Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo

“ The roof cannot collapse when the value pillars of government and society are sound and strong.
I fervently support the judicial reforms being carried out by our supreme court.
I ask congress for a law making the ombudsman’s function as effective as Hong Kong’s independent commission against corruption.
Bureaucratic corruption with its numerous leakages is bad. So is government incompetence. Unlike in the private sector, where the free market punishes mistakes, government incompetence punishes only the public. ”

“ I want a marriage not of convenience but of conviction, across the spectrum of parties and groups, encompassing the range of intelligent political, religious and economic views. I want a marriage for at least the life of this congress. ”

“ The worst offender yet the hardest to pin down is corporate corruption. Businessmen must adopt an attitude of tax acceptance not tax avoidance. They must stop trying to outrun the tax collector. They must recognize that only a fiscally stronger government can create a more congenial business environment: greater security, better infrastructure, cheaper credit, more business.
My administration will undertake reforms to raise or save p100 billion. ”

“ The people are safer in the streets, in their homes, and in their places of work.
Every government in the world is at war with its own corruption; we have made lifestyle checks a lethal weapon, and adopted procurement reforms to take the fight forward. ”

“ As the leader of the nation, I say in behalf of the Filipino people to the world: we are strong and principled believers in democracy. Four generations of fighting Filipinos have ceaselessly struggled against totalitarians and terrorists, for our freedom, for the freedom of our people and the people of the world. ”

“ We have to tear away layers of inefficiency piled on by decades of political accommodation: redundancy in the national service, waste in local governments, and pointless procedures for getting done what isn’t needed anyway to secure the public welfare. ”

“ But it can only be done with-focus, with energy, and with a common purpose to do that which still lies within our power: put our economic house back in working order before it finds itself beyond hope of repair and doomed to share the fate of failed nations. ”

“ All the solutions require: toughness on the part of government, cooperation on the part of business, patience on the part of our people, and active support on the part of congress.
All the solutions require profound, even personal changes. Politicians will need to focus on the job at hand rather than on their prospect of re-election. ”

“ The Philippines has no policy that demands sacrifice of human lives. ”

“ We must wait with patience for the reforms to work. In the meantime, we must work more productively because world competition is keen and we want the jobs not only to come, but to stay.
Our most urgent problem is the budget deficit. Sometimes it’s unavoidable; but chronic deficits are always bad. ”

“ Investments in infrastructure and energy provide the greatest multiplier effect for growth and job creation. Pag maganda ang imprastraktura gaya ng kalsada, tulay, pantalan, telepono, koryente, maraming mamumuhunan. Maraming magkakaroon ng trabaho.
We must achieve sufficient, efficient, cheap energy in the near term. We must be sure to have the capacity to meet the demands of a growing economy, so as not to choke off growth when it comes, and thereby lose the opportunities that may not come again. ”

“ To expand youth opportunity, we need to focus on technical and vocational education; on strengthening English, Science and Technology — and love of country. As I said in my inaugural: it is not free markets but patriotism that makes countries strong. ”

“ Our investments in social justice and basic needs are as vital to our future as fiscal and macroeconomic reforms. A nation deeply divided will not stand. And it certainly will not move forward. ”

“ Ang kanilang sekreto’y pagkakaisa ng mamamayan, suporta sa liderato, at sakripisyo ng bawat isa.
We must bear the pain and share the pain to enjoy the gain together.
Those with more must sacrifice more; those with less are already living lives of self-sacrifice. ”

“ I ask the educational system, the parents, the church and pillars of the community to help shape a new culture of honesty, patriotism, respect, discipline and service for young Filipinos. ”

“ The place to start now is livelihood, for 10 million Filipinos.
The growing industrial, service, and micro-enterprise sectors will take care of some, a thriving agri-business sector will keep more in the countryside rather than burdening a metro manila that is already cracking under the weight of overpopulation. ”

“ I want to create economic opportunity at home and abroad. I don’t want just one or the other. I want both. ”

“ Some say that is it cheaper to die than to get well from an illness, that it is impossible to find clean water in this rainfall country, that in this modern day and age, part of the country still sits in darkness. ”

“ Inflation is under control. The ordinary housewife has been buying her rice and fish at stable prices.
New investments, foreign and better yet domestic, were made. Three million more of our people found jobs in the last three years compared to half a million in the three years before that. ”

“ We will downsize the government, motivate excess employees to become entrepreneurs, and increase the pay of a lean and mean bureaucracy. ”

“ To this end, napocor power generating plants and transmission lines must be privatized but not in a fire sale. Delivering electricity to virtually an entire country as big as ours cannot possibly be worth nothing but the trouble of running it. ”