INTRODUCTION
Before we begin, let me say a few words of welcome for all our participants here this morning.

Together we have accomplished a great deal since we first convened this council in middle 1992.

During these past 21 months, we have ministered to our country’s rebirth from crisis. Through our endeavors — both at home and abroad — we have laid the groundwork for restoring political stability.

And we have brought our economy to the time for takeoff.
WHAT WE HAVE ACCOMPLISHED SO FAR
Here at home, we have offered the hand of peace and reconciliation to the insurgents, military rebels, and secessionists. We also have dismantled most of the private armies kept by political warlords and largely suppressed criminality.

A new spirit of cooperation between Congress and the Presidency prevents the gridlock which has obstructed policymaking in previous administrations.

We are opening the economy to foreign investment and to global competition; and we have begun — in earnest — the work of dismantling the cartels and monopolies injurious to the public interest.

We have committed ourselves unequivocally to ASEAN, East Asia, and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. And we have placed our historic relationship with the United States on a new footing — that of equality and mutual respect.
WE HAVE ARRESTED THE DECLINE OF THE NATIONAL SPIRIT
I believe we can justifiably claim we have arrested the decline of the national spirit.

We have restored to our people their sense of national purpose.

We are agreed on an economic vision for our country; and we have reached a national consensus on the structural reforms to make our shared vision of “Philippines 2000!!!” a reality.

Our end-goal must be to do what our neighbors have done — to modernize without giving up our cultural values; to develop on our own terms.
OUR AGENDA THIS MORNING
The Executive Secretary will present the first item in today’s agenda by summarizing our political and economic reforms so far.

There can be no retreat from the reforms we have begun. To do so will be even more tedious than to move forward.

I have also asked the Departments of Finance and Trade and Industry to brief us on macro- and micro-economic developments, including recent price movements. We must be particularly vigilant against the threat of inflation, which penalizes the poor most of all.

The Department of National Defense will update us on the internal security situation. Our offer of a general amnesty is the government’s coup de grace to insurgency. It enables us to reach out to those who wish to come down from the hills; it offers them an honorable peace; it enables them to return on their own to civil society. This is why some rebel leaders and factions who now enjoy the freedom of our democracy have united to oppose it.

We shall need congressional support by way of the ratification of the two amnesty proclamations.

Finally, I have asked the department of foreign affairs to assess for us the security situation in Southeast and Northeast Asia — in the light of my recent trip to Vietnam and the nuclear stalemate in the Korean Peninsula.

We need to ensure that the regional environment continues to give us the breathing spell to put our house in order. But beyond our diplomacy, we have little power to exert for East Asian stability — so we should see to it that our national leadership and Philippine diplomacy tap all the creativeness and determination this council possesses, individually and collectively.

Thank you once again for joining us here. Let us now turn to this morning’s business.