INTRODUCTION
Mga minamahal kong kababayan:

Muli tayong nagtitipon-tipon ngayong araw na ito dito sa Kawit upang balikan ang isa sa mga pinakadakilang yugto ng ating kasaysayan — ang paghayag ni Heneral Emilio Aguinaldo ng kalayaan ng bansang Pilipinas.

Halos isandaang taon na ang nakalilipas mula nang araw na iyon, ngunit hindi pa rin kumukupas — bagkus ay lalo pang tumitingkad — ang mga kulay ng ating bandila, at ang ating pagmamahal sa bayan.

My countrymen: nearly a century has passed since General Aguinaldo, the father of our young nation, made our independence and thereby our presence known to the world. Here in Kawit, he asserted the right of every Filipino to freedom, to peace, and to prosperity — under our own flag, and by our own labors.
THE SPIRIT OF INDEPENDENCE
Few people realize this today, but historians remind us that — were it not for General Aguinaldo’s resolve — we would not be celebrating our independence on this day. The young leader had been advised to postpone the declaration to a time when the government would have been more firmly established.

Aguinaldo refused, recognizing the need for swift, symbolic action. He released the spirit of independence, infusing our people with courage and optimism when they needed it most. He knew that freedom began in the mind and in the heart, and that a people who declared themselves free were more than halfway home to the promised land of nationhood.

Batid po ni Ginoong Aguinaldo — o ni “Kapitan Miong” kung siya’y tawagin noon — na hindi niya maaring ipagpaliban ang paghahayag ng ating kasarinlan, sapagkat ito ang unang hakbang upang matamo ang ating kaganapan bilang isang malaya at maunlad na bayan.
AN EQUALITY OF MEN
Our founding fathers in Kawit did not only proclaim the freedom of the 7 million Filipinos then under Spanish rule. They also envisioned the establishment of a new republic, the first constitutional nation-state in Asia based on a new idea of freedom.

Their idea of government was based on a God-given equality of men, and on the conviction that the purpose of government was to protect the inalienable and fundamental rights of man to liberty, equality, fraternity, and the pursuit of happiness.

These ideas on which the new republic was founded are still relevant and revolutionary, and continue to animate the desire of peoples around the world for freedom and self-determination.

For us, as well, the work of freedom is far from over.
THE FULFILLMENT OF NATIONHOOD
What President Aguinaldo and the heroic Filipinos of his time began — what they made possible by the sacrifice of their blood and of their youth — is now for us to complete.

Pananagutan nating ipagpatuloy, palawakin at pagyamanin ang dakilang gawain na kanilang sinimulan. Ito pa rin ang pagbubuo ng isang matatag, maunlad at makatarungang lipunan — isang lipunang maka-Diyos, maka-tao, maka-kalikasan at maka-bayan.

The fulfillment of our nationhood — in more than political or legalistic terms — has long been overdue. We have gone as a people through a century of trial — in quite a few instances, of trial and error — attempting all this while to define and to enlarge the common ground upon which all Filipinos can proudly stand.

We have fought and survived wars and revolutions as a people — only to break apart and to resume our petty and opportunistic factional disputes in the aftermath.

Our victory over Spain should have united all Filipinos against all further foreign intrusions, but it did not.

Our rejection of imperialist Japan and our independence from America should have given us cause to be proud of ourselves and to have faith in our fellow Filipinos — faith enough to share with them the benefits and the opportunities of freedom, but we did not. Instead, the Filipino elite entrenched itself even more deeply and more widely, turning our postwar independence into a cruel experience for so many of our countrymen.

Our triumph over a long-standing and catastrophic dictatorship should have bound us, indissolubly, into democracy’s vanguard, its proudest achievement on this side of the Pacific. Instead, we lost more time and opportunity to fruitless argument, unbridled greed, costly indecision, and unproductive politics.

Sa halip na magkaisa at sama-samang sumulong, nag-kani-kaniya tayo at ang naging sanhi ay ang pag-urong.
TOWARD OUR NATIONAL DESTINY
I cite these unfortunate turns of events not to dishearten us, especially on a day like this when we should rejoice in our blessings. I draw attention to them precisely because they remind us what a precious opportunity — what a rare, exciting and wonderful opportunity we have — to start afresh, to move forward boldly, to achieve — in collective effort towards a common vision — the unity that has eluded us for so long.

That unity will be the crucial factor in the attainment of our national destiny. Without it, we will fail, and thereby lay to waste the noble efforts of Kapitan Miong and his contemporaries, of those who distinguished themselves in the Second World War, and of those who fought the dictatorship.

But, united behind the flag and resolved to mount that flag on the pinnacle of our shared vision of “Philippines 2000!!!”, we can do our heroes proud.

Kapag tayo’y magkaisa — at magkaisang umunlad — maari nating harapin nang taas-noo ang ating mga bayani, ang ating mga ninuno, at sabihin sa kanila “hindi po nasayang ang inyong ipinunla, ang inyong tiwala sa amin.”
MUCH TO BE PROUD OF
We have much to be proud of as a people even today: our industry, our intelligence, our resourcefulness, our creativity, our democracy. The Filipino has gone far beyond Kawit and far beyond our shores to become a veritable citizen of the world.

This is why we have chosen, as this year’s theme for our celebration, the Filipino’s strongest qualities and virtues. Ipagmalaki po natin ang Pilipino — ang kaniyang kakayahan, sipag at tiyaga, ang kaniyang galing. Ito ang pinoy: Dakila. Magiting. Nagkakaisa.

Let me affirm that these attributes best come together. Indeed, the greatest glory, and the greatest nobility, must lie not in individual achievement — as outstanding as that may be — but in the triumph of the community, in the sharing and the solidarity that has taken place among its members, and in the collective performance of the Philippine team in competition with other teams in the world.
CLOSING
Our history proves — abundantly and emphatically — that we can triumph against the foreign intruder and the local tyrant. Now let us prove that we can triumph over ourselves, over smallness of mind and spirit, to fulfill and to claim the glorious promise of our nationhood.

Ito ang hamon sa ating lahat na mga Pilipino. Kaya ba natin ito?

Mabuhay ang Republika ng Pilipinas!

Mabuhay ang sambayanang Pilipino!

Mabuhay ang Philippines 2000!!!