Speech

of
Her Excellency Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
President of the Philippines
On poverty

[Delivered at the Hotel Intercontinental, Makati City, April 14, 2004]

THE FIGHT VERSUS POVERTY CONTINUES

1. Our historic problem has been the need for economic development to fight
poverty. Since martial law our economic development has been slow compared
to our neighbors.

2. I am fighting for a change for the average Filipino. Together, you and I, we have
made a strong start in a short time. Together with you, I have stabilized the mess
we inherited. We now have low inflation, high growth and a surge of foreign
investment.

3. And for the first time in the nation’s history, we have a money laundering program
that combats corruption and terrorists money laundering.

4. I have brought millions of books to schoolchildren, healthcare to the majority of

the people, clean water to over 4 million people, and new housing to over two
million of our most needy.

5. And I have cracked down on drug kingpins and thrown the book at corrupt
bureaucrats, we have worked with our allies and security forces here at home to
eliminate terrorism and protect our homeland from violence.

6. Yes, I’m glad that Dick remembers what I told the club two years ago. And
indeed in accordance with the goals I set out even before I became President
before the Makati Business Club at the height of the EDSA 2 controversies. And
early in my term, in accordance with what I said then, I developed a three-
pronged economic strategy to make the free enterprise system work and undo
the neglect of the previous administration.

7. First, increase investments that provide people with the education and training
they need to get high-wage work, including more scholarships, English as the
prime teaching language, and scores of other practical investments for equipping
our people;

8. Second, strengthen our international ties and regain the confidence of

international investors. And our efforts have resulted in a 26 percent increase in
direct foreign investment and are directly responsible for millions of new jobs as a
result of investments from companies like Intel, Toyota, Ford, P & G, Federal
express and UPS, to name a few;

9. And finally, a major increase in support for the self-employed and small and
medium-sized businesses that really are the backbone of our economy. But, we
have a long way to go. These accomplishments are a mere down payment on
what is needed.

10. In the next six years, I pledge a pro-poor agenda to end poverty and as quoted
by Dick, unite the nation. This is not an idle promise. I have the experience to
deliver on my pledges.
11. The challenge I make to you today is this: we cannot continue with a nation
divided, a nation divided between rich and poor. We must unify our economic
and social divisions if we are to lift all boats on a tide of equality and prosperity.

12. We must invest in our nation and our people if we are to succeed. The hard-
working Filipino is the central pillar of the nation. The working poor deserve the
right to a rising standard of living, fair access to the courts, clean water,
affordable energy, a good education, high-wage jobs and economic incentives for
our self-employed and entrepreneurial class.

13. We must tackle the problems of the poor with compassion, specific solutions and
aggressive economic expansion.

14. I am proposing a new Philippine nationalism based on championing our most

valuable asset, the people of the Philippines, who work hard and play by the
rules every day.

15. Well, Dick alluded to it earlier. It’s not enough to have an affinity for the poor. A
leader must present a specific platform for how to break the cycle of poverty and
cynicism that pervades the nation. That means a leader must have a specific
plan of action and the experience to carry it out – I am that candidate.

16. In behalf of the poor of this nation, I intend to lead the Philippines to a new era of
unity and prosperity. I intend to make the hard decisions and to provide the new
specific ideas to mark the beginning of the end of poverty as we know it. I intend
to unite the nation based on respect for rich and poor alike. We are all in this
together and must sink or swim together.

17. In the next six years: I pledge to triple loans to self-employed and small business
owners;

18. I pledge to build 3,000 new schools, grant a college or voctech scholarship to
every qualified poor family and put a computer in every school;

19. I pledge to bring electricity to 1,500 barangays a year and reduce the cost to
become the lowest in the region;

20. I pledge to bring clean water to all 45,000 barangays;

21. I pledge to reduce by half the price of commonly used medicine; and

22. I pledge to create one million new jobs every year I am in office.

23. And I will do so with fiscal discipline. Through the reforms I have made – and will
continue to make – I will continue to increase revenue collection; clamp down on
tax cheats; and cut waste, fraud and abuse in our government.

24. I further pledge to continue to fight for self-sufficiency in rice production; to fight
for more roads, for new roads, bridges and highways to link our great nation; and
to fight for more property rights and more legal rights for our people; and most
importantly, I will fight for the people who have no voice.

25. This election isn’t about my family or me. This election isn’t about personalities or
politics. This election is about the people. And the people are demanding
answers – specific answers to their problems.
26. They don’t want slogans, they want results; they don’t want talks, they want
action; they don’t want big rallies, they want a big paycheck.

27. Yes, we need to provide breakfast, lunch and dinner. But that won’t be
accomplished by leaders and their backroom advisers who instead only provide a
steady diet of political attack and lawsuits.

28. In these challenging times, the country has a clear choice between two
candidates: to move forward with an experienced, hands-on leader who has a
specific platform for change; or take a risk on an inexperienced actor who is too
reliant on advisors to make important decisions.

29. The choice is clear: you can build on the strong start we have made with our pro-
poor platform that is brimming with new ideas for the future; or the Philippines
can start all over again with a cynical platform empty of ideas and stuck in the
past.

30. The choice is clear: you can vote for a six-point plan of action and a record of
accomplishment; or vote for someone who has no plan for education, no plan for
clean water, no plan for job creation, no plan for healthcare, no plan for energy,
and no plan for international relations.

31. Much is at stake in this election. I’m a hopeful person and remain very optimistic
about our people and our nation. We must offer hope, not fear; sunlight, not
darkness. We must take the hopes and dreams of the poor seriously. The poor of
this nation deserve no less. We ignore them at our own peril.

32. I challenge you today to join me to work together to unite the nation – as Dick
said earlier in my first talk with the u.s. About unity, healing – unite the nation
around a platform that is pro-poor, fiscally responsible and forward thinking.

33. Movers and shakers of the business community, the future is in your hands, our
hands. Let’s all secure that future together. Thank you.

Speech
of
Her Excellency Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
President of the Philippines
At the Independence Day reception

[Delivered at the Malacañang Palace, June 12, 2009]

1. Today we remember once again those historic events of a hundred and eleven
years ago when a band of patriots announced to the whole world the birth of a
new and sovereign nation, one with full rights to dream its own dreams, choose
its own leaders, and work towards its own goals and aspirations.

2. Our freedom, paid for by the blood of heroes, has been challenged several times
since. But our people rose to the occasion at every turn, defending their liberty
with everything they had, prepared to render the ultimate sacrifice if asked to do
so.

3. Those external threats to our freedom are no more. Our former conquerors have
become our close friends and allies in our quest for development. Yet we must
remain united and vigilant as ever, not only against foreign domination, but—
more urgently–against a familiar enemy who continues to eat away at our
 people’s capability to exercise their free will. That enemy is poverty, and the
hunger, ignorance and despair that it brings.

4. We have fought poverty for decades, and we were starting to gain the upper
hand through strong political will and our people’s full support. But factors not of
our own making are now eroding those gains. The Filipino people are called to
action once again to fight off these threats before they reverse our development
and return us to our economic Dark Ages.

5. Where before our heroes fought to gain political freedom, today we must rely on
our sense of community and solidarity to gain freedom from economic
deprivation in the face of the global economic crisis.

6. No nation is immune from the impact of the global crisis. A few are faring
relatively better than the others. The Philippines fortunately belongs to those few,
not because of luck, but because we chose years ago to prepare for an
emergency like this by taking the bitter pill of fiscal and economic reforms.

7. On those reforms we built our growth, the fruits of which we invested in turn in
long overdue physical and human infrastructure. We worked hard to bring
increasing balance to our national economy. Pumping more money into
infrastructure and welfare, we expanded our domestic demand, which decreased
our reliance on exports. Our export to GDP ratio now is only 28.5%, compared to
49% in 2000.

8. We moved quickly to diversify our trade partners as well as the overseas

destinations of Filipinos going abroad. At the same time, we worked to build up
new industries and develop new sectors, and encouraged our people to build up
their skills in accordance with shifting demand. All of these measures, among
other things, helped loosen our ties to the fortunes of the world’s biggest
economies when they started going down last year.

9. I am proud to say that the Philippines is now one of only two countries in the
region whose growth rate remained positive the first quarter of this year, albeit
much slower than before.

10. Nonetheless, I do not mean to diminish the pain and disruption the global crisis
has brought upon our economy. We are feeling the pain just like the rest of our
neighbors. And the poorest among us are the ones being hurt the most.

11. We must continue to focus here at home on creating jobs and keeping prices
low, while rescuing the poorest among our people with targeted subsidies of
food, fuel and rice.

12. Government has tightened its belt and put a stop to wasteful spending, just like
the average Filipino household. Government must pour more of its savings and
revenue into programs that help the poor and the middle class, without
neglecting the investments in education, healthcare and infrastructure that will be
the springboard of our growth when the global economic rebound happens.

13. We are tackling many challenges all at once in order to keep our economy and
way of life going strong. Running on a lean and efficient machinery, government
must continue exercising fiscal prudence and working towards a balanced
budget, even as we continue to invest in key programs for the people.

14. It is not enough for us to celebrate our day of freedom by remembering our
heroes. We must also think about their hopes for a better life for us, and commit
 to work even harder to realize them. Only then can we say that we deserve the
gift of freedom our forefathers gave us.

15. During these trying times, the Philippine spirit and commitment to caring should
prompt every Filipino to count his blessings and share them with the less
fortunate. Now is the time for pulling together and focusing on family and
community. We must start a new era of volunteerism and community spirit that
embraces all sectors – government, the religious, civic groups, non-governmental
organizations as well as our foreign friends. The nation needs all of us pulling in
the same direction.

16. I believe that when the rebound occurs, our relative position within the region and
the world will continue to improve. Not only do we have the resources to absorb
the global shocks, but we also have our economic resilience and continuing fiscal
reforms that will enable the nation to pull ahead when the global recovery begins.

17. We are heartened by pieces of good news from all over the world indicating that
this global economic slump may already be bottoming out. There are growing
signs of recovery in some of the biggest international markets. We earnestly
hope there will be more of these positive signs pointing to an early global
turnaround.

18. We must look at the present with clear eyes, ever mindful of the goals that we
hope can be realized soon. Kagitingan, Kagalingan at Kasipagan ang magdadala
sa atin tungo sa Tunay na Kalayaan. Courage, Excellence and Industry – the
Filipino has all these qualities, in abundance. Add to these the unity of a people
determined to rise from poverty once and for all. They are the building blocks of
our new growth.

19. We hope our foreign friends, whose friendship we continue to cherish through the
years, will continue to be with us, as the Philippine Ship of State navigates
through the murky waters of the global crisis towards the sunlit port of prosperity,
security, and sustainable growth.

20. Let us all work together to apply the lessons learned from this global crisis, so
that together we may create a global village that celebrates the sovereignty of
each nation even as it works as one in pursuit of our common goal: a world that
is free from fear and free from want.

21. May I invite you now to raise your glasses in a toast to international solidarity and
mutually beneficial growth, and a bright future for the Philippines.