Manuel Roxas

“ I have a profound conviction that constitutional government in all the subtle meanings of the phrase is the only type of government which can safeguard the rights of the people even against the abuses of the Government itself. Constitutions may be perfected but the fabric of government once tom by disrespect for the basic law of the land can be repaired only with the greatest difficulty. ”

“ Another of our most serious situations, of course, is inflation. Fundamentally, inflation can only be cured by the production and the importation of sufficient goods to satisfy the market and to allow for free competition. That goal is far in the future. I do not know when we will reach it. For the moment and for some months to come we will be living in a land of scarcity-scarcity of food, scarcity of building materials, scarcity of textiles, scarcity of machinery. ”

“ While we are building up our stocks from abroad, while we are getting our own production into gear, we must control prices, minimize the black market, prevent profiteering and obviate the suicidal race between prices and wages. ”

“ We can look forward to some assistance from the United States Government in terms of surplus property and training facilities. But much of that task must be undertaken by us.
We must provide for strict enforcement of food and drug standards and insure the cleanliness and sanitation of public eating places and processors of food. The health and vigor of our people is our first natural resource.
I recognize the importance which reparations may play in our economic rehabilitation. Everything possible is already being done to lay our claims before the proper international organs. ”

“ We must have the facts before we can attack successfully the problem of unemployment. I shall also direct the establishment of labor exchanges in each municipality, if possible, again attempting to use available government personnel. Should these prove inadequate, I will ask Congress to establish an employment service in the Department of Labor. As we proceed further in our program of social welfare, such a service will be essential for purposes of certification of unemployment as well as of placement. ”

“ Meanwhile the people’s confidence in financial and credit institutions must be strengthened further to lure savings into the productive streams of industrial and commercial credit rather than into mere competition for consumption commodities. The full rehabilitation of the banks and the strengthening of our banking laws will be another long step toward the trapping of inflation and its localization in the consumption market. ”

“ The legislation needed for this transition will be duly submitted to you. But the problems we must solve are much greater ones than those of crossing the line from Commonwealth status to the status of a free Republic. Our people are to inherit a prostrate and war-devastated land. ”

“ The matter of guerrilla currency is not our only problem involving currency. It is necessary that this nation, when it becomes independent, have an entirely new currency as soon as practicable, replacing both the pre-war currency and the present victory money. ”

“ The spread of literacy is only one of them. Education, as we all know, is the hall maiden of liberty. The intelligent use of the ballot by the people in a democracy is in large measure dependent on the degree of enlightenment of the people. We must begin with the rehabilitation of our primary schools, the provision of adequate employment conditions for teachers and for their training. The University of the Philippines must be restored to its former primacy among the educational institutions of our land. ”

“ There is a world shortage of rice. Many nations of the earth are as unfortunate as we; in the case of our own shortage we can expect very little assistance from abroad. We are doing everything in our power to get as much assistance as we can. I fear that we must look to our own resources to supply a major part of our requirements over the next critical six months.
Housing is an urgent need in our urban areas. The squalor and congestion in which many of our people live are seriously affecting the health of our younger generation. ”

“ There are no productive enterprises available to absorb their energies. The labor force which was created by this war must have other outlet for employment. We must create those outlets.
There is no easy formula to solve this problem. It will require the aid not only of the United States, which we anticipate, but also a recognition by all our people of their duty to invest their savings in productive enterprises.
The United States Congress recently enacted two major pieces of legislation for our relief-one of them is the Trade Rehabilitation Act, and the other the War Damage Act. ”

“ The stability of labor relations is one of the most important assurances which we can offer to private enterprise and to investors, large and small, for the planning and programming of economic ventures. ”

“ A scarcity of commodities and a super-abundance of currency in circulation have given us a national price structure shot through with confusion and injustices to our consumers, wage earners, salaried employees and even producers whose income cannot keep pace with the vaulting scale of prices.
Our national production itself is a pittance. Where we exported annually before the war 240 million pesos of goods, we may, with good fortune, expect to export 30 million pesos worth of goods this year .Our imports this year will exceed 300 million pesos, several times what we have ever imported before. ”

“ Our soil must be kept rich and fertile. Our subsoil riches must be exploited according to plan and in the public interest. Reforestation must keep pace with the cutting of lumber. The work of our experimental agricultural stations must be expanded and the results of their work conveyed to every comer of the Philippines. For this reason, I place great emphasis on the development of radio, provincial newspapers and other publication media. Congress must plan to promote and encourage the development of these media so that the messages of government may be circulated widely among the people. ”

“ We must first of all attack as best we can the problem of our government finances. The projected loan from the United States Government will be only of transient value to us unless we immediately lay a sound and sensible basis for government financing. ”

“ A commission will be appointed to study our banking laws and to recommend, if it is found desirable, a central bank to become the fiscal agency of the Government in the control of credit, to act as the clearing house for inter-bank transactions, to manage bank reserves and to afford more flexibility in our currency system. ”

“ The requirements of the quarantine service in personnel and facilities, as well as in legal authority, must be met so that it can carry out its many functions, not the least of which is the enforcement of vaccination against plague, cholera, smallpox, typhus, and yellow fever. To permit the introduction of plagues into our land would be to expose ourselves to a loss as great as that of war itself. ”

“ In our great concern with the economic and social problems, which surround us, we must not omit to do honor to our heroes of the recent past. I have already described the measures that we propose to take for the benefit of the widows and orphans of our soldier dead and for our veterans. In addition to the benefits I have described, veterans must be given priority in government employment, service and training facilities. ”

“ Only in recent weeks has the United States Government been disposing of trucks and motor vehicles at a sufficient rate to enable us to look forward to some measure of transportation recovery. But our roads are a shambles, with a vicious tendency to deplete our usable motor vehicles and at the same time impede the rate of the flow of goods to market. ”

“ That stability must, of course, take into consideration the right of labor to have a living wage. Higher wages built on high and efficient production provide purchasing power for goods and start the cycle of production for consumption, which should be the goal of our economic development. ”

“ Bridges and roads are in crying need of reconstruction.
Public health and sanitation have retreated far from the level, which existed before the war. Epidemic is a constant threat. The three great pests of our land–the rat, the mosquito, and the locust–have thrived on our misfortunes and threaten us with both disease and hunger. Control measures against all of them must be taken.
Famine is a strong possibility; shortages of food are even now critical. We are immediately faced by a shortage, which will grow more critical within the next few months- j in our staple food product-rice. ”

“ Our currency, sound in monetary terms, pegged to the American dollar and fully supported by dollar reserves in the United States, is nevertheless suffering from a vast over expansion in circulation. Today there are in circulation over 800 million pesos, compared to the pre-war total of about 200 million pesos. Partly a result of this over-circulation is the present inflation of value. Prices are far beyond reason. ”

“ For the further promotion of our trade and commerce, the Congress should study ways and means for the establishment in the Philippines of a free port zone so that it may become the transit point for goods flowing from the western hemisphere, the assembly area for heavy machinery, equipment and motor vehicles, the site of oil refineries for export petroleum products, and the distribution and ware- housing center for goods destined for all parts of the Orient. ”

“ Waterborne transport, especially in coastwise trade, is still only a fraction of what it should be.
Our communications, radio and telegraph, are completely disrupted. With many of our fellow citizens we still have no communication whatsoever. Business operations are seriously crippled by the lack of communications. The only radio broadcasting facilities now available are those owned and operated by the United States Government. Most of our people lack radio receiving sets with which to keep informed of world events or even of events in their own homeland. ”

“ Labor must be strong to shoulder its responsibilities; management must be intelligent and progressive to discharge its proper social functions.
In the present period of emergency, a Wage Stabilization Board to adjust inequities in wages and to operate in conjunction with the proposed Conciliation Service should be established. I believe that such a Board can best function as an independent agency under the Executive Office.
At an early date I shall direct the taking of an unemployment census in the Philippines, using available government personnel to do this important work. ”

“ We shall do our best to remedy the economic ailments, the best that is within our means and our under- standing. We will not permit for one unnecessary moment the defiance of law or the imposition of tyrannical terror. Peace and order will be restored with understanding, with tolerance and with proper regard for the causes which gave rise to this development. But there will be no compromise j with lawlessness, no trafficking with terror. Laws will be obeyed and arms will be surrendered. The welfare of the people of those areas will be safeguarded. ”

“ An agrarian commission is to be established to study the economic problems of the areas where unrest now prevails. The Congress must realize, as I realize, that the means with which we attempt to solve these problems must be within our finances and our capacity. Some time may be required before we can put all of our program, or even a large part of it, into operation. But the people must be assured that we will move as swiftly as we know how. ”

“ Nor can we afford to forget the urgency of rehabilitating our educational institutions and our school system. I have placed this subject in the latter part of my message not because of its lesser importance. I can think of nothing, which is more vital to the nation in terms of our long-range growth and development. The functions of the school system from the primary grades through the universities are many. ”

“ Labor too must come into its own and must be given every protection in its right to organize. The powers of our Court of Industrial Relations must be revised. While we encourage and strengthen organized labor, we must make ample provision to insure the responsibility of labor and of labor unions. ”

“ I also recommend that legislation be enacted by the Philippine Congress making benefits received from the United States Veterans Administration non-taxable.
Some discrimination against our veterans is involved in the provision that benefits for Filipinos will be paid on a peso-for-dollar basis. I have instructed Commissioner Romulo in Washington to seek to have this discrimination eliminated if at all possible. It should be understood, how- ever, that these benefits are to be paid for by United States taxpayers including American veterans for generations to come. ”