INTRODUCTION
It is an honor and a pleasure to address the Federation of Filipino-American Media Associations of the United States and Canada (FFAMAS) as it convenes here in Manila for the first time.

In my previous appearances before your federation, it was usually to meet with you in your adopted countries. So, I take it as a sign of faith and confidence in the present and the future of the Philippines that you are meeting in our common homeland for a change.

As members of the media community, you no doubt are well aware of what has taken place in our country over the past five years. From the country that was once unceremoniously tagged as “the sick man of Asia,” we have since been hailed as “the newest Asian tiger cub”. And today — on the eve of our first centennial of national independence — Filipinos everywhere can well be proud of the strides we have taken toward economic and political modernization.

Our GNP grew from near zero growth in 1992 to 6.8 percent in 1996. Leading the way were industry, which expanded by 6.3 percent, and services, which grew by 6.0 percent.

What is most encouraging is the economy’s steady expansion. Since 1992 we have added — year after year — to national productivity. Now we are reaching the high levels of growth which our vigorous neighbors have known for over a decade.
COPING WITH CURRENT DIFFICULTIES
That all of East Asia today is in the grip of a currency turmoil is, of course, reason for concern.

Without a doubt, the slide of our peso and other Asian currencies against the dollar and the fall of Asian stock markets could not be more disrupting for our economy. It has produced much uncertainty when we should otherwise be reaping the dividends from our creditable economic performance. It has raised the specter of inflation at a time when we had effectively contained inflation at under five percent. And we face the possibility of reduced growth this year when we should be hitting well over 7.0 percent as originally targeted.

Despite these difficulties, we should be in no doubt about the strong position of the economy. Behind the present uncertainty, we should not miss the basic reality: it is not the real state of our economy that has caused the uncertainty but the nervousness of investors and currency traders who fear that the Philippines may follow the way of other countries.

While the fears have triggered speculations against the peso, causing it to lose some 30 percent of its value before the crisis, there is no question that our country’s economic fundamentals are sound and strong. The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have noted as much, even as they observed difficulties in neighboring economies in Asia.

To cite just some of these fundamentals:

* Our export sector has been growing rapidly at 16-18% during the past four years, and at 22 percent in 1996, the fastest in fact in all of East Asia last year, and 23% during the first nine (9) months in 1997 when the average export growth in the world has been only 7%.

* Our industries are growing up to speed with the challenges of global competition. Investments — both foreign and domestic — are at their highest in a decade.

* Continued remittances of our overseas workers at the rate of $5 to $7 billion a year have helped to keep our current-account deficit down to 4.5 percent this year, and spurred the growth of our small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

* And macroeconomic stability has been maintained through better revenue mobilization, disciplined fiscal spending and thus enabled us to keep inflation down and maintained stable prices for basic commodities.

In my view, the supposed Southeast Asian crisis we are looking at is basically a problem of policy credibility — which can be dispelled once the true state of the Philippine economy is fully known.

So, let us tell the world about it! Tell the world Filipinos did it, and are doing it!!

In our case, I am confident that we will fully weather this storm within the year and that international confidence — including that of currency traders — will return, for we suffer none of the policy weaknesses that undermined the economies of other countries. We are not afflicted by the kind of downturns that should be real cause for worry — the contraction of exports, the flight of investors, the absence of foreign direct investments and the breakdown of the financial system.

The return of confidence won’t happen, of course, if we simply sit on our butts and wait. We have work to do.

This is why our pole-vaulting strategy for the 21st century is so crucial to the Philippine future. This is why I welcome the interest of your federation in this strategy and applaud your efforts to tell the world that the Philippines and Filipinos are doing the right things.
COMPLETING OUR NATIONAL MODERNIZATION
Whatever our people decide in the coming presidential elections in 1998, I believe it is critical that we maintain the momentum of our economic modernization. A new president, a new Congress and a new set of local executives will come to office eight months from now — but we must not compromise the goals, the directions and the program that underpin our national economic turnaround.

The issue of completing our national modernization is beyond partisan politics. This is a banner under which all our people can rally, find shelter, and move on to a brighter future.

It is in this spirit that my administration has formulated the pole-vaulting strategy for the 21st century as its lasting legacy to our people and our country. More than the sum of our achievements, more than the accumulated growth that has been recorded, we mean to leave behind us an availing program and strategy that will ensure the full modernization of our country.

Our pole-vaulting strategy has the following elements:

First, we must identify and develop our competitive niches in the global economy. This means capitalizing on the strengths of our neighbors and optimizing our basic strengths and distinct advantages — which lie in our open society; our archipelagic setting and strategic location; our adaptable workpeople; and services such as information technology or knowledge-based and health enterprises.

Second, we must give the highest priority to deepening and fast-tracking reforms to free the market — to prepare the ground for faster and sustained economic growth.

Third, reforms and programs should have short gestation periods; prepare the ground for faster growth in the medium term; have broad multiplier effects and deploy resources of capital and labor into areas with the highest promise and the best payoffs.

Fourth, pole-vaulting is possible only if the national vision is shared by the broadest sectors of Philippine society.

Fifth, to attain global excellence in our chosen market niches, we must emphasize and encourage innovation by promoting a culture of creativity, productivity and excellence in both public and private sectors.

Sixth, we must develop advocates and constituencies of our pole-vaulting program.

Seventh, we must set ourselves specific objectives and targets. These targets should be high enough to be meaningful. They should stand out as “ambitious” — even among the East Asian “tiger” economies. Specifically, we should target, by 2002:

* Raising GNP growth to 9-10 percent;

* Raising individual incomes to US $2,150;

* Lowering unemployment to 7.6 percent in 1998 to 3-4 percent; and,

* Lowering the number of families below the poverty level to no more than 20 percent.
MUST-DO REFORMS AND PROGRAMS
To carry out the Pole-Vaulting Strategy, we ought to fast-track “must do” reforms and simultaneously undertake “must do” development programs and projects.

Among these programs and projects are:

* A knowledge center in the Asia-Pacific. Our open society and our human resources make this country a viable headquarters of multinational corporations in information technology (IT) and knowledge-based industries. We can capitalize on our neighbors’ drive for technological advancement by aspiring to become the center of activities in it and knowledge-based industries of the 21st century.

* A food basket for East Asia. With our vast tracts of underused farmland and marine resources, coupled with research and development on biotechnology for food production and processing, we have the basic requisites not only to meet our country’s food requirements but to become a producer and supplier of food for East Asia.

* A maritime power in East Asia. Building on our strategic location, we can become a true maritime leader — not only as a trans-shipment center, but also as the regional center for ship-building, ship repair, and ship-breaking; seafarer manning; and other maritime and marine development enterprises.

* A commercial hub in the Asia-Pacific. Our strategic location, archipelagic setting and the high quality of our manpower make this country ideal for becoming a trade, transport, tourism and telecommunications hub of the region. We can be the East Asian hub of the region. We can be the East Asian hub of future sub-orbital shuttle flights to Europe and North America.

* An energy exporter in East Asia. If we harness our huge renewable sources of energy — such as our geothermal fields and rip tides — we can easily meet the energy requirements of our progressing economy and also create surpluses exportable by way of the ASEAN power grid.

* A financial center in East Asia. Through the right mix of liberalization policies, a well-developed capital market and information infrastructure, the Philippines can be a competitive financial center and a capital haven for the region.

* A shoppers’ paradise in East Asia. Capitalizing on our country’s potential as a tourism destination, as well as on our unique blend of western and eastern culture, we can transform the country into a haven for shoppers from both east and west.

* A medical center in East Asia. We are well known for the high quality of our medical and health services. This range of expertise can help transform this country into a medical center for the region.

* A center for culture and the arts in Asia. Our culture is a blend of East and West, Muslim and Christian; our open society, our people’s facility in English, music and the performing arts; our acceptability to our fellow-Asians — all these give us a mix of advantages to become a center of culture and the arts in Asia.

In sum, the pole-vaulting strategy seeks to deal with the range of institutional and regulatory barriers that prevent the optimum use of our nation’s resources and to position the nation as a center of commerce in East Asia.

The keystone of this strategy is the acceleration of reforms. Specifically, the economic, technological, political, social, bureaucratic and judicial policy tools and priority programs I propose should spur efficiency and competition; ease limitations in manpower, financial, research and development and technology, and promote social development in support of our goals of global competitiveness and people empowerment.
CAN ALL THIS BE DONE? SUMMING UP
Some skeptics believe that these ambitious goals for our country are just the stuff of dreams — that they are beyond the capacity of our people to realize.

I heard the same thing said when we began our “Philippines 2000!!!” program in 1992. Many kept saying that it was just a fantasy. But then we made it all happen. We did it!!

We made believers of the skeptics in the international business community. And we rallied the energies of our countrymen — not just in Metro Manila, but throughout our countryside, across our sixteen (16) administrative regions and seventy-eight (78) provinces and in one hundred thirty-five (135) countries overseas where 3.9 million of our kababayans work and live.

What was vital from the beginning was political will — the political will of the Ramos presidency. Political will behind the capacity of our people to unite and to work as a national team.

The same “Team Philippines” approach is needed for our pole-vaulting strategy for the 21st century. Our national leadership and local government executives must have the political will to carry out this far-reaching strategy and vision. And our people must provide their unstinting support for its implementation — reform by reform, program by program, project by project.

Carrying out this strategy is inherently the shared responsibility of all levels of government and all sectors of national society. Working together we can build the Filipino nation into the forefront of the 21st century.

And that includes you of this Federation of Overseas Filipino Media Associations. For while you have made your home in the US and Canada, and elsewhere, the Philippines is still the mother land to all of you and to all of us. And you will always share with us our bright dreams of the future. I say to all “Go Team Philippines!” Go! Go!! Go!!!

I congratulate and thank you for holding your convention here in Manila. May you have a most fruitful meeting and a joyous reunion with your families and friends. I also take this opportunity to personally greet each one of you a rousing mabuhay!!! — which also means a merry Christmas and a more prosperous New Year!!

Maraming salamat at mabuhay tayong lahat!