero Nograles

by

Succeeded Prospero Nograles

by

Personal details

Born Rodrigo Roa Duterte

March 28, 1945 (age 75)

Maasin, Commonwealth of
the Philippines

Political PDP–Laban (2001–2009,

176
party 2015–present)[a][1][2]

Other Kabataang
political Makabayan[3] (1970s)
affiliations Laban ng Makabayang
Masang Pilipino (1998–2001)
Liberal Party (2009–2015)[1]
[2]
Hugpong sa Tawong
Lungsod (local party; 2011–
present)
Coalition for Change (2016–
present)

Spouse(s) Elizabeth Zimmerman

(m. 1973; annulled 2000)

Domestic Honeylet Avanceña

partner

Children  Paolo

 Sara

177
  Sebastian

 Veronica

Parents Vicente Duterte

Soledad Roa

Residence Malacañang Palace[4][5][6]

Education Lyceum of the Philippines

University (B.A.)
San Beda College (LL.B.)

Signature

Website president.gov.ph

Commander-in-Chief
Armed Forces of the Philippines

Commander-in-Chief Rodrigo Duterte in full Battle Dress Uniform with his

partner, Honeylet Avanceña

Born in Maasin, Southern Leyte, Duterte studied political science at the Lyceum of
the Philippines University, graduating in 1968, before obtaining a law degree

178
from San Beda College of Law in 1972. He then worked as a lawyer and was a
prosecutor for Davao City, before becoming vice mayor and, subsequently, mayor
of the city in the wake of the Philippine Revolution of 1986. Duterte won seven
terms and served as mayor of Davao for over 22 years.
Frequently described as a populist and a nationalist, Duterte's political success has
been aided by his vocal support for the extrajudicial killing of drug users and other
criminals. Duterte's political career has also received scrutiny. Various human
rights groups documented over 1,400 killings allegedly by death squads operating
in Davao between 1998 and 2016; the victims were mainly drug users, petty
criminals, and street children. A 2009 report by the Philippine Commission on
Human Rights confirmed the "systematic practice of extrajudicial killings" by
the Davao Death Squad. The Office of the Ombudsman closed an investigation in
January 2016 stating that citing no evidence, but the case has since been
reopened and reports of Duterte repeatedly confirmed that he personally killed
criminal suspects as during his term as mayor of Davao surfaced.
His domestic policy has focused on combating the illegal drug trade by initiating
the controversial War on Drugs, fighting crime and corruption, and launching
a massive infrastructure plan. He has declared his intention to pursue an
"independent foreign policy", and sought to distance the Philippines from
the United States and European Union and pursue closer ties
with China and Russia.

Inaugural Speech of the Philippine Presidents

179
 Inaugural Address
of
General Emilio Aguinaldo
President of the Philippines

[Delivered at Barasoain Church, Malolos, Bulacan, on January 23, 1899]

Honorable Representatives:

I congratulate you upon having concluded your constitutional work. From this
date, the Philippines will have a National Code to the just and wise precepts of
which we, each and every one of us, owe blind obedience, and whose liberal and
democratic guarantees also extend to all.

Hereafter, the Philippines will have a fundamental law, which will unite our
people with the other nations by the strongest of solidarities; that is the solidarity
of justice, of law, and of right, eternal truths, which are the basis of human
dignity.

I congratulate myself also on seeing my constant efforts crowned; efforts which I

continued from the time I entered the battlefield with my brave countrymen of
Cavite, as did our brothers in other provinces with no arms, but bolos, to secure
our liberty and independence.

180
And finally, I congratulate our beloved people, who from this date will cease to be
anonymous and will be able with legitimate pride to proclaim to the universe the
long coveted name of Philippine Republic.

We are no longer insurgents; we are no longer revolutionists; that is to say armed

men desirous of destroying and annihilating the enemy. We are from now on
Republicans; that is to say, men of law, able to fraternize with all other nations,
with mutual respect and affection. There is nothing lacking, therefore, in order for
us to be recognized and admitted as a free and independent nation.

Ah, Honorable Representatives! How much pain and bitterness do those passed
days of Spanish slavery bring to our minds, and how much hope and joy do the
present moments of Philippine liberty awaken in us.

Great is this day, glorious is this date; and this moment, when our beloved people
rise to the apotheosis of independence, will be eternally memorable. The 23rd of
January will be for the Philippines, hereafter a national feast, as is the Fourth of
July for the American nation. And thus, in the same manner that God helped weak
America in the last century, when she fought against powerful Albion (England),
to regain her liberty and independence; He will also help us today in our identical
goal, because the ways of Divine Justice are immutably the same in rectitude and
wisdom.

A thousand thanks, honorable Representatives, for your parliamentary work,

which enables us and establishes in a public and authentic manner, that we are a
civilized nation and also a brave one; worthy, therefore, of being freely admitted
into the concerts of nations.

181
You have justly deserved the gratitude of the country and of the government, in
that you showed the entire world, by your wisdom, sound sense, and prudence,
that in this remote and heretofore unknown portion of the world, the principles
of European and American civilization are known, and more than known; that
intelligence and hearts here are perfectly in accord with those of the most
civilized nations; and that notwithstanding the calumnious voice of our eternal
detractors, there is here, finally, a national spirit, which unites and forges
together all Filipino hearts into a single idea and single aspiration to live
independent of any foreign yoke in the democratic shadow of the Philippine
Republic.

For this reason, on seeing consecrated in our constitutional work the eternal
principles of authority, of liberty, of order and justice, which all civilized nations
profess, as the most perfect guaranty of their actual solidarity, I feel strength,
pride, and am sincerely impelled, from the bottom of my heart to shout—

Long live the Philippine Republic!

Long live the Constitution!

Long live their illustrious authors, the Representatives of the first Philippine
Congress!

182
 Inaugural Address
of
His Excellency Manuel L. Quezon
President of the Commonwealth of the Philippines

[Delivered at the Legislative Building, Manila, on November 15, 1935]

Fellow Countrymen:

In the exercise of your constitutional prerogative you have elected me to the

presidency of the Commonwealth. I am profoundly grateful for this new
expression of your confidence, and God helping me, I shall not fail you.

The event which is now taking place in our midst transcends in importance the
mere induction into office of your Chief Executive. We are bringing into being a
new nation. We are seeing the fruition of our age-old striving for liberty. We are
witnessing the final stage in the fulfillment of the noblest undertaking ever
attempted by any nation in its dealing with a subject people. And how well this
task has been performed is attested to by the blessing which from 14 million
people goes to America in this solemn hour. President McKinley’s cherished hope
has been fulfilled—the Filipinos look back with gratitude to the day when Destiny
placed their land under the beneficent guidance of the people of the United
States.

It is fitting that high dignitaries of the American Government should attend these
ceremonies. We are thankful to them for their presence here. The President of
the United States, His Excellency, Franklin D. Roosevelt, ever solicitous of our

183
freedom and welfare, has sent to us, as his personal representative, the Secretary
representative, the Secretary of War, Honorable George H. Dern, whose
friendship for our people has proven most valuable in the past. Vice President
Garner, Speaker Byrns, distinguished members of the Senate with their floor
leader, Senator Robinson, and no less distinguished members of the House of
Representatives have traveled ten thousand miles to witness this historic event. I
feel that their presence, the whole American Nation, is here today to rejoice with
us in the fulfillment of America’s pledge generously given that the Filipino people
is to become free and independent. It is my hope that the ties of friendship and
affection which bind the Philippines to America will remain unbroken and grow
stronger after the severance of our political relations with her.

In behalf of the Filipino people, I express deep appreciation to Honorable Frank

Murphy, our last Governor-General, for his just and efficient administration and
for the wholehearted assistance he has rendered us in the difficult task of laying
the constitutional foundation of our new Government.

As we enter the threshold of independent nationhood, let us pause for a moment

to pay tribute to the memory of Rizal and Bonifacio and all the heroes of our
sacred cause in grateful acknowledgment of their patriotic devotion and supreme
sacrifice.

Fellow countrymen: The government which we are inaugurating today is only a

means to an end. It is an instrumentality placed in our hands to prepare ourselves
fully for the responsibilities of complete independence. It is essential that this last

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step be taken with full consciousness of its significance and the great
opportunities that it affords to us.

Under the Commonwealth, our life may not be one of ease and comfort, but
rather of hardship and sacrifice. We shall face the problems which lie in our path,
sparing neither time nor effort in solving them. We shall build a government that
will be just, honest, efficient, and strong so that the foundations of the coming
Republic may be firm and enduring—a government, indeed, that must satisfy not
only the passing needs of the hour but also the exacting demands of the future.
We do not have to tear down the existing institutions in order to give way to a
statelier structure. There will be no violent changes from the established order of
things, except such as may be absolutely necessary to carry into effect the
innovations contemplated by the Constitution. A new edifice shall rise, not out of
the ashes of the past, but out of the standing materials of the living present.
Reverence for law as the expression of the popular will is the starting point in a
democracy. The maintenance of peace and public order is the joint obligation of
the government and the citizens. I have an abiding faith in the good sense of the
people and in their respect for law and the constituted authority. Widespread
public disorder and lawlessness may cause the downfall of constitutional
government and lead to American intervention. Even after independence, if we
should prove ourselves incapable of protecting life, liberty, and property of
nationals and foreigners, we shall be exposed to the danger of intervention by
foreign powers. No one need have any misgivings as to the attitude of the
Government toward lawless individuals or subversive movements. They shall be
dealt with firmly. Sufficient armed forces will be maintained at all times to quell

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and suppress any rebellion against the authority of this Government or the
sovereignty of the United States.

There can be no progress except under the auspices of peace. Without peace and
public order, it will be impossible to promote education, improve the condition of
the masses, protect the poor and ignorant against exploitation, and otherwise
insure the enjoyment of life, liberty, and property. I appeal, therefore, to every
Filipino to give the Government his loyal support so that tranquillity may reign
supreme in our beloved land.

Our Constitution established an independent judiciary by providing for security of

tenure and compensation of judges. But independence is not the only objective of
a good judicialy. Equally, if not more important, is its integrity which will depend
upon the judicious selection of its members. The administration of justice cannot
be expected to rise higher than the moral and intellectual standards of the men
who dispense it. To bulwark the fortification of an orderly and just government, it
shall be my task to appoint to the bench only men of proven honesty, character,
learning, and ability, so that everyone may feel when he appears before the
courts of justice that he will be protected in his rights, and that no man in this
country from the Chief Executive to the last citizen is above the law.

We are living today amidst the storm and stress of one of the most tragic epochs
of history. Acute unemployment and economic distress threaten the stability of
governments the world over. The very foundations of civilized society are shaken.
The common man alone can save humanity from disaster. It is our duty to prove
to him that under a republican system of government, he can have every

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opportunity to attain his happiness and that of his family. Protection to labor,
especially to working women and minors, just regulation of the relations between
the labor and capital in industry and agriculture, solicitous regard on the part of
the government for the well-being of the masses are the means to bring about
needed economic and social equilibrium between the component elements of
society.

A government draws the breath of life from its finances, and it must balance its
income and expenditures as any other going business concern if it expects to
survive. It is my duty, then, to see that the Government of the Commonwealth
live within its means and that it stands foursquare on a well-balanced budget.

The larger expenditures which the grave responsibilities ahead of us will entail,
including national defense, must be borne by taxation. So long as we are able to
meet those responsibilities from our present income, we shall not impose new
taxes. But we are among the least taxed people in the world and, therefore, when
necessity arises, we should be willing to accept the burden of increased taxation.
Liberty and independence can be possessed only by those who are ready to pay
the price in life or fortune.

To enable us more adequately to meet the new responsibilities of the

Commonwealth and to raise the living conditions of our people, we must increase
the wealth of the Nation by giving greater impetus to economic development,
improving our methods of agriculture, diversifying our crops, creating new
industries, and fostering our domestic and foreign commerce. I trust that the
forthcoming trade conference between representatives of the United States and

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the Philippines will result in a more just and beneficial commercial relation
between the two countries.

The establishment of an economical, simple, and efficient government; the

maintenance of an independent civil service; the implantation of an adequate
system of public instruction to develop moral character, personal discipline, civic
conscience, and vocational efficiency; the safeguarding of the health and vigor of
the race; the conservation and development of our natural resources—these and
other matters of equal import are touched upon at length in the platform of the
Coalition and in my speech of acceptance of my nomination, and it is unnecessary
for me to reiterate my views regarding them. Having been elected on the
virtuality of that platform and the policies enunciated by me in the course of the
presidential campaign, I renew my pledge faithfully to carry them into execution.

Goodwill towards all nations shall be the golden rule of my administration. The
peoples of the earth are interdependent, and their prosperity and happiness are
inseparably linked with each other. International brotherhood and cooperation
are therefore necessary. Amity and friendship, fairness and square deal in our
relations with other nations and their citizens or subjects, protection in their
legitimate investments and pursuits, in return for their temporary allegiance to
our institutions and laws, are the assurances I make on behalf of the new
Government to Americans and foreigners who may desire to live, trade, and
otherwise associate with us in the Philippines.

In the enormous task of fully preparing ourselves for independence, we shall be

beset with serious difficulties, but we will resolutely march forward. I appeal to

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your patriotism and summon your nobility of heart so that we may, united in the
common endeavor, once more dedicate ourselves to the realization of our
national destiny. I face the future with hope and fortitude, certain that God never
abandons a people who ever follows His unerring and guiding Hand. May He give
me light, strength, and courage evermore that I may not falter in the hour of
service to my people!

Inaugural address of His Excellency, Jose P. Laurel, President of the Republic of

the Philippines, at the Legislative Building, October 14, 1943.

FELLOW COUNTRYMEN:

This is the hour of fulfillment of the supreme aspiration of our people for
centuries. It is but fitting that we should on this momentous occasion dedicate a
prayer of thanksgiving to those who paid the full price of blood and treasure for
the freedom which we have now achieved. Rest at long last in your hallowed
graves: immortal heroes of the Filipino race! The long night of vigil is ended. You
have not cued in vain. The spirit of Mactan, of Balintawak, of Bagumbayan, of
Malolos, and Bataan lives again!

The Republic which we are consecrating here today was born in the midst of a
total war. Our countryside was transformed into a gory battlefield to become a
historic landmark of that titanic conflict. From the crucible of a world in turmoil
was unleashed the mighty forces that were to spell the liberation of Asiatic

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peoples from foreign domination. Today, as we witness the triumphal realization
of our national ideal, we would be sadly wanting in those magnanimous qualities
which distinguished a noble and valiant race, if we did not forgive the wounds and
havoc inflicted by that war, the immolation of our youth with their golden
promise of the future, the untold sufferings and privations undergone by our
innocent population. This is no time for indulging in unseemly recriminations or
for ventilating our grievances. In all dignity and out of the fullness of our hearts
we could do no less than acknowledge before the world our debt of honor to the
August Virtue of His Majesty, the Emperor of Nippon, for ordaining the holy war
and hastening the day of our national deliverance.

The presence here of high diplomatic and official representatives of the

Nipponese Empire and other nations of Greater East Asia testifies to the
traditional friendship and mutual understanding among all Oriental peoples. In
the name of the Filipino people, I wish to convey to the honored guests our
sincere assurances of good-will and to express the fervent hope that the fraternal
ties which unite our people with theirs will grow ever stronger and firmer in the
years to come.

I wish to take advantage of this opportunity also to make public our grateful
appreciation of all the acts of kindness showered upon the Filipino people by the
Commanders of the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy in the Philippines, past and
present. I make special reference to General Sigenori Kuroda, Highest
Commander of the Imperial Japanese Army in the Philippines, and to General
Takazi Wati, Director-General of the Japanese Military Administration, without
whose sympathetic assistance and encouragement, the Preparatory Commission

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for Philippine Independence would not have been able to accomplish its work
promptly and expeditiously.

Our first and foremost duty as a free and independent nation is to maintain peace
and order within our borders. No government worthy of the name will
countenance public disorder or tolerate open defiance of its authority. Unless we
enjoy domestic tranquillity, we cannot prosecute to a successful conclusion those
labors essential to our daily existence and to our national survival. Without public
security, our natural resources will remain undeveloped, our fields uncultivated,
our industry and commerce paralyzed; instead of progress and prosperity, we
shall wallow in misery and poverty and face starvation.

In the ultimate analysis, all government is physical power and that government is
doomed which is impotent to suppress anarchy and terrorism. The Constitution
vests in the President full authority to exercise the coercive powers of the State
for its preservation. In order to make those powers effective, my administration
shall be committed to the training, equipment and support of an enlarged
Constabulary force strong enough to cope with any untoward situation which
might arise. Certainly, everything must be done to forestall the indignity and
humiliation of being obliged to invoke outside intervention to quell purely
internal disturbances.

With the attainment of independence and the consequent abolition of the

military administration, those of our citizens who have heretofore been engaged
in guerrilla activities would prove untrue to the ideal for which they have forsaken
their families, sacrificed the comforts of home and risked their lives, if they did

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not lay down their arms and henceforth tread the pathways of peace. I cannot
believe that their sense of duty would dictate to them otherwise than to come
down from the mountains and other hiding places and participate in the common
enterprise of nation-building. If perchance recalcitrant elements would still persist
in the sabotage of our program of reconstruction and threaten the very existence
of the Republic, I shall have no other alternative than to consider them public
enemies of our government and people and to deal with them accordingly.

Even during the artificially prosperous years of the Commonwealth regime, we

had to import heavy quantities of rice and other foodstuffs; with the outbreak of
the present war, and worse, in the brief phase of its incursion into our country,
our agricultural and industrial activities were thrown out of gear, our trade with
other countries was disrupted, and the shortage of our food supply became more
acute than ever. With our vast tracts of fertile and arable land it would be
indulging in mere platitude to assert that we can produce two times, not to say
three times, what we actually need to feed our population. Whether the problem
is expansion or intensification of our agriculture, the common denominator is
hard work.

We must till our idle lands, improve and diversify our crops, develop our fisheries,
multiply our livestock, dairy and poultry farms. Next we must produce other
necessities such as clothing, fuel, building materials, medicinal preparations,
articles of daily use; in short, the minimum requirements of civilized life. Then, we
must turn our attention to the demands of heavy industry, explore the
possibilities of our exporting to other members of the Sphere those raw materials
which we have in abundance in exchange for goods which we cannot locally

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produce, adjust our internal economic structure in coordination with the regional
economy of the Asiatic bloc, and thus contribute our share to the realization of
the noble purpose of common prosperity. This means that we have to rehabilitate
and plan out our national economy; adopt a sound and stable currency; overhaul
our credit and exchange systems to insure the steady flow of capital; foster
private initiative in business enterprise; stimulate scientific invention and
research; create new industries; establish factories and manufacturing plants;
improve our existing transportation and communication facilities construct more
roads in accordance with a well devised general plan to promote mutual
intercourse; build bottoms to accommodate our overseas and coastwise trade;
and finally, adopt a more efficient machinery of price control to prevent hoarding
and profiteering and insure a more equitable distribution of prime commodities
consistent with our war-time economy. All these cannot be undertaken
haphazardly but must be accomplished in accordance with a well conceived
economic planning if we expect to rise to the full stature of independent
nationhood. Our political emancipation would be vain and illusory if we did not at
the same time work out our economic salvation.

Hand in hand with national self-sufficiency, we should look after the individual
welfare of the poorer elements who constitute the bulk of our population; assure
decent living conditions to our laboring class by raising the level of the minimum
wage; afford relief to the needy and suffering, especially to war widows and
orphans. Social legislation in this direction would be nothing more than social
justice in action. In the prosecution of this humane policy it would be far better to
err on the side of benevolent paternalism than on the side of laissez-faire and
rugged individualism. The slogan should no longer be live and let live, but live and

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help live, so that the government may bring about the happiness and well-being,
if not of all, at least of the greatest number.

Especially at this time we should guard against the dominating passion for wealth.
Unless economic equilibrium between all classes of society is achieved, we may
not be able to forestall the concentration of wealth in the hands of a few, to the
detriment of the suffering masses of our population. If necessary, we should take
positive steps to attain the social mean by preventing the rich from getting richer
and the poor from getting poorer.

We are endowed with sufficient agricultural land to dole out to those who
produce our wealth with the sweat of their brawn and who constitute the real
mainstay of our economic solvency. The Constitution has limited the size of public
agricultural land which private individuals may acquire by purchase or by
homestead so that there may be enough to go around and so that the poor may
have a chance to obtain their just share of the public wealth without undue
competition from those who already have more than what is necessary for their
sustenance. We may even have to carry out this socialistic policy to its logical
conclusion by invoking the constitutional sanction authorizing the National
Assembly to limit the maximum acreage of private agricultural land which
individuals or corporations may hold or acquire. By encouraging and materially
aiding landholding among the masses so that every citizen may become an
independent freeholder, we shall have gone a long way towards
the desideratum of social and economic stability. Love of country springs only
from genuine attachment to the soil; it can receive no nourishment from the
uprooted and artificial life of the homeless and the disinherited.

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There is need of awakening the moral consciousness of our people so that they
may be able to face their new responsibilities with added vigor and enthusiasm.
We should evolve a new type of citizen who would be ready and willing to
subordinate himself to the larger and more vital interests of the State. The
Constitution guarantees to every man that modicum of personal liberty essential
to his enjoyment of relative contentment and happiness. But of more
transcendent importance than his privileges, are the duties which the individual
owes to the State. The Constitution gives precedence to those obligations in
consonance with the fundamental idea that man does not live for himself and his
family alone but also for the State and humanity at large. The new citizen,
therefore, is he who knows his rights as well as his duties, and knowing them, will
discharge his duties even to the extent of sacrificing his rights.

Loyalty to duty should be best exemplified by our public officers and employees
who receive compensation from the State. Simple honesty demands that they
earn their pay by rendering the full measure of service that is expected of them.
They should observe strict punctuality, maintain maximum efficiency and devote
all their official time to government business. Less than this measure of service is
morally tantamount to embezzlement of public funds. Public service, in order to
be deserving of popular faith and confidence, must be infused with a new
meaning and based on the highest considerations of morality. Government
employment is neither a sinecure nor an instrument for self-enrichment, but a
noble calling of service to the people. Dishonesty, bribery and corruption have no
place in the government and they shall be eradicated without quarter. Our public
functionaries shall be faithful servants of the people—tall, strong men and pure,
self-sacrificing women who will safeguard the public interest like vestal fire.

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In the up-building of the national character, the school, no less than the home
and the church, should play an important, if not dominating role. Our educational
system must be renovated and due emphasis placed on the moral objective laid
down in the Constitution. The other aims decreed in the fundamental law like the
development of personal and collective discipline, civic conscience, vocational
skill and social efficiency, should be subordinated to the cultivation of moral
character as the handmaiden of an intransigent nationalism. Character-formation
shall be the mainspring of all educational enterprise born of a telling realization
that scholarship destitute of character is worthless, that religion deprived of
morality is mere fanatism, that patriotism devoid of honor is only a posture. We
can combat the evil of excessive materialism which we inherited from the West
only by a return to the spiritual ways of the East where we rightfully belong.

Re-definition of purpose and re-orientation of curricula would be futile if they

were not brought to bear upon the great mass of our population. While the
Constitution provides for citizenship training to adult citizens which should not be
neglected by all means, more decisive results would be accomplished if we
concentrate on the plastic minds of our youth and revolutionize a whole
generation. Elementary instruction must not only be free and public as required
by the Constitution, but attendance, at least in primary grades, must eventually,
and as resources permit, be made compulsory for all children of school age. It is
the constitutional duty of every citizen to render personal military and civil service
as may be required by law, and the State has every right to expect that the person
called upon to discharge this obligation be physically, mentally and morally
equipped for the task demanded. To insure this, the State may furnish the

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necessary preparatory training dovetailed to its requirements, and the individual
is duty-bound to submit to the instruction so prescribed.

All the students in our schools, colleges, and universities must be subjected to the
rigid discipline of a well-regulated daily schedule. In general and subject to such
regulations as may be prescribed, they must wear a prescribed uniform not only
to inculcate in them the habits of thrift but to permit closer supervision over their
activities. In this way, our youth will be able to devote themselves conscientiously
to their studies instead of wasting their time and substance in frivolity and
dissipation. Only by strengthening the moral fiber of our youth and casting them
into the heroic mould shall the soft metal of their minds harden into maturity
indelibly impressed with unswerving devotion to the country that gave them
birth. Thus will they grow into worthy descendants of our illustrious sires who
once trod this very soil as freemen in dim ages past—brown, sun-kissed Filipinos,
who love freedom dearer than life itself.

The work of our schools should be correlated with and supplemented by

wholesome and substantial home life, in order to afford the young a practical
pattern of social behavior and a working demonstration of group cohesiveness. It
is imperative that we forge and rivet the links of family solidarity. The family is the
basic unit of society and the breakdown of the family can only result in the
disintegration of society. The consolidation of the authority of
the paterfamilias, the cultivation of the Oriental virtues of filial piety and
obedience, and the restoration of womanhood to its proper place in the home—
this is the tripod which should hold fast and elevate the Filipino family under the
Republic.

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We cannot listen to the fads of modernism which seek to flatter our women by
giving them more freedom for their own undoing, without undermining the
institution of the family. Nor can we deprive them of the rights they now enjoy
without turning back the clock to the days when they wore shackles and were
regarded as mere chattel. As we can neither advance nor retrocede, we have to
maintain the rights which we have already conceded to our women without
impairing in any way the authority lodged in the head of the family to which they
belong. This is inevitable because the matriarchy of primitive times has long since
ceased to exist. In every social unit there must always be a focal center of
authority, and in the Filipina family that epicentre has always been the father as
head of the first barangay.

The Filipino woman must incarnate the purity and tenderness of Maria Clara, the
solicitude and self-sacrifice of Tandang Sora, the fecundity and motherly love of
Teodora Alonso. The home is her sovereign realm and motherhood is the highest
position to which she should aspire. She should look forward to the rearing of
children as the consummation of her noblest mission in life. The young generation
must suckle from her breasts not only the seeds of patriotism but also those
rudiments of familial discipline which will imbue them with respect for their
elders and obedience to constituted authority.

The home, more than the school, should be the nursery of the mother tongue.
The Government will take the necessary steps for the development and
propagation of the Tagalog language as ordained in the Constitution not only
through the medium of the Institute of National Language and the
encouragement of vernacular literature, but also by making its study compulsory

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in all schools and eventually prescribing its use in official correspondence as well
as in public ceremonies. But the horn must do its share so that our children
may learn from the cradle those folk-songs and folklore transmitted by word of
mouth from generation to generation and which form the repository of our
common imperishable tradition.

Man has by his science conquered the inorganic and the animal world and
harnessed their forces to minister to his needs and to suit his fancy. But he has
neglected the science of man as a human being. It is a sad commentary on the
present state of our civilization that we bear daily witness to the lowest depths of
crime and human degradation, obtain a passing glimpse of misfits and derelicts in
human shape, and go our different ways paying little heed to these living
indictments of our society. It is time that we frankly face the situation and remedy
matters by going to the very source of this social cancer. It would be foolhardy for
us to so much as attempt to check the natural growth of our population and by a
process of rigid selection produce only supermen of whom philosophers have
dreamed. The increase of birth-rate which is desirable for a young country like
ours is not incompatible with the improvement of the racial stock. Over heredity
we have no control except in so far as we may prohibit the marriage of diseased
individuals or prescribe the sterilization of imbeciles and lunatics. But we can and
we should shape the forces of our environment and eduaction so that the
propagation of health and intelligence may outrun the reproduction of disease
and ignorance.

It shall be the concern of my administration to improve the individual quality of

the masses by stressing medical attention for expectant mothers, correct

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methods of pre-natal and infant care, proper nutrition for our children, a well-
balanced diet for adults, clean amusement and wholesome sport and recreation
for both young and old, and other measures designed 10 conserve the health of
the populace. For this purpose, all the resources of learning and science at our
disposal will be mobilized There is absolutely no reason why we should devote
more effort and attention to breeding super-stallions for our racing stables, milch
cows for our fairs or prize hogs for our markets, than to raising healthy, intelligent
and self-respecting human beings who will be a credit to our country and who will
glorify the Filipino race. There is dire need for the reappraisal of our standard of
human values, for the perfection of human industry as an art and a science, for
the exaltation and dignification of the human personality.

During the infancy of the Republic we should not expect the immediate
accomplishment in a single stroke of the vast and vital projects that I have
outlined to guide my administration. We should not forget that war is still raging
with unabated intensity outside our borders and that we are handicapped with
restricted means and still undeveloped resources. The least we can do for a start
is to undertake the preliminary steps of long-range planning to be carried into
execution as much and as fast as our limited finances will permit. In the
meantime, the popular mind will have to be fully prepared and rendered both
receptive and responsive to the new national outlook.

The orientation of the new government under the Republic is one of centralized
control for service to the people regardless of any obstacle. “The welfare of the
people,” in the fiery language of Andres Bonifacio, “is the supreme purpose of all
governments on earth. The people is all; blood, life, wealth and strength: all is the

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people.” This is the guiding philosophy of the Constitution and the mandate of
those called upon to assist in the establishment of the new government. The
scientific method will be availed of to streamline the government machinery and
effect simplicity, economy and efficiency in its operation to insure maximum
attention to the welfare of the people and their needs. Red-tape and official
routine should be reduced to a minimum, duplication of work avoided and
unnecessary services eliminated. But the active principle of social justice will have
to be invoked to ameliorate the lot of the lowest paid employees and increase
their compensation either directly or by some budgetary method in reasonable
proportion to the present high cost of living. This must be pushed through even if
we have to sacrifice further promotions in pay and if necessary slash the salaries
of those in the higher brackets of our officialdom. Without political consolidation
we cannot hope to accomplish the desired integration of our political, economic
and social life. The abolition of political parties is a desirable feature of the
military regime which we must conserve especially during the formative period of
our Republic. Political parties have divided us in the past and we should avoid the
recurrence of our sad experience. We must eradicate the baneful influence of
factional strife and strike at the very roots of partisan spirit. I shall stand for no
political party while I hold the rudder of the Ship of State. We must serve only one
master—our country; we must follow only one voice—the voice of the people.

We must have only one party, the people’s party, a party that would stand for
peace, for reconstruction, for sound national economy, for social reform, for the
elevation of the masses, for the creation of a new world order.

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At no time in our history is the demand for unity amongst our people more urgent
or more compelling. Only by presenting a compact and undivided front to all vital
issues of the day can we hope to erect the foundations of a strong and enduring
Republic. I consider as rallying centers of our national unity: The Flag, the
Constitution, the National Anthem and the President of the Republic. The Flag, I
because it symbolizes the sacrifices of our heroes and synthesizes our common
imperishable tradition. The Constitution, because it expresses our collective and
sovereign will and embodies the sum of our political philosophy and experience.
The National Anthem, because it epitomizes the trials and tribulations, and
crystallizes the longings and aspirations of our race. The President, because he is
the chosen leader of our people, the directing and coordinating center of our
government, and the visible personification of the State. Foursquare on these
rallying points, the dynamic instinct of racial solidarity latent in the heart of each
and every Filipino must be roused from its lethargy and inflamed with the passion
of faith in our common destiny as a people.

Across the horizon, the Hand of Fate beckons us into the Promised Land. I am sure
our people will rise as one man to meet the challenge. After all, the government
we have established under the Constitution is our own government; it will be
officered and manned by our own people; the problems it will face will be our
own problems. We shall encounter difficulties greater than any we have ever
faced in our national history. We shall have to adapt ourselves to the strange
stimuli of a new environment and undergo the travails of constant adjustment
and readjustment. God helping us, we shall march with steady, resolute steps
forward, without doubt, vacillation e or fear. There shall be no tarrying on the
way, no desertion from the ranks, no stragglers left behind. Together we shall

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work, work hard, work still harder, work with all our might, and work as we have
never worked before. Every drop, every trickle of individual effort shall be
grooved into a single channel of d common endeavor until they grow into a
flowing stream, a rushing cataract, a roaring torrent, a raging flood, hurdling all
difficulties and demolishing all barriers in the way of our single purpose and
common determination to make our independence stable, lasting and real.

Inaugural Address
of
His Excellency Sergio Osmeña
President of the Philippines
To the Cabinet-in-exile

[Delivered at Washington D.C., on August 10, 1944]

Gentlemen of the Cabinet:

Nine days ago, when I performed the painful duty of announcing the passing of
our beloved leader, President Manuel L. Quezon, I said in part:

President Quezon’s death is a great loss to the freedom-loving world. No

champion of liberty fought for such a noble cause with more determination and
against greater odds. His whole life was dedicated to the achievement of his
people’s freedom, and it is one of the sad paradoxes of fate that with forces of
victory fast approaching the Philippines, he should pass away now and be
deprived of seeing the culmination of his labors—the freedom of his people.

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President Quezon was a champion of freedom in war and in peace. The plains and
hills of Bataan, where the brave Filipino and American soldiers faced with heroism
the overwhelming power of the Japanese invader, were also his field of action
during the revolutionary days. The city of Washington where his body temporarily
rests was the scene of his early appeals and peaceful efforts for Philippine
freedom. It was here, almost 30 years ago, where he secured from Congress the
promise of independence, which is contained in the preamble of the Jones Law.
Here, again, 18 years later, he succeeded in obtaining the passage of the Tydings–
McDuffie Act—a reenactment with some slight amendments of the Hawes–
Cutting Law which was rejected previously by the Philippine Legislature. Pursuant
to the provisions of the Tydings–McDuffie Law, which was accepted by the
Filipino people, we drafted our Constitution and established the present
Commonwealth of the Philippines, and elected Manuel L. Quezon as first
president.

When the war came and it became necessary to evacuate Manila, President
Quezon, frail and sick as he was, moved with his Cabinet to Corregidor where he
shared with the soldiers the rigors of the tunnel life and from there braved the
hazards of a perilous journey to the Visayas, Mindanao, Australia, and America, in
order to continue the fight for the freedom of his people. Here, in Washington,
with his War Cabinet, he functioned as the legitimate government of the Filipino
people and served as the symbol of their redemption.

It was largely through his untiring efforts that the Philippines was made a member
of the United Nations and accorded a seat in the Pacific War Council. It was
through his initiative that negotiations were held, resulting in the introduction of

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Senate Joint Resolutions 93 and 94. By the terms of Senate Joint Resolution 93,
the advancement of the date of the independence prior to July 4, 1946, was
authorized and the pledge given to the Filipino people by President Roosevelt in
1941—that Philippine independence will not only be established but also
protected—was sanctioned by Congress. His efforts to secure the rehabilitation of
the Philippines from the ravages of war resulted in the enactment of Congress of
Senate Joint Resolution 94, which provides for the physical and economic
rehabilitation of the Philippines. Even before Congress definitely acted on this
resolution, he had already created the Postwar Planning Board, entrusting it,
together with his Cabinet, with the task of making studies and submitting
recommendations looking toward the formulation of a comprehensive
rehabilitation program for the Philippines.

In the last few moments before his martyrdom, the great Rizal lamented that he
would not be able to see the dawn of freedom break over his beloved country,
but he prophesied that his countrymen would see that day. “I have sown the
seeds,” he said, “others are left to reap.” Quezon, more fortunate than Rizal, died
with the comforting thought that the freedom of the Philippines was already an
incontestable reality, awaiting only the certain defeat of the enemy for its full
expression.

The immediate duty, then, of those of us who, under the mandate of the
Constitution and the laws of the Philippines, are charged with the mission of
continuing President Quezon’s work, is to follow the course he has laid, to
maintain and strengthen our partnership with America, and to march forward

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with the United Nations with unwavering faith and resolute determination until
complete victory is won.

The tide of the war which rose high against us in the early stages of the struggle
has turned in our favor. The forces of victory are on the march everywhere—in
Europe, in India, and China, and in the Pacific Normandy and Britanny have been
occupied by the Anglo-American forces. Poland is half reconquered by our Great
Russian ally. Two-thirds of the Italian peninsula are in our hands, while thousands
and thousands of planes continue to batter and destroy German communication
and production centers, bringing the war to the German homeland.

In the Pacific, the progress of the war has been equally impressive. Most of the
Japanese strongholds in the Bismarck Archipelago, in New Guinea, in the Gilberts,
and in the Marshalls, have fallen. The Japanese bastion of Saipan is in Allied
hands; so is Tinian. The reconquest of Guam is almost completed. B-29s, the
American super fortresses, are already penetrating the Japanese inner defenses,
causing destruction in the enemy’s vital centers of production. Gen. MacArthur’s
forces are hammering the enemy’s outposts only 250 miles from the Philippines;
while the United States Navy, maintaining mastery in the Central Pacific, is
relentlessly attacking Palau, Yap, Ponape, and the Bonin Islands, in its steady
advance toward the Philippines, China, and Japan.

The size and strength of the Allied landings in Europe, supported by thousands of
planes and using thousands of ships, surpasses the immigration. It is no wonder
that before them, the most formidable defenses of the enemy are crumbling. I

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believe that when our D-Day comes, the same pattern will be followed, and the
mighty Allied forces will join our brave loyal countrymen in an epic victory.

But the forces of freedom will not land in the Philippines with guns and tanks
alone. They will also bring with them food, medical supplies, and clothing which
are so much needed by our suffering people. Thirty million pesos has already
been set aside for the requisition of these supplies which will be sent to the front
as soon as possible for distribution to our civilian population. As the war
progresses and as more troops are landed in the Philippines, increasing quantities
of these supplies will be made available. Philippine relief will be prompt and
adequate.

As Philippine territory is wrested from the enemy, civil government will promptly
follow military occupation so that the orderly processes of self-government may
be established under the Constitution. Red Cross units, both Filipino and
American, will follow the armies of freedom to help alleviate the suffering of the
people. Hospitals, health, and puericulture centers will be reestablished. All
schools in operation before the war will be reopened in order to resume an
education of patriotism, democracy, and humanitarianism.

The veterans of our wars for independence, and all those who supported our
struggle for freedom, will receive for their labors and sacrifices the full recognition
expected of a grateful nation. War widows and orphans will be provided for.
Ample compensation will be made for the destruction of public and private
properties. Roads and bridges destroyed by the enemy will be rebuilt. Disrupted
communications by land, sea, and air will be repaired and improved. Towns and

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cities, which either were destroyed or suffered damages because of the war will
be reconstructed under a systematic and scientific town planning program. In this
program, the towns of Bataan and Zambales will receive preferential attention.
Bataan, the historic battleground where our brave soldiers, Americans and
Filipinos, faced the enemy until death, will be made a national shrine.

In providing for the reconstruction of our industries and the rehabilitation of our
agriculture, immediate attention will be given to factory workers and farmhands
throughout the Philippines, and full and generous assistance will be given to the
small farmers who, because of the war, have lost their nipa huts, their work
animals, and farm implements.

We are making preparations to meet the manifold problems arising from the
closing and insolvency of our banks, insurance, and credit institutions, the
adulteration of our currency with unsound enemy issues, the impairment of the
basis of taxation, and the initial difficulty of tax collection. Moreover, we are
formulating a long-range economic program with a view to securing that sound
economic foundation which will give our independence stability and permanence.

In the gigantic task of rehabilitation and reconstruction, we are assured of

America’s full assistance and support. The joint Filipino–American Rehabilitation
Commission is under the chairmanship of a staunch friend of the Filipino people,
Senator Tydings of Maryland. To it is entrusted the task of studying and
recommending to the United States and Philippine governments measures
calculated to secure the complete physical and economic rehabilitation of the
Philippines and the reestablishment as soon as possible of such commercial

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relations between the two countries, and will assure us a reasonable level of
public and private property.

In the preparation and execution of the Filipino rehabilitation program, America’s

support and assistance are essential. But there are responsibilities which we as
people must undertake ourselves, and which can be assumed only if we are
faithful to our ideals, principles, and commitments.

We are a Christian people and the faith that we imbibed sprang from our contacts
with nations of Occidental civilization. We embraced Christianity a century before
the Pilgrim Fathers landed at Plymouth. For more than 400 years we have kept
that faith. We cannot now turn back and be a pagan people.

For centuries, we have been a law-abiding people. We believe in and practice

democracy. That is the reason why Section III, Article II of our Constitution
provides that we renounce war as an instrument of national policy and adopt the
generally accepted principles of international law as part of the law of the nation.
It is repugnant to our Christian traditions and democratic ideals to be the satellite
of a conquering power or to be allied with the masters of brute force, whether in
Asia, Europe, or elsewhere.

The mutual relationship between the American and Filipino peoples for half a
century has revealed to the Filipinos the high ideals of the American nation and
the good faith that has always animated the United States in its dealings with us.
Out of this association have arisen mutual understanding and continuous
cooperation between the two countries, resulting in great national progress for
the Philippine progress that is without parallel in history. In the epic of Bataan,

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where the American and Filipino soldiers fought together, the enduring friendship
of our two peoples was sealed.

In this war between a free world and a slave world, the Philippines has freely and
voluntarily taken side with the defenders of liberty and democracy. In the same
manner as the enemy is resorting to every means to attain his evil ends, the
United Nations are exerting their utmost to achieve complete victory. Pledged in
this war to the finish, we will continue doing our best to help the war effort. Every
commitment made by us in this respect will be fulfilled.

The Filipino people, with their wisdom in peace and gallantry in war, have
established their right to take place in the family of nations as a full and sovereign
member. We cannot renounce this right nor its obligations and responsibilities.
We shall, as a free and self-respecting nation, fulfill our duties not only to
ourselves but also to the entire freedom-loving world by participating in the
establishment and preservation of a just peace for the benefit of mankind.

Our path of duty is clear. It is the path of national honor, dignity, and
responsibility. It was laid out for us by the great heroes of our race—Rizal,
Bonifacio, and Quezon. We shall move forward steadily to reach our goal,
maintaining our faith in the United States and fully cooperating with her.

In the fulfillment of my duties as President of the Philippines, I ask in all humility

and in all earnestness the cooperation of all my countrymen in the United States,
Hawaii, in the homeland and elsewhere in the world. With their full and unstinted
cooperation and support, and God helping me, I shall not fail.

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 Inaugural Speech
of
His Excellency Manuel Roxas
As President of the Commonwealth of the Philippines

[Delivered in front of the ruins of the Legislative Building on May 28, 1946]

MY COUNTRYMEN:

I have taken my oath as President of the Philippines to defend and support the
Constitution, and to enforce the laws of our country. I assume in all humbleness
the complex responsibilities, which you have chosen to give me. I pledge my
effort and my life to discharge them with whatever talent, strength, and energy I
can muster. But those responsibilities must be shared by the Congress, by the
other branches of government, and, in the last analysis, by all the people of the
Philippines who face together the great test of the future. I would not be content
to assume this office, I would not have the hope to discharge the duties assigned
me if I were not confident that my countrymen are ready and capable of sharing
in full measure the work and sacrifices which lie ahead. Certainly no people in
recent history have been called upon to surmount the obstacles which confront
us today. But I have supreme faith in the ability of our people to reach the goals
we seek. I ask from the nation the full and undivided support of heart, mind, and
energy for the necessary tasks which await us.

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In our traditions, there are ample sources of inspiration. From the recent past, we
have the standard of dynamic leadership erected by Manuel Quezon, that mighty
champion of independence, and great friend and benefactor of the masses of the
people. We have the spotless integrity and noble patriotism of Sergio Osmeña
who grasped the banner of leadership when the incomparable Quezon was taken
from us.

Our appointment with destiny is upon us. In five weeks, we will be a free
Republic. Our noble aspirations for nationhood, long cherished and arduously
contended for by our people, will be realized. We will enter upon a new existence
in which our individual lives will form together a single current, recognized and
identified in the ebb and flow of world events as distinctly Filipino.

Yet look about you, my fellow citizens. The tragic evidence of recent history stares
at us from the broken ruins of our cities and the wasting acres of our soil. Beneath
the surface of our daily strivings lie deep the wounds of war and economic
prostration. The toppled columns of the Legislative Building before which we
stand are mute and weeping symbols of the land we have inherited from war.

Unemployment is increasing, as the United States Armed Forces decrease the

tempo of activities here. Our soldiers are being discharged in growing numbers to
swell the ranks of those who must find work and livelihood. Many of those who
have work are employed in trades dependent on the rapidly shrinking
expenditures of the Army and Navy.

There is hunger among us. In the mountain provinces and in other far-flung areas
of our land, children starve. Prices race with wages in the destructive elevators of

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inflation. The black market with all its attendant evils of disrespect for law and
public morality thrives in the channels of commerce.

Plagues of rats and locusts gnaw at our food supplies. Public health and sanitation
have been set back a quarter of a century.

Housing for most of our urban citizens is shocking in its inadequacy and squalor.
Disease and epidemic threaten, and we have to thank the Divine Providence that
the toll of death is still relatively small.

Our communications are destroyed, stolen, or disrupted, and many of our

countrymen are still today cut off from the main currents of national life. Schools
have been burned and teachers have been killed; our educational system is in
large measure a shambles.

I have sketched a dark landscape, a bleak prospect for our future. I have not
meant unduly to dramatize our ills. I do not wish to parade the sackcloth and
ashes of our people. Nevertheless, it is necessary to know the truth. Many of us
live today in the chambered Nautilus of our own mental construction. There are
those who close their eyes to the problems that confront us, and prefer to direct
the national attention and the national energy at objects outside ourselves, at
fancied enemies, at fancied fears of imperialistic aggression. The coincidence of
easy money and high prices gives to some of our people the false illusion of
national prosperity and the mad notion that we have time to dally and debate.
The prosperity of money and prices is a hallucination, a nightmarish dream
resulting from the scarcity of commodities and the influx of a half billion dollars of
troop money. Soon, very soon, we must awake from that dream. We will find that

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mere money, bloated by inflation and circulating in narrow channels, does not
bring about prosperity and national well-being. Everyday, that money is being
siphoned from our land by more and more imports—not productive imports, but
imports of consumption. The well-being of the tradesman alone is not the well-
being of our people. Disaster awaits us tomorrow if we do not rouse ourselves
and get back to work, to productive work.

I recall our national temper and our national condition five years ago, the last year
of the generation of peace.

We had then a land of comparative plenty. The products of our fields and farms
were flowing in a never-ending stream across the oceans to the United States, to
Europe, to China―even to Japan and Russia. The Government was rich in revenue
from taxes, from customs, and from the refunded collections on Philippine
products processed and taxed in the United States. We were in the midst of a
program aimed at the eventual achievement of social justice for the
underprivileged elements of our population. Yes, we had those elements then, as
we have them now. We must not imagine that economic maladjustments, land
hunger, and farm tenancy are problems born of recent years. They are as old as
our present civilization in the Philippines.

The brutal hand of war spread its breadth across our land and blotted out not
only our progress toward a fuller life for all, but our entire economy, all the
economic goods and tools we had amassed by a century of labor. We had not
expected to be a battleground. We had not expected war. Nor were we alone

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among the peoples of the earth in our lack of understanding of the military aims
of our enemies.

We were treacherously attacked; soon, despite the unmeasured heroism of our

men at arms and of their gallant American comrades on Bataan and Corregidor,
despite the magnificent courage and leadership of Gen. Douglas MacArthur, our
land was conquered. A new sovereignty, by dint of force, was imposed upon us.
From the beginning, the Filipinos had indicated by word and deed that the fate of
the United States in this global conflict was the fate of the Philippines. President
Quezon offered the United States the blood and treasure of the Filipino people
until victory came. We did not then realize how complete that offer was!

For three and a half years, we were an unwilling part of the Japanese sphere of
conquest. But though the land was possessed, there was never a moment in
which our hearts or convictions faltered. The Filipinos discharged their debt of
allegiance to the United States with a payment of loyalty which has never been
surpassed.

I need not refer further in phrase or word to the gallantry of our countrymen in
their resistance to the Japanese. The deeds of the Filipino people have been
celebrated wherever men have gathered to pay tribute to heroism, courage, and
fidelity. Their gallantry has become an epic, a byword, a standard by which all
heroism may be measured. Many have tried to explain that heroism and that
loyalty. But like all heroism, it rises above the logic of mere reason. I judge it a
proof and product of the passion for democracy and freedom which America has
taught us during 48 years. That teaching took deep root in a soil made fertile by

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our great heroes of pre-American days—Rizal, Mabini, and Bonifacio. Our hearts
were ready when the Americans came in 1898. By the manner in which America
discharged her trust, we developed a devotion to that great nation which I know
will exist for all time.

A nation is something more than the people who inhabit a geographic area. It is a
spirit, a tradition, and a way of life. There have been Americans whom we have
disliked. There have been American administrations from which we have received
scant comfort. There have been American Governors General with whom we have
quarreled. But we have never had cause to waver in our confidence or faith in
America. We have clasped to our bosom her system of government, her language,
her institutions, her historical traditions. We have made them ours. We cannot
forget this fact and this great truth. We are to be a free nation largely because we
were aided in that direction by the love of liberty and the goodwill of the
American people. If we succeed as a nation, if we are able to survive as a nation—
and of course we will—we will have America to thank. I bear witness to the fact
that America stands ready to help, without selfishness, without motive except to
reward us for our loyalty and to advance in our land the great cause of democracy
and freedom for which Americans and Filipinos died together, in many corners of
the earth in the past four years.

I find no dream of empire in America. While cognizant of power, America, as a

nation, is troubled in the use of that power by an earnest and heartfelt desire to
advance not the cause of greed but the cause of freedom. We are and shall be a
living monument to this fact.

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Yet we have today in our own land a few among us who would have us believe
that we are in danger of an imperialistic invasion from the very nation which is
granting us our sovereignty. They would have us believe that the American
Republic, resplendent in her power and prestige as the leader of democracy and
as the spokesman for freedom, would lend herself to a theft of our national
heritage for the sake of a thimbleful of profits. No, my mind will not stoop to as
low a conceit as that. The nation which spent 300 billion dollars to arm the hosts
of freedom, the nation which has spent and is spending so much of its substance
not only to free but also to feed the hungry peoples of the earth will not do that.
Small minds see small deeds. I will not place my Government in the position of
accusing the United States Congress of willingly conspiring to cheat us of our
birthright. I admit the possibility of error in the United States Congress as in any
other constitutional body. But I have faith that justice will be done us by a country
which has been our mother, our protector, our liberator, and now our benefactor.
In this world, the balances of justice move only on great momentums. I am firmly
convinced that when the scales point unmistakably to injustice being rendered us,
the United States Congress will grant us redress in full and generous measure.

I have no fears from a nation which idolizes humanity and crowns with laurels
those who fight for freedom and brotherhood. There is no greater regard in
America today than the national regard for our people. Shall we sacrifice that rich
regard on the altar of petty pride and foolish fears? Shall we hold up to world
obloquy the country whose legions liberated us for freedom? Shall we give
comfort to the enemies of liberty in the crisis which now grips the earth? The
forces of evil may be defeated, but they are not dead. And there are new forces

217
of evil growing even in nations which were our allies. I see no such forces
reflected in the policies of the United States.

Let us strengthen as much as we can the hand of the nation which stands clearly
in the world’s confusion today for democracy and for justice under law. Let us
bide our time for the rectification of alleged impositions. When the time comes,
let us present facts rather than fears.

The gratitude of the Filipino people to America is great and enduring. Our feeling
toward America is not represented by the loud complaints of an articulate few in
our midst. I say in the presence of our great American High Commissioner―one
of the ablest and most unselfish of our advocates and friends―that the America
of Franklin D. Roosevelt and of President Truman is a land we love and respect.
The mighty concern that these men have felt for our welfare dwarfs the
magnitude of our fancied ills against the United States today.

Meanwhile, with the tools, which have been provided us, we must move forward
without pause to bind up this nation’s wounds, to toil, to make, and to build. We
have, and will have, a market for our produce. We must concentrate on
production, on ever-increasing production. This nation must produce to live. We
must have income from abroad―income from exports. We must have that
income so that we may buy the machines, hire the technical skills, and, for a time,
buy the food, which we need to sustain our strength and impart vigor and health
to our young. That task must be begun now, today. The time for action has come.
The national energy, in all its parts, must be focused on a single purpose, on the
rehabilitation of our destroyed and ravaged economic enterprises―on rice, on

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sugar, on coconuts, on abaca, on coconut oil, on cigars and tobacco―on gold and
chrome, and manganese and lumber. We must foster the enterprises which will
raise the national income and bring in financial returns from abroad.

But our aim is not alone to rebuild the economy that was broken and destroyed
by war. That is only the beginning of our task, stupendous as it is. We must
rebuild, repair, and replace. We must feed the hungry and heal the sick and
disabled. We must care for the widows and orphans of our soldier dead. We must
wage war against inflation and unemployment. That is the obvious foundation
stone of national rehabilitation. But we know, we have long known, that the
narrow economy of the past must be broadened. The national structure must be
sufficient to house the energies of the whole people. For the Philippines to fit into
the pattern of the 20th century, to take its place as an equal among the nations of
the earth, we must industrialize; we must make as well as grow. Only in this way
can we raise to substantial and permanently high levels the living standards of our
people. To support this kind of economy, the producers must become consumers
and purchasers. They must have the income with which to buy the products of
their toil. Higher wages accompanied by efficient and increased production are
the true road to full employment. Increased wages and income in pesos must
represent increased purchasing power. Prices must be kept under control until
production and importation reach saturation levels. We must avoid a price
structure based on scarcity. We must avoid a wage structure based on inflated
prices. Meanwhile, we must encourage the production of more and more of our
primary requirements, production of things we ourselves will consume. The
encouragement of production for consumption and the increase in the purchasing
power of the masses are parallel paths which we must travel.

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Our people are well known for their handicraft and for their ingenuity. There are
available in the world today tools and machines of which we must become the
masters. There are many natural resources in our land which can be processed by
the methods of modem technology into finished items for our consumption and
for sale abroad. There are many small industrial and business enterprises which
must attract the skills and talents of our citizens. Every encouragement must be
given the Filipino to participate in all the operations of our new economy at all its
levels. But this participation cannot be a grant of government. Participation in
business and industry cannot be magically induced. Opportunity can be afforded,
but it is the responsibility of the individual and groups of individuals to strive for
and capture that opportunity and, by so doing, become integral parts of the
expanded economy of the nation.

Tools and implements will be needed to make this dream an actuality. Capital will
be required. The savings of our own people will be called for, but they are
inadequate. We must invite foreign capital, American capital, investment capital.

We may well wisely look to the great international organs, the International
Monetary and Rehabilitation Bank and others, for financial aid. We may look to
the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. But for some of our
needs, we can only obtain assistance from the United States. In addition, we must
remember that the United States is the source of most of the finances of all these
organizations. What we can secure directly from the United States is far better
and more expeditiously obtained than through the devious channels of
international action. We must bear in mind in this and other connections that the
great international organization of the United Nations, lofty in concept, is yet only

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an infant in the arena of world affairs. Recent events have demonstrated to us, as
to the rest of the world, that the skeleton of the United Nations Organization
must grow flesh and develop muscles of its own before it can be depended upon
as a repository of our immediate hopes.

We will be as wholehearted as any nation in our devotion to the ideals of an

indivisible peace and an indivisible world. We will maintain with all our strength
and all our power our obligations to the United Nations, and to the causes set
forth in the United Nations charter to which we are a signatory. In the same way,
we will maintain friendly and honorable relations with all our neighbors and look
forward to the day when peace and security will be maintained by mutual
consent and by the collective conscience of mankind.

But until that happy day dawns upon us, we can much more securely repose our
fate in the understanding and comradeship which exist between the Philippines
and the United States than in the hope of an international morality which,
however desirable, is still today in the process of development. We are fortunate
to have as the guarantor of our security the United States of America, which is
today the bulwark and support of small nations everywhere in the world.

I have spoken of the past; I have spoken of the future; I have not spoken much of
the present. I have suggested some of the problems we face. I have not referred
to one of our most urgent ones.

In some few provinces of our land, the rule of law and order has yielded to the
rule of force and terror. Using economic injustice as a rallying cry, demagogues
have destroyed the precious fabric of public faith in democratic procedure. The

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faith of the people in government and in law must be restored. I pledge myself to
rectify injustice, but I likewise pledge myself to restore the role of law and
government as the arbiter of right among the people.

A great American who loved mankind and died in its name, Abraham Lincoln,
once said: “Among free men there can be no successful appeal from the ballot to
the bullet… they who take such appeal are sure to lose their case and pay the
cost.”

This great humanitarian could not be accused of placing the values of law above
human values. He recognized as do all right-minded men that if government has
one function, it is to insure the reign of law for the protection of the weak in their
inalienable rights―the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. This
Government is pledged to maintain the rights of the underprivileged with all its
strength and all its power. It will see justice done to the poor, the lowly, and the
disinherited. But it will not sanction, it will not permit, it will oppose with every
force at its command if necessary the imposition of extra- legal rule over any
section of this country by any group of self-anointed leaders or individuals. The
show of arms and terror will not daunt us. Defiance will not obtain from us a
single additional iota of justice. Justice is absolute and is not to be measured by
strength of contention.

We will move with maximum speed to cure the ills which beset the landless and
the tenants, the hungry, and the unemployed. Only unavoidable lack of means
can delay the full execution of this policy. A new tenancy law, granting a greater
share of the produce of the land to those who till the soil will be recommended;

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usury will be stamped out; lands will be purchased by the Government and resold
to tenants; new agricultural areas will be opened to settlement; modern methods
of agriculture will be taught; and farm machinery will be made available for
purchase. It is my aim to raise the status of the farm worker, to increase his
earnings, to spread wide the benefits of modem technology.

Labor must be given the full fruits of its toil. Its right of organization must be
protected. The dignity of work, and the worker’s equity in the product of his labor
must be assured by the Government. We will endeavor to assure economic
security for all our people. But meanwhile, terror must be abandoned as an
instrument of justice. Lawlessness must stop without a moment’s delay. Our
people, starting out on a career of nationhood, cannot permit our national efforts
to be influenced by fear. This proud nation will not grant economic concessions at
gunpoint. Arms must be surrendered, except by those licensed to bear arms. The
Government will undertake to protect each man, woman, and child in the security
of his person, of his liberty, and of his property. That protection is an absolute
requisite of progress.

We understand the habit of violence which developed in time of war when

violence was the creed of freedom. Many of those who now hold arms illegally
served well our common cause. We will not forget their services. We are not
without sympathy for the centuries-old burdens of injustice visited upon some of
our people. We must understand that anger will lurk in the hearts of men when
the gains won by violence in war seem about to be taken away. But the rough
gains achieved in the absence of law are transitory and insecure. Be assured that
the welfare of those who suffered injustice in past years will be heeded. Their

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war-won gains will be replaced by the more substantial benefits of justice, of
peace, and tranquility within a framework of national prosperity and economic
well-being. But first, arms must be surrendered and the leaders of violence must
recognize the leaders duly chosen by the free vote of the people.

I recognize that government, in order to maintain respect for law, must in itself
bear the unassailable stamp of integrity. Honesty in government is the first
essential for the maintenance by the people of faith in its actions. It is a corollary
of this that government must be efficient and must watch with vigilant eye the
expenditures of public funds. Public officials must render public service. That is
their duty. That is their responsibility. Every centavo of the people’s money must
be spent for the people’s benefit. I intend to maintain these standards during my
administration.

We have great tasks before us, tasks which challenge the very best and the most
that is within us. There is no seed of effort which can be spared from the national
planting. Charity and understanding must replace bitterness and anger. We
cannot afford to cherish old feuds or old divisions. For the many tasks of national
reconstruction, we need the thousand talents of all our people―men and women
alike. The recent elections are past. Likewise, the strife of war is over. Bitterness
engendered by these events must be forgotten and healed. Violations of basic law
will be tested and punished by law. Traitors will not escape their just desserts. But
among the people, there must be no recriminations or malignancies. Errors of
mind rather than of heart must be forgiven. The great test of war and sacrifice
through which we have passed with such hardship will have failed in one of its
few benefits if it has not taught us that only in unity can there be power, that only

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in singleness of national purpose can there be achieved national salvation. I do
not mean to suggest that there is no room in this democracy for division of views
or of parties. Vigilant, free, and constructive minority organization is a spur to
majority leadership and responsibility.

But as we go forward in our full faith to work out the destiny of our land and of
our people, we must cling fast to one another, and to our friends across the seas;
we must maintain in both our hearts and minds a gentleness of understanding as
well as firmness of purpose. Sweat and sacrifice will be needed, but they will fall
on barren ground, unless we move in the path of God, “with malice toward none,
with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right.”

I have faith in the wisdom of our people. I have trust in the goodness of God. Let
us together maintain our faith in each other, in liberty, and in the ways of
democracy, and give strength to one another as we advance in our search for the
evergreen pastures of peace and well-being for all. With the help of God, let us
build in this our land a monument to freedom and to justice, a beacon to all
mankind.

Inaugural Address
of
His Excellency Elpidio Quirino
President of the Philippines

225
 [Delivered at the Independence Grandstand, Manila, on December 30, 1949]

MY FELLOW COUNTRYMEN:

The Republic of the Philippines was born in the shadow of a world war. Nurtured
in democracy and reared in the midst of human anguish, it withstood the crushing
impact of a major catastrophe from which every nation is still recovering to this
day. Despite its infancy, it has played a respected role in the attainment of
universal peace and security as the only guarantee of its continued existence.

It is most significant that, by constitutional mandate, the President and the

Vice-President of the Republic should take their oaths of office at this noon hour
on the anniversary of the martyrdom of the national hero of the Philippines, at
the height of a season dedicated to the Savior of mankind and on the threshold of
a New Year. The occasion is, therefore, both solemn and joyous, fraught with
emotional undertones and permeated with the spirit of new resolves and fresh
undertakings.

In such an atmosphere dominated by sobering thoughts, I invoke the spirit of this

holy season and of this hallowed day and ground to express the fervent hope that
this shall be, for all of us, a day of rebirth and renewal, of reassurance and
reconsecration. Humbly now in full consciousness of my own limitations, I enter
anew upon the duties of President of the Republic determined to shoulder the
responsibilities of this high office as the instrument of the people’s will and the
servant of the public weal.

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I place myself and my administration at the service of all the people without
distinction as to creed, class, or station, and pledge my whole effort to the
protection of their fundamental rights, the improvement of their livelihood, and
the defense of their free institutions.

I make this pledge in the face of the most critical situations, confident that
however great they may be, they shall not in the end prevail against the sturdy
good sense, high courage, and tested patriotism of our people.

I have faith in the democratic process we have established and in the capacity of
our people to perfect themselves in it. I have faith in their readiness to submit
themselves to the rigorous discipline of civic duty and national unity. I therefore
call upon all elements in the nation to join hands and to close ranks despite the
political barriers that may separate them from one another. I trust that,
forswearing the bitterness which political passion may have recently engendered,
every citizen will accept his share in the common task of building the Republic as a
necessary condition of our national survival.

To all who heed this appeal, I gave the solemn assurance that the Government
shall not be wanting in generous appreciation and civic recognition. Sincerity will
be met with an equal measure of sincerity, and voluntary submission to authority
will be matched by a compassionate regard for the requirements of justice.

However, I feel it my painful duty to gave stern warning that there shall be no
abdication to the authority of the Government and that any defiance of this
authority will not be tolerated, but shall be met relentlessly with all the forces at
our command.

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The start of this second quadrennium of our Republic gives us a good occasion to
take stock. It is opportune to review the national picture for the purpose of
creative revision and to indicate what has been accomplished so as to know what
remains to be done.

We are building a new nation responsive to our people’s genius and needs.
Undoubtedly this genius is for freedom consistent with the satisfaction of the
imperatives of civilized living and security within the setting given us by a
generous Almighty. This means a recognition of possibilities and limitations. This
gives allowance for wholesome doubt about our perfectibility and a degree of
stubborn hopefulness regarding our capacity to achieve our goal.

In the first four years of our Republic we have achieved a measure of recovery
and rebuilding originally expected in ten years. In spite of limited finances, we
have discharged to a goodly extent our obligations to those who defended the
country and worked loyally for it in the period of peril. We have merited the
assistance of America by whose side we fought to preserve our common
cherished institutions and way of life. With our resources, we have initiated a bold
program of economic reconstruction and development, the fruits of which will
accrue to generations after us. We have established an honored name in the
councils of free peoples and have become identified not only with freedom and
democracy but with their increasing extension to peoples long handicapped by
foreign domination. Most important of all, we have established a Republic that
commands respect and loyalty at home and inspires admiration abroad. We could
not have done all these if we did not have spiritual strength, the basic

228
intelligence, the moral and material resources, and above all the will which
overcomes all obstacles.

We want our people to enjoy an increasing measure of social justice and

amelioration of livelihood. This is not a matter solely of administration from
above; it is a joint enterprise in which all of us work and help administrators and
citizens, managers and workers, traders and toilers, producers and consumers. It
is a constant endeavor calculated to achieve the end of every government — to
secure the well-being and happiness of all the people.

We respect the inviolability of the human person. In our resistance to any

totalitarian aggression from within and from without, the dignity of the human
person is the crucial issue; and we have to be grateful for the heritage of a
Christian culture that provides us the basic anchorage and the invincible armor as
we make the stand against any attempt to reduce men to mere chattel.

Economic development has become the essential condition and pre-requisite of

our survival as a free people in a democratic world. For the masses of our people,
it matters little that democracy offers a philosophy superior to that of other
systems, but it does not matter greatly to them that democracy establishes
economic security as well as affirms the dignity of the human persons and secures
individual rights.

We count on the goodwill and understanding, even assistance, of our neighbors,

East and West, but we keep our sinews in trim for steady production in the spirit
of self-help. We depend on our schools, our churches, our homes, to teach our
young that the human personality rises to its full dignity when its possessor works

229
and provides and gives without outward compulsion, and not when he stretches
out his hand, palm upward.

Our conception of freedom includes national discipline guided by the public

interest which is in constant demand of adjustments for the enjoyment of that
freedom. Such measures as the restriction of firearms, the control of imports, and
the regulation of exchange fall within the exigencies of our young democracy.
Although the reaction to these measures among our people may be varied and
new, their effectivity is not rigid; we have undergone more onerous expedients
which we were able to survive in the past. Our citizens shall be heard and the
application of these measures shall be relaxed where stability, efficiency, and the
common good so demand.

It is clear that we must reorganize our administrative machinery with a view to

securing greater efficiency, the improvement of the public service, and economy
of means and effort in the discharge of the government’s responsibilities, in order
to make that machinery more responsive to public need within the limits of our
available resources.

It is clear that we must stabilize the government’s finances consistent with our
ability to tap legitimate sources of revenue and the judicious outlay of funds to
meet current and future needs, with open accountability for our obligations at
home and abroad.

It is clear that we must constantly watch our economy, detect its weak points,
undertake the corresponding measure to strengthen them, have the courage to
develop our resources that make for increasing sufficiency, conserve the fluid

230
assets that keep the steady flow of services and tools available only from abroad,
and provide a broadening base of economic security for all.

It is clear that our people, individually and collectively, must keep their minds
clear on the issues that tend to divide and disrupt, and must constantly improve
their appreciation of those values which deserve their lasting allegiance and
determine the stability of their cherished institutions. Our Republic can only be
worth defending and preserving if it inspires the discipline which establishes a
reasonable balance between liberty on one side and security and responsibility on
the other. Our peace at home and our prestige abroad rest on the vigor of those
loyalties which stamp us as free men whose self-interest encompasses the
welfare and happiness of our fellows here and beyond our borders.

I repeat, our own program of economic development is essentially a program of

self-help. We encourage our neighbors to do the same. We invite them to
cooperate with us in an effort to coordinate the measures for our common full
development. We must pull ourselves out of the treacherous morass of misery
and want and assume a new dignity in our international relations. We must
henceforth discard the old “superior-inferior” philosophy by honest-to-goodness
work of the head and hand.

We share a common fate with our neighbors, and our free institutions will not
flourish in a region of drought and barrenness. We therefore salute the
newly-born United States of Indonesia and the emergence of India as a republic.
Since the inauguration of our own Republic we have rapidly ceased to be an island
of freedom and democracy among the once-called submerged and

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underprivileged peoples in Asia. Korea, Burma, Pakistan, and Ceylon have become
free. Thus, along with other free peoples and peoples still to become free, we can
join together within the framework of the United Nations, into a regional
association given to the advancement of world peace and prosperity.

And so, in encouraging and assisting other peoples to be free on the basic
principle of mutuality in the solution of our common social, economic, and
cultural problems, we help to advance our own national interests. In taking this
view, we are not guided by mere geopolitical consideration, anchored though we
are in the bosom of the Orient for all eternity. But feeling that this is our proper
and immediate field of action where we must fulfill our own destiny, we can help
to advance the interests of the free democratic world by forestalling the entry of
subversive ideas into this rich and populous region of Southeast Asia and the
West Pacific.

We respect the right of our neighbors to choose freely their own system of
government. In our relations with the Chinese people, with whom we have had
such close contacts over many centuries, we shall maintain an open mind giving
due heed to the requirements of our national security and the security of Asia as
a whole. The Japanese people will play an important role in our part of the world,
but we expect them sufficiently to repair the injuries they inflicted in a war of
aggression, and we want to be convinced that they have sufficiently experienced
a change of heart which will induce them not to repeat it but to cooperate instead
in keeping our neighborhood peaceful, free, and prosperous.

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The United States of America is still our best friend and we look to her to realize
increasingly that, in this atomic age, her area of safety, and that of mankind as a
whole, have no delimiting frontiers.

Here as elsewhere all over the world today, people live and move in an
atmosphere of anxiety, still passing through a period of extraordinary tension and
turbulence. They are constantly being harassed by a multiplicity of fears. If it is
not inflation, it is of depression; and if it is not revolution, it is of invasion. If it is
not of complacency and stagnation, it is of corruption.

It is no comfort to us that in this predicament we were not alone. It serves us

naught to know that in this situation the whole world is kin. But we do not need
to feel and be helpless about it. We must guard against the insidious paralysis of
despair. And certainly, the alternative is not apathy. Neither is it “bahala na”, the
fatalism with which an Oriental justifies the many varieties of escapism and
irresponsibility familiar to Orientals and Occidentals alike. The best answer to fear
is to come to grips with it, to understand it for what it is so that we can take its
measure. There is no better therapeutic against anxiety than purposeful activity
to banish its causes.

While this country is ready to defend its liberty and freedom if threatened from
without, we are decidedly against being willfully involved in any war and will take
necessary measure to preserve our people for the constructive ways of peace. We
harbor no evil designs against anyone and we take literally the injunction in our
Constitution to forswear war as an instrument of national policy.

233
We have therefore consistently followed the policy of establishing friendly
contacts with every nation, convinced that in international relations, friendship,
goodwill and the spirit of helpfulness are not only the most economic and lasting
sources of power and influence but the surest guarantees of security and
universal peace.

And so whether it is inflation or depression, rebellion or threat of invasion,

economic controls or corruption, let us address ourselves to them honestly and
directly and exhaust every practical way to conquer them. We cannot leave this
job alone to the President and the administration. We cannot leave this job to a
few individuals, to special interests and privileged classes. Least of all can we
leave this to God alone. We must, one and all, as individuals and as groups, take it
upon ourselves to do our part. Together we must and can spread a contagion of
courage and victory to the remotest hamlet and the humblest citizen of this
country – each by undertaking the duty nearest to him.

This country will survive, not because I say so, but because our people have
proved it in the past, are proving it now, and will prove it in the difficult years to
come. It is part of our common heritage and experience which no one can take
away that we are above fear when we are so absorbed in our positive task that
we have no time for fear itself. As a people we have gone through the worst
economic crises and vicissitudes in the past, but always we have been able to pool
the moral and material resources necessary to survival. We cannot do less today
and tomorrow. The next four years will be years of positive work and
accomplishments.

234
I have no ambition but to see that this urge is fulfilled in the interest of our
people. Our country, for which our heroes and martyrs gave their richest blood,
deserves the best that we, who are its servants today, can give in lasting
constructive performance. Our program of development and social amelioration
may seem bold and ambitious, but why should we attempt anything less? I am
determined and will not be swerved by personal or partisan considerations from
any determination to see this program through.

Our people should not expect me to do anything but what is right, and I expect
everyone to support me to the limit in this resolve. I shall give constant battle to
graft and corruption and will not tolerate irregularities of any sort under whatever
name. Buying one’s way to any political preference, economic advantage, or
social distinction will not be allowed. I want this point understood from the
beginning so that individuals and party men who have other ideas and
expectations will not be disappointed. Our country and people must believe in me
and support me in this resolve, if I am to achieve any success in this direction.

I mean fully to fulfill my sworn duties as laid down by the Constitution. I will deal
justly with every man and will welcome anyone with legitimate grievance to
submit his complaints, if his rights are trampled upon. I am not committed to
protect the rights of certain groups as against those of others, not to serve the
special interests of anybody. Right and justice and the supreme interest of this
country as the Almighty has given me to understand them shall be my one guide.

My countrymen, you elected me because you want me to serve the country well.
Help me always to do so. Give me your light when my way is dark. Give me

235
strength when you see me weaken. Give me courage always to do the right thing.
Help me build for our people a new reputation for honesty and fair dealing. Help
me establish a new integrity on our thinking, in our words, in our deeds. Let us be
men, as the best of our breed have tried to be. Let us be true to ourselves so that
we cannot be false to any man or any people. Then we can know the right thing,
and I, as your servant, can do the right thing for all the world to judge.

I have taken the oath of office with courage and confidence, because I know that
the well-springs of our national strength are abundant and inexhaustible. Our
history is the history of a growing and expanding nation, a nation that for four
hundred years has kept green its love of liberty and ever fresh its desire for
progress. I stake the success of my administration upon that record, and I ask you
to draw with me upon the copious reserves of energy and patriotism which have
sustained our nation through every crisis in its history.

I beseech you to vouchsafe full faith and cooperation in this hour of solemn
investiture and patriotic commemoration.

236
INAUGURAL ADDRESS
OF
HIS EXCELLENCY RAMON MAGSAYSAY
PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINES

[Delivered at the Independence Grandstand, Manila, on December 30, 1953]

My Countrymen:

You have called upon me to assume the highest office within our gift. I accept the
trust humbly and gratefully. My sole determination is to be President for the
people.

The office of President is the highest in the land. It can be the humblest also, if we
regard it – as we must – in the light of basic democratic principles. The first of
these principles is the declaration of the Constitution that “sovereignty resides in
the people and all government authority emanates form them.” This simply
means that all of us in public office are but servants of the people.

As I see it, your mandate in the past election was not a license for the selfish
enjoyment of power by any man or group of men. On the contrary, it was an
endorsement of the principle – at times forgotten – that the general welfare is the
only justification for the exercise of governmental power and authority.

Your mandate was a clear and urgent command to establish for our people a
government based upon honesty and morality; a government sensitive to your
needs, dedicated to your best interests, and inspired by our highest ideals of
man’s liberty.

237
We have a glorious past. Now we must build a future worthy of that past.

It is significant that we begin on this day and on this ground hallowed by the
supreme sacrifice of Jose Rizal. We can find no finer example of dedication to
country to light our way.

All too often, however, we speak of Rizal – and of Del Pilar, Bonifacio, Mabini, and
our host of heroes – as if their work were done, as if today their spirit had ceased
to have any meaning or value to our people. The truth is that we need their spirit
now more than ever. We need it to complete the work which they began.

We need men of integrity and faith like Rizal and Del Pilar; men of action like
Bonifacio; men of inflexible patriotism like Mabini. We need their zeal, their
self-reliance, their capacity for work, their devotion to service, their ability to lose
themselves in the common cause of building a nation.

I will have such men. From this day, the members of my administration, beginning
with myself, shall cease to belong to our parties, to our families, even to
ourselves. We shall belong only to the people.

In the administration of public affairs, all men entrusted with authority must
adhere firmly to the ideals and principles of the Constitution.

I will render – and demand – uncompromising loyalty to the basic tenet of our
Constitution; that you, the people, are sovereign. The rule of government must be
service to you.

238
Accordingly, I pledge my administration to your service. I pledge that we shall
extend the protection of the law to everyone, fairly and impartially – to the rich
and the poor, the learned and the unlettered – recognizing no party but the
nation, no family but the great family of our race, no interest save the common
welfare.

The Bill of Rights shall be for me and the members of my administration, a bill of
duties. We shall be guardians of the freedom and dignity of the individual.

More than this, we shall strive to give meaning and substance to the liberties
guaranteed by our Constitution – by helping our citizens to attain the economic
well-being so essential to the enjoyment of civil and political rights.

The separation of powers ordained by our Constitution – as an effective safeguard

against tyranny – shall be preserved zealously. Mutual respect for the rights and
prerogative of each of the three great departments of government must be
observed.

The legislative power vested by the Constitution, in the elected representatives of

the people will, I trust, operate vigorously to prosecute our common program of
honest, efficient and constructive government. As Executive, I look forward to
intimate cooperation with the members of Congress, particularly with those
statesmen who have stood guard over the rights and liberties of our people.

The independence of the judiciary shall be strengthened. Our courts must be

freed from political and other baneful influences, so that they may function with

239
the same integrity and impartially which have made our Supreme Court the
fortress of law and justice.

Heretofore, social justice has raised fervent but frustrated hopes in the hearts of
our less fortunate citizens. We must not permit social justice to be an empty
phrase in our Constitution. We must bring it to life – for all.

In consonance with this purpose, my administration shall take positive, energetic

measures to improve the living conditions of our fellow citizens in the barrios and
neglected rural areas and of laborers in our urban and industrial centers.

The land tenure system of our country shall be reexamined, to purge it of injustice
and oppression.

“Land for the landless” shall be more than just a catch-phrase. We will translate it
into actuality. We will clear and open for settlement our vast and fertile public
lands which, under the coaxing of willing hearts and industrious hands, are
waiting to yield substance to millions of our countrymen.

Democracy becomes meaningless if it fails to satisfy the primary needs of the

common man, if it cannot give him freedom from fear and on which a strong
republic can be built. His happiness and security are the only foundations on
which a strong republic can be built. His happiness and security shall be foremost
among the goals of my administration.

We must develop the national economy so that it may better satisfy the material
needs of our people. The benefits of any economic or industrial development

240
program shall be channeled first to our common people, so that their living
standards shall be raised.

While I shall give priority to our domestic problems, my administration will not
neglect our international responsibilities. We cannot escape the fact that, today,
the destinies of nations are closely linked. It is in this spirit that we regard the
goodwill and assistance extended to us through the various programs of
international economic cooperation with the more developed nations, chiefly the
United States. Considering this aid to be primarily a means of speeding up our
progress toward self-reliance, I pledge that every peso worth of assistance will be
spent honestly and to the best advantage.

It is to our common interest that this Republic, a monument to mutual goodwill

and common labor, should prove to the world the vitality of the democracy by
which we live.

We shall continue to cooperate with the United Nations in seeking collective

security and a just world peace.

No effect will be spared, no element of cooperation will be withheld in

strengthening and safeguarding our physical security. We are prepared to live up
to all our obligations under our Mutual Defense Treaty with the United States.

To our Asian brothers, we send our fraternal greetings. They are beset by
problems of the same nature and complexity as those that confront us. We invite
them to share our experience in finding solutions to those problems through
democratic means. It is my hope that we can exchange experiences and

241
information on methods that each of us has found most effective in subduing
illiteracy, poverty, disease, under-productivity, and other common evils which
have afflicted our countries of past generations.

The problems and opportunities ahead of us set the measure of the effort we
must exert in the years to come. We must have unity to solve our problems,
cooperation to exploit our opportunities. I urge you to forego partisan differences
whenever the national interest clearly demands united action. We must not be
distracted from our work. We have no time for petty strife.

Certainly we cannot temporize with armed dissidence. I therefore call upon the
remnants of the Huk uprising still hiding in the hills to lay down their arms – and
rejoin the rest of the nation in the ways of peace. I say to the rank and file of the
Huks – who have been misled by the lies of the Kremlin – that they can win the
economic security and social justice they desire only within the framework of our
democracy. We shall welcome back the truly repentant with understanding and
with sympathy.

But, to the leaders of the Communist conspiracy who would deliver this country
and its people to a foreign power, this I say: I shall use all the forces at my
command to the end that the sovereign authority of this government shall be
respected and maintained. There can be no compromise with disloyalty.

I have been warned that too much is expected of this administration, that our
people expect the impossible. For this young and vigorous nation of ours, nothing
is really impossible!

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Let us have faith in ourselves, the same faith that fired the heroic generation of
revolution. They waged and won their struggle with nothing but bolos in their
hands and courage in their hearts. Without political training and experience, they
wrote a constitution comparable with the best, and established the first republic
in Asia. Our own generation was told by doubters and enemies that we would
never have independence from the United States. We live today under a free and
sovereign Republic. Our faith was fulfilled.

Today, we are told anew that it is impossible to do what must be done. But our
people, sustained by God, under whose protection we have placed our destiny
and happiness, and strengthened by an abiding faith in His goodness and mercy –
our people, united and free, shall shape a future worthy of our noble heritage if
we but act; act together; act wisely; act with courage; and act unselfishly, in a
spirit of patriotic dedication.

Inaugural Address
of
His Excellency Carlos P. Garcia
President of the Philippines

[Delivered at Luneta, December 30, 1957]

243
MY FELLOW COUNTRYMEN:

IN the sober exercise of your constitutional prerogative as a free people, you have
elected me President of the Philippines. With humility and deep gratitude, I
accept your mandate, and God helping, I shall not fail you.

With my oath of office goes my solemn pledge of dedicated service to the nation.
Invoking the guidance of Divine Providence and the memory of my illustrious
predecessors, I take upon myself the tremendous responsibilities of national
leadership with the courage and fervor inspired by the warm national unity in
dedication and devotion to country. But I must confess in all candor that the best
and the utmost I can give in the service of the people will avail us little unless I
receive the understanding, faith, and support of my countrymen. In every
momentous time of our history our people have given their full measure of
support to our leaders. As I assume national leadership in answer to your
summons on a day consecrated by the supreme sacrifice of Rizal, I pray for one
gift—the heart of the Filipino people. In return I give you mine.

In the spirit, therefore, of that covenant of the hearts between the people and
their chosen leader, I face the future aglow with hope and confidence. Together
we will meet our common problems and difficulties. With the singleness of
purpose together we will overcome them.

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS

244
Self-Sufficiency in Food.—As a people we prize highly the moral and spiritual
values of life. But the realities of the moment have made us more preoccupied
with economic problems chiefly concerning the material values of national life.

It is a strange paradox that while the basic articles in our fundamental economy
are rice and fish, we are not self-sufficient in both from time immemorial. We,
have gone into extensive plans and schemes in industrialization, foreign trade,
foreign exchange, and similar matters, but we have not given sufficient thought or
incentives, nor have we done enough to provide for the fundamental need of
national life—foodstuff. In the midst of abundant natural resources for rice
culture and fish production, we still have to import from abroad a substantial part
of the supply to meet these absolute and irreducible necessities of life. Thus, in
case of a blockade as dramatically shown in the last world war, this fact can be
aserious weakness in our national defense. What happened in the last world war
with tragic consequences to our army and our people should spur us to the high
resolve never again to neglect this essential side of our economy.

It is, therefore, imperative that we lose no time and spare no effort in reorienting
our national economic policies towards doing first things first. We must produce
here, by and for ourselves, enough to provide for the fundamental needs of life—
food, shelter, and clothing. The country now has the natural resources, the
means, and the modern know-how to do it. We only lack the will to do it. Let us
summon then from the spiritual reservoir of the nation the collective will and
determination tomake our country self-sufficient in foodstuffs, shelter, and
clothing. Our freedom must be nourished from the wealth of our own soil and by

245
the labor of our own manhood. This is the key policy of this administration in the
field of economics. To this I give my heart and hand.

International Reserves.—There has developed of late some apprehension arising

out of the austerity measures adopted by the Administration to arrest further
deterioration of our international reserves. I hasten to tell the nation that while
the present financial situation calls for sober and realistic reappraisal of our
policies and actions, there is no real cause for alarm. There has been no
dissipation of our dollar reserves. But in our over-eagerness and enthusiasm to
push forward our industrialization program, we transgressed the eternal laws of
measure and proportion. As a retribution reality now constrains us to restore the
correct proportion between dollar reserves and industrialization and also
between these reserves and bond issues and other forms of public borrowing. To
achieve this end, it behooves us to submit temporarily to measures of austerity,
self-discipline, and self-denial. We have to sacrifice for the larger good of the
greatest number. Nonetheless, we must continue our industrialization program
with daring and courage. Let us not forget, however, that discretion is still the
better part of valor. Our mistakes should not make us weaker in spirit. Rather,
recognition of these should inspire us to strengthen our dedication and with the
proper rectifications made, we shall carry on stronger in faith and confidence, and
with clearer vision.

Agro-Industrial Economy.—In the light of our experience it has been dramatically

pointed out that a well-balanced agro4ndustrial economy is the best for the
country. Rice is still the center of gravity of our agricultural economy as steel is of
our industrial economy. On these two basic factors, we build our agro-industrial

246
economy. We have to step up the tempo of establishing the agricultural industries
to utilize with the least delay the abundant natural resources which a bountiful
Divine Providence has endowed us. We have the land, the climate, and other
favorable natural conditions to produce ramie, cotton, and other fibers to feed
our textile industries with raw materials. We have the land and natural conditions
to produce raw rubber to provide steady supply of raw materials to our rubber
and tire industries that minister to a nation on wheels. We have abundant flora
and fauna for supplying the materials of drug and chemical industries.

And now what resources have we for our industrial economy? We have some of
the world’s biggest iron deposits and abundant coal and manganese to provide
the raw materials for the basic steel industry rightly called the mother of 101
other industries. To complement this, it is definitely known that the bosom of our
earth contains unlimited mineral oil deposits to turn the wheels of industry and
the propellers of prosperity. We have the natural hydro-electric resources which
can be harnessed as a number of them already are, to supply cheap industrial
power. The power-harnessing program will be kept up with increasing
momentum to realize our desire for rural electrification.

With all these elements at our command, and with our youth rapidly acquiring
the needed industrial technology and with the increasing demand for machineries
and other steel products for our industrialization, it has become imperative for us
to build soonest the steel industry. Out of the womb of steel industry we hope to
generate here the machinery for the entire Philippine agro-industrial structure.
Out of steel we will create the sinews of the nation.

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Mining Industry.—But fellow countrymen, iron is only one of our principal mineral
resources. We have practically all minerals used by present civilization, ferrous,
non-ferrous, and mineral oils. The mining industry, therefore, has the potentiality
of becoming the premier dollar-earning industry of the Philippines. This
administration commits itself to giving all possible incentives and support to
private enterprises which may invest and work to make mining the biggest of
industries. The broader motivating spirit of modern Filipino industrialists is no
longer money profit first, but rather the joy of creativeness and the exultation of
the soul derived from the consciousness of having contributed to human
happiness. May this spirit forever grow!

This administration is fully aware of the difficulties in financing our ambitious

industrialization program. We have realized that our dollar reserves can no longer
continue with the double role of providing for the normal requirements of our
foreign trade and the tremendous financing of our industrial and economic
development. The time has come to provide separate development funds to
attend exclusively to the economic development and release our international
reserves of this burden. I am fully convinced that we can generate development
funds from sources other than taxes and the proceeds of our present exports.
Development loans can be liquidated by the same industries they are intended to
sustain.

An essential aspect of the program I have outlined, if we are to achieve optimum

results, is the role of scientific and industrial research. No industry of any
importance in the world today can afford to exist without it. This is our serious

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deficiency that we must immediately correct through collaboration of
government and private enterprise.

SOCIAL SERVICE

My predecessor, the late President Magsaysay, opened not only the halls but the
very heart of Malacañang to the people. To the common man, especially the
needy, the forsaken and the victims of injustice, Malacañang symbolizes hope,
faith, and justice. Under my administration, Malacañang will remain such a
symbol. This Government will carry on dispensing social justice and protecting
human rights. I expect every department to share in the great task of fortifying
the faith of our people in their Government by bringing the Government closer to
the people in terms of service and love.

Social Amelioration.—This administration will continue the vigorous prosecution

of the social amelioration program. We give a higher premium to this social
service program to demonstrate to our masses that in freedom and by democratic
processes we can achieve peace, prosperity, and happiness. The Social Security
Act, for instance, which gives to non-government wage earners insurance
protection against sickness, disability, old age, death, and unemployment, will be
fully implemented. Moreover, a large portion of the funds which this Act will
generate will be channeled to selected sound investments to promote the general
well-being, thus making the people investors and participants in the country’s
economic destiny. The individual economic security assured to the beneficiaries of
this Act will buttress the collective economic security of the nation. The Social
Security System is protection to labor and provision to capital.

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The Government will continue its low-cost housing projects and its land
redistribution and resettlement program. We shall exert greater efforts so that
more of our poor will eventually acquire homes and lands that they can call their
very own. Home-and-land-owning citizens possess not only a sense of stability
and contentment but also the practical patriotism to live for, and if necessary; to
die for home and country. For upon the face of the patriot must have shone first
the firelight of home.

We have a high stake in the health, strength, and vitality of our people. So we
shall pursue our health development activities, especially in the barrios and other
rural areas. Only a vigorous, healthy, educated, and aspiring people can build a
strong and enduring Republic.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND NATIONAL DEFENSE

I once more reaffirm the determination of this administration to preserve and

enhance our historic relations of friendship with the United States based on
equality, mutuality of interests, and community of ideals. Tested in the crucible of
war no less than in the sacrifices for peace, our partnership with the noble
American people will long live vibrant in the hearts of our two peoples rather than
in the pages of our treaties. Of course, it would be naivete to assume that no
differences will ever exist between the two peoples. Differences do exist now and
others may arise in the future. But in a spirit of fellowship and mutual
understanding there can be none that cannot be adjusted on the basis of justice
and equality to the satisfaction of each other’s interests.

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In the face of grave threats to world peace and security, it is our solemn duty to
strive with other free countries for strengthening the United Nations and make it
a more effective instrumentality for peace. We have entered into a number of
agreements with America, including a mutual defense treaty, and have associated
with other freedom-loving states in the SEATO in an effort to meet those threats
on regional level. We know that the United States, as recognized leader of the
free world, is resolved with all her might and resources to maintain peace and
freedom and democracy. The Philippines will discharge her humble share in the
indivisible responsibility of preserving world peace and freedom. I hope that our
Western allies in the SEATO will see eye to eye with us on the need for
strengthening further the fabric of this regional defense organization and the
capability of their Asian allies to meet subversion or open aggression.

We will preserve our friendship with Spain and the Latin-American republics with
whom we are tied by indissoluble cultural, spiritual, and historical bonds. To our
Asian friends we reiterate the good neighbor policy which we wish would prove
mutually fruitful and beneficial.

National Defense.—In this nuclear age we must realistically admit that the
defense of small countries like ours, to be effective at all, must be linked with the
common defense of the free world. Nevertheless, the primary responsibility for
the defense and security of our country and territorial integrity is still burs. It
behooves us, therefore, to bring up to modern standards, within the limits of our
resources and, we hope, with the assistance of our friends and allies, the major
services of our defense organization. Only those can remain free who are worthy
of it. Freedom must be constantly deserved. Our heroic heritage consecrated by

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the blood and sacrifices of our heroes and martyrs assures me that the program
for the modernization of our defense will receive your warmest support. On this
momentous day let me pay warm tribute to the Filipino soldier whose bravery
and patriotism established firmly the Philippine Republic upon the rock of
national unity and liberty.

Peace Diplomacy.—But deeper and more enduring than our preparations for
defense is our hope and desire for world peace—a just, honorable, and lasting
peace. The Philippines stands squarely behind every sincere plea and effort for a
stop to the armaments race that is leading the nations of the world to material
and moral bankruptcy. World peace based on a “balanced of terror” maintained
by a relentless contest in the development of increasingly more devastating
nuclear weapons is a danger-fraught situation only one spark away from a
cataclysmic explosion leading inevitably to one end—the total destruction of
civilization. This administration will therefore tirelessly support any sincere effort
towards the removal of all means to wage war through total disarmament of all
nations and ultimately towards the removal of all causes of war by channelling
the tremendous resources now spent for destructive purposes to fighting misery,
poverty, disease, and criminality the world over and bring about the climate and
moral regeneration for world peace.

MORAL AND SPIRITUAL STRENGTHENING

The education of the youth, being essential to the progress of the nation and to
the preservation of the freedom we have won, will receive increasing attention
from this administration. I believe in preparing the youth of the land intellectually

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and morally for the responsibilities and leadership they have to assume later in
life. Since bur economic development is the center of our common effort at this
juncture of our national life, the education of our youth should henceforth lay
emphasis on science, industrial and agricultural technology.

But with all our preoccupation with the national well-being, we cannot afford to
neglect the moral and spiritual aspects of our national life. Together with the
increasing material abundance, we need to strengthen our moral fiber. Our
spiritual virtues must be constantly fortified. A nation does not live by bread
alone, and no profit is gained in strengthening its economy if in doing so it loses
its soul. The ruins of once mighty empires now buried under the dust of oblivion
constantly remind us that material progress, unless based on a foundation of
morality, eventually destroys itself. It is my firm conviction that the character of
the nation anchored on the Rock of Ages is still our best answer to the challenge
of Communistic ideology.

In this connection, I serve notice that the war against graft and corruption will
continue with unabated zeal without fear or favor. Dishonesty and inefficiency in
public service will be dealt with firmly but justly. By the same token, honesty and
efficiency should be rewarded generously. In dealing with these things I intend to
use preventive measures to minimize, not abolish, punitive measures.

These are what I envision for our country during the next four years. For their
realization, I invoke once again the united cooperation and support of the Filipino
people. Again, I reverently invoke the aid of Divine Creator, Infinite Fountain of all
blessings, that we may have unity where we have been divided, that we may have

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faith and courage where we have faltered and weakened, that we may be given
light and vision where we have walked in darkness, that we may have love where
we have been selfish, and that we may achieve lasting peace, prosperity, and
happiness for our people.

INAUGURAL ADDRESS
OF
HIS EXCELLENCY DIOSDADO MACAPAGAL

Macapagal

[Delivered at the Quirino Grandstand, Manila, December 30, 1961]

“OUR MISSION”

On this day, December 30, our national hero Jose Rizal gave his life on this
hallowed ground – the ideal manifestation of love of country and dedication to
the service of our people. It was therefore fitting that the framers of our
Constitution should decree that the highest official of the land shall be called
upon to assume office on this historical occasion. With deep humility, I accept the
Nation’s call to duty.

Bound by the oath I have just taken, I am resolved that I shall be the President not
only of the members of my party but of all political groups; I shall be President

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not only of the rich but more so of the poor; and I shall be President not only of
one sector but of all the people.

The primary function of the President is not to dispense favors but to dispense
justice. The presidential oath of office contains the special pledge to “do justice to
every man.” These shall not remain empty words, for with God’s help, I shall do
justice to every citizen, no matter how exalted or how humble may be his station
in life.

As we open a new era in the life of our Nation, let us measure the tasks before us
and set forth our goals. Our aims are two-fold: first, to solve the immediate
problems of the present and, second, to build materially and spiritually for the
future.

Our first mission is the solution of the problem of corruption. We assume

leadership at a time when our Nation is in the throes of a moral degeneration
unprecedented in our national history. Never within the span of human memory
has graft permeated every level of government. The solution of this problem shall
call for the exercise of the tremendous persuasive power of the Presidency. I shall
consider it, therefore, my duty to set a personal example in honesty and
uprightness. We must prove that ours is not a Nation of hopeless grafters but a
race of good and decent men and women.

I intend to do more than this. Among the appropriate measures I shall take to
insure the eradication of this social cancer is to assume moral and political
responsibility for the general state of public morality in the country.

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Our second mission is to attain self-sufficiency food of our people, namely, rice
and corn. The elemental needs of every people are food, clothing and shelter. We
shall give impetus to industries that will provide clothing for our population at
reasonable prices. In collaboration with private enterprise, we shall invigorate the
national housing program and devote particular attention to proper housing for
countrymen who earn the lowest income and the indigents who live under
subhuman conditions.

While attending to the people’s need for adequate clothing and shelter, the
urgent emphasis shall be on their need for staple food. With the cooperation of
Congress, we shall launch and implement a rice and corn program that shall bring
about sufficiency in the production of these cereals and make them available at
prices within the reach of the masses.

The basic national problem is the poverty of the masses. Our third mission,
therefore, is the creation of conditions that will provide more income for our
people – income for those who have none and more income for those whose
earnings are inadequate for their elemental needs. Millions of our people are
unemployed and millions more are unemployed and millions more are under-
employed. We must rectify this situation to help our people attain a higher level
of living and create the domestic buying power that can help generate prosperity.
Unless solved in time, this problem will worsen to the point of disaster in view of
our population explosion.

The permanent solution to this problem is the rapid and sound utilization of our
vast and rich natural resources in order to create opportunities for employment.

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We believe that the effective accomplishment of this task should be left to the
citizens themselves, that is, to private enterprise. But the Government can and
should help. Our Administration shall extend this help. Within the maximum
financial capacity of the Government, we shall initiate and carry out a program to
help solve unemployment and underemployment through massive productive
and labor-intensive projects calculated to create multiple job opportunities while
at the same time increasing the production, productivity and wealth of the land.

Our fourth mission is to launch a bold but well-formulated socio-economic

program that shall place the country on the road to prosperity for all our people. I
shall present this program in my first State-of-the-Nation message to Congress
next month for the consideration and support of our law-making body. In
essence, the program will call for a return to free and private enterprise. The
program will also aim at propelling the Nation along the path of progress, first
through the dynamic development of our resources under a system of free and
private enterprise, and, second, by the implementation of a social program for
the masses under the direction of the Government. I strongly believe in placing
the burden of economic development in the hands of private entrepreneurs with
the least government interference while making the Government assume the full
responsibility for implementing the social and public welfare program.

I believe in private enterprise because I have faith in the Filipino. I am convinced

that if his future is placed in his own hands and conditions are created in which he
may seek his prosperity and carve his own destiny – with his integrity, talent,
industry and sense of sacrifice – he shall surmount attendant difficulties, husband
the natural bounty that God has bestowed for his well-being, effectively provide

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for his needs and transform our country at an early time into a land of abundance
not only for a favored few but for each and every Filipino.

While our economic problems are integrated in character, we must be concerned

with the plight of the common man as an imperative of justice. We must help
bridge the wide gap between the poor man and the man of wealth, not by pulling
down the rich to his level as communism desires, but by raising the poor up
towards the more abundant life. This is democracy’s supreme endeavor. I shall
therefore from this day onward vigorously exert all efforts to increase the
productivity of the farmer and the laborer, to teach the common man scientific
methods to lighten his burdens, to give land to the landless and in time to place
within his means the essential commodities for a decent living.

It is not our only task to solve the immediate problems of the present and build
materially for the future. The structure of this Republic must be built not only
upon material but more so upon spiritual foundations. Our fifth mission,
therefore, is to establish the practices and the example that will strengthen the
moral fiber of our Nation and reintroduce those values that would invigorate our
democracy. This we shall seek through formal modes of reform, through
enforcement of statutes and, whenever feasible, through the power of example. I
shall accordingly endeavor to set the tone not only for integrity but also for
simple living, hard work, and dedication to the national well-being.

This then, in synthesis, is our mission, the trust that has been placed in our hands
by our people. We are called upon to attend to all functions of government,
including foreign relations in which we shall vigorously discharge our part in the

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struggle against communism and strive to raise the prestige of the Republic
before the family of nations. While ministering to all the traditional public
services, it is in the accomplishment of these five missions that we must place
stress and primary attention, for their solution will facilitate the effective
ministration of all the essential public services the government is duty bound to
maintain.

It is incorrect to say that we are out to solve all the problems of the Nation. No
President can do that. Nation-building is an exacting and endless endeavor. No
President can build the whole edifice of a nation. All that he is called upon to do,
is to add a fine stone to that edifice, so that those who shall come after him may
add other fine stones that will go for a strong and enduring structure. I stress
anew that stone that we are assigned to contribute to the edifice of a greater
Philippines is, first, to attend to such short-range problems as sufficiency in the
staple food of the people, and more employment, and second, to undertake a
long-range task of moral renaissance and the implementation of a socio-economic
blueprint which, although not immediately achieving prosperity, will lead to that
prosperity for all our people.

I believe that this is a mission formidable enough for any President. It is an

endeavor that calls for the utmost use of sound judgment, energy and, above all,
patriotism, which is demanded of all of us. It addresses itself to the leaders the
three great branches of our Government. It requires, on the part of all, a
transfiguration of attitude from political partisanship to statesmanship. In the
deliberations of Congress on the proclamation of the President and the
Vice-President, the leaders and members of Congress demonstrated their

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capacity to rise above partisan politics and proved themselves equal to the
challenge of patriotism. I express the hope that this congressional performance
was not a mere involuntary recognition of an undeniable political fact but a willful
recognition of the need of setting aside political partisanship in this time of
national crisis in the interest of bipartisan collaboration in the common task of
providing, in the least time possible, a life of decency and prosperity for our
people.

Above all, this mission requires the support of our people. No program can
succeed without popular sustenance. We shall need that faith and that support
demonstrated by our people in our election against appalling odds. The
beneficent effects of some of the concrete steps that we shall take may not be
immediately evident; what may, in fact, be instantly visible will be adverse but
transitory repercussions that in time will clear the way for the final and favorable
outcome. In those interludes of anxiety, we shall need the full trust and
confidence of our people, and we assure now that we shall deserve that trust and
confidence because in all our actions we shall never deviate from the course of
integrity, sincerity, and devotion to the welfare of the Nation.

In the past electoral combat, our people showed the strength of our democracy in
this part of the world by bringing about a peaceful change of Administration
through the ballot and not through the bullet. Simultaneously, democracy
displayed its splendor by showing that under its aegis a poor man who sprang
from the humblest origin and who has not attained a state of riches can rise to
the Presidency of the Republic. I, whom the sovereign will in a democracy has
chosen as the means for the exhibition of the reality of its virtue of offering equal

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opportunity to the rich and the poor alike, am now called upon to prove that such
a gift of opportunity to our humble citizenry shall not be in vain. With God’s grace
and the support of all citizens of good will and good faith, and of our common
people in particular, I pray with all my heart and soul that I shall not fail in my
trust.

INAUGURAL ADDRESS
OF
HIS EXCELLENCY FERDINAND E. MARCOS

[Delivered at the Quirino Grandstand, Manila on December 30, 1965]

Mr. Chief Justice, Mr. Vice-President, Mr. Speaker, My Countrymen:

Sa bisa ng inyong makapangyarihang hatol at sa pamamagitan ng mabiyayang

tangkilik ng Dakilang Maykapal, narito ako ngayon sa inyong harap sa
pinagkaugalian nang ritwal sa pagtatalaga at pagsumpa sa tungkulin ng isang
bagong halal na Pangulo.

Sa kapasiyahan ninyong ito ay muli pa ninyong pinatunayan na matatag at

matibay ang pagkakatanim ng mga ugat ng demokrasya sa sinapupunan ng
bansang ito. At sa bisa ng kapangyarihang ipinagkaloob sa inyo ng mga batas ay
naisasagawa nang mapayapa at maayos ang pagsasalin ng kapangyarihang
pampamahalaan.

By your mandate, through the grace of the Almighty, I stand here today in the
traditional ritual of the assumption of the Presidency.

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By your mandate, once again you have demonstrated the vitality of our
democracy by the peaceful transference of governmental authority.

It is but fitting and proper that this traditional ritual be undertaken on this sacred
ground. For sixty-nine year ago today, a young patriot and prophet of our race fell
upon this beloved soil. He fell from a tyrant’s bullet and out of the martyr’s blood
that flowed copiously there sprung a new nation.

That nation became the first modern republic in Asia and Africa. It is our nation.
We are proud to point to our country as one stable in an area of instability; where
ballots, not bullets, decide the fate of leaders and parties.

Thus Kawit and Malolos are celebrated in our history as acts of national greatness.
Why national greatness? Because, armed with nothing but raw courage and
passionate intelligence and patriotism, our predecessors built the noble edifice of
the first Asian Republic.

With the same reverence do we consider Bataan, Corregidor and the Philippine
resistance movement.

Today the challenge is less dramatic but no less urgent. We must repeat the feat
of our forebears in a more commonplace sphere, away from the bloody turmoil of
heroic adventure – by hastening our social and economic transformation. For
today, the Filipino, it seems, has lost his soul, his dignity and his courage.

We have come upon a phase of our history when ideas are only a veneer for
greed and power in public and private affairs, when devotion to duty and
dedication to a public trust are to be weighed at all times against private

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advantages and personal gain, and when loyalties can be traded in the open
market.

Our people have come to a point of despair. I know this for I have personally met
many of you. I have heard the cries of thousands and clasped hands in
brotherhood with millions of you. I know the face of despair and I know the face
of hunger because I have seen it in our barrios, huts and hovels all over our land.

We have ceased to value order as a social virtue. Law, we have learned

successfully to flaunt. We have become past masters at devising slogans for the
sake of recorders of his history but not for those who would live by them in terms
of honor and dignity.

Peace in our time, we declare. But we can not guarantee life and limb in our
growing cities. Prosperity for all, we promise. But only a privileged few achieve it,
and, to make the pain obvious, parade their comforts and advantages before the
eyes of an impoverished many. Justice and security are as myths rendered into
elaborate fictions to dramatize our so-called well-being and our happy march to
progress.

But you have rejected all these through a new mandate of leadership. It is a
mandate that imposes a change of leadership in this country, and to me, as your
President, this mandate is clear – it is a mandate not merely for change. It is a
mandate for greatness.

For indeed we must rise from the depths of ignominy and failure. Our
government is gripped in the iron hand of venality, its treasury is barren, its

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resources are wasted, its civil service is slothful and indifferent, its armed forces
demoralized and its councils sterile.

But we shall draw from our rich resources of spiritual strength that flow from this
place of martyrdom.

We are in crisis. You know that the government treasury is empty. Only by
severed self-denial will there be hope for recovery within the next year.

Our government in the past few months has exhausted all available domestic and
foreign sources of borrowing. Our public financial institutions have been
burdened to the last loanable peso. The lending capacity of the Central Bank has
been utilized to the full. Our national government is indebted to our local
governments. There are no funds available for public works and little of the
appropriations for our national government for the present fiscal year. Industry is
at a standstill. Many corporations have declared bankruptcy. Local manufacturing
firms have been compelled to close or reduce their capacity.

Unemployment has increased. Prices of essential commodities and services

remain unstable. The availability of rice remains uncertain. Very recently the
transportation companies with the sanction of the Public Service Commission
hiked their fares on the plea of survival.

I, therefore, first call upon the public servants for self-sacrifice. Long have we
depended upon the people. In every crisis, we call upon our citizens to bear the
burden of sacrifice. Now, let the people depend upon us. The economic viability

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of the government and of the nation requires immediate retrenchment.
Accordingly, we must install without any delay a policy of rigorous fiscal restraint.

Every form of waste – or of conspicuous consumption and extravagance, shall be

condemned as inimical to public welfare.

Frugality with government funds and resources must be developed into a habit at
every level of the government. High public officials must themselves set the
example.

One of the most galling of our inherited problems is that of lawlessness.

Syndicated crime has been spawned by smuggling. The democratic rule of law has
lost all meaning and majesty, since all men know that public officials combine
with unscrupulous businessmen to defraud government and the public – with
absolute impunity. The sovereignty of the republic has never before been derided
and mocked as when the lawless elements, smuggling syndicates and their
protectors, disavow the power of laws and of our government over them. This is
the climate for criminality. Popular faith in the government deteriorates.

We must, therefore, aim quickly at the establishment of a genuine rule of law. We

shall use the fullest powers of the Presidency to stop smuggling and lawlessness.

I, therefore, call upon all to join hands with me in maintaining the supremacy of
the law. To those flaunt the law, I say: this is my constitutional duty and I am
resolved to perform it. But it is not mine alone but yours. For whether Filipino or
alien you survive under the mantle of protection granted by our laws. I am
pledged to execute the law and preserve the constitution of our republic. This I

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shall do. And if need be I shall direct the forcible if legal elimination of all lawless
elements.

Our social policy will seek to broaden the base of our democracy. Our forefathers
built a democratic republic on an extremely narrow social and economic base.
The task of our generation is to broaden this base continuously. We must spread
opportunities for higher incomes for all. But we shall encourage investment to
insure progressive production – the true answer to our economic ills.

Our people sought a new administration in the expectation of a meaningful

change – certainly a bolder, more courageous approach to our problems.

They must have believed that we can provide this new outlook, and perhaps the
passion for excellence – the motive force for greatness.

We shall provide this approach, the necessary change of pace, the new outlook
that places large demands and large challenges before the nation. The human
person is unique in creation. Of all organisms, it is he that develops in proportion
to the demands made upon his abilities. That is true of individuals and I hold it to
be true of nations.

Recently, we have come to realize that economic planning is as essential for

freedom as political planning.

Before today we had squandered the energies and resourcefulness of our people.
In the government we saw a crippling hesitancy and timidity to face the facts of
our times and to boldly provide the initiative.

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We cannot afford to rest on the shock of our perceptions, nor on the outrage
even of our painful admission of the facts. We shall have to restore into our life
the vitality which had been corroded by our complacency.

In international affairs, we shall be guided by the national interests and by the

conscience of our society in response to the dilemma of man in the 20th century.

The Filipino today lives is a world that is increasingly Asian as well as African. Asia
claims one-half of all humanity, and this half lives on a little over one-sixth of the
earth’s habitable surface. Africa’s millions are also now coming to their own.
Recent events have shown the willingness of our Asian friends to build a bridge to
us. We can do less than to build strong foundations at our end.

Today, as never before, we need a new orientation toward Asian; we must

intensify the cultural identity with ancient kin, and make common cause with
them in our drive toward prosperity and peace. For this we shall require the
understanding of ourselves and of Asia that exceeds acquaintance; we require the
kind of knowledge that can only be gained through unabating scholarship on our
histories, cultures, social forces and aspirations, and through more active
interaction with our friends and neighbors.

What threatens humanity in another area threatens our society as well. We

cannot, therefore, merely contemplate the risks of our century without coming
into any on our own. Wherever there is a fight for freedom we cannot remain
aloof from it. But whatever decision shall have to make shall be determined by
our own interests tempered by the reasonability of that patriotic position in
relation to the international cause.

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This nation can be great again. This I have said over and over. It is my article of
faith, and Divine Providence has willed that you and I can now translate this faith
into deeds.

I have repeatedly told you: each generation writes its own history. Our forbears
have written theirs. With fortitude and excellence we must write ours.

We must renew the vision of greatness for our country.

This is a vision of our people rising above the routine to face formidable
challenges and overcome them. It means the rigorous pursuit of excellence.

It is a government that acts as the guardian of the law’s majesty, the source of
justice to the weak and solace to the underprivileged, a ready friend and
protector of the common man and a sensitive instrument of his advancement and
not captivity.

This vision rejects and discards the inertia of centuries.

It is a vision of the jungles opening up to the farmers’ tractor and plow, and the
wilderness claimed for agriculture and the support of human life; the mountains
yielding their boundless treasure, rows of factories turning the harvests of our
fields into a thousand products.

It is the transformation of the Philippines into a hub of progress – of trade and

commerce in Southeast Asia.

It is our people bravely determining our own future. For to make the future is the
supreme act of freedom.

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This is a vision that all of you share for our country’s future. It is a vision which
can, and should, engage the energies of the nation. This vision must touch the
deeper layers of national vitality and energy.

We must awake the hero inherent in every man.

We must harness the wills and the hearts of all our people. We must find the
secret chords which turn ordinary men into heroes, mediocre fighters into
champions.

Not one hero alone do I ask from you – but many; nay all, I ask all of you to be the
heroes of our nation.

Offering all our efforts to our Creator, we must drive ourselves to be great again.

This is your dream and mine. By your choice you have committed yourselves to it.
Come then, let us march together towards the dream of greatness.

Speech
of
Her Excellency Corazon C. Aquino
President of the Philippines
On her Inauguration as President of the Philippines

[Delivered at Club Filipino, San Juan on February 25, 1986]

My brothers and sisters:

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I am grateful for the authority you have given me today. And I promise to offer all
that I can do to serve you.

It is fitting and proper that, as our people lost their rights and liberties at midnight
fourteen years ago, the people should formally recover those lost rights and
liberties in the full light of day.

Ninoy believed that only the united strength of the Filipino people would suffice
to overturn a tyranny so evil and so well-organized. The brutal murder of Ninoy
created that unity in strength that has come to be known as “Lakas ng Bayan”–
people power.

People power shattered the dictatorship, protected those in the military that
chose freedom, and today, has established a government dedicated to this
protection and meaningful fulfillment of our rights and liberties.

We became exiles, we Filipinos who are at home only in freedom, when Marcos
destroyed the Republic fourteen years ago.

Now, by God’s grace and the power of the people, we are free again.

We want to make a special appeal to those who have not yet joined us. Do not
engage in any further action against the people and instead, be among those who
will lend a hand to rebuild the country.

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INAUGURAL ADDRESS
OF
HIS EXCELLENCY FIDEL V. RAMOS
PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINES

[Delivered at the Quirino Grandstand, Manila on June 30, 1992]

“TO WIN THE FUTURE”

Sa loob ng nakalipas na siyamnapu at apat na taon, labing-isang pinunong Pilipino

ang tumindig at naging bahagi ng ganitong seremonya ng ating demokrasya – na
nagpa-pahiwatig sa ating mahal na Republika ng makabuluhang pagpapatuloy at
isang panibagong simula.

Ang kabanalan ng okasyong ito at ang panunumpa ng pangulo ng bansa ay isang

paglingon sa nakaraan at pagharap sa kinabukasan.

Ang kagitingan at katapatan ni dating Pangulong Corazon C. Aquino ang naging

dahilan ng muling pagkabuhay ng demokrasya at kalayaan sa ating bansa – at ito’y
matagumpay na pinagtanggol laban sa mga rebelde ng ating lipunan.

Dahil kay dating Pangulong Aquino, ang demokrasya ay naging matatag na

sandigan laban sa mga mapang-api.

Continuity and a beginning

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Over the last 94 years, 11 Filipino leaders before me have enacted this ceremony
of democratic transition, which signifies for our Republic both continuity and a
new beginning.

This consecration of the Presidency binds us to the past, just as it turns our hopes
to the future.

My courageous predecessor, former President Corazon C. Aquino, restored our

civil liberties – and then defended them tenaciously against repeated assaults
from putschists and insurgents.

She has made our democracy a fortress against tyrants. Now we must use it to
enable our people to take control of their lives, their livelihood and their future.

To this work of empowering the people, not only in their political rights but also in
economic opportunities, I dedicate my Presidency.

The temper of the people

I see three elements in the stirring message of our people in the elections.

First, they spoke out against the old politics. They declared their resolve to be led
along new paths and directions–toward the nation we long for–a nation peaceful,
prosperous and just.

Second, they reaffirmed their adherence to the secular ideal–of Church and State
separate but collaborating, coexistent but each supreme in its own domain. In this
spirit, I see myself not as the first Protestant to become President, but as the
twelfth Filipino President–who happens to be a Protestant and who must be

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President of Muslims, Christians and people of all faiths who constitute our
national community.

Third, our people spoke of their faith that we Filipinos can be greater than the
sum of all the problems that confront us, that we can climb higher than any
summit we have already scaled.

We cannot but interpret the vote as a summons for us to unite and face the
future together. The people are not looking for scapegoats, but for the basic
things to get done–and get done quickly.

Let us begin by telling ourselves the truth. Our nation is in trouble. And there are
no easy answers, no quick fixes for our basic ills. Once, we were the school of
Southeast Asia. Today our neighbors have one by one passed us by.

What is to be done? There are no easy tasks, no soft comforts for those chosen by
circumstances to forge from the crucible of crisis the national destiny.

We must make hard decisions. We shall have to resort to remedies close to

surgery–to swift and decisive reform.

First, we must restore civic order. For without stability, businesses cannot run,
workers cannot create wealth, liberty cannot flourish, and even individual life will
be brutish and precarious.

Then, we must make politics serve–not the family, the faction or the party–but
the nation.

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And we must restructure the entire regime of regulation and control that rewards
people who do not produce at the expense of those who do. A system that
enables persons with political influence to extract wealth without effort from the
economy.

The immediate future will be difficult in some areas. Things could get worse
before they get better. Sacrifices will be asked of every sector of society. But I am
not daunted, because crisis has a cleansing fire which makes heroes out of
ordinary people and can transform a plodding society into a tiger.

Healing political wounds

Foremost among our concerns must be to bind the wounds of the election
campaign and restore civility to political competition, for our people are weary of
the intrigues and petty rivalries that have kept us down.

I will continue to reach out to all the groups and factions making up the political
community. As early as possible, I will consult with the leaders of the Senate and
the House of Representatives to work out the priorities of the legislative agenda.

I call on our mutinous soldiers and radical insurgents to give up their armed
struggle. I will work with Congress in fashioning an amnesty policy that will enable
errant reformists to re-enter civil society.

When the time is opportune, I also intend to ask Congress to convene itself as a
Constituent Assembly to amend the Constitution.

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Let us strive to make our political system fairer to all and more representative of
the vastness and variety of our country. Let us all lay to rest our enmities and our
conflicts, and this once join together in the reform and renewal of our society.

There are enough problems to engage us all; and if we surmount them, there will
be enough glory to share.

Return to economic growth

Next in our priorities is to nurse the economy back to health and propel it to
growth.

We must get the entire economy to generate productive employment - keeping in

mind that for each citizen, a job means not merely material income, but social
usefulness and self-respect.

Here, too, we must begin with the basics–the social services that Government
must provide, but has not; foundations of economic health, which we should have
set up long ago, but have not.

We cannot dream of development while our homes and factories are in darkness.
Nor can we exhort enterprise to effort as long as Government stands as a brake–
and not as a spur–to progress.

Both farm and factory must be empowered to produce more and better.

Deregulation and privatization shall set free our industries from the apron strings
of the State.

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Dismantling protectionist barriers and providing correct incentives and support
shall make our industry more efficient and world-competitive–and our exports,
the spearhead for economic revival and growth.

The last Congress has given us the law opening the economy to foreign
investments. Our job now is to make that law come to life.

What we do for industry, we will supply in equal measure for agriculture,

primarily because almost half of all our workers still live on it. And equally
because agriculture is the foundation for our industrial modernization.

In this effort, we need a more realistic agrarian reform law which we can fully
implement for the empowerment of our farmers. Keeping productivity and
effective land use uppermost on our minds, let us set clear targets and do what is
practicable.

Let us be firm about the paramount object of our labors. It is to uproot the
poverty that grips our land and blights the lives of so many of our people.

A moral war on poverty

I have asked Mang Pandoy and his family to be my guests in this inaugural
ceremony–as proof of my resolve to obtain for families like theirs all over the
country the humanities of life. Poverty we must learn to regard as another form
of tyranny, and we must wage against it the moral equivalent of war.

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In this work of expanding the life-choices of the poorest among us, my
Government will work hand in hand with non-government organizations and
people’s organizations.

Throughout the campaign, I heard it said over and over that our national decline
derives not from any flaw in the national character - or any failing of the
individual Filipino–but from government’s historic failure to lead.

We cannot deny the logic of that verdict. For when the systems, rules and
conditions are fair and sound, we Filipinos have excelled– sometimes to the
astonishment of the world.

My administration will prove that government is not unavoidably corrupt–and

that bureaucracy is not necessarily ineffective.

Graft and corruption we will confront more with action results than with words.
We will go after both the bribe-takers and the bribe-givers. The bigger the target,
the greater will be the Government’s effort.

We will prove that effective and efficient government is possible in this country.
Not just in national administration, but in the governing of our local communities.

The road to development is by now much traveled. We Filipinos have lacked not
the way, but the will. This political will, my Presidency shall provide.

Our foreign relations

In foreign relations, we shall strive to strengthen ties with old friends and trading
partners and we shall endeavor to develop new friendships.

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My Government begins its term in a world transformed. The tide of freedom
rising everywhere should help along our efforts to make democracy work here at
home.

By the gift of Providence, our archipelago is strategically located in the critical sea
lanes of Asia and the Pacific. This geopolitical fact shapes our relations with the
world–a sense of responsibility for the building of peace and stability in our
region, and a recognition of opportunity in our quest for development.

Diplomacy for development will be our central foreign policy thrust.

While residual political-military dangers may linger in the region, securing

continued access to markets and technology must become Southeast Asia’s
primary concern. This we will pursue in concert with our regional partners and
neighbors.

Can we accomplish all we need to do within six years? Yes, we can. We can lay the
ground for self-sustaining growth and more. But we can win the future only if we
are united in purpose and in will.

The Filipino State has historically required extraordinarily little of its citizens. As
individuals, we Filipinos acknowledge few obligations to the national community.
Yet, if we are to develop, citizenship must begin to count more than ties of blood
and kinship. Only with civic commitment does development become possible in a
democratic society.

Private irresponsibility

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Certainly, there can be no more tolerance of tax evasion, smuggling and organized
crime–no matter how highly placed those who commit it. Nor can we continue to
turn a blind eye to the social costs of unbridled profit.

The loss of our forests, the desiccation of our soil, the drying-up of our
watercourses, and the pollution of our cities—these are the public consequences
of private irresponsibility. We must stop this profligate use and abuse of our
natural resources, which are ours only in trust for those who will come after us.

Some of us think that empowerment means solely the access of every citizen to
rights and opportunities. I believe there is more to this democratic idea. Our
ideology of Christian democracy, no less than its Muslim counterpart, tells us that
power must flow to our neighborhoods, our communities, our groups, our sectors
and our institutions–for it is by collective action that we will realize the highest of
our hopes and dreams.

During my term, we will be celebrating the centennial of our national revolution–

those shining years between 1896 and 1898 when we were a beacon of freedom
for the whole of colonial Asia.

Generations of our heroes–from Sultan Kudarat to José Rizal–speak to us across

history of the strength that unity can confer on any people.

Yet we Filipinos have always found unity difficult–even in the face of our crises of
survival.

We were conquered by colonizers because we did not know our own strength.

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Today, in the midst of our trials, we must learn how strong we can be– if only we
stand together. This nation, which is the collective sum of our individual
aspirations, cannot remain divided by distrust and suspicion. Either we rise
together–above our self-centered bickerings and factional quarrels–or we fall into
the pits we have dug for one another.

In 1890 Rizal, envisioning “The Philippines a Century Hence,” regarded as

inevitable–as decreed by fate–the advancement and ethical progress of the
Philippines.

Redemption is in our hands

We who are closer to that time have a more diminished sense of our possibilities.

Kung nais nating matupad ang pangarap ni Rizal – “Karagdagang katarungan at

malawak na kalayaan “–sundin natin ang kanyang tagubilin:

Itakwil ang pagkawatak-watak … yakapin ang pagkakaisa … at minsan pa’y

buhayin natin ang diwa ng ating bansa.

Tulad ng natanaw ni Rizal, ngayon na ang panahon upang sabihin sa ating sarili–na
kung nais nating makaahon, kung nais nating umunlad, dapat tayo’y kumilos sa
ating sariling pagsisikap. Sa pagkilos na ito, sabi ni Rizal, “dapat nating ibuhos ang
buong liwanag ng ating mga kaisipan at lahat ng tibukin ng ating puso.”

Sa aking pagsisilbi sa bayan, ang aking pinakamatagal na serbisyo ay bilang kawal-

Pilipino–kaya marahil ay kulang ako sa taginting ng isang orador kung ihahambing
sa mga nauna sa akin sa panguluhan ng ating bansa.

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Subali’t ako’y nakikiisa sa kanilang pananaw at pangarap. Ang bansang ito’y
magtatagumpay. Ang bansang ito’y mananaig. Ang bansang ito ay uunlad muli–
kung tayo ay magkakaisa.

Nasa harap natin ang pagsubok at paghamon; harapin natin nang sama-sama at
nagkakaisa.

Huwag tayong mawawalan ng pagtitiwala sapagka’t hindi tayo mabibigo. Ang

ating mga layunin, ang ating mga mithiin, ay makatarungan, kaya ang Panginoon
ng ating mga ninuno ay tikay na pumapatnubay sa atin.

Doing as Rizal prescribed

If we are to attain what Rizal wished for his posterity–“More law and greater
liberty”–we must do as he prescribed. We must stifle our dissensions and
summon once more the spirit of this nation.

As Rizal foresaw, the time has come to tell ourselves that if we wish to be saved,
we must redeem ourselves. And in this work of self-redemption, we must
“expend the whole light of our intellect, and all the fervor of our hearts.”

For most of my public life, I have been mainly a citizen soldier, wanting in
eloquence compared to those who have preceded me in this rite of democratic
transition. But I share their vision of what our nation can become. This nation will
endure, this nation will prevail and this nation will prosper again–if we hold
together.

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Before us lies the challenge: Come then, let us meet it together. With so much for
us to do, let us not falter. With so little time left in our hands, we cannot afford to
fail.

And with God’s blessing for all just causes, let us make common cause to win the
future.

INAUGURAL ADDRESS
OF
HIS EXCELLENCY JOSEPH EJERCITO ESTRADA

[Delivered at the Quirino Grandstand, Manila on June 30, 1998]

Good afternoon.

The light is fading, the day is almost over, and yet this late afternoon is the
morning of a new day. The day of the Filipino masses. One of their own is finally
leading them.

The last time I was here at the Quirino grandstand, I was with President Cory
Aquino, Cardinal Sin, and other religious leaders and fighters for democracy. We
were here with many of you to stand up and be counted as friends of the
democracy. Ask yourselves then, how could anyone call me a dictatorial type?

The last time I was there, in the old senate building, we were only Twelve —

Twelve against a superpower;

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Twelve against a government under its thumb:

Twelve against public opinion:

But twelve for the sovereignty and honor of our country.

Ask yourselves who has principles.

Maybe I felt strongly about getting all the wrong priorities out of the way so we
can focus on the right things at once.

Maybe I felt that we cannot wait for time to heal our wounds and that we should
help along the healing process.

Who has been hurt and insulted than I? I have been hurt, and my mother even
more deeply at having to listen to all those insults against her son in tri-media. I
am but human and I don’t want to forgive. But I must. And I have. I must work
with those who hurt me because we have only one country between us. I must
work with them and they must live with me, because every Filipino is needed to
meet the challenge of national survival in the regional crisis.

If I seemed impatient, it was only for peace. We must put yesterday behind us, so
we can work for a brighter tomorrow. I did not mean for us to forget the past. I
don’t. But I hope we will not let the past get in the way of a future that calls for
cooperation to achieve peace and prosperity.

Finally, I felt that the common people have waited long enough for their turn, for
their day to come.

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That day is here.

And it comes not a moment too soon on the centennial of the birth of Filipino
freedom.

One hundred years after Kawit, fifty years after independence, twelve years after
Edsa, and seven years after the rejection of foreign bases, it is now the turn of the
masses to experience liberation.

We stand in the shadow of those who fought to make us free—free from foreign
domination, free from domestic tyranny, free from superpower dictation, free
from economic backwardness. We acknowledge a debt of gratitude to Jose Rizal,
Andres Bonifacio, Emilio Aguinaldo, Manuel Quezon, Ramon Magsaysay, Cory
Aquino, Fidel Ramos, and the magnificent twelve of the 1991 senate who voted
for Filipino sovereignty and honor.

These are the men and women who gave birth to the idea of Filipino freedom;
who struggled in war to give it recognition; and worked in peace to make it come
true. Cory Aquino brought freedom back after it was taken away and Fidel Ramos
showed how power should respect the people’s freedom of choice in elections.

They also began the slow and difficult work of making freedom more meaningful
— not just for the rich but also for the poor who are more but have nothing.

It is time. Time to speed up the improvement of the living conditions of the

common people. Time for them to have a fairer share of the national wealth they
create and a bigger stake in their own country.

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Some will say we cannot rush these things. First, focus on the economy again. Of
course, we must improve the economy. How else can the people’s lives improve?
But why not both together? Why must economic progress always be at the
people’s expense?

When it was a question of economic reforms to rebuild business confidence and

restore business profits, the reforms were never too fast or too hard, especially
for the common people to bear.

Six years after Cory Aquino, the foundations of a strong economy were laid. In the
six years of the Ramos administration, the economy was paying big dividends to
its biggest stockholders. This time, why not to the common people as well, for a
change? Must we always measure progress only by the golf courses of the rich?

I hope this message will not be taken badly by the rich. It has always been their
turn, and it is also their turn again. For it is the priority of my administration to
create the environment of peace and order in which business does well. But,
surely, it is time for the masses to enjoy first priority in the programs of the
government.

As far as resources permit, to the best of our ability and the limit of our energy,
we will put a roof over their heads, food on their tables and clothes on their
backs. We will educate their children and foster their health. We will bring peace
and security, jobs and dignity to their lives. We will put more infrastructure at
their service, to multiply their productivity and raise their incomes.

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But this time things will be different. What wealth will be generated will be more
equitably shared. What sacrifices are demanded will be more evenly carried. This
much I promise, for every stone of sacrifice you carry, I will carry twice the
weight.

This I promise the people. You will not be alone again in making sacrifices, and
you will not be the last again to enjoy the rewards when they come.

I ask the rich to take a share of the sacrifices commensurate with their strength.
What each of us carries is not our individual burden alone, but the fate of our
country that we must all share, and which none of us can escape.

While I ask you to share these sacrifices with me, I will not impose any more on
you when it comes to my job as president. The job is mine now and I’ll do it.

There is no excuse for the spread of crime in any society, unless government is an
accomplice. There is no criminal organization or criminal activity that can stand up
to the government if the government is sincere about stamping it out.

We know that the major crimes in this country are committed by hoodlums in
uniform. We know they are protected by hoodlums in barong and acquitted by
hoodlums in robes. We know that the most damaging crimes against society are
not those of petty thieves in rags, but those of economic saboteurs in expensive
clothes: the dishonest stockholders, the wheeling dealing businessmen, influence-
peddlers, price-padders and other crooks in government.

I promise to use all the powers of government to stamp out crime, big and small.

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There will be no excuses and no exceptions. I sent friends to jail before; it was not
my fault that the courts let them go.

No government is so powerless that it cannot protect its citizens, especially when

they are victimized by government agents.

No government is so helpless, it cannot prosecute criminals, especially when the

criminals are officials operating in the open.

And the government of a country, where most of the people are hungry, need
jobs and lack education, cannot allow its taxes to be stolen or wasted, its assets
thrown to friends, the national patrimony conceded to foreigners, and the best
opportunities limited only to those who can afford.

There are things that a real government, even in the worst economic conditions,
can do. This government will do it.

Government can stamp out crime, as I tried to do as chairman of the PACC, and as
I will do as president of the Republic. This time nobody will clip my powers.

Government can provide basic services without the extra cost of pork barrel or
kickback; roads for work; infrastructure for productivity; schools for skills; clinics
for health; police for safety, and a lean and mean military machine for national
defense. This I promise and I will deliver. I will give you at once a government that
works, while we wait for the dividends of yet another round of sacrifice that must
fall on your shoulders again.

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Government cannot afford to feed all the hungry in our country, but it would be a
crime if any money for food went to government officials and fixers instead.

Government cannot afford to build all the roads that are needed, but it would be
a crime to build fewer roads to line more pockets.

Government cannot afford to bring back the millions of overseas Filipino workers
to jobs and dignity back home, but we shall protect their interests abroad and
their families back home.

Government cannot afford to give all the youth the complete education promised
by the Constitution, but it would be a crime if any money for education was
misspent on inferior textbooks and substandard classrooms built by pork barrel.

I appeal to the coming congress to search its conscience for a way to stand behind
me, rather than against me, on the pork barrel issue and find a way to convert
pork into tuition subsidies in the public and private schools.

These are crimes that I will make it my personal apostolate to punish:

—low crimes in the streets by rich or poor alike;

—high crimes on Ayala or Binondo;

—and graft and corruption throughout the government—executive, legislative

and judicial.

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This early, members of my family are swamped with offers of funny deals. I will
treat all such offers as evidence for future criminal prosecutions for graft and
corruption.

I warn these people. Going after criminals will just be a job for me, but if you drag
in my family, it will be personal.

What I promise is not big. What I envision is ordinary. My promises are made to
be fulfilled in a working day; they are hopes of ordinary Filipinos like myself, in
circumstances less than ideal with the economic recession, but they are long
overdue.

I want to bring peace to our lives and harmony to our society. I want to bring
order to our streets and justice to our institutions. I want to impart energy to our
economy and more equitableness in the distribution of its fruits.

I want every Filipino, rich or poor, to feel that the safest place in the world for him
is his own country.

And, lastly, I hope to bring all Filipinos together so as to achieve that power of
common purpose that will enable us to escape the crisis of our region and achieve
our centennial dream.

Freedom.

Freedom from oppression. Yes; but freedom from want also.

Freedom from fear and freedom of opportunity.

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And, of course, freedom for its own sake which is the heart and soul of the
Filipino.

It was here, one hundred years ago, that Asia sitting in darkness saw the first light
of freedom.

Share my resolve to make that light shine brighter yet by making our freedom
more real for the majority of the people.

For the past twelve years, the call has been for people power to defend
democracy, advanced economic development and other things. It is time to use
that power for the people themselves.

Now, power is with the people; one of their own has made it.

INAUGURAL ADDRESS
OF
HER EXCELLENCY GLORIA MACAPAGAL-ARROYO

[Delivered at Our Lady of EDSA Shrine, Mandaluyong on January 20, 2001]

In all humility, I accept the Presidency of the Republic.

I do so with both trepidation and a sense of awe.

Trepidation, because it is now, as the Good Book says, a time to heal and a time
to build. The task is formidable, so I pray that we will all be one – one in our
priorities, one in our values and commitments, and one because of Edsa 2001.

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A sense of awe, because the Filipino has done it again on the hallowed ground of
Edsa.

People Power and the oneness of will and vision have made a new beginning
possible. I cannot but recall at this point, therefore, Ninoy Aquino’s words:

“I have carefully weighed the virtues and the faults of the Filipino, and I have
come to the conclusion that he is worth dying for.”

As we break from the past in our quest for a new Philippines, the unity, the
Filipino’s sense of history, and his unshakeable faith in the Almighty that prevailed
in EDSA ’86 and EDSA 2001 will continue to guide and inspire us.

I am certain that Filipinos of unborn generations will look back with pride to EDSA
2001, just as we look back with pride to Mactan, the Katipunan and other revolts,
Bataan and Corregidor, and EDSA ’86.

I am certain that pride will reign supreme as they recall the heroism and sacrifices
and prayers of Jaime Cardinal Sin, former Presidents Corazon Aquino and Fidel
Ramos, the legislators who fought the good fight in Congress, the leaders whose
principles were beyond negotiation, the witnesses in the impeachment trial who
did not count the cost of testifying, the youth and students who walked out of
their classes to be here at EDSA, the generals in the Armed Forces and the
Philippine National Police, and the Filipino out there who stood up to be counted
in these troubled times.

The Filipino, crises and all, is truly worth living and dying for.

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Ngunit saan tayo tutungo mula rito?

Jose Rizal, the first to articulate self-determination in a free society, provides the
answer.

Rizal counseled the Filipino to lead a life of commitment. “He must think national,
go beyond self.”

“A stone is worthless,” Rizal wrote, “if it is not part of an edifice.”

We are the stones, and the Philippines is our edifice.

On many occasions I have given my views on what our program of government

should be. This is not the time or place to repeat them all. However, I can tell you
that they converge on four core beliefs.

1. We must be bold in our national ambitions, so that our challenge must be

that within this decade, we will win the fight against poverty.
2. We must improve moral standards in government and society, in order to
provide a strong foundation for good governance.
3. We must change the character of our politics, in order create fertile ground
for true reforms. Our politics of personality and patronage must give way to
a new politics of party programs and process of dialogue with the people.
4. Finally, I believe in leadership by example. We should promote solid traits
such as work ethic and a dignified lifestyle, matching action to rhetoric,
performing rather than grandstanding.

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The first of my core beliefs pertains to the elimination of poverty. This is our
unfinished business from the past. It dates back to the creation of our Republic,
whose seeds were sown in the revolution launched in 1896 by the plebeian
Andres Bonifacio. It was an unfinished revolution, for to this day, poverty remains
our national problem. We need to complete what Andres Bonifacio began. The
ultimate solution to poverty has both a political and an economic aspect.

Let me first talk about the political aspect.

In doing so, I will refer to one of my core beliefs, that of the need for new politics.
Politics and political power as traditionally practiced and used in the Philippines
are among the roots of the social and economic inequities that characterize our
national problems. Thus, to achieve true reforms, we need to outgrow our
traditional brand of politics based on patronage and personality. Traditional
politics is the politics of the status quo. It is a structural part of our problem.

We need to promote a new politics of true party programs and platforms, of an

institutional process of dialogue with our citizenry. This new politics is the politics
of genuine reform. It is a structural part of the solution.

We have long accepted the need to level the playing field in business and
economics. Now, we must accept the need to level the playing field in politics as
well. We have long aspired to be a world class economy. Now, we must also
aspire to develop a world class political system, one in tune with the 21st Century.

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The world of the 21st Century that our youth will inherit is truly a new economy,
where relentless forces such as capital market flows and advances in information
and communications technology create both peril and opportunity.

To tap the opportunities, we need an economic philosophy of transparency and

private enterprise, for these are the catalysts that nurture the entrepreneurial
spirit to be globally competitive.

To extend the opportunities to our rural countryside, we must create a

modernized and socially equitable agricultural sector.

To address the perils, we must give a social bias to balance our economic
development, and these are embodied in safety nets for sectors affected by
globalization, and safeguards for our environment.

To ensure that our gains are not dissipated through corruption, we must improve
moral standards. As we do so, we create fertile ground for good governance
based on a sound moral foundation, a philosophy of transparency, and an ethic of
effective implementation.

Considering the divisions of today, our commitment will entail a lot of sacrifices
among us all, as we work to restore the dignity and pre-eminence of the Filipino.

Join me, therefore, as we begin to tear down the walls that divide. Let us build an
edifice of peace, progress, and economic stability.

People Power has dramatized the Filipino’s capacity for greatness.

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People of People Power, I ask for your support and prayers. Together, we will light
the healing and cleansing flame.

This we owe to the Philippines. This we owe to every Filipino.

Thank you and may the Good Lord bless us all.

INAUGURAL ADDRESS
OF
HIS EXCELLENCY BENIGNO S. AQUINO III
PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINES

[June 30, 2010, Quirino Grandstand, Rizal Park, Manila]

His Excellency Jose Ramos Horta, Former President Fidel V. Ramos, Former
President Joseph Estrada, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and members of
the Senate, House Speaker Prospero Nograles and members of the House, justices
of the Supreme Court, members of the foreign delegations,Your Excellencies of
the diplomatic corps, fellow colleagues in government, aking mga kababayan.

My presence here today is proof that you are my true strength. I never expected
that I will be here taking my oath of office before you, as your president. I never
imagined that I would be tasked with continuing the mission of my parents. I
never entertained the ambition to be the symbol of hope, and to inherit the
problems of our nation.

I had a simple goal in life: to be true to my parents and our country as an

honorable son, a caring brother, and a good citizen.

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My father offered his life so our democracy could live. My mother devoted her life
to nurturing that democracy. I will dedicate my life to making our democracy
reach its fullest potential: that of ensuring equality for all. My family has sacrificed
much and I am willing to do this again if necessary.

Although I was born to famous parents, I know and feel the problems of ordinary
citizens. We all know what it is like to have a government that plays deaf and
dumb. We know what it is like to be denied justice, to be ignored by those in
whom we placed our trust and tasked to become our advocates.

Have you ever been ignored by the very government you helped put in power? I
have. Have you had to endure being rudely shoved aside by the siren-blaring
escorts of those who love to display their position and power over you? I have,
too. Have you experienced exasperation and anger at a government that instead
of serving you, needs to be endured by you? So have I.

I am like you. Many of our countrymen have already voted with their feet –
migrating to other countries in search of change or tranquility. They have endured
hardship, risked their lives because they believe that compared to their current
state here, there is more hope for them in another country, no matter how bleak
it may be. In moments when I thought of only my own welfare, I also wondered –
is it possible that I can find the peace and quiet that I crave in another country? Is
our government beyond redemption? Has it been written that the Filipino’s lot is
merely to suffer?

Today marks the end of a regime indifferent to the appeals of the people. It is not
Noynoy who found a way. You are the reason why the silent suffering of the

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nation is about to end. This is the beginning of my burden, but if many of us will
bear the cross we will lift it, no matter how heavy it is.

Through good governance in the coming years, we will lessen our problems. The
destiny of the Filipino will return to its rightful place, and as each year passes, the
Filipino’s problems will continue to lessen with the assurance of progress in their
lives.

We are here to serve and not to lord over you. The mandate given to me was one
of change. I accept your marching orders to transform our government from one
that is self-serving to one that works for the welfare of the nation.

This mandate is the social contract that we agreed upon. It is the promise I made
during the campaign, which you accepted on election day.

During the campaign we said, “If no one is corrupt, no one will be poor.” That is
no mere slogan for posters — it is the defining principle that will serve as the
foundation of our administration.

Our foremost duty is to lift the nation from poverty through honest and effective
governance.

The first step is to have leaders who are ethical, honest, and true public servants. I
will set the example. I will strive to be a good model. I will not break the trust you
have placed in me. I will ensure that this, too, will be the advocacy of my Cabinet
and those who will join our government.

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I do not believe that all of those who serve in our government are corrupt. In
truth, the majority of them are honest. They joined government to serve and do
good. Starting today, they will have the opportunity to show that they have what
it takes. I am counting on them to help fight corruption within the bureaucracy.

To those who have been put in positions by unlawful means, this is my warning:
we will begin earning back the trust of our people by reviewing midnight
appointments. Let this serve as a warning to those who intend to continue the
crooked ways that have become the norm for too long.

To our impoverished countrymen, starting today, your government will be your

champion.

We will not disregard the needs of our students. We will begin by addressing the
glaring shortage in classrooms and educational facilities.

Gradually, we will lessen the lack of infrastructures for transportation, tourism

and trade. From now on, mediocre work will not be good enough when it comes
to roads, bridges, and buildings because we will hold contractors responsible for
maintaining their projects in good condition.

We will revive the emergency employment program established by former

President Corazon Aquino. This will provide jobs for local communities and will
help in the development of their and our economy.

We will not be the cause of your suffering or hardship. We will strengthen

collections by the Bureau of Internal Revenue and we will fight corruption in the
Bureau of Customs in order to fund our objectives for the public welfare, such as:

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· Quality education, including vocational education, so that those who choose
not to attend college or those who cannot afford it can find dignified livelihood;

· Improved public health services such as PhilHealth for all within three years;

· A home for every family, within safe communities.

We will strengthen the armed forces and the police, not to serve the interests of
those who want to wield power with impunity, but to give added protection for
ordinary folk. The armed forces and the police risk their lives daily so that the
nation can live in peace and security. The population has doubled and yet their
numbers remain unchanged. It is not right that those who make sacrifices are
treated pitifully.

If there was a fertilizer scam in the past, today there will be security for farmers.
We will help them with irrigation, extension services, and marketing their
products at the best possible prices.

We are directing Secretary Alcala to set up trading centers that will directly link
farmers and consumers thereby eliminating middlemen and opportunities for
corruption. In this way, funds can be shared by farmers and consumers. We will
make our country attractive to investors. We will cut red tape dramatically and
implement stable economic policies. We will level the playing field for investors
and make government an enabler, not a hindrance to business. This is the only
means by which we can provide jobs for our people.

Our goal is to create jobs at home so that there will be no need to look for
employment abroad. However, as we work towards that end, I am ordering the

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DFA, POEA, OWWA, and other relevant agencies to be even more responsive to
the needs and welfare of our overseas Filipino workers.

We will strengthen the process of consultation and feedback. We will strive to

uphold the constitutional right of citizens to information on matters of public
concern.

We relived the spirit of people power during the campaign. Let it take us to good
and effective governance. Those who believe in people power put the welfare of
others before their own.

I can forgive those who did me wrong but I have no right to forgive those who
abused our people.

To those who talk about reconciliation, if they mean that they would like us to
simply forget about the wrongs that they have committed in the past, we have
this to say: there can be no reconciliation without justice. When we allow crimes
to go unpunished, we give consent to their occurring over and over again.
Secretary de Lima, you have your marching orders. Begin the process of providing
true and complete justice for all.

We are also happy to inform you the acceptance of Chief Justice Hilario Davide of
the challenge of strengthening and heading a Truth Commission that will shed
light on many unanswered issues that continue to haunt our country.

My government will be sincere in dealing with all the peoples of Mindanao. We

are committed to a peaceful and just settlement of conflict, inclusive of the
interests of all — may they be Lumads, Bangsamoro or Christian.

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We shalI defeat the enemy by wielding the tools of justice, social reform, and
equitable governance leading to a better life. With proper governance life will
improve for all. When we are all living well, who will want to go back to living
under oppression?

If I have all of you by my side, we will be able to build a nation in which there will
be equality of opportunity, because each of us fulfilled our duties and
responsibilities equally.

After the elections, you proved that it is the people who wield power in this
country.

This is what democracy means. It is the foundation of our unity. We campaigned

for change. Because of this, the Filipino stands tall once more. We are all part of a
nation that can begin to dream again.

To our friends and neighbors around the world, we are ready to take our place as
a reliable member of the community of nations, a nation serious about its
commitments and which harmonizes its national interests with its international
responsibilities.

We will be a predictable and consistent place for investment, a nation where

everyone will say, “it all works.”

Today, I am inviting you to pledge to yourselves and to our people. No one shall
be left behind.

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No more junkets, no more senseless spending. No more turning back on pledges
made during the campaign, whether today or in the coming challenges that will
confront us over the next six years. No more influence-peddling, no more
patronage politics, no more stealing. No more sirens, no more short cuts, no more
bribes. It is time for us to work together once more.

We are here today because we stood together and believed in hope. We had no
resources to campaign other than our common faith in the inherent goodness of
the Filipino.

The people who are behind us dared to dream. Today, the dream starts to
become a reality. To those among you who are still undecided about sharing the
common burden I have only one question: Are you going to quit now that we
have won?

You are the boss so I cannot ignore your orders. We will design and implement an
interaction and feedback mechanism that can effectively respond to your needs
and aspirations.

You are the ones who brought me here – our volunteers – old, young, celebrity,
ordinary folks who went around the country to campaign for change; my
household help who provided for all my personal needs; my family, friends,
colleagues at work, who shared, cared, and gave their support; my lawyers who
stayed all hours to guard my votes and make sure they were counted; and the
millions of Filipinos who prevailed, kept faith, and never lost hope – I offer my
heartfelt gratitude.

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I will not be able to face my parents and you who have brought me here if do not
fulfill the promises I made.

My parents sought nothing less, died for nothing less, than democracy and peace.
I am blessed by this legacy. I shall carry the torch forward.

My hope is that when I leave office, everyone can say that we have traveled far on
the right path, and that we are able to bequeath a better future to the next
generation. Join me in continuing this fight for change.

Thank you and long live the Filipino people!

INAUGURAL ADDRESS
OF
HIS EXCELLENCY RODRIGO ROA DUTERTE
PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINES

[June 30, 2016, Rizal Ceremonial Hall, Malacañan, Manila]

President Fidel Ramos, sir, salamat po sa tulong mo making me President;

President Joseph Ejercito Estrada; Senate President Franklin Drilon and the
members of the Senate; Speaker Feliciano Belmonte and the members of the
House of Representatives; Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno and Associate
Justices of the Supreme Court; His Excellency Guiseppe Pinto and the members of
the Diplomatic Corps; incoming members of the Cabinet; fellow workers in
government; my fellow countrymen.

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No leader, however strong, can succeed at anything of national importance or
significance unless he has the support and cooperation of the people he is tasked
to lead and sworn to serve.

It is the people from whom democratic governments draw strength and this
administration is no exception. That is why we have to listen to the murmurings
of the people, feel their pulse, supply their needs and fortify their faith and trust
in us whom they elected to public office.

There are many amongst us who advance the assessment that the problems that
bedevil our country today which need to be addressed with urgency, are
corruption, both in the high and low echelons of government, criminality in the
streets, and the rampant sale of illegal drugs in all strata of Philippine society and
the breakdown of law and order. True, but not absolutely so. For I see these ills as
mere symptoms of a virulent social disease that creeps and cuts into the moral
fiber of Philippine society. I sense a problem deeper and more serious than any of
those mentioned or all of them put together. But of course, it is not to say that we
will ignore them because they have to be stopped by all means that the law
allows.

Erosion of faith and trust in government – that is the real problem that confronts
us. Resulting therefrom, I see the erosion of the people’s trust in our country’s
leaders; the erosion of faith in our judicial system; the erosion of confidence in
the capacity of our public servants to make the people’s lives better, safer and
healthier.

Indeed ours is a problem that dampens the human spirit. But all is not lost.

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I know that there are those who do not approve of my methods of fighting
criminality, the sale and use of illegal drugs and corruption. They say that my
methods are unorthodox and verge on the illegal. In response let me say this:

I have seen how corruption bled the government of funds, which were allocated
for the use in uplifting the poor from the mire that they are in.

I have seen how illegal drugs destroyed individuals and ruined family
relationships.

I have seen how criminality, by means all foul, snatched from the innocent and
the unsuspecting, the years and years of accumulated savings. Years of toil and
then, suddenly, they are back to where they started.

Look at this from that perspective and tell me that I am wrong.

In this fight, I ask Congress and the Commission on Human Rights and all others
who are similarly situated to allow us a level of governance that is consistent to
our mandate. The fight will be relentless and it will be sustained.

As a lawyer and a former prosecutor, I know the limits of the power and authority
of the president. I know what is legal and what is not.

My adherence to due process and the rule of law is uncompromising.

You mind your work and I will mind mine. [applause and cheers]

“Malasakit;” “Tunay na Pagbabago; Tinud-anay (real) nga Kausaban (change)” –

these are words which catapulted me to the presidency. These slogans were

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conceptualized not for the sole purpose of securing the votes of the electorate.
“Tinud-anay nga kabag-uhan (real change). Mao kana ang tumong sa atong pang-
gobyerno (this is the direction of our government).”

Far from that. These were battle cries articulated by me in behalf of the people
hungry for genuine and meaningful change. But the change, if it is to be
permanent and significant, must start with us and in us.

To borrow the language of F. Sionil Jose, we have become our own worst
enemies. And we must have the courage and the will to change ourselves.

Love of country, subordination of personal interests to the common good,

concern and care for the helpless and the impoverished – these are among the
lost and faded values that we seek to recover and revitalize as we commence our
journey towards a better Philippines. The ride will be rough. But come and join
me just the same. Together, shoulder to shoulder, let us take the first wobbly
steps in this quest.

There are two quotations from revered figures that shall serve as the foundation
upon which this administration shall be built.

“The test of government is not whether we add more to the abundance of those
who have much; it is whether we provide for those who have little.”
– Franklin Delano Roosevelt

And from (Abraham) Lincoln I draw this inspiration:

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“You cannot strengthen the weak by
weakening the strong; You cannot help
the poor by discouraging the rich; You
cannot help the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer; You cannot further
the brotherhood by inciting class hatred among men.”

My economic and financial, political policies are contained in those quotations,

though couched in general terms. Read between the lines. I need not go into
specifics now. They shall be supplied to you in due time.

However, there are certain policies and specifics of which cannot wait for
tomorrow to be announced.

Therefore, I direct all department secretaries and the heads of agencies to reduce
requirements and the processing time of all applications, from the submission to
the release. I order all department secretaries and heads of agencies to remove
redundant requirements and compliance with one department or agency, shall be
accepted as sufficient for all.

I order all department secretaries and heads of agencies to refrain from changing
and bending the rules government contracts, transactions and projects already
approved and awaiting implementation. Changing the rules when the game is on-
going is wrong.

I abhor secrecy and instead advocate transparency in all government contracts,

projects and business transactions from submission of proposals to negotiation to
perfection and finally, to consummation.

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Do them and we will work together. Do not do them, we will part sooner than
later.

On the international front and community of nations, let me reiterate that the
Republic of the Philippines will honor treaties and international obligations.

On the domestic front, my administration is committed to implement all signed

peace agreements in step with constitutional and legal reforms.

I am elated by the expression of unity among our Moro brothers and leaders, and
the response of everyone else to my call for peace.

I look forward to the participation of all other stakeholders, particularly our

indigenous peoples, to ensure inclusivity in the peace process.

Let me remind in the end of this talk, that I was elected to the presidency to serve
the entire country. I was not elected to serve the interests of any one person or
any group or any one class. I serve every one and not only one.

That is why I have adapted as an article of faith, the following lines written by
someone whose name I could no longer recall. He said:

“I have no friends to serve, I have no enemies to harm.”

Prescinding there from, I now ask everyone, and I mean everyone, to join me as
we embark on this crusade for a better and brighter tomorrow.

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But before I end, let me express the nations, on behalf of the people, our
condolences to the Republic of Turkey of what has happened in the place. We
offer our deepest condolences.

Why am I here? Hindi kasali ito diyan. The past tense was, I am here because I
love my country and I love the people of the Philippines. I am here, why? Because
I am ready to start my work for the nation.

Thank you and good afternoon

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