INTRODUCTION
Mga minamahal kong kababayan:

Naririto tayong muli sa harap ng ating mga bayani upang magpugay sa mga sakripisyo nila sa ating mahal na inang bayan.

Sa ika-labing isang anibersaryo ng edsa “people power” revolution, ako po — bilang inyong pangulo — ay lubhang nagagalak. Sa loob ng apat na taong paglilingkod sa ating bansa, natupad na ang aking mga binitiwang pangako: ating naisaayos at napayabong ang ating ekonomiya, naitatag ang isang mabisang kapayapaan sa Mindanao at sa mga iba pang disapektadong bahagi ng ating bayan at lipunan, at naisulong ang pag-ahon sa kahirapan ng marami nating kababayan.

We stand proud of these gains for they have not been won without difficulty and sacrifice. But the historic task that we assumed and that we began at EDSA eleven years ago remains unfinished.

I walked this historic highway eleven years ago today, humbled by the outpouring of bravery of hundreds of thousands of ordinary men, women and children. Even as I knew that “People Power” would prevail, I recognized that the greater battle to strengthen our reinvigorated democracy had just begun. We are still in the midst of this struggle.

Growing numbers of our people — now more strongly organized and informed — have become more aware of their rights as citizens in a democracy.

But an informed citizenry alone is not enough to make democracy work and thrive. For in our country — where many are still poor and defenseless — the government, together with those who have more to spare, still needs to step in with timely, appropriate solutions to help those who can least help themselves.
WE OWE IT TO THE POOR
We owe it to the hundreds of thousands of poor Filipinos who took to the streets with us that day. We owe it to the millions more who prayed for us at EDSA in their shacks and shanties throughout the nation, believing that the day of their deliverance had finally come.

Eleven years ago, this was as clear to me as it is today: freedom for the Filipino could not simply mean political freedom — as vital as it was — but also, and eventually, economic emancipation: the freedom to live and work in dignity, for oneself and one’s family.

This is why I have asked that the theme for this year’s EDSA commemoration be “Isulong ang Diwa ng EDSA: Magtulungan sa Pag-unlad ng Bayan — Kasaganaan sa Kanayunan.”

EDSA began the new battle to liberate our people from age-old poverty, especially the suffering millions in the countryside.

From the outset, this has been the battle cry of my administration: to wage the moral equivalent of war against the tyranny of poverty. And our chief instrument in fighting this war is a master plan called the Social Reform Agenda.

This agenda has one overarching mission — to devote national energies and resources to improving livelihood opportunities and the quality of life of our people. These are the marching orders. Today, the orders are being carried out at the local levels — the levels where they matter the most: in our rural communities and in the provinces.
LOCALIZING THE WAR ON POVERTY
Strategically, what my administration has done has been to simplify the national anti-poverty war into manageable local battles — an approach we affirmed, through consultation, at the march 1996 national anti-poverty summit.

This strategy of localizing the fight speeds up the government’s aim to reduce national poverty incidence to 30 percent by 1998 — the year when I relinquish my watch on the presidency.

Magagawa natin ito kung — tulad ng sa edsa — kapit-bisig tayong magtutulungan tungo sa pag-unlad ng bayan.

There can be no question that the economic growth we are now experiencing will remain empty if it does not engage — and if its benefits do not reach — the greatest number of our people, especially those in the countryside. We cannot, in the end, measure our economic success purely by industrial or commercial benchmarks. History will measure our success by how well we have raised the quality of life in all our communities.

Critics of our present economic turnaround charge that prosperity has not “trickled down” to the Filipino poor.

Let me say that I do not subscribe to this outmoded and long-discredited trickle-down concept of development. I believe, rather, in building the capacities of people — their local organizations, skills and resources. Doing so eventually empowers them to become more efficient and productive — more able, in other words, to move into the mainstream of economic activity as positive contributors.

This is the platform that animates our Social Reform Agenda. And this is the platform that I ask our Congress to support, through meaningful legislation. Let me cite a few of these legislative priorities.

They include the bill on Presidential Decree 772, which decriminalizes squatting for the urban poor; the Ancestral Domain Code, which protects our indigenous peoples and their environment and culture; the Anti-Rape Bill, which will give women greater protection against abuse; the bill that increases funding for our agrarian reform program; the Agricultural Productivity and Irrigation Bill which would improve the condition of our farming families; and the income tax component of our Comprehensive Tax Reform Program (CTRP) which provides substantial exemptions for some 17,000,000 low wage earners.

Finally, I look forward to the passage of the Anti-Poverty Bill, which should ensure that the fight against poverty — begun in this administration under the Social Reform Agenda — will outlive my presidency.
EDSA BABIES: BORN WITH THE REVOLUTION
My fellow Filipinos:

With us, today, is a very special group of Filipinos — all of them born in the year the EDSA People Power Revolution was unfolding. They are freedom’s children — a generation whose members, happily, have known nothing but democracy.

Eleven years ago, your parents and elders joined me — and many other Filipinos — in fighting the evil that had taken over the land. At the beginning, we were afraid and unsure. We could have died here — and freedom could have died, for keeps, with us. It was a miracle that we did not.

You, the young Filipinos, are the continuation of that miracle — that process by which this nation has been reborn into another generation, another century, another opportunity to make good.

My hope is that someday, when it becomes your turn to make a brave stand, that you will be able to recall the lessons of EDSA.

Remember the courage your elders and our heroes showed. Remember that it is a noble virtue and a privilege to risk one’s life for freedom and for a better life for all — not only for yourselves, but also for those who will follow you. Always remember this.

As I close, allow me to thank former President Corazon Aquino, His Eminence Jaime Cardinal Sin and Senators Juan Ponce Enrile and Gregorio Honasan — and the thousands of other participants and supporters. Keeping the flame of EDSA burning brightly. Thank you for amply demonstrating your faith in Philippine democracy and your determination to defend it at the most crucial turns of our history.

I am fortunate to have received your wise counsel these past many years. As our devotion to the unity of the nation endures, our democracy will remain alive and well. For as long as freedom’s parents and defenders keep watch over their children, the Filipino future will be in good hands.

Mabuhay ang Diwa ng EDSA!

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas!

Maraming salamat at mabuhay tayong lahat!