INTRODUCTION
Mga minamahal kong mga kababayan:

Hayaan po ninyong maiparating ko sa inyong lahat ang aking taos-pusong pagbati — kaugnay nang ika-siyamnapu’t-walong (98th) anibersaryo ng ating kasarinlan at pagkabansa!

Ang tema po ng ating pagdiriwang ay “Taon ng mga Bayani: Ikarangal mo Pilipino… Magiting ang Lahi Mo.” Tunay itong naaangkop sa diwa ng ating pag-aalala sa ating kasaysayan at sa taon ng mga bayaning Pilipino.

The historic event that took place on this hallowed ground — exactly 98 years ago — was the remarkable culmination of our centuries-old struggles against colonial oppression. That moment was won with the blood and sweat of thousands of heroes, to whom we owe an eternal debt of gratitude.

The subsequent establishment of the First Republic in January 1899 — under the leadership of General Emilio Aguinaldo — raised our sense of nationhood to an even higher level. That, too, did not come about by mischance.

Preparations for self-government had been made much earlier, in Hong Kong — by General Aguinaldo and the Revolutionary Junta — to prove to the world that Filipinos were capable of running their own affairs.

Today, we Filipinos are once again called upon by the circumstances of our times to prove our worthiness as a people and as a nation. We need to show the world — and to remind ourselves — that our heroes’ blood did not flow in vain; and that we have come together, as a national family, to realize the dreams of our forefathers.
THE THRESHOLD OF OPPORTUNITY
Today we stand on the threshold of unprecedented opportunity. Today we can choose — by willful deed or by inaction — to be masters of our own destiny, or to revert to the lot of slaves.

We can choose between misery and happiness, between despair and hope, between the painful past and a brighter future.

It is an exciting — but also challenging — future that we face. Our second century of independence will most likely be attended not only by radical changes in the way we conduct our lives — changes brought about by technology and evolving relations among nations — but also by the need to give substance to the freedom we have won.

We shall be reminded of our compelling need for justice — of the need to share, to give, to cooperate. In other words, we shall be reminded of those communal acts which define Filipinos as a national family, facing a common future.

We shall be reminded it is not enough simply to liberate Filipinos from foreign rule. If our freedom is to be complete — our poor must be freed as well from the shackles of their own poverty and incapacity.

Indeed, we can look back to these past 98 years as a long but necessary process in the purposes and the dynamics of freedom.
TAKING THE FORWARD PATH
Here and there, we may have been distracted by the intramurals of politics and by dissident conflict; here and there, we may have failed our heroes’ hopes.

But we have also learned much — and done much — toward proving ourselves worthy of the noblest sacrifices of our past and the brightest prospects of our future.

These past four years — against formidable odds — we have turned both our economy and our political life around, in pursuit of a new national resolve — the resolve to develop Asia’s first free Republic into its newest tiger cub.

This can be done; this must be done: because the quality of life of the next century of Filipinos will depend on what we do today.

And if we fail, we have no one to blame — no foreign tyrants, no invading armies — but our own selves, and our unwillingness to learn and to heed not only the lessons but also the opportunities of history.

I have no doubt our heroes — if they were here with us today in more than spirit — would choose to take the forward path of audacity and optimism.

Let us take that path with them; let us follow in their footsteps — so that we can arrive together at our second century of freedom, prosperity, and justice for all Filipinos.
CLOSING
Mga mahal kong kababayan, sa ating pagdiriwang ng ika-siyam naput-walong (98th) anibersaryo ng kalayaan ay atin sanang isabuhay ang mga aral na itinuro sa atin ng ating mga bayani. Magtulungan tayo at magkaisa, sa higit na ikauunlad at ikadadakila ng ating bansa at sambayanan.

Mabuhay ang sambayanang Pilipino!

Mabuhay ang ating kalayaan at ang mga bayaning Pilipino!