Corazon Aquino

“ I am conscious that history will judge the achievements of this Government and the usefulness of democracy not through the narrow perspective of the business centers in Manila, but by our success in making a better future for all Filipinos. It is in the fields and barrios, in the slums of our cities, that we will ultimately be judged. ”

“ Few countries, if any, have hewed as faithfully to the con­ditionalities of debt restructuring as the Philippines has. Our people have endured the most rigorous austerities, yet received no better treatment than those of countries that resisted. Yet, even as the realities of power force us to seek a just solution to the debt problem within the international financial system, those same realities may urge us someday to find that solu­tion anywhere we can. ”

“ Our nationalism should stand upon a larger ground than the hectareage of the bases; it should turn on something high­er than the insults of short-time journalists.
Do not let anyone dictate to us where our national pride should be. We know where it lies: In a sense of our past and a sense of our destiny; in the confidence of what we can make of this nation when we are united again by trust. ”

“ What is the good of international harmony if it does not put food in the mouths of hungry children? Of what value is a business confidence that is built on the suppression of the legitimate aspirations of the poor? ”

“ We must grow; yet maintain access to the international financial system. We must find ways of funding our growth without being held hostage to our debt. If we are to meet our commitments to our creditors, the bankers must first meet our financing needs.
Our debt strategy will be rooted in the recent recognition of industrial democracies that the management of the debt crisis is too important to be left to bankers. At the Toronto Summit, they singled out the Philippines as a country which needed support in its debt reduction efforts. ”

“ It is our duty as elected leaders of this nation to describe a vision of the future that lifts up the lives of this, the great mass of Filipinos: those whose voices are not raised in business councils, social hap­penings, and in the opinion pages of the newspapers. ”

“ Manufacturing posted the highest growth since 1981, mainly in electronics and garments. The steep rise in primary energy consumption confirms the dramatic increase in economic activities. Oil consumption grew by 15.8 percent, and by an additional 9.2 percent this year. Our energy capa­bilities have begun to feel the strain – a sure sign of increased economic energy.
Unemployment dropped from 11.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 1986 to 9.5 percent in one year. One million six hundred thousand jobs had been created in 1987; well over a million of them generated by the private economy. ”

“ The world economy is held back by the debt that coun­tries such as ours carry. In 1987 there was a negative outflow of $2.2 billion to our foreign creditors. It was blood from the veins of our economy, and took a heavy toll in missed output and lost employment. We need a transfusion to maintain our growth.
The international initiative for a consortium of donor countries to support Philippine development plans could give us that transfusion. I welcome the support of world leaders for the economic development assistance program for the Philippines. ”

“ It was a year when we faltered in this search; when losing faith in ourselves we listened to others, whether to those who say our nationalism is flawed or those who take it upon them­selves to instruct us that our future confidence as a nation rests entirely on whether we do, or do not, keep the Ameri­can facilities after 1991. ”

“ Central to our strategy for improving rural incomes is the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program whose highest aim, I must stress again, is not mere land redistribution, but higher productivity from the land and a higher standard of living for the farming communities that are the backbone of our nation. ”

“ People Powered Capitalism
Unavoidably, growth exacted the price of inflation, which grew from 6.9 percent in 1986 to 7.4 percent at the end, of 1987. But even these figures compare somewhat favorably with a peak of 64 percent inflation in the last years of the dictatorship, when workers’ real wages plunged. In sharp con­trast, improvements in real wages in the past two years have enabled the working classes to cope with it. In manufacturing, workers’ compensation increased by 21 percent; minimum wages of non-plantation workers – the poorest – by 23.2 per­cent. ”

“ This is the real national emergency, for what is involved here is not underutilized manufacturing capacity or insuffi­cient incentives for the rich, but the very quality of the Fili­pino who symbolizes the great Asian miracle: a revolution without blood, democratic restoration without tears.
The second priority is jobs. For this we must accelerate economic growth. We expect GNP to grow by 6.4 percent, and investments to pick up at a strong rate. The industrial sector is likely to grow 9 percent this year. ”

“ On the economic front, we must provide long delayed in­centives to the sectors that have powered our recovery, par­ticularly the small and medium enterprises.
On the peace and order front, the urgency of a national civilian police force is obvious, and is high on your agenda as well, along with measures enhancing protection of human rights. ”

“ Yet we understand the realities of power, the vulnerabili­ties of the underdeveloped, and the ways of international finance. Debtors with shorter tempers who had stormed out of negotiations have been forced to return to the table, their economies having cracked under the pressure of isolation from the international system. ”

“ Our foreign policy should promote our assets in a way that strengthens us poli­tically, economically, and in terms of our security. Through the two conferences held here, we furthered our goal of broadening our friendships and making common cause with those who share similar circumstances to ourselves. We are even now engaged in the periodic review of one of our oldest foreign policy commitments, our hosting of the U.S. military facilities on Philippine soil. ”

“ To keep energy supply in step with the demands of eco­nomic growth, we have put energy development among our highest priorities. I shall set up an energy coordinating coun­cil, composed of the Executive Secretary and the heads of the National Power Corporation, the Office of Energy Af­fairs, the National Electrification Administration, and the Philippine National Oil Company, to keep track of develop­ments in this area. This should allay fears that we may out­grow our energy capabilities and choke the economic take­off. ”

“ Every measure must be taken to protect the people’s security against communist terrorism while the CVO and CAFGU sys­tems are put in place.
Of equal importance as security against insurgent violence is protection against common criminality. From armed rob­bery to carnapping, our citizens live in intolerable uncertainty about the safety of their families and their properties. ”

“ Bring more of the new prosperity to the common people, produce concrete results on your department programs – or you are out. Ours was a revolution for all Filipinos. Our poor have waited long enough. No sluggard will be allowed to stall the economic take-off. ”

“ We have tracked this growth and found it accounted for mainly by small and medium businesses and by Filipino-­Chinese entrepreneurs, sectors that made few demands on the public sector, other than to be left alone to work in the demo­cratic economic space we have created. We are seeing people­- powered capitalism in action. ”

“ That agenda is straightforward:
• education
• jobs
• alleviation of poverty
• and an economy that can sustain these goals.
Ours is renowned as the People Powered Democracy. As we must live by the decisions of the people, we must ensure the quality of those decisions. Provision for education in the 1989 budget is increased by more than a third – an essential investment in the future. Free high school education led to a record enrollment of 2.3 million students. Yet, we have far from achieved a universal education. Only 70 percent of our children attend elementary school ”

“ Our fight against poverty includes meeting basic needs like health care. We will intensify public health programs and pursue the various drug policies that will make essential drugs more accessible and affordable. ”

“ Our external debt burden must be dramatically reduced. On this I believe all Filipinos are united. It should be under­stood that we cannot indefinitely give more than 40 percent of the budget for total debt service. ”

“ In spite of the clear guidelines I have set of transparency and open bidding, and against the urgent deadline for the pri­vatization of certain major assets, some people still try to gain undue advantages. ”

“ And there are at present on-going studies which we hope will result in a future reduction of the prices of petroleum products, partic­ularly of kerosene, diesel, and LPG, on which the greater mass of our people depend. ”

“ The relative self­-restraint exercised by the labor sector in allowing the econo­mic recovery to proceed with a minimum of disruption under­scores the maturity, wisdom and patriotism of the working classes and their leaders. ”

“ Budgets are now released directly to local govern­ments and budget priorities are now determined in the first instance on the provincial level. An increase of revenue allot­ments and repeal of mandatory contributions by local units to the national government will place more resources at the disposal of the local governments. ”

“ The provision of basic services also includes making tele­phones available to all communities. For a country separated by geography but driven by market forces, the social and eco­nomic cost of poor communications is too high. ”

“ Region IV or Southern Tagalog, Region VII, the Central Visayas, and Region XI, Eastern Mindanao ­grew faster than Metro Manila. Their great potential is only waiting to be tapped by capital investments, such as roads and communications, and by the devolution of decision-mak­ing to the local level. ”

“ This means our Armed Forces must be supplemented by unarmed Civilian Volunteer Organiza­tions or Bantay Bayan, and Citizen Armed Force Geographic­al Units. Our armies cannot be everywhere and be expected to achieve decisive victories. We need civilians to assist in de­fending their communities. ”