Jose P. Laurel

“ 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 Alonzo. 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 breast not only the seeds of patriotism but also those rudiments of family discipline which will imbue them with respect for their elders and obedience to constituted authority. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 obligation in consonance with the fundamental idea that man does not live for himself and his family alone but also for the State and humanity al large. ”

“ The Filipino people value their independence as the blessed fruit of the sacrifices of their heroic forefathers and brothers who fought and died in far-flung battlefields, from Mactan to Bataan, in their persistent struggle for freedom. ”

“ 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 the vigil is ended. You have not died in vain. ”

“ As a consequence of the Greater East Asia War, the great Nipponese Empire, true to its altruistic mission in waging that war, has enabled the Filipino people to realize at last their dream of freedom by allowing them to form a Preparatory Commission for Philippine Independence, to adopt a Constitution for an independent Philippines, and to take all other requisite steps for the establishment of the Republic of the Philippines. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Today, as we witness the triumphal realization of our national ideal, we would be sadly wanting in those magnanimous qualities which distinguish 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. ”

“ For the ancient honor of their nation is redeemed at last. For the rich and unbounded opportunities that freedom offers are now within their grasp—
The opportunity to govern themselves and to run their affairs without intervention of any foreign power ”

“ No government worthy of the name will countenance public disorder or tolerate 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. ”

“ 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 interests like vestal fire.
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 people is all; blood, life, wealth, and strength: all is the 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 ensure maximum attention to the welfare of the people and their needs. ”

“ The slogan should no longer be "live and let live, but live and help live," so that the government may bring about the happiness and well-being, if not of all, at least 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. ”

“ 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, obtained in passing glimpse of misfits and derelicts in human shape, and go our different ways, paying little heed to these living indictments of our society. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ With the attainment of independence and the consequent abolishment 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 not lay down their arms and, henceforth, tread the pathways of peace. ”

“ 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 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. ”

“ 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 to authority, and in the Filipino family that epicenter has always been the father as head of the first "barangay." ”

“ 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 to those who produce our wealth with the sweat of their brawn and who constitute the real mainstay of our economic solvency. ”

“ 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's 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Then, we must turn our attention to the demands of heavy industry, explore the possibilities of our exporting to other members of that sphere those raw materials which we have abundance in exchange for goods which we cannot locally 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 pur pose of common prosperity. This means that we have to rehabilitate and plan out our national economy ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 in vain and illusory if we did not at the same time work out our economic salvation. ”

“ Without 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 denomination is hard work. ”

“ 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 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 in all schools and eventually prescribing its use in official correspondence, as well as in public ceremonies. ”

“ 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 of our laboring class by raising the level of the minimum wage ”

“ Only by strengthening the moral fiber of our youth and casting them into the heroic mold shall the soft metal of their minds harden into maturity, indelibly impressed with unswerving to the country that gave them birth. ”

“ 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.
There is a 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The work of our schools should be correlated with and supplemented by wholesome and substantial homelife, in order to afford lhe 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. ”