INTRODUCTION
In 1896, one man stood alone at Bagumbayan and courageously faced death so that the Filipino people might live in freedom.

In 1986, thousands of men and women stood together at EDSA and looked death in the eye to regain the freedom they had lost.

Whether it was a hundred years ago, as in 1896, or ten years ago, as in 1986, whether individually or collectively, we Filipinos have always had a passion for liberty.

This morning, we raised the Philippine flag symbolizing our independence and sovereignty, unveiled plans for a Freedom Center, and lit the Freedom Flame.

In doing so, we celebrated that ideal we hold dearest, even more than life itself — the freedom to be ourselves — the freedom to think, the freedom to speak, the freedom to define and to choose our options.

That freedom must now include, as well, our people’s deliverance from poverty, hunger, ignorance, disease and lack of opportunity.
A HISTORY OF STRUGGLE
These are aspirations we have had to fight for, from the very beginning of our life as a nation. Ours has been a history of constant struggle to gain our freedom from the oppression of both foreign invaders and homegrown tyrants.

Nothing has come easy to us Filipinos. Everything that we value today, we have gained in the blood of our heroes, in their trials, in their inestimable sacrifices.

We shall be reminded often enough of that basic fact this year 1996 — replete as it is with the most significant anniversaries.

Whether it is Andres Bonifacio’s signal act of resistance that we celebrate this year, or Jose Rizal’s glorious martyrdom — and as we rejoice in the memory of EDSA today — it all goes back to the necessity of struggle, of perseverance, of keeping faith with our values and our visions.

Heroism, however, takes many forms. Our routine, day-to-day existence affords us opportunities to become heroes in our own right. In fact, those ordinary, nondramatic, and largely unnoticed instances of heroism are the more authentic ones, because they happen far from the glare of the limelight and the appreciative eyes of an audience.

Unheralded and nonpublicized acts of heroism come from deep inside the person’s inner core and, as such, are more meaningful and more genuine.

Let me tell you of a heroic Pinoy — Zenaida Ricarte, a young domestic helper, one among our 3.9 million overseas Filipino workers — who saved three endangered children from death by fire. I am sure Ms. Ricarte did not run into the flaming apartment to retrieve her wards because photographers were around. I am sure she did not do so at the behest of her employers. I would rather believe that Ms. Ricarte’s heroic act arose from her own volition, propelled by a deep sense of love and concern, and animated by the Filipino blood that ran in her veins.

So will it be with our quest for enduring peace, progress and sustainable development. These will come — as our liberation came at EDSA ten years ago — but only after we pass the test of worthiness and solidarity as a nation and as a people.
THE NEW CHALLENGES OF OUR TIME
We shall have to prove ourselves once more, to risk our faith again in this crucial period of transformation, as we approach the 21st century.

The tanks at EDSA may have been stopped for good but, meanwhile, there have risen many other threats and obstacles on the road to our final emancipation.

Mainly, these are our negative attitudes of doubt, of fear, of disunity, of opportunism. These enemies — some of which may live within ourselves — we must face squarely and remove them from our hearts for good, if we are to complete the process of transformation that our forebears began.

We recently crossed the midpoint of my presidency — and, as recent events have shown, it is turning out to be a period as fraught with challenges, as it is full of opportunities.

Some of the economic reforms we have been pushing have met with resistance from various sectors of our society. These measures include the Expanded Value-Added Tax (E-VAT) which the Supreme Court has upheld as valid, and the oil price increases.

We will continue to listen to all legitimate grievances, and to seek suitable remedies where possible. But we will also make certain that the law is observed and respected by all parties concerned. That is how democracy works.

Lest I be misunderstood, let me make clear that the first priority — the top priority — in our common legislative-executive agenda continues to be, and will continue to be, the putting in place of our economic restructuring policies and tax reform measures. A steady, recurring volume of revenues is needed by government to support our people’s minimum basic needs and to fight poverty effectively.
“NO!” TO AUTHORITARIAN RULE
Worse than open and principled opposition, there have been persistent and malicious imputations, arising from some political speculations and some media opinions, warning of another period of authoritarian rule.

To you my countrymen and countrywomen, I say, there is no way a dictatorship can come back because, as your president, I will fight it, as we did at EDSA 10 years ago. I will not allow martial law, or any semblance of it, to return during my watch.

Let me just caution our people against forces with a hidden agenda that are once again at work to divide our people and to sow unfounded fears.

There will always be those who, for their own reasons, will not want our great enterprise of economic recovery and social reform to succeed.

But we will succeed — because we are in the right, because we have succeeded before, and because, we will not waste the opportunity now at hand to make the best of our nation’s future.

Let us prove that what happened at EDSA ten years ago was no accident — that it was rather the inevitable consequence of a long and many-splendored history of heroic struggle.

That struggle and that history continue. The highest stakes remain; the demands are great as ever; but we are closer to victory — to freedom in all its vital aspects — than we have ever been.
CLOSING
We must recall the EDSA spirit to fortify our resolve, to set us free from despair, from mistrust, from fractiousness, from selfishness.

Then we shall rise as one people — empowered to achieve our country’s destined greatness and its rightful place of respect, progress and honor in the community of nations.

Mabuhay ang kalayaan!

Mabuhay ang diwa ng EDSA!

Mabuhay ang sambayanang Pilipino!