Kaisa ako ng sambayanang Pilipino sa paggunita sa ika-100 taong anibersaryo ng kabayanihan ni Dr. Jose Rizal, na kasama ng iba pang magigiting na namuno ng kilusang propaganda at ng himagsikan para sa kasarinlan, ay buong giting na nakibaka alang-alang sa kalayaan, kaunlaran, kapayapaan at demokrasya.

As we Filipinos celebrate the centennial of Rizal’s martyrdom, let us remember that Rizal was first and foremost a martyr from whose blood sprang the seeds of the first modern republic in Asia and Africa.

Rizal was the quintessential Filipino who possessed a sense of the national community. He believed that the Filipinos were inferior to no one in the world. He was a prophet who projected his vision a century hence.

One hundred years after Rizal, we are moving forward on all fronts. We are now in the Century of Liberalization and Globalization.

Today, we face another revolution — to make our Filipino nation dynamic, resilient, modernized and truly democratic, in step and competitive with first Asia-Pacific, and then the world.

Si Rizal ay tunay na alagad ng demokrasya. Malaki ang kanyang tiwala sa lahing Pilipino, at kabilang siya sa nagtatag ng matibay na balangkas na nakasalig sa pambansang pagkakaisa.

Mabuhay ang kabayanihan ni Rizal!