INTRODUCTION
Sa araw na ito, masayang ginugunita natin muli ang isang ginintuang pahina ng ating kasaysayan, na isang bahagi ng ating pagka-Pilipino na dinilig ng dugo, pinatingkad ng katapangan at pinadakila ng kabayanihan ng lahing kayumanggi.

Sa araw na ito, ang araw ng kagitingan, ang ating bayan ay nagpupugay at nagpapasalamat sa ating mga bayani ng digmaan na nagbuwis ng kanilang buhay at kinabukasan para sa kalayaan.

Today we remember those heroes of war who have selflessly invested their lives and their future so that you and I will be what we are today — independent, dignified, sovereign and freely competing in the economic arena of the world, standing on equal terms with any man and proud to be a Filipino.

“Araw ng Kagitingan calls for the celebration and commemoration of three important events of the period — Bataan Day which falls on April 9, Corregidor Day which falls on May 6 and the Filipino resistance movement throughout the war as exemplified by the Battle of Bessang Pass.

Indeed, as historical accounts testify, the battles of Bataan, Corregidor and Bessang pass belong to the most brilliant episodes of World War II, wherein with true grit and determination, Filipino fighters, with their American allies, displayed the stuff of which heroes are made.

Recognizing the fact that he had found a most worthy ally. General Douglas MacArthur announced to the world the supreme compliment for Filipino gallantry when he said, “Give me 10,000 Filipino soldiers and I will conquer the world.”
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF BATAAN AND CORREGIDOR
Bataan and Corregidor have come down to us as the symbols of the greatest and noblest suffering our people have ever known on the field of war. But that symbolism — and the distance of time — can obscure the fact that for the Filipino and American, and even Japanese, soldiers who fought in these mountains, war was a cold, frightening and often fatal reality.

Many of them died young, in the prime of their life. They had dreams, ambitions, longings, hopes for themselves and for the families they left behind. Some of them might even have been with us today, had they not done what they had to do.

We are here to make certain that their sacrifices did not go to waste, and that their deeds matter — and will continue to matter — even as we turn into another century and another era.

We celebrate this occasion without distinguishing between the victors and the vanquished, in the spirit of reconciliation, friendship and international cooperation.

What is supremely important is that, today, we are all on the same side: we are on the side of peace and development — bound no longer by the balance of terror and the discipline of military alliances, but by the attraction of mutual benefit and humankind’s sustained development.
A NEW ERA OF PEACE AND PROGRESS
Here in Bataan and its outlying regions, what we see all around us are the signs of progress and development. Mariveles, Limay, Subic, Balanga and, very soon, Morong, are bursting with economic energy.

Indeed, Bataan and the Manila Bay area has become the site of a new kind of engagement — the struggle to achieve competitiveness in a dynamic and challenging global economy.

Oil refineries and power plants are strategically located in Bataan, providing not only revenues to the province and central Luzon but job opportunities and training opportunities to its residents, as does the Mariveles Export Processing Zone.

In more ways than one, Bataan is a microcosm of many growth centers throughout our 16 administrative regions. The Ramos administration has placed the greatest emphasis on economic growth and social reform, which have been made possible by our achievement of political stability.

Steadily, we have come to realize how socio-economic development can make countries — especially those of us who fought in the last war — not just richer but safer. We have seen how force and threat of arms — as the arbiter of relationships between nations — can give way to the more benign regime of mutual benefit and a common vision of the future.
MODERN-DAY HEROES
Nations today do not need warrior-heroes, so much as they need plain everyday people-heroes who will fulfill to their social obligations and assume their share of civic responsibility.

It can be heroic, at every juncture, to choose the public interest and people’s welfare above our own.

We can all be modern-day heroes if we focus our energies to do battle against the sinister forces that block our march towards progress and development.

On the part of our veterans, theirs has been a continuing struggle, remaining steadfast to democratic ideals and opposing tyranny wherever it has reared its head.

They have continued to lend their wisdom and wealth of experience on sensitive issues affecting our country and people, from matters of national security, the armed forces and veterans’ affairs, and the peace process, to the rendering of better and more effective government services to ordinary citizens.
THE FILIPINO VETERANS EQUITY ACT
I would like to take this opportunity to inform our veterans that I just received a letter form retired Brig. Gen. Tagumpay Nañadiego, special presidential representative and head of the Office of Veterans Affairs at our Philippine embassy in Washington, DC.

Gen. Nañadiego says that “The Filipino Veterans Equity Act” which was filed in both the house and senate during the first session in the current 104th US Congress is being endorsed by national veterans groups in the US. These include the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Japanese-American Veterans Association, the Jewish War Veterans of the USA, and the Disabled American Veterans.

These bills seek to recognize 100,000 surviving Filipino veterans for purposes of benefits, for your service in World War II under the US flag. Our veterans were denied many benefits extended to other veterans by the infamous “Recission Act of 1946”.

While “The Filipino Veterans Equity Act” faces some difficulty in the US Congress, there is an equal determination on our part to do whatever it takes to eventually win this battle, with the support of veterans organizations and friends in the US.
THE SUPPORT OF ALL SECTORS;
BUILDING ALLIANCES
Here in our country, it is equally imperative that we all rally behind our leadership in winning our war against poverty, hunger, injustice, ignorance, and disease. This is as much to provide for the future as to repay the past.

For we can only give our veterans the full benefits that they truly deserve if our economy is strong enough and government revenues are sufficient to take care of the priority needs of the poor.

We need the support of every citizen to ensure a better future for our nation and people.

We cannot afford to lose momentum at this point in our campaign, now that we have become more confident in overcoming our worst enemies which are our own fears, our disunity, our cynicism, our parochialism.

And beyond ourselves, we must continue to build strategic alliances with those who will help us gain victory.

We need the support of foreign investors to expand and to sustain the growth of our economy.

We need the support of the legislative branch for the passage of urgent bills pending in congress.

We need the support of all those in the public sector, especially those in local government, who have been entrusted with the delivery of basic services to our people.

And most of all, we need the support of the ordinary Filipino, who must, first and foremost, have faith in himself in order to win the battle against poverty.

For we cannot be truly successful as a nation if the benefits of progress are not felt by the poor in our midst who are among the preponderant majority of our people.

It is for this reason, therefore, that effective the first of April 1996, the 221,000 veterans and widows currently receiving pensions will be given an additional p250 over and above the existing p1,500 monthly pension or a sum total of p1,750.

I recently released p1.296 billion, of which p500 million will be exclusively to fund the additional p250 per month old age pension. I assure you that the release of that and the remaining p796 million will sustain veterans’ pensions and other benefits totaling p1,750 per month up to end of 1996.

I reiterate that veterans’ welfare will always be my priority concern — in gratitude to the many who have served the nation with valor and sacrifice.
THE STANDARD OF FREEDOM
Now, a message to our youth — who are the major beneficiaries of the freedom and democracy that we enjoy today. They must also do their share in helping to build a strong, peaceful and progressive Philippines.

They must carry on and improve on the accomplishments of our veterans. The standard has been passed on, from our veterans to us, the leaders, and from those of our generation to the next.

Let us hold loft this standard of freedom high in the air, and remember what it means, and what it took to recover from the hands of the enemy, the invaders.

Today that new enemy resides only within ourselves, and each one of us is asked to discover and to vanquish that enemy.

My friends and fellow Filipinos: as we give thanks to our heroes and veterans, let us resolve to carry on their struggle, and to invest our freedom with new meaning, new substance, and new achievements.

Whatever nobility has been gained here on the field of war, let us magnify in peace, through the honest, patient and dedicated labor of every Filipino for the nation and for our people.

Mabuhay ang ating mga Bayani!

Mabuhay ang mga Beterano!!

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas!!!