Speech
of
His Excellency Fidel V. Ramos
President of the Philippines
At a dinner hosted by Benjamin J. Cayetano, governor of the state of Hawaii, U.S.A., on the working visit to Colombia and the United States of America

[Delivered at the Governor’s official residence, Beretania Street, Hawaii, October 16, 1995]

Our source of pride

THIS GRACIOUS and congenial dinner—at the end of a long and busy day—is a good occasion to say how successful I consider my visit to Hawaii to have been—and to express my gratitude and appreciation to everyone of you who have helped to make it so.

But then its success was never really in doubt: since I come as a well-connected visitor, having friends here in high places.

One of them in fact lives in the Governor’s mansion—and he just happens to come from the same province as I do.

Tribute to Governor Cayetano

I note with admiration your politics here in Hawaii, which is civilized enough to arrange things in such a way that a representative of every race in this lovely, plural society takes its turn to become governor of the state.

Thus, I am confident no ethnic group here would be offended—and Governor Cayetano’s political prospects would not be diminished—if I declared that one of the reasons I came here is to pay him honor—and the Filipino-American community from which he sprang.

Governor Cayetano, we of the Philippines share your family’s—and your community’s—great pride in your political record.

And beyond that, we back home are all proud of what the Filipino-Americans in Hawaii have made of themselves.

Your community here has certainly come a long way these 90 years since the first Filipino migrants came to Hawaii—largely from Pangasinan and the Ilocos region—to work in the plantations of these Pacific islands.

Most of those early migrants arrived here with nothing more than their native fortitude, a sense of adventure and a capacity for hard work. Life for them was hard—but the finest of them pulled themselves up by their own bootstraps.

Your selection, Governor, as the first Filipino-American to occupy the highest political office in this state is a measure of the social and political distance that the Filipino-Americans have traveled since then.

And you are at the vanguard of a wave of Filipino-American political empowerment rising not only here in Hawaii but in many parts of the American mainland.

On behalf of the Filipino nation, I salute you—Governor Benjamin Cayetano—and through you, the entire Filipino-American community of Hawaii. You follow in the footsteps of José Rizal—our national hero and the pride of our race—whose achievements while away from home reflected glory on his people and country.

You can take new pride in our country

Apart from paying honor to Governor Cayetano, I have come to Hawaii with a second happy task: to tell our kinsmen in Hawaii why they can take new pride in their mother country.

Over these last three years, we in the Philippines have succeeded in restoring political stability and turning around the economy.

From zero growth in GNP in 1991, our economy grew by 5.1 percent last year. We expect it to grow by 6 percent to 6.5 percent this year—and we expect sustained growth of between 7 percent and 10 percent every year for the rest of the century.

Last year our Board of Investments approved $17 billion worth of investment projects—more then 400 percent larger than those in the previous year.

In fact, we are even now revising upward our entire investment target—raising it by 350 percent to a $22-billion average every year—which will work out to a total of $110 billion in new investments from 1995 to the year 2000.

Growth founded on political stability

This new ability of our country to attract large flows of investments—foreign as well as domestic—is based on the improved political, social and economic conditions we were able to organize these last three years.

As you may already know, Philippine military rebels have accepted our Government’s offer of honorable peace and a general amnesty. A peace process continues with the Moro National Liberation Front and the Communist Party of the Philippines.

And we have opened up our country to the emerging global economy—daring to measure ourselves in head-to-head competition against the best in the international community.

We have also made social reform and the alleviation of mass poverty the centerpiece of Government’s agenda—to uplift the lives of ordinary Filipinos and ensure their brighter future.

We realize that reform will be difficult. But we recognize it as the only way to go—particularly for a people like ours, who were at the vanguard of the worldwide movement for democracy—through our People Power Revolution of February 1986.

Those among you who have not taken a look at the Philippines recently, I would urge you to take a good look at it now.

You will find no longer an economic laggard: the Sick Man of Asia has risen from his hospital bed and is racing with the rest of the competitors. The Philippines now is a country revived and renewed—and on its way to becoming East Asia’s newest tiger-economy.

I cannot close without saying a word about what I see as Hawaii’s role with respect to the economic opportunity—as well as the economic challenge—posed to the United States by the economic resurgence of East Asia.

Hawaii’s role: between East and West

If the Philippines is the gateway to East Asia, then this lovely state of Hawaii is the bridge—culturally as well as geographically—between East and West: between mainland Asia and the nations of the Pacific.

Here in this state are represented all the vigorous races of East Asia. Here in this state—as nowhere else in the United States—does the melting pot remain an astonishing success. Here in this state lie the knowledge, the experience, and the key for America’s dealings—strategically, economically, culturally—with the peoples of East Asia.

As the economic gravity of the globe tilts toward the Asia-Pacific, Hawaii is destined to play an instrumental role in America’s continuing engagement in the region. In playing this role, Hawaii’s plural society will be human assets to be cherished beyond price.

Finally—Governor Cayetano, every moment has been memorable for us: we look forward to seeing you in Manila in December—so that we can return some of your famous Hawaiian hospitality.