INTRODUCTION
Ating ginugunita at ipinagdiriwang ang isang napakahalagang kabanata sa makulay na kasaysayan ng ating lahi — ang pagproklama ng ating kalayaan na isinagawa ni Heneral Emilio Aguinaldo sa Kawit, Cavite, isandaang taon na ngayon ang nakakaraan.

Sa araw na yaon, sa unang pagkakataon ay iwinagayway natin ng buong pagmamalaki ang ating Watawat sa saliw ng ating Pambansang Awit na noon din unang narinig.

Ang paghahayag ng ating kasarinlan ay muling nagbigay patunay na ang mga Pilipino, kapag nagsama-sama sa pagkamit ng isang mithiin, ay nagtatagumpay — isang katotohanan at katangiang likas na diwang Pilipino.

Mapalad tayong lahat na maging bahagi ng ganitong paggunita na hindi na muling mauulit sa ating panahon. Kaya ating samantalahin ang pagkakataong ito at sama-sama nating ipagbunyi at ipagdiwang ang kadakilaan at katatagan ng lahing pilipino — at isabuhay ang kanyang diwa, tulad ng ating mga magigiting na bayani ng Rebolusyon na siyang naghatid ng kalayaang ating tinatamasa ngayon.
A LEGACY OF HEROISM
One hundred years ago, our nation’s founders gathered to declare — with one heart and one voice — our freedom from the yoke of colonial tyranny.

In doing so we became more than a collection of tribes, more than a chorus of many tongues. We became, in spirit and reality, a nation: a people united by a collective purpose and political consciousness.

It may take some more years for us to realize the full benefits of freedom, but we have learned much, and learned well. We have learned that freedom without growth, without development and without justice is largely meaningless, especially to the millions of our poorest people.

We also have learned that genuine growth and development cannot be driven by the sheer greed of a few, but rather by the contributions of the many, by the empowerment and involvement of every citizen in productive enterprise. Democracy and development must come together and work together.

In the words of our great statesman Apolinario Mabini:

“Let us never forget that we are called upon to rise, and can go upward only on the ladder of virtue and heroism… If we do not grow, we shall die without ever having been great, unable to reach maturity”.
GREATNESS WITHIN OUR GRASP
Our rich and enduring legacy of heroism and freedom is the foundation on which we must continue building our progress and stability. Whatever our forebears were, we too can be — in our own way and in our own time.

Any greatness we can attain will be measured by how well we avail ourselves of the wisdom of the past, of the opportunities of the present, and of the challenges of the future.

And I mean greatness here not only in the economic or political sense, but especially in terms of how well we care for one another — of how quickly and how firmly we close the gap between the richest and poorest Filipinos, between our geographic and social extremes.

That greatness lies within our grasp. It may have taken us a century to come to this point, but it will take much less time — though with the same high intensity of effort — to realize our full potentials.

It has been my distinct privilege as your president to have been part of this process — to have devoted the last six years of this, our first one hundred years of nationhood to expanding the growth and the optimism that will pole-vault us across the millennium.

Our country is at peace — not only with other nations, but also with itself, whose members once were bitterly divided by rebellion and insurgency.

Our democracy is stable, with our constitution fully respected and our democratic institutions fully functioning. No better testament exists to the vigor of our democracy than the nation-wide elections we recently held — elections widely accepted to have been honest, orderly and peaceful.

In a little over two weeks, we shall be witnessing the smoothest transition of power this country will have ever seen — proving to the world how deeply we value the ideals and the practice of constitutional democracy.

This, as your president, I have guaranteed, and this commitment I shall deliver.
A FOUNDATION OF ECONOMIC PROGRESS
Our successors can stand firmly and confidently on the foundation of political stability and economic competitiveness that we shall be leaving for them to build upon.

Over these six years, we have sustained economic growth at more than five percent annually — through growth in public and private investments, the expansion of our international trade, and the modernization of public infrastructure.

A regime of liberalization and deregulation has led to the revitalization of our telecommunications, power and transportation sectors, with the private sector leading the way to further growth.

We have achieved substantial improvements in food security and agricultural productivity. Our financial system has proved relatively strong and stable in the midst of the crisis now sweeping the region. Helping to spread the work and the benefits of development, we have established some 100 special economic zones, growth centers and development corridors all over the country that have become centers of progress.
THE LEGACY OF THE RAMOS ADMINISTRATION
These we achieved without compromising our environment and natural resources. This we have achieved by further empowering our people through training, education, networking and information technology.

We have pursued a Social Reform Agenda (SRA) to serve the poorest of our countrymen, stressing the need for housing, livelihood and employment, as well as the speedy delivery of basic services.

We have continued to enable our women and our youth to contribute more to our country’s economic growth and political maturity. I am proud to say that today we are honoring the Filipino youth by launching the Medium-Term Youth Development Plan for our country’s youngest citizens.

This is indeed a legacy that I will be proud to leave to my successor. Much remains to be done, but i am confident that we have already built up a sufficient critical mass of reform to ensure the continuity of our modernization programs and the consolidation of our gains.

So many Filipinos have been involved in the great task of reform. They have been crucial in our collective effort to make the Philippines bright again, and to make our people work more effectively together in common cause. They are the heroes of our time — the direct inheritors of a grand and noble tradition of nation-building begun by the heroes of our first revolution.

They are the heroes who live in each of us — whom each of us can yet become — if we can meld our daily work and our individual hopes and aspirations with those of the nation.
ENRICHING THE FUTURE
Indeed, this commemoration of our centennial presents all of us with the opportunity to renew ourselves as a nation.

The challenges that face us now echo the challenges that shaped the birth of our Republic. We can do no less than our forebears in meeting challenge and opportunity with unity, fortitude, audacity and nobility of spirit.

And just as our heroes gifted us with the priceless legacy to grow in freedom, so must we enrich the future for those who will come after us. This is the unwritten pact that binds one generation to the next: parent to child, elder to younger, the Filipino of our first century to the Filipino of the second.

The new Filipino will enter a world such as his forefathers could have only dreamed of: a world connected by the expressways and bridges of global commerce and communications; a world demanding the sharpest skills and the stoutest energies of its inhabitants; a world where creativity and resourcefulness will count for more than brute force or affluence.

I have no doubt that the Philippines of tomorrow will be a marvelous place to be. Not only will vast networks of new highways and railways crisscross the archipelago; not only will our fields teem with grain and our seas with fish; not only will there be gainful work for every willing pair of hands.

Beyond material prosperity, our children and grandchildren will live in unprecedented peace and social harmony, permitting them to devote their best efforts to improving the quality of Filipino life.

We stand on the threshold of not only a new century, but of a new Filipinism, a new sense of ourselves, and of our capabilities, of our national destiny.

This good start we are proud and privileged to have made. This first centennial is simply the beginning of even greater things to come, for as long as we hold true to the unity and the courage that brought us to Bagumbayan, to Pugad Lawin, to Kawit, to Bataan and then to EDSA.

And whenever our resolve should falter — let us look back to how our story as a nation began.

Because our generation of Filipinos stands on the shoulders of martyrs and heroes, we get a clearer view of the far horizon. Therefore, no achievement is beyond our capacity; no goal is beyond our reach, no aspiration beyond fulfillment.
CLOSING
Mga minamahal kong kababayan: kung sa ating pagsulong ay gambalain tayo ng agam-agam — muli nating lingunin ang ating makulay na nakaraan, kung paano natin nabuo ang isang bansang dakila at kung paano nagbuwis ng buhay at dugo ang ating magigiting na mga bayani upang tayong mga sumunod sa kanila ay magkaroon ng mapayapa at maginhawang pamumuhay.

At dahil sa ang kanilang kadakilaan ay mamamalaging inspirasyon sa lahat ng ating mga pagsisikap, walang gawaing hindi natin makakaya, walang mithiing hindi natin maaabot, at walang layuning hindi natin maisasakatuparan.

Mabuhay ang ating Sentenaryo!

Mabuhay ang ating kalayaan!

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas!

Maraming salamat po.