Speech
of
His Excellency Fidel V. Ramos
President of the Philippines
During the 1994 Quad District Conference of Rotary Districts 3780, 3800, 3810 and 3820

[Delivered at the Philippine International Convention Center, February 24, 1994]

Rotary’s call for
faith and action

To Rotary International President Bob Barth, Rotarians the world over owe this year’s theme of Rotary International: “Believe in what you do; do what you believe in.”

It is a beautiful and stirring theme that hits right into the heart of the Rotary Movement.

One part of it is a call for faith: “Believe in what you do.” The other is a call to action: “Do what you believe in.”

In my many years in Rotary, I have always been struck by the aptness of the themes Rotary International chooses yearly. Without fail, every theme touches the deeply felt and current concerns of peoples and nations.

A timely call

Such is our Rotary theme this year.

It is a timely call to the nations of the world—because of late there has been some loss of confidence in the world community’s capability to build a new order of peace and prosperity in the aftermath of the Cold War.

And it is especially apt for us Filipinos—whose resolve may have lately been weakened by political bickering; who have begun to doubt whether we can achieve the goals we set before ourselves for the balance of this century.

This reminds me of a story that went the rounds a few years ago. President Mikhail Gorbachev of the USSR, President George Bush of the United States, and Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir of Israel met with God, and the deity granted each the chance to ask one question about the future.

“God,” asked Gorbachev, “do you think the USSR and the US will ever end their rivalry?”

“Yes,” replied God, “but not in your lifetime.”

Then Bush asked, “God, do you think we in America will ever see friendship between blacks and whites?”

And God answered, “Yes, but not in your lifetime.”

Finally came Shamir’s turn. “God,” he asked, “do you think there will ever be peace between Jews and Arabs?”

“Yes,” said God, “but not in my lifetime.”

At the time the joke was meant to underline the impossibility of achieving human longings for peace. Yet in less than five years, the joke seems to have become reality. Both the Soviet Union and Communism have collapsed; black-white relations are taking a turn for the better under Mr. Clinton and—most surprising of all—the Arabs and the Israelis are actually talking peace.

I commend this story to those people—Filipinos and foreigners alike—who are again beginning to despair about our capacity as a nation to meet the development goals we have set for ourselves.

The lessons of EDSA

I commend it to those who preach doomsday messages and continue to see our beloved Philippines as the “sick man of Asia.”

To them I say: Do not underestimate our faith and resolve. If you can’t help, just get out of our way.

That we are talking here of faith and action is appropriate, because we celebrate this week the anniversary of our People Power Revolution in February 1986.

No words are more fitting than Rotary’s theme to describe what took place eight years ago. EDSA is an illustration of what is possible when people believe in what they do and do what they believe in.

To the end of my days, I will never forget that time—not so much because of the part I had in that upheaval, as because of the incredible confluence of forces and events that, in the end, could not be denied.

What began as the action of a few who believed in the lightness of their cause soon became the rising of thousands, then of hundreds of thousands, and finally of millions of ordinary people.

I have seen action in battle, but I never saw so tidal a change in the odds as that which occurred at EDSA. What at the beginning looked to the few hundred of us as almost certain death was reversed in four dramatic days. At the height of the revolt, on February 24, no force, however well armed, could have prevailed against an entire people’s standing up for its civic liberties.

Living up to EDSA

Some of us until now debate what each did or did not do at EDSA: who was present and who was not. This is a mistake. The truth is that at EDSA, Filipinos found heroism in one another. We gathered faith from each other, and the resolve to dare all together. Truly, this was People Power—not a label, but reality.

There are also those who say we have not lived up to the spirit of EDSA. And it is true we squandered some opportunities; more than once, we let ourselves down. But let us not sell ourselves short.

When we examine the record of the past eight years, we find as many achievements as disappointments. Not least of these, surely, is our successful struggle to preserve our fragile democracy under repeated challenge, and our steady effort to restore our economy on the path to growth.

Among the 30 countries which—like the Philippines—threw off their authoritarian rulers in the last half of the 1980s, we are one of the most stable democracies. We have been able to contain inflation below 10 percent and to keep our exchange rate steady. Our economy is well past the stage of painful transition and instability.

And we have adopted a new Constitution, peacefully elected a new set of national officials and devolved political authority to provinces, cities and towns.

Of course, we could have done more. But there is nothing to be gained in wondering what might have been. There is everything to gain by focusing our attention on the work at hand. If we must compare the past with the present, and the present with the future, then let it be on these terms:

That we will do better today than we did yesterday, and that we will do better tomorrow than we do today.

By doing better and doing more—this is how we will become competitive in the world, as an economy and as a nation. This is how we will develop our national capacity for modernization and development. This is how we will fulfill the vision of “Philippines 2000″—by attaining the status of a newly industrialized country by the turn of the century.

From revolution to resolution

Among Rotarians, this message of ceaseless striving for excellence always finds a ready response. And I owe you for the support you have given our programs.

I will never forget that nine district governors of the Philippine Rotary Movement pledged their support for the five priority action programs to achieve “Philippines 2000.” Never before have Philippine Rotarians adopted a unified plan of action in support of government.

One key feature of our celebration of the EDSA anniversary tomorrow is to urge our people to substitute the letter “S” for the letter “V” in the word “revolution”—so that henceforth the EDSA “Revolution” will also read and mean the EDSA “Resolution.” The idea here is to ask everyone to make an individual, family or corporate commitment to make our country a better place to live in.

Tonight, there are three things I would like to ask of you in the Rotary to make as your offering to the memory of EDSA.

First, I call on you as taxpayers to help raise the revenues necessary to move forward our programs of development. May I ask that, when you prepare your income-tax return next month, you be a little more generous—to our country. And please help us urge others, individuals and companies alike, to pay their taxes faithfully.

I assure you this Government will deliver full value for every taxpayer’s peso.

Second, I ask you to create jobs for your communities. With the power shortage now solved, the stock market bullish, with investments coming in, the outlook for our economy is bright. Be active participants in its growth by investing in production. I am pleased to learn of your projects in training young people in crafts like welding, computer processing and the like.

Third, I ask you to continue—with greater vigor—your involvement in community projects. Government by itself cannot solve problems such as garbage collection, traffic control, crime and drug-abuse prevention, or price monitoring without the active help of Rotarians, other civic groups and concerned citizens.

Civic responsibility

Without Rotary Foundation and individual Rotarians, our national Immunization Day last February would not have been possible. Rotary’s success in the Polio Plus Program—which aims to wipe out polio in our country by the end of 1995 (ahead of the world target by ten years)—is a shining example of cooperation between the Government and the sociocivic sector.

We have many reasons for being optimistic about our country’s prospects today. But one reason above all is most striking, and it is this: As a people, we are finally learning that politics is not the only way to become involved in our public life. In whatever role we play in society, we can positively affect the life of our people and our country. Such is people power at work.

At long last, we Filipinos have realized it takes much more than government—and certainly more than politicians—to deal with what is wrong about our country. Citizens are getting committed. They are rising up to their social and civic responsibility.

This is how it has always been with nations that have crossed the threshold of modernization. Development is not people griping about what Government has not done for them lately. Development is people getting their act together, getting involved and shooting for the moon.

Historical reasons for the failure of nations

The philosopher-diplomat Dr. Charles Malik once enumerated the historical reasons throughout history for the failure of nations. He said, “If only they rose to the occasion; if only they were not overwhelmed by their softness and apathy; if only they overcame their greed; if only they knew what was at stake; if only they had not trampled underfoot the wide and easy way.”

This country has had enough of opportunities that came and went; of tides that rose and fell; of what might have been had we done this or done that.

In this hour of a new challenge, let us cast aside apathy and inaction; let us overcome our private interests; let us seize the moment and win the future for ourselves and for those who will come after us!