INTRODUCTION
When I look back on our 1986 People Power Revolution, I realize that while, during those four momentous days, we may have broken with the years of dictatorship, we were also re-establishing our connections with our distant historical past.

I speak of our history of social transformation — a process that began with our nationalist revolution of 1896, and which we re-started nine years ago at EDSA.

This is a continuing history. It is far from finished. Its greatest challenges and opportunities still lie ahead of us.
A NATION BETWEEN TWO REVOLUTIONS
Between then and now, the important difference is this: today, we can continue our social revolution in peace. And this peaceful environment for growth is what we must build on in the years ahead.

We are all comrades-in-arms — and our task is to carry on the nation’s unfinished business: ang ating layunin ay ang tunay na kalayaan, kapayapaan at kaunlaran.

Our revolution for political freedom — from both foreign and indigenous tyranny — is over and done with.

Now we must use that political freedom — that self-determination we have won — to carry out our country’s social transformation — to bridge the gap between the few who are well-to-do and many who are poor, among our people.
CARRYING OUT OUR SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION
We must ease the extremes of poverty and wealth bequeathed to us from the leftovers of history.

And then we must continue to empower ordinary Filipinos so that they can fully take part in the great decisions that affect their lives.

At EDSA in 1986, as at Pugadlawin, at Balintawak, at Kawit, at Pinaglabanan and other battlegrounds a hundred years ago — we found strength in unity and in a common purpose.

We found and renewed our faith in God, in our fellow Filipinos, and in ourselves.

That source of strength we need now more than ever — if we are to fulfill Rizal’s prophetic vision of our country as a peaceful and prosperous land where self-fulfilled individuals chart their own destiny free from the bonds of foreign aggressors.

We have regained our freedom — but even more important, we have begun to learn the moral and social responsibilities of freedom.

We now realize politics must serve — not selfish motives, but — the interests of the many, of the voiceless, of the dispossessed, and promote humankind’s welfare.

1896 and 1986 were classic manifestations of transformational politics. In both cases, the pursuit of power was not the issue. What was paramount — then as now — was to effect change, and to unite the people towards a common vision for the future.

That is what brought us together at EDSA in 1986 — and that is what brings us here today.

Let us learn from the past. Let us realize the shaping of our future entirely depends on us Filipinos — whether we gain wisdom or repeat our follies. In the past, strife, conflict, narrow-mindedness and self-centeredness may have served some of us — but today they will only lead us to disaster.

In this connection, let me confirm that last night, our Government Peace Panel under Chairman Howard Dee and the National Democratic Front (NDF) panel under Luis Jalandoni have reached agreement to open formal talks in Brussels, Belgium on June 1 of this year.

The two panels signed yesterday in Nieuwegein, the Netherlands, a joint agreement on safety and immunity guarantees, which was the product of continuous and often intense negotiation over the last three months.
CLOSING MESSAGE
I invite us all to link arms and march forward — to advance our two revolutions, under the mighty banner of God to the highest peak of human and social achievement.

Let us continue to make our own history as a united people — mindful of the past, but eager to face the future — and possessed of the confidence and wisdom of our century’s experience in nation-building.

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas!

Maraming salamat po at magandang gabi sa inyong lahat!