Speech
of
His Excellency Fidel V. Ramos
President of the Philippines
At the inauguration of the Filipinas Heritage Library and Interlink to all Filipiniana collections in local and foreign libraries as a gift to the nation by the Ayala group of companies and the Zobel family
[Delivered at the Nielsen Tower, Makati, August 23, 1996]
A heritage for the people
IN THE HISTORY of mankind, historians tell us, there are times when history and fate meet at a single time and in a single place to shape a turning point in the quest for freedom. Such were the Bastille in Paris in July 1789, in Lexington, Massachusetts, in April 1775, at the tarmac of the Manila international airport on August 21, 1983, and at EDSA in February 1986.
Pugad Lawin was also such a place, and the cry that Andres Bonifacio and his fellow Katipuneros shouted there was such a turning point in our people’s quest for freedom.
A handful of brave men
In tearing up their cedulas, or tax certificates, our revolutionary forebears did not merely repudiate the claims of Spanish colonial power to their persons and their possessions. It was an act of a handful of brave men for all our people—or the six million Filipinos living then, and for the many generations of Filipinos who came after them, now numbering 69 million strong.
An appreciation of our history and our culture as a people is critical in the proper analysis of the problems that face us in the present time. Whether it is in the search for peace and development in Mindanao, or in the continuing war we are waging against poverty, we must be guided by our knowledge of history, for the past provides a wisdom more profound than our own.
This is the higher significance of this occasion at Ayala Triangle—100 years after Pugad Lawin. I thank you of the Ayala Group and the Zobel family for this wonderful gift of knowledge that is the Filipinas Heritage Library, which I accept in behalf of our Government and the Filipino people. This gift will be Ayala-Zobel’s legacy not only to those of us who will enjoy it in our lifetime, but to all Filipinos still to come who will share with us our pride in our revolutionary past.
“I bow to no man”
At one end, we Filipinos have always known the continuity of our revolutionary struggle—our struggle for independence and national sovereignty; our struggle for democracy and human rights; and our struggle for peace and development. That struggle against foreign domination really started with chieftain Lapu-lapu’s cry at Mactan after defeating Magellan in April 1521: “I bow to no man, I owe allegiance only to my people.”
Our efforts to achieve unity as one nation and one people amid our diverse cultural traditions and languages will be greatly aided by a facility such as this Filipinas Heritage Library. As a repository of books and documents on Philippine history and culture, the library becomes a well-spring of information and knowledge that will help us discover ourselves. That discovery and self-knowledge shall allow us to have a deeper understanding of others as well.
It shall also serve as a wide-open door to the rest of the world through which citizens of other countries can enter and meet our noble ancestors as well as know and appreciate our present condition as an aspiring nation.
By this gift, Ayala-Zobel has enabled us to take a quantum leap into the 21st century by creating an electronic library and a gateway to other Filipiniana collections. Through such technologies and knowledge networks, we link our 7,107 islands among themselves and connect our national society to the world of the future.
Your vision of creating a vast web of information stations across the country will reduce the disadvantages of those Filipinos who live in areas far from the amenities of highly urbanized cities. One of the linchpins of my Administration is the pursuit of social equity and is the reason for the rapid deregulation of our transportation and telecommunications industries. By giving every Filipino easier access to basic services and infrastructure, we provide equal opportunity for each to move up and level the playing field of competition.
We can envisage a time when—with libraries and universities in every province and city of the Philippines and with a telephone line (perhaps a globe line) and a computer—ready access to the wealth of information and knowledge in our country and around the world becomes an ordinary happening.
This library represents in many ways a new kind of revolution. Democracy and freedom, for which our revolutionary heroes fought and sacrificed 100 years ago, cannot be sustained and nurtured without free access to information.
One flag, one Constitution, one people
This is why dictators and authoritarian regimes had always tried to maintain control of the media so that they could control and manipulate the flow of information. Information is probably the most important resource for success in business and for good democratic governance—for decisions are only as good as the information on which they are based. More than ever, in this modern age, information is power
As we celebrate today the 100th anniversary of Andres Bonifacio’s Cry of Pugad Lawin, we realize, all over again, how important freedom is to the Filipino people. One hundred years ago our heroes of the 1896 Revolution challenged the might of imperial Spain in spite of their meager resources, proving that 300 years of foreign domination had not subdued the Filipino spirit.
The same indomitable spirit sparked our peaceful people-power movement at EDSA in February 1986.
It is our fervent hope that the independence centennial celebrations over the next two years will deepen our patriotic fervor and strengthen our unity as a nation.
A century ago our heroic forebears tore up their cedulas to signify their resolve to fight the might of Spanish empire for our people’s right to be free and sovereign over this land. Today we strive to bind our people together under one flag, one Constitution, one democracy, one republic.
The healing hand of peace
A century ago our heroes shattered the tranquillity of colonial rule with a ringing ay for revolution. Today we who are their heirs strive to bring the healing hand of peace upon the conflicts in our land—especially in Mindanao where now we stand so close to forging a just, comprehensive and enduring peace.
Acentury ago our heroes dreamed of a free Philippines yielding its full bounty of progress through the sweat and toil of our people. Today we labor to redeem that revolutionary dream by bringing our country to full modernization and to a higher place of respect and dignity in the family of nations.
A century ago our heroes fought with bolos and antique muskets and shed their blood on hallowed battlefields. Now we fight the battles with computers and cellular phones in our classrooms, workplaces, laboratories and markets.
As this Filipinas Heritage Library honors our heroes, it also honors every Filipino who strives for better appreciation of our history, our economic progress, our social development and our culture and arts.
Once more, I thank the Ayala Corporation, Ayala Land and the rest of the Ayala Group as well as the Zobel family for offering this precious gift to the Filipino people.
I shall treasure this second edition of Noli Me Tangere, and the lifetime membership in the Sirkulo Makati which you have gifted me. These I shall put to good use.
Let us win the future together
May your entrepreneurial creativity, your compassion in corporate philanthropy, and your leadership in the patronage of culture and the arts be a continuing inspiration to all our business leaders so that they too may manifest the same altruism in fighting poverty, ignorance and inequity. Let us—all Filipinos—win the future together, a future more bountiful and more equitable for our beloved Philippines.