Ramon Magsaysay

“ I must state once more that under this Government, no one—whether friend or foe, citizen or alien—no one will be denied due process and the equal protection of the law. But, consistent with these principles consecrated by our free way of life we will continue to wage uncompromising war on corruption and abuse.
Respect for basic human rights must continue to be one of our prime concerns. We must live up to our pledge to act as guardians of the dignity and worth of the individual. ”

“ More than ever, we must think, plan, and work as one, with only one supreme goal in mind-the promotion of the welfare and happiness of our people.
Perhaps you will say that the people are asking for a miracle. But they too performed no less than a miracle when in one great irresistible movement they dared every peril to preserve the right to have a government of their choice. Thus, they proved to the whole world, to our friends and enemies, that democracy has come of age in our land, that it has become truly and actively a part of the Filipino way of life. ”

“ We believe that what is good for the common man is good for the whole country. Every policy of our Administration has therefore been directed to his welfare. We have anchored our national destiny to the common man.
In this endeavor we have addressed ourselves, first of all, to the task of rural development. In the rural areas lies the bulk of our natural and human resources, the real wealth of our nation. We must gear them to each other and spark the latter into action so as to achieve expanding production to meet the requirements of national prosperity and security. ”

“ The prime function of government is service to the people. It exists to protect their rights. It has been our policy that the Government shall not only respect the people’s right but shall actively encourage their exercise. ”

“ Our first main objective has been the promotion of national security. This is in accordance with the constitutional mandate that the defense of the State is the prime duty of Government. To accomplish this end, we have proceeded on the basic premise that freedom is indivisible. We are secure in our freedom only as the world around is secure. Our efforts towards attaining our own security must, therefore, embrace the larger objective of contributing, however modestly, to the promotion of the peace and freedom of the world. ”

“ In this vital transformation, the role of this Administration has been a modest one. We have done no more than to activate the resurgence of national self-confidence and to establish the essential conditions for its constructive expression. If achievements there have been, they have been possible because our people wanted them and worked to bring them about.
In the world at large, the collective strength of the free nations increased sufficiently to deter overt acts of aggression. Thanks to the free world’s readiness to defend the peace, the danger of an atomic war is now less imminent. ”

“ 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. ”

“ But there is more to national security than simply maintaining territorial integrity and public order. To be really secure, a country must assure for its citizens the social and economic conditions that would enable them to live in decency, free from ignorance, disease, and want.
Today, a concerted effort is being exerted to bring about these conditions in our rural areas. Varied elements of our society—the Government, the youth, civic-spirited individuals and organizations, the rural people themselves—all are engaged in the great undertaking of bringing freedom and progress to our barrios. ”

“ Today the common people know and feel that they have a Government they can depend upon to protect their rights and promote their interests. In this way they have acquired a real stake in the preservation of our democratic way of life, and will not be easy prey to the deceptive promises of a false ideology.
All the people are the richer because of this. It is error to think we can ever achieve economic development and progress as long as the majority of our people live in substandard conditions. ”

“ The innocent, the honest and the efficient need fear nothing from us. This Government will protect and defend their rights by enforcing impartially and without political bias our civil service rules and regulations. In the Executive Department, I will not permit anyone to exact political vengeance on honest and efficient employees by dismissing them without cause or harassing them in any other way. The victory we have won is not a license for political persecution. ”

“ 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 faith is that we need their spirit now more than ever. ”

“ The year’s end witnessed an important turning point in our national economy. The era of free trade with the United States came to a close, and new graduated tariff duties were imposed on American imports. With this and other basic changes in our trade relations with the United States we can now lay the basis for a stable economy. It is now up to us to build that economy with determination and dedication.
The national production, estimated at eight billion eight hundred million pesos, increased by nearly four percent over that of last year. ”

“ I am particularly concerned about any move that would bring economic difficulties to our average citizen. In countries with which we trade, inflation and other economic problems are being aggravated by the situation in the Middle East. The impact of such developments on our economy is inevitable. We cannot afford to create more problems in our country. Progress is possible only in an environment of economic stability.
These are the steps which we have taken towards national security, rural uplift, and economic development. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Here again, the role of the Government is simply to tap the creative energies of our people and to provide the means by which their desire for improvement can be translated into permanent benefits.
It is for this purpose that our health, education, and social welfare programs are being re-oriented with emphasis on self-help. In the campaign to control and eventually eliminate mass diseases, the active cooperation of our people is being enlisted. Our aim is to increase the effectiveness of the campaign and to make its effects more lasting. ”

“ The establishment of barrio councils pursuant to Republic Act No. 1408 is another stride toward the strengthening of democracy at the grassroots. It is a good beginning but needs additional means of implementation to give it substance and practical effect. With these new organs of self-expression and self-government, our barrio people will display more initiative in improving their respective communities.
But unless Godliness and morality suffuse the outlook of our people, no objective achieved will be truly satisfying and enduring. ”

“ I would also ask Congress to study the feasibility of granting subsidies as a means of encouraging doctors and nurses to establish themselves in those remote areas which now lack essential medical and health services. We must have a healthy manpower as the most essential factor for economic advancement. No nation can go forward when it is crippled by disease.
The Social Welfare Administration has mapped out a definite program of self-help projects designed to put needy individuals back on their feet. ”

“ We will reach this goal by a balanced agricultural and industrial development. Thus we must continue to work towards reshaping our economic structure with the industrial side accounting for a rising proportion of our total output in the years ahead. We must foster an economy in which industrial expansion and agricultural progress are complementary. Industry can draw its raw materials from agriculture; in turn, as our farmers increase their income, the products of industry will have an expanding domestic market. ”

“ The expansion of credit facilities coupled with the proper allocation of foreign exchange is an effective stimulus to agricultural and industrial production. There should now be developed an integrated system of economic priorities to govern the extension of credit and the allocation of dollars. I have, therefore, directed the National Economic Council to develop such a system in concert with the Central Bank, giving preference to projects and enterprises which will make greater use of our available resources and which have high-income and employment potential. ”

“ Our small farmers and producers should find it easier to borrow money when they need it to increase production. This means more rural banks and more ample working capital for the Agricultural Credit Cooperative Financing Administration (ACCFA) . Producers’ cooperatives should also be properly organized and financed.
Our ultimate goal is to reshape land tenure system in our country in such a way as to build a strong nation of small, independent, and contended farm owners, free from want, protected from injustice, and eager to contribute their share to the welfare and progress of the nation. ”

“ Our courts must be freed from political and other baneful influences, so that they may function with the same integrity and impartially which have made our Supreme Court the fortress of law and justice. ”

“ The promotion of the well-being of our masses, through the measures I have described, has given them opportunities for a richer and fuller life [11] which they have never enjoyed in our history. It has restored their faith in Government as an instrument for the political, economic, and social advancement of all the people, not of just a privileged few. ”

“ We propose to concentrate our work primarily on feeder roads to reach our long-isolated barrios. Considering our lack of funds and the enthusiasm of our rural people, I would suggest that Congress approve the necessary legislation authorizing the construction of feeder roads on a self-help basis. The Government shall provide the funds, know-how and equipment; and the people, their labor and locally available materials.
The yield of our farming not enough to support our small farmers. They are eager to produce more, but they know only antiquated farming methods. ”

“ The office of the 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 from them." This simply means that all of us in public office are but servants of the people. ”

“ Our tenth guidepost is the need for raising efficiency in public administration.
The implementation of sound and well-planned projects often bogs down owing to inefficiency in public administration. We must, therefore, continue to buttress our administrative units, especially those directly concerned with economic development.
We have completed the wage and position classification survey and a project on the improvement of budgeting, accounting, and auditing procedures in the Government. We should now apply the results of these studies to effect economy and efficiency. ”