INTRODUCTION
Muli tayong nagtitipon dito, at gayundin sa daan-daan pang mga liwasan sa buong kapuluan, upang gunitain ang makasaysayang sandali — siyamnapu’t-anim na taong nakalipas nang tayo ay nabuo bilang isang bansa — ang bansang Pilipino.

Once again we gather here, as at hundreds of public squares throughout the archipelago, to mark the moment — 96 years ago — when we stopped being Indios, Mestizos, and Creoles or Tagalogs, Kapampangans, Ilocanos, Cebuanos, Ilongos, Moros — and became a Filipino nation.

In commemorating this defining moment in our history, we do not merely repeat a yearly civic ritual. Each celebration accords with the temper of the times.

The very first anniversary of independence — in 1899 — found the Filipino nation at war with an imperial America pursuing its “manifest destiny”.

In Pampanga and Tarlac, where the government of the first republic had retreated, President Aguinaldo spoke somberly of the symbolism of our flag, the beauty of our motherland, and his determination to preserve “Filipinas for the Filipinos”.

By the time that war ended, our First Republic had been extinguished; and, for years thereafter, June 12th became a day to be remembered only in secret, in silence, and in sorrow.
A DAY OF JOY AND OPTIMISM
Today we celebrate June 12th with great joy and optimism. After years of strife and insurgency, we once again enjoy political stability and civic order. After years of drift and decline, our economy has been restored to health and vigor.

Many among us had always thought government to be part of our problems. But today, government is proving it can be part of their solution.

That the economy is poised for take-off we can see from the heights reached by our equity market, the dramatic rise in foreign investments and export receipts, and our successful return to the capital markets.

Over January, February, and march, the economy expanded by 4.8%. And GNP is likely to surpass our original projection of 4.5% growth for the whole of 1994.

Never before has the future seemed so spacious for the Filipino nation.
A NEW HARMONY IN OUR POLITICS
Where did this new vigor in our economy — this new harmony in our politics — come from?

Even crisis has its uses. Our time of troubles has created the consensus that we must replace our accustomed ways — ways that no longer work.

Thus, we are agreed on a vision for modernizing our country, and on the structural reforms to make that shared vision of “Philippines 2000!!!” a reality.

Existing cooperation between the executive and the legislative has prevented the gridlock which had obstructed policy-making in previous administrations.

Last year, it also enabled us to draw up an agreement — a people-empowered social pact — involving our people’s basic sectors, labor, capital and other intermediate centers of power to open up the economy to outside investment, and level the playing field of enterprise, by dismantling cartels and monopolies injurious to the public interest.

If, in the old days, we Filipinos had mistakenly equated nationalism with economic self-sufficiency, today we have stopped being indifferent and complacent in the face of outside competition.

We have regained our faith in our capabilities as a people. Once again, we dare measure ourselves against the best in the world.

Naibalik natin ang pagtitiwala sa ating mga sarili, sa ating kakayahan. At muli, tayo ay nakahandang makipag-sukatan ng kakayahan sa buong mundo.
BEYOND ECONOMIC GROWTH
Even as we consolidate our economic gains and carry out our agenda of socio-political reform, we can now begin to look beyond economic growth to the complete modernization of our country.

Because modernization is not only about expanding the economy.

Being modern should not merely mean accumulating material goods, chasing after personal success, and seeking instant self-gratification.

In fact, there are many countries where the pursuit of a policy of “everyman-for-himself” has merely produced recurring social crises in the workings of the state, in family relationships, and in civil society.

Modernization properly means people sharing a belief and commitment in how society should be ordered: for what purposes, and for whose benefit.

The modern Filipino society we envision is one that continues to care for the family, for the poor, the old, the weak, and the vulnerable, while insuring the cohesion, competitiveness and strength of the nation as a whole.

Ito rin ang sambayanang minimithi ng ating mga bayani — isang bansang maka-Diyos, maka-Bayan, maka-tao, at maka-kalikasan.

Tradition and modernity do not necessarily contradict each other. There are continuities no less than ruptures in every society undergoing social change.

Modernization also means raising the political capability of the state: to free it — once and for all — from the influence of self-seeking economic oligarchies and political dynasties.

It means the elected leaders becoming fully accountable to the governed.

It means empowering ordinary Filipinos — and awakening the well-to-do to their social conscience.

Finally, modernization also means civic responsibility and democratization. It means the country’s business becoming the business of every citizen.
OUR DEMOCRACY WORKS!
Our democracy is far from perfect. That we all know. There is much we need to do before we can fully enjoy its potentials.

But let us not sell ourselves short.

Imperfect as it is, Philippine democracy works! Not only does it keep us free — it enables us to organize our economy for self-sustaining growth.

Nor should we accept the caricature outsiders often draw about us — of the Philippines being Asia’s “failed showcase of democracy”.

If we have disappointed anyone, we have disappointed, most of all, ourselves.

Plainly stated, we did not acquire Philippine democracy under colonial instruction. It was born out of our people’s struggles — lasting hundreds of years — against tyrants both foreign and home-grown.

It is on this basis that we can justly claim having founded Asia’s First Republic.

With such a headstart, of course, we ought to have succeeded much better in governing ourselves and in fostering our economic development and social cohesion. That we did not is history’s reproach to us.

Freedom has always exacted a high price — and this is a price we Filipinos have not always been willing to pay.
ACCEPTING DEMOCRACY’S LIMITS
Today, we accept that developing as a democracy means reconciling interest groups and broadening consensus. It means coping with dissent, delays, filibusters — sacrificing instant gratification in exchange for deliberate speed and dialogue.

On the one hand, we need to make sure the steps we take do not go beyond constitutional and legal limits.

And, on the other hand, we must also ensure those steps are not too short, too tentative, too timid — so as to exhaust people’s patience and their trust in the process of reform itself.

Today we know freedom does not by itself bring about progress.

We know how easily political power without accountability can lead to despotism and plunder. We know how freedom without responsibility can result in a noisy minority overwhelming the silent majority.

We know that, for the economy to move, there must be fairness and equal opportunity in the market.

We know that in the real world, “work” must come before “success”, unlike in the dictionary.

And we know things are changing only because we have finally dared to do the things that needed to be done — over the objections of those who had profited from our traditional weaknesses and culture of complacency.
THE NEED FOR NEW HEROES
We envision the next hundred years to be a fast-changing world with the advance of knowledge and information technology. The emphasis will be less political, less military, less ideological. Changes will be impelled more by economic needs and ecological concerns.

It will be an age where the norm will be more of cooperation and mutual support rather than narrow nationalism, where economic gains will be evaluated against their social costs, where accomplishments will be measured not merely on the basis of results but also on how such results are achieved, where men will be esteemed on the basis of values rather than valuables.

In short, the times call for heroes who are visionaries and capable of continually renewing with the times. We need heroes who make a deliberate effort to know and understand the changes that are happening around them, stake a position on the issues that underlie such changes, and take responsibility for their action or inaction. We need heroes who are pro-active in seizing the moment in times of crisis and of opportunity.

We need new heroes who will place national interest above their personal, vested or sectoral goals. It is this new breed of heroes who will propel our country and prepare us for the more complex challenges of the 21st century. And we need those heroes now.
SUMMING UP
Friends and countrymen:

Our protracted crisis has had its uses. We have finally raised from within ourselves the will to change and to overcome crisis. And now that we have tasted the first sweet fruits of reform, made possible because of the exercise of our political will, we should strive to do more.

Reform will continue to be difficult — because its benefits appear only over the medium or long-term, while its social costs are immediately noticeable.

But these days we no longer ask whether or not things are hard to do. We ask only if they are worth doing.
PRIDE AND MEMORY
Friends and countrymen:

We Filipinos are blessed by history: we have much to remember, much to be proud of in our past.

And pride and memory are what days like this — our 96th independence anniversary — are all about.

Whenever, in our continuing journey towards the future, our resolve falters — whenever the vision of what our beloved Philippines can become begins to fade — let us look back to how our story as a nation began.

Let us look back to Aguinaldo, Rizal, Bonifacio, Mabini, Jacinto, del Pilar, and hundreds of other heroes — to all the men and women who founded our nation, and to all the martyrs and warriors who won our freedom.

Because our generation of Filipinos stands on the shoulders of martyrs and heroes, no achievement is beyond our capacity; no goal is beyond our reach; no aspiration is beyond fulfillment.

Nakaluklok tayo ngayon, mga mahal na kababayan, sa mga balikat ng ating mga martir at mga bayani. At dahil dito, walang tagumpay na hindi natin matatamo, walang hangaring hindi maabot, walang pag-asa na hindi maisasa-gawa!

Mabuhay ang Kasarinlan!

Mabuhay ang Pilipino!

Mabuhay ang Republika ng Pilipinas!