Ferdinand Marcos

“ You will forgive my pride — this is a program that has been called the First Lady’s Integrated Social Welfare Program and would not have been possible but for the First Lady’s determination, and a social conscience sensitized by all that she has seen of poverty and suffering in this country. We will not let politics or malice stand in the way of helping those who need help. For years, and through countless administrations, social workers had been trying to push through the idea of lifting welfare work in the Philippines above the level of rice and sardines. ”

“ We must not be afraid of innovation in our social, economic, political end cultural life. The New Filipinism is a call for innovation—a revolution direct­ed against the sterile and self-defeating traditions and habits of the race but without bloodshed and without fratricide. ”

“ Transformed by the New Filipinism, the Filipino people will no longer return to the sterility, mediocrity and timidity of the past. The new spirit of achievement will be indestructible, and will fashion, in time, a great nation of Asia. ”

“ We welcome the new, purposeful militancy and dynamism of our youth and students. We must enlist their energies, their talents and their idealism to the cause of orderly progress and change, to the cause of expanding freedom and welfare for all our people. ”

“ We categorically reject inflation as a way of financing government development projects: the sources of funds must come from savings in the form of taxes.
We should, however, spare the low-income group from any additional tax burdens. The burden of taxation must fall on those who can afford it. The price of progress must be paid primarily by the wealthy, rather than by the poor. Moreover, our efforts to increase tax revenues at home will increase our inter­national credit standing. ”

“ In the economic sphere, our attempts at development from the turn of the century until 1965 were long on grandiose schemes and short on real accom­plishments. Over-dependence on a few agricultural products doomed our economic development efforts to failure from the very start. In nearly half a century until our political independence, no real effort was made to end our dependence on a single market, to look for new trading partners, and to industrialize the economy. ”

“ The experience of the past three years, combining a number of small and big breakthroughs in our national life, shows that the central factor for our progress is still the Filipino; that the Filipino transformed means a nation transformed; that the limit of what we can achieve for ourselves are fundamentally a matter of character — a moral and spiritual limitation,
Although the achievements in rice production, education and industrializa­tion have an undeniable material basis, their common significance is moral and spiritual. ”

“ Put simply, it is a massive effort, tapping both government and private sources, to help the helpless, but not only in terms of simple food and shelter, but also of adjustment: where those who can, arc taught skills that will help them become independent and responsible members of society; where those who can’t, either by reason of age or of physical or emotional handicap, are given protection and sustenance but in an atmosphere of dignity. ”

“ I submit that in the past three years, the achievements of our people in partner­ship with the government may well represent, in the eyes of history, a cut-off point from the prolonged impotence of our past and the beginning of a new ex­perience of self-reliance, competence, and self-esteem, for the Filipino people and their government. ”

“ Industrialization
First, we must now industrialize further in order to end our poverty and in order to protect our national integrity.
We enter this difficult world with one important advantage: our break­through in agricultural production. Freed from the problem of feeding our people, we can concentrate more of our resources on industrializing our economy and on making our boundaries secure. ”

“ On savings, I have already instructed the Budget Commission to effect a reduction in the current year’s program of expenditures as well as to reduce by P200 million what had been originally programmed for FY 1969-1970. But we can go only so far in this area because we started in the first place with an attitude of spending only for the bare essentials. Our people rightly look up to us to provide them the services which they need. These consist of social overhead facilities or infrastructure as well as current services, such as those of education, health, and peace and order. ”

“ In short, our goal is nothing less than the complete transformation of our social, economic, and political milieu, the reorientation of our people’s idea of themselves and of their capability, and the complete change of the assumptions that govern our relations with other nations. ”

“ The pattern of development that we have chosen is the balanced develop­ment of both agriculture and industry. At this stage of our economic develop­ment, agriculture is an important support because it generates both the capital and the capability for industrialization. Our main export products, which earn the foreign exchange that we need to buy capital equipment, are still agri­cultural products. The complete neglect of agriculture now will only set back our plans for the industrialization of the economy. ”

“ The New Filipinism is, ultimately, a call to greatness. But any form of greatness must begin with an act of will. In the past three years we—the nation together—performed this act of will and unleashed energies that are now trans­forming this country. ”

“ Two great challenges face the world today. The first is the problem of peace and security. The second is raising the living standards of peoples everywhere. No one would dream of minimizing the difficulties of these problems. In both the stakes are large— the future of generations to come and the survival of life as we know it. We of this generation hold the future in mortgage. We cannot afford to fail. ”

“ Without a single exception, professional social workers speak of the integrated social program as a milestone, a breakthrough, moving relentlessly towards a reorientation of the entire welfare movement in our country. ”

“ In short, in 1968, we began to consider seriously all of the responsibilities of political and economic independence, and prepared to assume these responsibilities. We made a hard and realistic appraisal of the Asian situation and the world situation that the Philippines is likely to face in the near future. We found that in many ways it would he a harsher world than the one we face today, a world in which the Philippines may be hard pressed even to survive as an independent country. We formed our policy for the future on the realistic assumption that this harsh world would indeed come to pass ”

“ Simultaneously with the increase in the productivity and efficiency of agri­culture and as soon as we have the capital resources and technology for industrialization, we will move on without hesitation to the industrial stage because industry is the only sure and lasting foundation of a strong, modern state. ”

“ NATIONAL DEFENSE
We are passing through a transitional period in world politics and we have only ill-defined landmarks to guide us. What will emerge are, without question, new relationships among the great powers in Southeast Asia, and between them and the smaller powers, including the Philippines. What has become obvious, even at this stage, is an impending American withdrawal in the military sphere, an event of great importance to countries which have hitherto depended upon American military guarantees. ”

“ We are solving both the deficiencies in the quality of instruction and the physical inadequacies, such as the class­room shortage and the textbook shortage. One out of five Filipinos is in school today, posing problems as well as offering tremendous possibilities for national improvement.
Education has been geared to development needs. There are now courses in rice culture; manpower training through vocational courses and training centers for out-of-school youths; tree-planting projects to accelerate the reforestation program. Barrio schools are being established. ”

“ Housing was not given full attention in the past, because of the priority re­quirements and exigencies of industrial and agricultural development Now that some progress has been attained in the basic areas, we can include housing in our programs.
As everybody knows, housing continues to be a serious national problem. The housing needs of the country, if spread out over a 20-year period, would be about 470,000 dwelling units a year, computed at 100,000 units in urban areas and 370,000 in rural areas. ”

“ Another policy I have been considering is to encourage mergers and other such rationalizations of the structure of industry. Our capital resources are too precious to be dissipated by unnecessary duplication. In the future, we shall require a much better return to the economy in exchange for government support. ”

“ On the proposition that history is both inspiration and energizer of a nation, the National Historical Commission through public lectures, publications, exhibitions, and historical conservation sought to imbue our citizens with a deeper historical sense. ”

“ Good transportation is a basic requirement of a developing country; but much of our transport system has suffered from past neglect and inefficient operation. In the case of government-supplied facilities, the main bottleneck has been shortage of funds. We have been trying in connection with our infrastructure program to define our transportation needs as precisely as possible and to operate a program as efficiently as we possibly can. ”

“ From now on our foreign policy will be dictated only by our national interest.
Independent Development
Third, our development will be our own affair. We are developing the Philippines for the Filipinos and it follows that all tools as well as all gains must rest in the hands of Filipinos. This is not by any means an expression of xeno­phobia. For certain phases of our industrialization program, the help of foreigners is necessary. In selected lines of industry, their rights and interests will be protected. ”

“ Accelerated manpower development attuned to the needs of rapid economic growth and the solution of unemployment must be a permanent endeavor of go­vernment. I therefore urge that the manpower development bill pending in Con­gress be immediately passed.
Low-Cost Housing
I propose that we change the entire orientation of our public housing policy to suit the needs of the minimum wage-workers. Let us start building houses for the poor. The government should be able to produce housing at not more than P5,000 each unit payable in 25 years at six percent interest and without any down payment. ”

“ We should realize, however, that the country’s success in raising long-term capital abroad depends on our own success in mobilizing capital at home. This emphasizes the urgency of generating domestic savings in massive proportions to finance investments in new industrial plants and equipment, in agricultural improvements, in public works, and in essential social services. ”

“ Our programs of urban development and urban renewal are designed to meet the problem of expanding population. We have embarked on a massive housing program.
We have relocated squatters in urban areas to healthier and better developed environments. We have only begun to solve this serious problem. In the coming year, we shall tackle it more vigorously and systematically.
We have developed training programs for the youth, particularly for those who are out of school. They are being trained in useful lines of work. ”

“ Our foreign policy will uphold this tradition.
We have always supported the United Nations. We believe in viable and mutually advantageous regional defense arrangements.
Peace and security are inseparable. We believe that progress in Asia is the common concern of the countries of the region. Their cooperation for prosper­ity and stability is possible only in a period of peace.
Finally, we are resolute about accelerating economic development. We aim to overcome poverty not only in the Philippines but in the other countries of Asia as well. ”

“ The prospective conquest of the moon has electrified the imagination of the world. If we can harness the courage, the vision and the daring of the space travellers towards the solution of terrestrial problems, then perhaps we can begin to make that bold stride towards the future. ”

“ For fiscal year 1968 we programmed a growth rate of 5.8 per cent for gross national product. The actual growth rate was 6.0 per cent. We expected agri­culture to grow by 5.4 per cent, a rate which already represented a considerable improvement over past growth. Such was the national response to our rice and con production program that actual growth exceeded even this ambitious expectation, and the actual growth figure in real terms was 7.0 per cent. Intact, as is now well known, we were able for the first time to export rice. ”

“ In the Philippines, we have 135 scientists per one million Filipinos.
Again, in the United States, the per capita expenditure of science is P90. In England, it is P60. In the Philippines it is from P.60 to P0.65. This goes show how far we lag behind developed countries with respect to our investment on technology and scientific research.
Recognizing the primary importance of science and technology in national growth, the government has accelerated its program to encourage scientific research and development far beyond all previous levels. ”

“ As far as the Philippines is concerned, external Communist aggression represents a minimal threat—at least, not to the extent we once felt it to be. Our real problem is the growth of internal communism arising from urgent economic problems. The main thrust of my Administration is towards economic development or, which is the real meaning of economic growth, raising the living standards of our people. ”