INTRODUCTION
I have given up my usual Valentine’s date with the First Lady this evening in order that I can participate in this much-awaited ritual of honoring export excellence.

Not much has been lost in this Valentine tradeoff, for I consider the Golden Shell awardees’ achievements an act of love for our country, and we must reciprocate by showering them our love and affection in a fitting ceremony.

As we approach the 9th anniversary of our liberation from authoritarian rule, which falls on February 25th (otherwise known as our People Power Revolution at EDSA), the Golden Shell Awards tonight takes on even greater significance.

The years from 1986 to 1995 have not passed in vain. The spirit that breathed life to the multitudes and human fortress we built on EDSA in February 1986 against dictatorship lives on.

From freedom-loving men and women daring all on the streets, the struggle for liberty has now taken on new forms, new shapes and new visions. The Spirit of EDSA persists in a tenacious spirit of productivity and global competitiveness that permeates all facets of our economic strivings.

And we can certainly feel this very spirit in this audience, especially the golden shell competitors with us tonight. We are still fighting for liberty, but it is a battle directed at overcoming our personal limitations, fighting poverty, at clearing the roadblocks to what we can achieve as individuals and as a nation.
WORKING TOGETHER FOR EXPORT DEVELOPMENT
Congress has worked closely with us to provide the export industry with ample leeway, fresh opportunities and new avenues for growth.

Early in December of last year, R.A. 7844 otherwise known as the export development act was signed into law. This comprehensive measure is also entitled “an act to develop exports as a key towards the achievement of the national goals towards the year 2000.”

This act rightly states that export development should evolve as a national effort — that government is championing exports as a focal strategy for sustainable agri-industrial development to achieve Philippine NIChood by the year 2000.

The Golden Shell Awards are living testimonies that our shared vision is being brought down from its lofty place in our minds, down to the rock-bottom reality of commendable performance in trade, industry and economic development.

Our awardees have taken the lead in the national effort to promote Philippine products through discipline, hard work, patience, integrity, innovation and risk-taking, as they embrace the challenge of winning international markets for the country.

Their combined efforts help instill in our people that exporting is not just a narrow sectoral concern, but the key to national survival and the means through which our goals of increased employment and enhanced incomes can most speedily be achieved.

Our government has formulated a macroeconomic framework designed to strengthen and expand our export capabilities. It is continuously working hard to put in place a favorable climate for exporters in the following key areas of concern:

* Monetary and foreign exchange policies;

* Fiscal and credit policies;

* Agricultural reforms;

* Trade, tariff and customs;

* Technical support policies;

* Infrastructure development;

* Small and medium enterprises (SMEs), regional industrial centers and export processing zones;

* Labor and industrial relations;

* Streamlining government operations and cutting bureaucratic red tape; and

* Responsive legislative measures.

Given these concerns, the export development council has been strengthened and institutionalized for the purpose of providing greater vigor and focus to our Philippine Export Development Plan.
ATTUNED TO GLOBAL FORCES
We remain steadfast to our commitment to support the ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (AFTA). We are beefing up the synergy with our neighboring countries in this high-growth region through our participation in Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), now consisting of 18 member-economies.

The ratification of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which has ushered the country into a new era of global trading.

Our entry into the World Trade Organization has opened up more gates in the international markets, which, on the domestic front, has enriched the employment landscape for Filipinos.

The Department of Trade and Industry forecasts that the Philippines will enjoy an average of 35 percent in tariff reductions on 350 export products worth US$2.4 billion. Fourteen (14) of the country’s top export products have been granted concessions based on this policy.

Consistent with our shared vision of “Philippines 2000!!!”, I am pleased to note that all eight golden shell awardees are engaged in the promotion of quality products belonging to export-winning categories, namely: electronics components and products, processed food, marine products, furniture, information technology services and gifts and housewares.

Nominations for the award received by CITEM also indicate a strong showing from the industrial sector. All these manifests the positive directions chosen by Philippine exports, which not so long ago were synonymous only with low value-added traditional products.
QUANTIFIABLE REWARDS
The rewards of our efforts are quantifiable.

The Board of Investments reported another record-breaking year in 1994, which registered a high p400 billion in investments. This is four times more than the p95 billion worth of investments registered the year before.

Apace with the BOI-registered investments are the investments reported by the export processing zone authority. Total investments from new and expansion projects listed with EPA in 1994 hit the p9 billion mark.

In spite of the substantial losses incurred by many of our manufacturers as a result of the fluctuations in foreign exchange, Philippine exports reached $13.6 billion in 1994. We ascribe this dramatic performance to our enhanced affinity with AFTA. Seven percent (7%) of the increase in our exports was accounted for by imports from our ASEAN neighbors.

This year, an increase of 15 percent in exports is projected by the Department of Trade and Industry. This means we expect exports to grow to about $16.4 billion.
CLOSING
These encouraging figures show to us that the vision of a Newly Industrializing Country (NIC) for the Philippines by the year 2000 is within our reach.

Steadily but surely, the Philippines is demonstrating the characteristics of its neighboring tiger economies — economic growth bolstered by double digit investments and export growth.

A glowing report card is fine, but it is not the yardstick that fully measures our ability to secure our position in the international market.

In the final analysis, it is what we — as a hardworking, creative, disciplined and capable people — can do that will propel the country to greater heights in the world market. We aspire for this, not only to reap valuable foreign exchange, and personal fortune, but also to fulfill our goal of placing every Filipino on the road to self-sufficiency and dignity.

Nothing is impossible so long as we keep harnessing the basic capabilities that we have to our advantage:

* A highly educated workforce;

* Proficiency in the language and science of international business;

* A strategic geographical location;

* Adequate physical resources; and,

* Long-term political stability.

And of course, a long roster of Golden Shell awardees over the years who serve as inspirations and role models to be to emulated as heroes of entrepreneurship, advocates of productivity, and symbols of the huge potential of what we can make, what we can do, and what we can become. Kaya natin ito!!!

Mabuhay ang nagsisikap na Pilipino! Sulong patungong “Pilipinas 2000!!!”.