Ferdinand Marcos

“ The people must never be made to accept that the government, no matter how wise and dedicated, is master of their destiny; rather, they must be continuously reinforced in their faith that they are the master of government.
At the start of our program of reform, we saw that if our political life was not to arrive at an impasse between an anarchic order and a despotic one, we had to create new mechanisms for the individual to make his voice heard on public issues. ”

“ The world has not known so searching a challenge since the crisis years of the Depression and the Second World War. And no nations are so severely challenged as the nations of the Third World, which like us must take up the burden of modernization under conditions of tension and flux throughout the world.
In our own country, the accumulated experience of the past three years promises more challenges, rather than relief. For once we set our program of reform in motion, there is no alternative but to prosecute it to its legitimate end. ”

“ The massive cleanup of government offices that followed the proclamation of martial law has failed to keep the slate clean. Worse, there are new sores that are clearly emerging, inflicted by those who hold the wrong belief that the leadership is too pre-occupied with other problems, that the people can be intimidated, or are too complacent, or that they can lake any liberties they please with our people, our Republic and our reforms. ”

“ I have asked our people to pledge here and now not to allow the gains of the New Society to be lost because of the weaknesses, the viciousness and the evil intentions of those on whom we have reposed the public trust. These men who have committed the highest form of treachery against our country and would turn traitors to our principles must be punished and, I swear to you, will be punished. ”

“ The reform of our political system is in essence a call to discipline and order. This was the theme with which we began the building of our New Society, and this is the theme that we must continue. Today we know the dangers of relaxing disciplinary controls, before reform has fully seeped into our social life.
The dangers of decay which we see in government are magnified in various ways in the other sectors of society. ”

“ The constriction of trade markets is a sobering experience for our export-oriented economy. This is neither the time nor the place to look into the trade policies of the big countries. Adjustments will be needed in the entire economic program, but these will in no way divert the fundamental direction of the prog­ram.
We greet the prognosis of an economic turn-around with hope, but without illusions. Should the industrialized economies successfully weather the recession, our export position will surely improve. ”

“ And when we look at the individual citizen, there is reason to feel that his rights and liberties are on the whole much better secured today than they were before the intervention of constitutional authoritarianism.
Let us look at the farmers: the emancipation of the Filipino farmer from economic and political bondage. This has been the all-consuming obsession of government since that fateful day of September 21, 1972 when it began the arduous task of bringing about lasting reforms in the society. ”

“ I have said that this new danger that confronts our Republic compels us now to do battle all over again with the same old courage, selflessness and dedica­tion that we can draw from our minds, our hearts, our souls. ”

“ Central to our economic policies is the sharing of the increments of growth. We cannot speak of growth unless we can distribute such growth to the people and we cannot speak of growth unless we first manage an entire spectrum of issues and problems that bedevil the economies of the industrialized as well as the non-industrialized world. ”

“ The establishment of constitutional authoritarianism, which enabled this government to seize the reins of national directions, has resulted in the growth of bureaucracy as a massive machinery that affects every aspect of our national life. ”

“ We will be confronted by the grave danger of complacency and reaction, the old habits that refuse to die, the claims of ancient legacy, the exacting demands of daily and routinary living and survival in a world crushed by crisis and emergency. ”

“ But the lasting solution to the worldwide economic crisis remains to be found perhaps in a new pattern of economic relations among the nations, and this is the difficult agenda before the nations today.
Now underneath these surface impressions of vitality and stability, there are profound problems that embattle our New Society. The general signs of national strength and progress somehow do not yet completely translate into realities sufficiently relevant to the ordinary individual. ”

“ But the people speak of men in high places, and in power, men of affluence, men in government, men of wealth and position, who have failed popular expectations, who still seem to be fighting for those very same principles and causes which we are fighting against, and who mock the very foundations of our reform movement. ”

“ Today, we find unprecedented prosperity in the rural areas, an obvious upsurge in the purchasing power of the Filipino farmer, and a general air of confidence and optimism in the countryside. Paradoxically, martial law, the instrument of the colonizer to preserve the status quo, has brought true freedom to the countryside for the first time in centuries. ”

“ Now, we come to the problem of inflation that confronts the whole world. Inflation, among all the economic indicators, has exerted the most pressure on the level of economic performance in this country and in all other countries of the world. But from the high 26 percent rise in consumer prices in FY 1974, the rate of inflation has come down possibly to 22 percent, although in July of this year, in one month alone, the inflation rate was supposedly only 4.2 percent. ”

“ They have ironically intensified natural appetites for finery and show, for lavish parties, flashy cars, mansions, big homes, ex­pensive travel and other counter-productive activities that dissipate the ethic of work, sacrifice and discipline that is the meaning of the New Society. Because Manila is the hub of economic and international life in the country, it is not difficult to see the simplest amenities of life among the rich increasingly feeding the bitterness, the frustration and exploitation of the very poor. ”

“ Yes, the people speak of men of the law—servants and enforcers of the law—using their respective positions or ranks to inflict upon society the very abuses they have been appointed to fight. They also speak of men who seem particularly privileged to reinterpret the most profound message of government ”

“ In the first 1,000 days of the New Society, therefore, we have succeeded—through deliberate policy and action—in helping the Filipino farmer rediscover himself, attain a new dignity, and secure true freedom.
With respect to labor, the pace of employment opportunities has risen, generally speaking, in keeping with the growth in gross national product. Compared to the employment levels before martial law, new jobs have been created at an average of five percent annually. ”

“ Many have already strayed away from the struggle, and forgotten the revolution we have mounted, choosing to reap benefits they did not sow, and grow so bold as to assume that others will do their work for them. ”

“ There are lawyers, accountants, doctors and other professionals who, because of certain claims of blood kinship, affinity, personal closeness, friendship to, or business affiliation with, supposedly high-ranking officials of the government, arrogantly utilize or wield influence not only in corrupting public officials or in coercing them, but also in securing for themselves or their associates personal advantages denied to others, and in obtaining favors, privileges and preferential treatment in derogation of fairness and justice. ”

“ In spite of a worldwide recession, we succeeded in cutting down unemployment to only 4.1 percent this year, the lowest in our postwar history. In other words out of a labor force of 14 million, only 570,000 workers are now openly unemployed. This is significant since in the United States, four percent unemployment is considered normal. ”

“ This implies a special obligation on the rich to find purpose and vision in the use of wealth; on those who hold positions of power and authority to be austere in their lifestyle and to discriminate in the exercise of anything that might be construed as special privilege. Here, there is an hierarchical distribution of responsibility: those who hold more either of wealth or of authority must bear more responsibility. ”

“ However, we must acknowledge serious problems, overshadowing our economic life. We cannot escape the feeling here of being perpetually engaged in a race with problems and crises, regardless of our response at any given period. ”

“ It bears repeating that we do not seek to liberate our society from the old exploiters only to deliver it to new exploiters. We do not seek to make this society strong to secure the posterity of only a small class therein. ”

“ Comprising 70 per cent of the population and more than half of the labor force, Filipino farmers have been, and will continue to be, the main beneficiaries of the major government programs launched over the first 1,000 days of the New Society. ”

“ The income of government has increased four times and our budget accord­ingly. Government receipts have expanded more rapidly than government ex­penditures, resulting in significant accumulations of budgetary surpluses. While other countries have suffered deficits since 1973. our country has always had a budgetary surplus, even as we increased government spending in essential services and economic activity. As of 1974, we had a budgetary surplus of P646 million.
Overall, economic performances during the third year of the program of the New Society has been creditable. ”

“ Accordingly, as a first step to be followed later or by a broader sweep in the lower ranks of the civil service and in other parts of the government including the military organization, a sweep which as of today includes a listing of 2,000 undesirables in the national government, I have decided to announce today the acceptance of the resignation of the following high-ranking officials in the government who have something to do with the procurement of government supplies and materials and the administration of valuable resources of the Republic of the Philippines. ”

“ You saw marching here the Kabataang Barangay, along with the capitanes de barangay who are also here, who now participate actively in everything that has to do with the community action. They provide the means by which our people can directly and truly participate in decision-making. ”

“ Despite the dampening of expectations in most sectors of the economy as a consequence of inflation and recession, investments remained on an uptrend in FY 1975.
Expenditures for gross domestic capital formation in real terms recorded a growth of 22.3 percent in comparison to the 7.9 percent growth level in FY 1974. In millions of pesos this is domestic capital formation amounting to P10.336 billion. ”

“ Where before he used to rely solely on antiquated farming methods, today he can count on an army of over 6,000 farm management technicians and rural broadcasters who use every technique known to media for instruction and guidance on modern agricultural technology. ”

“ But the external sector, however, was characterized by a drastic decline in the country’s balance of payments position from the FY 1974 surplus of $437 million to a deficit of $352 million at the end of FY 1975. Contributing mainly to decline was a shift from a merchandise trade surplus of $95 million to a deficit of $801 million in FY 1975. ”

“ Paid-in capital of newly registered corporations and partnerships expanded by about 30 percent to a level of P 1,020 million at the end of the Fiscal Year, with the construction sector showing the biggest growth of 145 percent. Likewise, investments in BOI-registered firms grew by 34 percent, mainly as a result of the 192 percent increase in investments poured in by local businessmen. ”