Speech
of
His Excellency Fidel V. Ramos
President of the Philippines
On his first 365 days of Presidency

[Delivered at the Ceremonial Hall, Malacañang, June 30, 1993]

Winning the future:
The first 365 days

I ADDRESS you today—on national radio and television—in the same way that I began my Administration a year ago.

I hope all of you are listening to me today. I speak not just of my leadership but also of our journey together during the past 12 months, and into the future. A better future enshrined in our shared vision of “Philippines 2000.”

Franklin Delano Roosevelt once suggested that the progress of an administration should be evaluated in the same way we score a ball game. On one side is the administration; on the other are the problems it must struggle against. When the problems are winning, the administration is weak. But when the problems are being routed, then the administration is right to feel triumphant.

Whether or not this is a reasonable system to use, we in this Administration are fully prepared to be held to account and we believe we are winning this ball game.

Highlights of the year

A year ago we came to office on a tide of both hope and uncertainty. Hope that a new Administration could stop the drift and decline of our country. And uncertainty because the overall record of government in this country had been one of pervasive failure.

I have been often reminded that I rode to office on the back of less than 24 percent of the electoral vote. If that is the measure, then I can already claim success for transforming that plurality into a landslide margin of satisfaction of 66 percent according to recent opinion surveys.

Governance, however, is not a popularity contest. It is a test for getting things done—speedily whenever possible, relentlessly when there are obstacles to hurdle. Moreover, it is a test not just of the leader but also of the country. No leader ever succeeds or fails alone.

We began our first year together divided by the freest popular elections in recent memory. Despite our contentions, we have joined hands in nonpartisan cooperation to stop the record of national decline and put our national house in order.

Today, I believe I do not exaggerate when I say that the Philippines is back on its feet. Although the brownouts may dim our sights, we can see now where we are headed. And however formidable the problems remaining, hope is alive today in most of our communities which not so long ago despaired about the future.

This is not Administration rhetoric to inflate its achievements. I have heard it from your own lips during my travels to every region in our archipelago. I have heard it as well from many foreign officials and investors who watch with keen interest what is happening in our country.

At my inauguration I said: “The road to development is now much traveled. We Filipinos have not lacked the way, but the will.”

I submit that we have supplied that will to meet the many cares and problems of national life. We have begun a program of reform that already has dared more than any government since 1946.

We have embarked on critical initiatives to end the climate of conflict and disorder that for several generations have gripped our country.

We have started to overhaul Government bureaucracy, which for decades has stood in the way of our national advance.

We have opened the doors for free enterprise to create more jobs and produce, after years of being hamstrung by an oligarchic economy and a distorted playing field.

We have embarked on a concerted program to protect and conserve our natural environment, which has been reduced to precarious levels by predatory forces in our midst.

And we have launched a massive power development program—not only to provide relief from the power shortage but also to provide for long-term sufficiency as the economy grows.

Finally, we have moved to transform our once discordant political system into an effective vehicle for cooperative action.

Let us look at each of these initiatives one by one, for each tells a story of how we have combined political will with action, policy reform with implementation.

The power situation

Let’s start with the power situation, for this is the most acutely felt by all. It is also generally perceived as the major shortcoming of the Administration.

You and I are both saddened that relief has not come as quickly as we had hoped, although in Mindanao the power crisis has eased, and in the Visayas there is more than sufficient power supply. Luzon continues to be battered by the power shortage.

But I ask you to remember what I said in my inaugural address last year. I said then: “The immediate future will be difficult. In some areas—as in energy, things could get worse before they get better.”

Unfortunately, my worst fears have been borne out. The neglect of the past had thoroughly undermined the base of power generation in the country. Amid an economy beginning to recover, no new plants were put in place. The situation had deteriorated to utter unpredictability because old plants kept breaking down faster than we could put new projects on-stream.

It is no use moaning over the problem now. More important is what the Administration is actually doing to meet it.

I can report to you, my countrymen, that we are meeting head-on the full severity of the power crisis. And not by merely repairing power plants that were lost to obsolescence years ago. A comprehensive power development program is now in place—both for the immediate and for the long term. We have embarked on fast-track projects and are bringing in power barges to provide for relief as quickly as possible. And we have cleared the roadblocks of environmental compliance certificates and of public acceptance that once held hostage most base-load power projects—which are the real and lasting solution to our power needs.

The writing on the wall is now clear: We will have relief from brownouts by Christmas of 1993, and full sufficiency in power by mid-1994.

Peace and stability

The brownouts may cloud our perspectives over the entire national situation. In evaluating what we have achieved on many other fronts, however, they should not dim our sights. We have been confronting our problems one by one—and we have not been found wanting—of either effort or results.

We have achieved a level of political stability that means more than just my Government’s political survival or my capability to undertake a State visit without fear of being overthrown by a coup.

On the national security front, we have offered an honorable and just peace to every dissident group, to which they have all responded positively. We have dared to repeal the Anti-subversion Law and open the door for the full participation of Communists and other rebels in our political life.

No doubt, the peace process is not easy. And it will take some time before a full settlement can be negotiated with all groups. But even this early, the peace effort has already cooled down conflict and tension. And the threats to the republic have now declined to occasional hit-and-run terrorist attacks in remote areas.

We have suppressed criminality through the establishment of the Presidential Anti-Crime Commission. I risked criticism by appointing Vice-President Joseph Estrada, a nonpartymate in the last elections, as the anticrime czar. PACC decimated the Red Scorpion Gang, thwarted the commission of heinous crimes, and has made much progress against all sorts of illegal activities, including carnapping, drug trafficking and illegal logging.

We have met head-on the nefarious activities of crime gangs and kidnap syndicates. The crime rate is down. And we have enhanced our institutional capability to cope with crime through the overhaul of the command and leadership structure of the national police. The Armed Forces of the Philippines remain steady, in all ranks.

The National Unification Commission, which has effectively borne the brunt of the peace campaign, must be credited with much of our initial successes on this front. And as it phases out a month from now, we move to a higher plane of consultation and understanding, which the Commission has admirably forged.

Throughout all these, the Philippines has improved its human-rights record at home and in the international community.

Foreign policy

In our foreign relations, we have inaugurated a new policy of economic diplomacy in dealing and living with other nations—above all, with our neighbors in ASEAN and the rest of Asia and the Pacific. This was done through a series of productive State visits, ministerial conferences, trade and investment missions, and people-to-people encounters.

This effort at reaching out to our neighbors has renewed confidence in the Philippines as a better investment and tourist destination and a more profitable trading partner than before.

We have taken part in important consultations to build a climate of peace and stability in our region, particularly in cooling the disputes over the islands of the South China Sea. At the same time, we have also forged new programs of economic collaboration and technology transfer with not only our immediate neighbors in Asia and the Pacific, but also the Americas, Europe and the Middle East. These are now starting to pay off in increased foreign investments in our country.

The Philippines and the United States have moved to a new level of partnership on the basis of economic cooperation, social concern, mutual support and democratic commitment. Two compelling realities govern this relationship: First, the United States remains our biggest market, and second, the U.S. remains the strongest force in Asia and the Pacific.

Our foreign policy has thus increasingly focused its attention on the wisdom of economic diplomacy based on our conviction that our national security is founded squarely on our country’s economic strength, as much as on our political unity, social cohesion and international linkages.

Stability in the country and good relations with our neighbors are the conditions we need to develop in order to be able to mobilize fully our energies on the revival and strengthening of the economy.

The economy

As we begin our second year in office, it must be admitted that the economy is still sluggish, mainly because of the power shortage. Despite this, however, there are now general stability and clear indications of improvement in the economy.

Economic decline has been reversed as the economy posted an average GNP growth of 1.3 percent during the first three quarters of the Administration. Inflation rate dropped to 7 percent in May. Interest rates on Treasury bills have declined to 10 percent, the lowest in 15 years. Tire foreign-exchange rate has also remained stable. Significantly, the unemployment rate dropped to 11.3 percent in April 1993.

We stand on the threshold of the real advance that is within our capability to achieve. The series of major reforms we have adopted in the economic sphere are arguably the most ambitious ever launched in our country in nearly half a century.

Reflect for a moment on what we have dared to do in just the span of a year.

We have passed a new Central Banking Act that creates a Central Monetary Authority and inaugurates a new regime for prudent fiscal management of the economy. This will further stabilize the price and monetary situation.

In addition we have signed agreements that will relieve the country of $1.7 billion in debt service, provide $135 million in new money and buy back a $1.2-billion debt.

We have continued the policy of privatization by setting clear timetables for ending Government’s engagement in business. Today, 1.8 billion pesos’ worth of Government holdings in Interbank was privatized in a public sale in favor of a consortium led by Union Bank. Within the year, more companies or their components will pass into private hands.

The access of Philippine products to world markets has been enhanced, with the resolution of many trade issues, notably the lifting of the U.S. ban on carrageen, or seaweed, and yellow fin tuna.

In agriculture a focused approach has been adopted via the key production area, which is designed to increase farm productivity through the selective use of land to the most suitable crops and agricultural uses.

In telecommunications we issued Executive Order 59, which mandated the interconnection among backbone and local telephone operators and the implementation of the national regional and municipal telecommunications/telephone programs. In transportation and infrastructure we have begun the full upgrading of our shipping industry, and a total 2,500 kilometers of roads have been completed or improved. The EDSA Light Rail Transit Line 3 project was launched during the year, ending years of inaction.

Protecting the environment

As we have carried out these reforms in the economy, we have moved also with dispatch to protect and conserve the country’s natural wealth, which is so critical to sustainable development. Efforts have focused on an intensified campaign against environmental degradation, specifically on the protection of watershed areas, mangrove forests and our seas.

In Metro Manila we have launched a program to transform Smokey Mountain from a polluted dumpsite into a clean workplace and housing community.

To meet once and for all the garbage problem of the metropolis, we have undertaken the construction and operation of the San Mateo and Carmona sanitary landfills and the Las Piñas transfer station.

Similarly, we restarted programs for the rehabilitation of the Pasig River, the greening of Metro Manila and the combating of air pollution.

Investing in people: alleviation of poverty

In all these programs we have undertaken, people have always stood at the center of our concerns.

To those among us who are too well off perhaps, people empowerment means little. But to millions of our poor countrymen, it is a beacon of hope.

This landmark program of the Administration means that Government must be a liberating force for all those who have so little in life. It must reach out to all the marginalized sectors in our country, the poorest of the poor, the disabled and elderly, labor, farmers and the cultural communities—so that they shall have access to livelihood and employment opportunities and, what is equally important, the opportunity to be heard in our public life.

Through the Presidential Commission to Fight Poverty and the Presidential Council on Countryside Development, we have adopted a direct interventionist approach designed to reach our most depressed communities—emphasizing above all the provision of basic services. Housing and livelihood generation are being stressed because they are the most critical and immediate needs of this sector.

In our urban areas we are working within the framework of the Urban Development and Housing Act. While looking to the needs of our urban poor, we are also taking care to stop metropolitan degradation through slum clearance and improvement. To clear the way for urban development, we have relocated 7,000 squatter families in the Manila Bay reclamation area to Dasmariñas, Cavite. I have also initiated the “small buga” approach to provide more liberal credit for the small- and medium-scale industries.

But it is in what we are doing in education, health and welfare where we stand to reap the most from investing in our people. Today, I am proud to report that we have made significant headway in the following areas:

First, in improving public health services, which received highest priority among Government services provided for our people.

Second, in adjusting our education system to the perennial problems of increasing enrollment, upgrading teacher training and welfare, and improving the quality of education itself.

Third, in carrying out the family-planning program to stabilize population growth and help couples intelligently plan for a higher quality of family life.

Fourth, in delivering welfare services to the needy and victims of calamities; and,

Fifth, in increasing benefits and protection to our workers.

Let me issue a special word of thanks to our overseas workers, who have contributed significantly to the economy for over a decade now. For me they are a living demonstration of what people empowerment can do for this country. They show us what is within the capabilities of our people, of what they can produce once given the opportunity to work, and of how much they care for family and country. In my travels abroad, my most moving encounters have been the dialogues I held with our Filipino workers’ communities.

Overcoming inertia and impotence

In these key achievements of the country during my first year in office, I claim no credit other than the personal privilege to lead in this critical time of rebuilding.

The credit belongs to many of my co-workers in the national Administration and Local Government who are turning the bureaucracy into an authentic vehicle for public service.

It belongs as well to the other branches of government that have worked with us to change the substance of government in this country.

Above all, it belongs to our people who, by believing in themselves, have enabled us to push reform beyond our expectations.

Today, there is renewed optimism in the country, because we are overcoming decades of national inertia and impotence.

The problems we are uprooting have never been the legacy merely of one person, one administration or one generation of leaders. They are rather the product of a mind-set and political culture—born during colonial times and carried on through the decades—that the Filipino is indolent, self-centered and utterly lacking in nationalism.

That mind-set has cost us very dearly. It has led us to talking ceaselessly about problems, instead of solving them. It has bred a tendency to blame others, instead of doing things ourselves. And it has made many of us incapable of action, out of fear that others will not do their part.

Today, as I look at our country, I have every confidence that things are changing for the better. Beyond our old dissensions, we are discovering the national unity and social cohesion we are truly capable of. From our old indifference to our national life, a new sense of civic commitment has emerged. Finally, we are beginning to invest in our country the best within ourselves.

This is the foundation that will serve as our anchor as we face the rising challenges before us.

New agenda

We have traveled some distance in the interval of one year. But we have much farther to go. We cannot turn back. In our continuing journey, there will still be plenty of obstacles along the way. There will be times when we must debate our strategies and programs, refine our course as necessary—but under all circumstances, we must continue to move forward.

I will be the first to admit that what we have started is no more than just a beginning. Economic recovery is still fragile. Many of the reforms we have made are still in their infancy. We must build on what we have already achieved.

On July 26 I shall present to Congress our new agenda. For the moment I will sketch here only the broad outlines of what is demanded of us:

First, we must maintain the climate of stability, and strive to finish the peace process we have begun.

Second, we must speed up the reforms we have begun until they truly become integral parts of our national life.

And finally, we must preserve and strengthen the new spirit of collaboration among the major branches of government and the private sector, so that we can legislate, pass judgment, and press new reforms as we move onward.

Where cooperation with Congress was mandatory, we have forged a working relationship that continues to this day to produce action. This coalition building has generated and firmed up support for the executive in both houses of Congress.

All these will ensure the unhampered expansion of economic effort, which is certain to happen within the next 12 months. The forthcoming resolution of the power problem will provide the opportunity for our economic takeoff. But the takeoff is not foreordained. No progress was ever made by a policy of doing nothing. Neither will a wait-and-see attitude make it happen.

We must be prepared to adopt any measure, undertake any initiative, and accept any cost in order to make it happen.

There have been critical moments in our history when national fortunes were fatefully decided by the choices made by our leaders and our people. At such times, wrong turns cast the nation astray. Thus, our revolution of 1896, when our leaders accepted a truce instead of prosecuting the revolution to the end. Thus, also our historic chances in 1946 and 1986, which were frittered away.

All of us must have the courage and wisdom to grasp the opportunities now before us. We can exhaust ourselves anew in needless recrimination and contention, or together we can gather our forces and recognize that this is the first real chance we have had to develop in this century.

It may be our only remaining chance. This time I am confident we have moved correctly toward our vision of “Philippines 2000.”