Fidel V. Ramos

“ To build a just and humane society and establish a government that shall embody our ideals and aspirations, promote the common good, conserve and develop our patrimony, and secure to ourselves and our posterity the blessings of independence and democracy under the rule of law and a regime of truth, justice, freedom, love, equality and peace. ”

“ We have defined our politics in terms of conflict and competition: it is time we defined it in terms of cooperation and union. We have defined economic effort in terms of profit and self-interest: it is time we defined it in terms of sharing and caring. ”

“ I shall soon submit to Congress the proposed national budget for fiscal year 1993.
Through the budget, we shall pump-prime the economy; stimulate growth by focusing public investments on programs with the highest productive and economic returns; and provide social services and productivity programs that will empower the majority among us who are now without the means to lead decent and useful lives, particularly the farming, fishing and labor sectors. ”

“ Certainly we are today a nation confirmed in our Constitutional Democracy: strengthened by the trials we have weathered.
Considerable stability has been attained in the economy -- as efforts at stabilization, restructuring and reform over the last six years have borne fruit.
But our people still live under the weight of many problems. The indicators of national life tell us just how heavy is this burden: The top 20 percent of Filipino families receives 50 percent of our country's total household income; the lowest 20 percent receives only 5 percent. ”

“ Let us not allow our troubles to disperse our men and women all over the world -- to be the housemaids and janitors of more fortunate peoples. Let our problems rather bind us together in one concerted action to banish the sorrows of the past, confront the difficulties of the present, and redeem the promise of the future. ”

“ For our nation can rise only to the level of our people's competence. The most profitable human investment is in basic education. I urge Congress to pass a bill on Elementary education for the purpose of insuring universal and higher quality elementary education to the end that every Filipino child has access to a quality, public elementary school. It will also ensure exposure of our young to technical and scientific knowledge. There are still thousands of barangays today that do not have Elementary schools. ”

“ Precisely because decentralization departs drastically from tradition, we must nurture the process of change -- to ensure our local governments are empowered to cope, not just by law but by our aid and intervention in congress and the executive. ”

“ In the economy, let us move forward from stabilization and restructuring to measures and policies designed for growth. One step above all is essential: the formulation of a national mid-term development plan for the six years from 1993 to 1998. In the framing of this plan, I invite the participation of congress; and this can be facilitated by the speedy creation of a Legislative-Executive Development Council, which i recommend to you. ”

“ In support of the Foreign Investments Act, I ask Congress to amend the Condominium Law and liberalize nationality requirements in the Omnibus Investment Code. The objective is to make foreign companies secure in the possession of their plant sites in industrial estates.
We shall also review the present system of incentives to make it more attractive and encourage the flow of investments into the economy.
All our policies for growth will have a deep concern for protecting our environment. Our natural surroundings must be the beneficiary of modernization, not its victim. ”

“ But a new Department of Energy is still imperative -- to make sure our experience of long brownouts during the past several months is never repeated and our long-term energy needs are met.
This new department will plan, implement, coordinate and supervise all policies and programs on energy. The law we propose will also establish an energy development fund to be sourced from the Oil Price Stabilization Fund.
In trade, we expect a rise in export demand as our major markets return to growth. You can count on the Executive to do all we can to make our industries worldwide competitive. ”

“ When public order breaks down; when men, women and children fear for their safety in the streets and in their homes; when contempt and mistrust characterize citizens' attitudes toward lawful authority, then we all -- young and old, rich and poor -- are victimized. ”

“ I am also submitting for your urgent action an Environment Protection Code and a new Forestry Code to institutionalize the control by local communities over forests within their territories.
These measures will in time move the economy back to growth. But let us not imagine that growth by itself will suffice to bring the poor majority of our countrymen and communities into the mainstream of development. ”

“ I believe -- with all my heart -- that our people and our country can be sure, now more than ever, of the loyalty, dedication and efficiency of their armed forces and national police. Let us give our soldiers and policemen the support they deserve. ”

“ While many of our problems are national in scope, they exist in neighborhoods and local communities. Hence the solutions must in the end be tailored to local needs.
While our problems require a broad national strategy and the political will to attack them, our response must be enriched by local perspectives and private sector participation.
No program -- no matter how generously funded can hope to uproot problems if it is based or developed solely in Manila. It must be founded on the life and experience of our local communities and enhanced by private sector involvement. ”

“ It has become a cliche, but it is nonetheless true: real development has a human face.
We have missed perhaps this human dimension in our labors because government has become too big and has spread itself too thin. ”

“ And when our collaboration shall have produced the prosperity and well-being of our people and our country, then might we say we have lived up to the sacred oaths with which we entered office. And our people will say to us - well done. ”

“ And every day that we delay meeting these problems, they grow more intractable.
The test is whether we can act with dispatch to answer these challenges -- not tomorrow but today.
Peace and security are the first urgent problem. For as long as instability and uncertainty characterize our common life, we shall not make any headway. This is why in my inaugural address I immediately raised the issue of amnesty to enable rebels to re-enter civil society as law-abiding citizens. ”

“ Meanwhile, 860,000 young people join the labor force every year.
These severities of economic life translate into grave problems in politics and social life.
Today we are one of a few countries burdened with the combined weight of communist insurgency and other rebellions.
Crime makes our streets unsafe, and threatens our citizens in their homes.
Social services have lagged behind the rise of population and the mass migration to our cities of poor rural people. Neighborhoods are deteriorating and too many families are without adequate housing. ”

“ We also have it in our power to lose this chance -- and condemn our country to continued decline and failure. I know we shall not fail. I know that we shall do all we can -- severally and together -- to make our stewardship of government a good one for our people and our country. ”

“ We shall undertake three main types of intervention against poverty: The first is to ensure the delivery of basic social services to the poorest communities and to make sure that every poor family has a decent minimum of health, nutrition, housing and education. ”

“ Reorganization and professionalization of the civil service will greatly strengthen our hand in checking graft. But we shall not rely only on these reforms. nor on the Independent work of the Ombudsman and the Sandiganbayan.
As i proposed in my inaugural address, we must take action against both the bribe-taker and the bribe-giver. Surely we must be more aggressive against those who pay grease money to facilitate transactions with government. We will provide the Ombudsman all the assistance in carrying out a successful campaign against graft and corruption. ”

“ Though obstacles may shadow our labors, we have the crucial requisite for surmounting them: and that is the combined resolve of our people and their elected representatives to join together and face all problems and all dangers. ”

“ In foreign relations, we must chart our course in a world -- and an Asia-Pacific region -- much changed by recent events. The end of the Cold War may have eased the danger of a nuclear confrontation. But, ironically, the loosening of big-power tensions makes more likely the breaking-out of quarrels within the region -- which the superpowers once restrained, for fear of getting involved in them. ”

“ This had enabled us to get away with the smallest defense investment in ASEAN. Those agreements have already lapsed.
Now we must take up the responsibility for our own defense. Most urgently, the capabilities of both our Navy and our Air Force must make a quantum leap. And we shall have to accelerate our entire self-reliance program for the armed forces. Fortunately, this program will have beneficial side-effects that are more than just military -in the transfer of technology, in job generation and even in the potential export of defense products. ”

“ To live in Metro Manila today is literally a punishment -- to exist with garbage, smog, traffic congestion, flood and substandard public services. the atomized jurisdictions in the metropolis cannot deal with problems that are collective in nature. The only answer is a metropolitan administration that will deliver basic services effectively to all of Metro Manila. ”

“ Infrastructure-building we must push aggressively. This will not only create jobs in the countryside. It will also give investors proof of our resolve to provide growth a solid foundation for sustainable development. ”

“ The second is to see to it that the poor gain access to agrarian reform, skills-training and extension services that will open up livelihood opportunities and jobs to them. And the third is to help poor communities organize cooperatively -- to empower them to play a greater role in their own development and to make their voices heard in the making of public policy. ”

“ We the Congress and the Executive can provide the example and the leadership for such cooperation, sharing and linkage. You and i can act separately -- and achieve very very little. Or you and I can act together -- and achieve much, much more. The time is short and our responsibility is clear. In our hands, ladies and gentlemen of Congress, is the opportunity to turn the remaining years of this century into the resurgence of the Filipino nation. we have it in our power to achieve this goal. ”

“ Fortunately there are few such quarrels threatening our part of the world. For the moment, securing continued access to world markets and technology must become the most vital concern of ourselves and our regional partners. ”

“ Some have mistakenly thought that this is a request for blanket authority for the President in reorganization. What we seek is a law that will fully enable us to reorganize the Executive branch. Others fear that reorganization will result in massive layoffs. This is not envisioned at all. The only ones who have to fear displacement are 15-30 employees and all those who do not possess civil service eligibilities. ”

“ At least 5.8 million families -- over half of all our households -- do not earn enough to meet their basic needs.
In 1991, some 2.3 million of our workers were jobless; and 7.6 million of those who had jobs were working less than 40 hours a week. ”