Manuel Roxas

“ Is the cost of living gradually declining, there- by increasing the purchasing power of wages?
Inflation is a post-war plague depressing the economy of nations and the lives of hundreds of millions of people in the world. Inflation remains unchecked and is in fact growing worse every day in many foreign countries. In our country we are fortunate that we have succeeded not only in arresting inflation but in starting the deflationary trend. ”

“ Has the government done anything which would give them the least reason to fear that under our democracy they would be prevented from laboring for the social reforms which they are supposedly to have in mind? They can find no reason for harboring such fear. There is no reform, social or political, which cannot be peacefully secured under our domestic institutions, if it is supported by a majority of the people. ”

“ How many of the nations of the world today could claim for their people the freedoms that our citizens enjoy? Survey the face of the earth and I am sure you will find that in many countries individual liberty is being directly or indirectly encroached upon, if not entirely denied, and that the lives of citizens are strictly being regimented to sub serve the interest of the State. In the Philippines we take individual freedom for granted. That is the reason many of us fail to realize the priceless boon we possess. ”

“ Before the law, the humblest man in this country is the equal of the most powerful. The widest freedom of criticism against the government not only is not curtailed I but is encouraged by those who are in power. ”

“ Only three years ago we lived under a different regime, a regime under which the freedoms that we cherish were refused to us. We were not free citizens then; we were subjects of a tyrannical power that blotted our personal dignity and trampled upon our liberty. Today, we enjoy our liberties to the fullest measure and I thank God that we can now stand and walk erect as free men, the equal of the mightiest on this earth. ”

“ No country in the world, not even the most powerful, can set up a system of national defense which would in itself be adequate to withstand any possible attack. The adequacy of defense is always relative, depending upon the combined strength of the attacking forces. We can never hope to establish a defensive system that will be theoretically impregnable. Our best security is in the success of the plans and efforts of the United Nations organization for the maintenance of world peace. We are actively cooperating with such program. ”

“ Let us not waste our energies in partisan conflict nor in any attempt to gain personal advantage while we are engaged in this all-consuming task of lifting our Republic from the ashes of war and insuring for our countrymen all the blessings of peace and happiness. ”

“ Are we maintaining a reason- able equation in our balance of payments? Does a reason- able percentage of the national income go to the formation of capital and is that capital being invested in productive enterprises? ”

“ There are, however, well-known and accepted indices of a nation’s life, not unlike the symptoms discoverable through a medical examination of a man’s health, that reveal equally unerringly the state of health of a nation. By an objective application of certain tests, we will learn the true state of our nation as well as the progress that has been attained. ”

“ Our citizens as well as foreigners living within our gates look upon the present government as the only repository of public authority and are rendering it respect and support. There are no serious popular movements that either weaken or threaten its stability. It is true that we have a group of misguided men in Central Luzon who disturb the nation’s peace in their desire to change through force our basic institutions. ”

“ As to the Administration of Justice.-Is justice being administered impartially, without fear or favor? Do we maintain a free, honest and independent judiciary? Do we enable our poorest citizen to resort to the courts for the enforcement of his rights or the redress of his grievances? ”

“ There is relative prosperity in our land. By the boldness and resolution, which you showed in immediately grappling with the tremendous problems which we faced, you have rendered eminent and imperishable service to the nation. The people, I am sure, will give you credit for the major part you played in the promotion of their welfare. ”

“ In 1946, the cost of living was so high that the purchasing power of wages did not permit a laborer to acquire with his earnings the same needed commodities which he could purchase in 1941 at the then existing rate. It is thus understandable why laborers were clamoring for higher wages. But there was this difficulty to a sudden and large increase in the wage level-most employers could not pay higher wages and continue profitable operation. There was also the danger that higher wages would discourage new capital investments essential to the creation of opportunities for wider employment. ”

“ The fullest toleration of religious worship exists. Side by side with our Mohammedan brothers and others of varied faiths forgetting religious differences, we are united in a common effort to support and defend the government we ourselves have established. Our courts of justice stand sentinel day and night to prevent the least invasion of individual rights. These courts constitute a coordinate branch of government, independent of the Executive and of the Congress, and are in no manner whatever subservient or answerable to either of them. ”

“ Today complete peace and order exists in 90 per cent of our national territory. More than 200 thousand firearms, have been surrendered or captured since our assumption of the people’s trust. This alone is a great achievement. True, in a few sections of Central and Southern Luzon roving bands of bandits and communist-led groups who have defied the government still remain, but their activities are now confined to distant barrios. Our peace officers, principally the Constabulary, are giving them neither rest nor quarter. ”

“ The statesmen of the world have now come to the conclusion that unless more and greater aid and assistance is given to them, the peace of the earth would be disturbed because the peoples of those nations would undergo acute human suffering. On our part, we have endeavored to solve, and I believe we have succeeded in solving, most of our difficulties and problems through our own efforts and sacrifices. It is true we have received some assistance from the United States of America ”

“ Living costs are still too high. I trust that with the efforts now employed by the government, implemented by an intensification of agricultural and industrial production, we shall be able in the near future to come to a more satisfactory level of prices.
The lowering of prices has resulted in a higher standard of living of our people. Today, the majority of our countrymen are eating more and better food than in 1946, and I have reasons to believe that the larger portion of our population are eating more and better food now than in 1941 when the war started. ”

“ If we should work together now as we did in the past, I assure you we shall move forward at a good pace without having to change our democratic ways, without renouncing the liberties that we cherish, ever closer to the high planes of prosperity, well- being, and social justice that we have always sought for our people. ”

“ I trust that labor unions will be convinced of the deep sympathy which the government holds for them. They should have an abiding faith that the government will use every effort to gain for them every just and reasonable concession from their employers. ”

“ But as long as they continue defying the government, trying to destroy our every effort to promote the strength and the glory of this Republic and to insure the happiness of our people, we must look upon them as the enemies of our nation. We must deal with them as such. We shall endeavor with all the means at our command to bring them to justice and wipe out to the last vestige every attempt to overthrow our free institutions or disturb the peace in our land. As to National Defense.-Are we secure from outside aggression? ”

“ What will befall our people and the kind of heritage we leave to our children, and what we can do to make their lot a happy one, constitute the only problem that should absorb our thoughts and stir our hearts during these trying days which, I am sure, will also be days of triumph and glory for our Republic if we have the courage and the wisdom to meet the challenge of the times and to keep faith with the noble principles and traditions which have inspired and sustained us throughout the darkest period of our history. ”

“ This we have done by stimulating increased production and by temporarily encouraging imports which tend to absorb excess purchasing power as fast as possible. While it is necessary that inflation should be controlled, the deflationary process should not be allowed to proceed too rapidly In the same way that we effectively checked inflation, we must do our best to control the speed of deflation. Failure to do so would disrupt our national economy, set back the progress of reconstruction and development, and bring suffering to our people. ”

“ They are using force. We have to meet them with force. They are not fighting for social reforms. Their most important demands have already been met. Now we know their aim is one and definitive–to gain power through. For whatever measures the government may take m the direction of a more rapid amelioration of the economic and social conditions of the tenants whom they pretend to champion-which improvement of conditions, I know, is your great desire as well as mine–will prove futile and in vain toward making these, enemies of the law come to reason. ”

“ We buy today over half a billion pesos more than we sell abroad. Although our exports have materially increased since 1946, showing a total of more than P440,000,000 for the year 1947, our imports for the same year have exceeded P1,004,000,000. However, our 1947 export total is around 41 per cent over our exports immediately before the war and 240 per cent over that of 1946. Presently, our unfavorable trade balance is more than covered by payments received from the United States in the form of war damages, veterans’ pensions, expenditures of the American Army, Navy, and Air Force. ”

“ But the number of these men is so small, and the support they receive from the people so unwilling and so meager that they cannot be considered a threat to the security of the established order. As to Individual Freedom.-Is the free exercise of individual rights guaranteed to the lowliest citizen of our land? Are we maintaining a free press, untrammelled by censorship or any punitive action of government? Are religious liberty, the right to think and the right to criticize the government, being maintained? Is there purging in the Government? ”

“ Are our government revenues increasing at a rate which gives hope that within a reasonably short period we shall be able to finance all our ordinary expenditures with current revenues and thereby balance our budget? ”

“ Living costs today average about three times those before the war. The level of wages is also three times the pre-war level. We have, therefore, reached a fair relationship between wages and the cost of living. This gain is vital and should be consolidated and in every way improved in the interest of the workers. One of two things could be done: either bring about a reasonable increase in wages or further reduce living costs. I, for one, favor both these courses that we may secure for all our laborers a decent livelihood. ”

“ The Philippines is one of the very few countries in the world today where food is not rationed. I believe we shall not find it necessary to do so in the days to come.
As to Labor and Wages.-Are we suffering from acute unemployment? Are laborers receiving a living wage? Are we reasonably free from strikes or other industrial conflicts? ”

“ Our relations with the United States remain on a most cordial and friendly basis. The American Government is giving every evidence of its continued interest in our welfare. We appreciate the cooperative spirit of United States Ambassador Emmet O’Neal, and the heads of the Armed Forces and other agencies of the American Government. We have every assurance of a sympathetic consideration by the American Congress and the American Government of all questions affecting the Philippines. ”

“ According to government statistics and the estimates made by the Joint Financial Commission, our national income has increased from around 2 billion pesos before the war to over 3 billion pesos today. The volume of our national production, however, is still probably less than pre-war although with the rehabilitation of the sugar industry and some of our mines, which is proceeding at a rapid pace, we may reasonably expect that by the end of this year we will have surpassed our production before the war. ”

“ Properly to appraise the progress of a nation is not an easy task. It is difficult fully to estimate the extent and significance, material and psychological, of the advances made. Many factors producing these results are dynamic in nature and, once set in motion, create a chain of cumulative effects which stimulate activity and progress in many fields. ”

“ Under the Constitution the enforcement or vindication of individual rights is the chief function of the courts. We will continue to enjoy our liberties so long as we have independent courts and courageous judges who will relentlessly battle for the preservation of those liberties. We have such courts and such judges today. I trust we will always have them in the future. ”