I am very pleased to greet all the other executives of Livecor, all the members of Livecor, especially the rank and file, who are all eager to see their Chairman Bobby de Ocampo and, of course, your president.

I also greet all of those that are here as friends of Livecor and of the administration, some in the private sector, some among our cultural communities, some among the defeated political candidates, our friends in media, mga katulong at kabalikat, magandang umaga sa inyong lahat.

This is the kind of atmosphere we would like to introduce in government especially at the national government level. And that is a rolled-up sleeves approach to our task of governance and the mission expected to be accomplished by us by our people.

Kaya ako’y nagulat mga kasama noong naka-amerikana kayo lahat pagsalubong sa akin sa ibaba. Dahil sa ang aking S.O.P. kung may flag raising at kung mayroong mahalagang pagdiriwang kagaya ng 10th anniversary ng Livecor, eh, naka-shirt and tie lang ako dahil sa hinuhubad ko iyong aking coat doon sa kotse. Pero noong nakita ko si Bobby, si Joey, at saka lahat kayo lalo na iyong mga empleyado rito sa Livecor ang gaganda ng mga suot, aba’y i get my coat on upang makisama sa inyo. Pero ganoon na nga ang sinabi ko eh. Palagay ko mainit doon sa kanilang opisina kaya naghubad na ako.

And, therefore, we authorize the rest of you that are feeling uncomfortable, uncomfortable not because of the heat in this penthouse but because the president is in short sleeves and you are not.

Isa pa pong napakagandang dapat natin na bigyan ng pansin ngayon ay ito na nga ang 10th anniversary ng Livecor. And the 10th anniversary for any organization is really a milestone anniversary because you have been in existence long enough, you are supposed to have done enough during that 10-year period to be able to really sit back and assess, and from that assessment derive your new directions for the future.

I’m happy that without waiting for this 10th anniversary, your board and your administration and your administrator immediately got to work and tackled the problem of reviving what I considered to be this moribund corporation on day one of the assignment of Administrator Joey Rufino to this office. He recorded that very very extensively and intensively. In fact, he gave me a copy of his speech together with 30 pages of attachments on what he has done since he took over. And I commend all of you especially Joey Rufino for that direct and hands-on approach.

Our attitude in this government is no longer making lament about how bad our situation is. But i urge all of you to get into the attitude of problem-solving. We have lost just too many years so much time in describing our situations to ourselves and to others especially foreign friends and feeling sorry for the Philippines.

Last June 30 all of that sort of attitude which described the Philippines as the sick-man of our region should have ended. Time is really so short. We have 5 and a half years to reach that level of competitiveness among our neighbors, otherwise, the situation may become irreversible. Beyond 1998, our competitiveness with the international labor market, the competitiveness of our export products, the competitiveness of our tourist destination and the economic and financial viability of the Philippines’ itself may have already been put at great risk dangerously. We have fritted away just too much time, energy, resources, goodwill, during the past four and a half decade. Forty-six years na po ito mga kababayan na palaging complaints and factionalism and divisiveness characterize the story of our national life. And so I am very happy that here in Livecor you also started to roll up your sleeves even if you are to be reminded about it. Without trying to be political about all of this, siguro bubuhayin ko sa inyo dahil sa ang tingin ko itong livecor na ito ay maaaring maging malakas na instrumento para sa ating ikauunlad at the micro level or the small-and-medium-scale industries level.

Mabuti nandito iyong mga batch head sa ‘92 at alam na alam nila iyong ating battlecry noong mga panahon ng kampanya. Ang aking sinasabi sa plataporma at aking sinasabi sa inyong muli, kahit na anuman ang krisis, kahit na anuman ang kahirapan, kahit na anuman ang kalamidad, kung tayo’y nagkakaisa, kung tayo’y nagtutulung-tulungan, kung tayo’y nagsasama-sama ay kaya natin ito. Kaya ito ang naging simbolo ng Lakas-NUCD, thumbs up Philippines!

But there is a deeper meaning to this than just being optimistic and confident. And this is written up in our party language and literature. We look up to the good lord for guidance, protection and inspiration but at the same time we point to ourselves as being ready and committed to do our share because praying must be reinforced by doing. Kaya iyan po ang ating naging simbolo. Dapat ito ang maging simbolo ng buong bayan mula ngayon. Kaya aking itatanong sa inyo mga kasama rito sa Livecor kung kaya natin ito. At sana’y isigaw ninyo para marinig hindi lamang dito sa Hanston Building o dito sa penthouse ang inyong sigaw. Your signals must be heard in Tawi-tawi, in Batanes, in Palawan, in ASEAN, in Europe, in NAFTA, all over this global community kung kaya ng Filipino ito. Ano ang say ninyo?

Mga kababayan , kaya ba natin ito. Hanggang pasig lamang iyan. Kaya ba natin ito. Okay. Salamat po.

I am about to read to you this 25-page speech prepared by my staff to highlight this occasion. But with due respect to our speech writers especially the presidential management staff and the Livecor staff and our think tank in the office of the president itatabi ko na ito. I will discard this but give it to joey for the record and for you to circulate this later on. Because I think what is needed now really is a very practical addressing of our economic, our social, our cultural and, of course, our political problems in this country.

Those of you who are familiar with my inaugural address, my state of the nation address, my report after the first 100 days that took place on the 8th of October in my report to the nation very recently sa pamamagitan ng Townhall Philippines Part 3 last week which summarize our first six months in the Ramos administration plus our many other pronouncements in regard to our legislative agenda, our Mid-term Philippine National Development Plan which is already put out after my approval by the NEDA and it’s now in the hands of Congress for their final confirmation. All of these pronouncements, documents, and policy statements capsulize and summarize the simple questions of where are we now, where do we want to go and how will we get there.

So on your anniversary let me throw the same three questions to you. Where are you now in Livecor? Sa palagay ko alam na alam na ninyo iyan. Where do we want to go in Livecor? This is something that we will again discuss later on with the executives of livecor and the members of the board and how do we get there likewise to be the subject of more intense discussions with your board and your executive staff. And we will do it today.

The national government finished last Saturday a similar exercise focusing principally on the economy. We know where we are, we will not bother too much anymore where we have been, kahapon iyon. Ating matinding uusisain iyong saan tayo ngayon, saan tayo papunta at papaano tayo makakarating doon sa lugar na iyon. The economy is still our most difficult problem.

And last Saturday we got together some 150 people, legislators, cabinet members and undersecretaries, representatives of our government financing institutions, representatives of our biggest corporations in government and the leaders of the private sector not only business and financial leaders but also those representing labor and the non-government organizations and the people’s organization.

And we came up with what I felt was a very good set of results and products that would give direction to government and the citizenry as a whole insofar as the economy is concerned. For 1993 visualizing that for the longer term, by the end of my term, middle of 1998 we shall have accomplished certain economic, social, cultural and political targets.

Kaya mga kasama, with that exercise finished we have decided to front-end many programs especially those pertaining to infrastructure development, the delivery of social services particularly in the field of education. Because all of this will start with quality education for the young Filipinos as well as continuing motivational information and education and persuasion for adult Filipinos especially those who have some influence in their respective communities and who are a part of the decision-making process in our national and local government level.

We decided as one of the products of that workshop to release within the month but not later than the first quarter of 1993 some p50.2 billion worth of allotment from the 1993 general appropriations act or republic act 7645. Mayroon kayong pakinabang diyan, being a corporation partly supported by government, although Livecor, I understand from Joey Rufino will be completely free of any government subsidy in the very near future.

This is what Bobby de Ocampo meant when he said you must be competitive. We are going to try to check the prices of your product. If you say they are marketable locally as well as abroad is it because there is a government input there. That is a subsidy, if that is so then you are not yet fully competitive. You must be able to bring out our product, our project, our program from Livecor on the basis of a completely self-reliant government corporation that will not be subsidize but will be revenue-producing and job-generating.

I am willing to accept the fact that you have to be subsidized during your infancy. But you are no longer a 1-year-old baby. You are a 10-year-old Filipino. Medyo may kakayahan na iyan. Puwede ng tumulong sa pamilya. Of course, a 10-year-old can be made to run many errands. And that is what joey has been doing for me as well as the government financing institutions and certainly a 10-year-old can contribute in a very significant way. And this is the experience of many of us to family income. Ang pinag-uusapan dito iyong family income of the Filipino national family.

What we need to generate in this country is additional wealth. How many meetings, how many conferences, how many workshops, have i attended where the very first part of the agenda is a request to the national government for this amount of fund, this amount of support, this amount of release.

But yet we sometimes forget that there is always a quick propose on this. And so when mayors and governors come to me and ask for the release of national funds to support their programs and their projects, I say, okay ito. But I also need something from you. And unless that comes to us, you may not get this release, you may not get our support.

I ask them what have you done in regard to your peace and order program? As chairman of the provincial, city and municipal, peace and order council, what have you done to use the capabilities of that peace and order council to improving your anti-crime drive to bringing in rebel returnees and insurgents into our national peace process. What have you done to fight drug abuse? What have you done to reduce criminality in your community for which you are responsible.

It must be like this now. Very much the same way that any corporate organization is answerable to the shareholders or the owners of the corporation, private or government.

So my dear friends, having said that again, tatanungin ko uli sainyo, kaya ba natin ito? Okay, knowing all of that as the commitment we have to each other, kaya ba natin ito.

Now in conclusion, let me say this again on the occasion of your 10th anniversary.

Three days ago your administrator sent me a more detailed report of your job generating, your livelihood, your economic and financial activities. And I am impressed by what has been done by your administration in the Livecor today.

Uulitin ko iyon ha? I am impressed by what you have done.

This is not the only corporation we are trying to revive in this manner by closer integration of activities within the organization, by the closer networking of the organization with other similar organization or organizations that are also working in the same areas and also with the higher officials of government that must take cognizant of what they are doing so that they can provide support.

We are doing this for so many others that in the past have not been up to far so to speak. And we hope that by the end of this year all systems would really be going. And towards 1998 all systems will not only be going but they will be growing and beyond 1998 we shall have attained a sustainable rate of growth which can be carried out into the 21st century, into the environment of intense global competition.

There are many advantages that we Filipinos enjoy in this global community. Did you know that we are the third biggest country in the world with an English-speaking population? We have even more English-speakers than India itself which has a population of some 800 million people. Number one, of course, U.S.; number two, United Kingdom; number 3 Philippines with 32 million English speaking-people. That means that half of the 63 million Filipinos really speak, understand, can write and articulate the English language. Kaya ko pinaghati-hati itong aking talumpati sa inyo ngayon 50-50 English at Pilipino cognizant of that proportion of 63-32 million para maintindihan ng lahat kung ano ito.

And so my dear friends, in closing let me say that Livecor could be the model of other government corporations. You show the way because we are looking for that model. We are about to convene some 70 attached agencies most of which are corporations, attached to the office of the president. I will not say anymore which are those that are attached directly to our departments down below. Ang dami niyan. We need models and we need motivators and we need persuaders and inspirers such as you here in Livecor. Nakataya tayo lahat dito o iyong mga taga-Livecor. By my saying you are a model, pati ako nakataya na rin. If you fail, it will be the failure not only of Joey Rufino, Bobby de Ocampo and all their board members and top managers but will also be my failure. But in the end it will be the failure of the Filipino people. Kaya iyan ang broader role para sa inyo.

Another advantage that we have and that is why i am confident about our being able to do this. If you look at the map of our region, if you haven’t done that in the last ten years please do so now. You will see that the Philippines is there astride of the South China Sea or of the China Sea itself looking at Japan on the north, now you can even look at what eastern Russia and Australia in the south with the Southeast Asian community of nations somewhere in the center. Iyong Pilipinas ang pinakasentro diyan. This is not merely a military strategic position that is advantageous to us. It’s still there insofar as the security and defense are concerned and the stability of our region. But consider that the Asia and the Pacific community of nations and this includes the pacific side of the United States and Latin America is the fastest growing region in the whole world. It is the envy of so many other people and regional grouping. And what makes it so it is because of the qualities of the people as well as the markets that exist in this region. The qualities other countries in Asia and the pacific already harnessed and took advantage of many years ago. That’s why we see the phenomenal growth of Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Korea, Japan itself, of course, Taiwan, Hong Kong, up-coming Indonesia. We don’t want to be left behind. Lalong masakit diyan dahil sa we have those qualities, we have still those qualities that made these other countries and people move so fast in the last 25 years. Medyo na sidetrack lang tayo because of political factionalism and divisiveness, because of the lack of a clear appreciation by the national leadership of where we want to go and how to get there. Obviously the way to get there is not through political fragmentation but through a consolidation of our political objectives and moving as a people in one direction. This is what I am trying to get the whole country to do now. And I am sure that you here in Livecor are with me as we march on.

Thank you very much, kaya natin ito!