‘We do not look back but ahead’
PRESIDENT Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. yesterday vowed to work hard to deliver on his promises and serve the people to make the country great again.
“I am here not to talk about the past. I am here to tell you about our future. A future of sufficiency, even plenty of readily available ways and means to get done what needs doing by you, by me. We do not look back but ahead,” Marcos said in a 25-minute speech after he was sworn in as the 17th president of the country.
His speech touched on his campaign advocacy to unite the country and his promises to improve the agricultural sector and ensure food sufficiency, improve the education and energy sectors, create more jobs, address the plight of overseas Filipino workers, and push for the post-pandemic recovery of the country, among others.
Marcos was sworn in by Supreme Court Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo at ceremonies held at the National Museum in Manila.
The occasion was witnessed by his family, now First Lady Louise “Liza” Araneta Marcos and their sons Sandro, Simon and Vincent, and his mother former First Lady Imelda Marcos.
Also present were Vice President Sara Duterte; former presidents Gloria Arroyo, Fidel Ramos and Joseph Estrada; United States Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff; and Papal Nuncio Archbishop Charles John Brown, among others. Marcos’ immediate predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte did not attend the event but met Marcos for a brief talk in Malacañang before the inauguration.
Marcos highlighted anew the importance of being united rather than going against each other, which he said was reflected by results of the May 9 elections.
Marcos said the 31 million votes he received means the people rejected the “politics of division,” and he opted to listen to the public’s call for “pagkakaisa, pagkakaisa, pagkakaisa (unity, unity, unity).”
“I offended none of my rivals in this campaign. I listened instead to what they were saying and I saw little incompatibility with my own ideas about jobs, fair wages, personal safety, and national strength and ending want in a land of plenty. I believe that if we focus on the work at hand and the work that will come to hand, we will go very far under my watch. You believe that, too. And I listened to your shout of ‘unity, unity, unity.’ We will go further together than against each other. Pushing forward, not pulling each other back out of fear, out of a misplaced sense of weakness. But we are the furthest from weak,” he added in mixed English and Filipino.
Marcos said that everyone should instead help to address challenges to be able to provide all the needs of Filipinos.
“We are here to repair a house divided, to make it whole and to stand strong again in the bayanihan way expressive of our nature as Filipinos. We shall seek, not scorn dialogue; listen respectfully to contrary views; be open to suggestions coming from hard-thinking and unsparing judgment but always from us Filipinos. We can trust no one else when it comes to what is best for us. Past history has often proven that. Solutions from outside divided us. None deepened our understanding. They were always at our expense. Never forget we are Filipinos, one nation, one republic, indivisible,” he added.
‘RADICAL CHANGES’
Marcos said his administration will implement some “radical changes” as the country strives to recover from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic even while building on programs and projects that are already successful.
He said any changes his government will make will benefit all and not shortchange anyone.
Voters are counting on him to deliver on pledges to create jobs and bring down consumer prices in a country of 110 million people, nearly a quarter of whom live on less than $2 per day.
In his speech, Marcos pledged education reforms, to improve food sufficiency, infrastructure, waste management and energy supply and to give full support for millions of overseas Filipino workers.
“I fully understand the gravity of the responsibility you put on my shoulders. I do not take it lightly but I am ready for the task,” he said.
He vowed to get things done as he hinted of his desire to replicate the success of his father, the late President Ferdinand Marcos Sr., especially in improving certain sectors to address the country’s problems and making the country progressive again. He cited the need for better and more infrastructure as an example even while he acknowledged what the Duterte government had done and promised to continue and finish term.
“Rest assured, I do not predicate success on the wide cooperation that’s needed. I will get it done. I once knew a man who saw what little had been achieved since independence. In a land of people with the greatest potential for achievement and yet they were poor. But he got it done. Sometimes with the needed support, sometimes without. So will it be with his son. You will get no excuses from me,” he said.
Marcos said he aspires to make the country “a place better than the one we lost in the pandemic” and at the same time strong enough to withstand the effects of the war between Ukraine and Russia.
“We face prospects of the spread of the war abroad of which we are totally blameless. We seek friendship with all. But countries like ours will bear the brunt of it. And if the great powers draw the wrong lessons from the ongoing tragedy in Ukraine, the same dark prospect of conflict will spread to our part of the world. Yet, there is more out there, like going forward by new ways of doing the pandemic forces to adopt a stronger resilience, quicker adaptability. They are our best prevention, they are our best protection,” he said.
ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION
He thanked the Duterte government for making the hard decisions and adopting measures to cushion the impact of the pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war, confident his administration would be able to build on this and succeed.
“We did it in the pandemic. We will do it again. But again, I will not predicate my promise to you on your cooperation. You have your own lives to live, your work to do, and there too, I will help. Government will get as much done alone without requiring more from you.
That is what government and public officials are for. No excuses, just deliver. It was like that once upon a time,” he said.
Marcos said his team is drawing up a comprehensive, all-inclusive plan for economic transformation to build back better. He said there will be no looking back in anger or nostalgia but would instead push ahead despite expected rough moments in the future.
He said their recovery plan highlights the importance of the of agriculture sector and goal of reaching food self-sufficiency; addresses the need for stable energy supply which would include developing the country’s own oil and gas reserves; improves the education sector through the sharpening of Sciences and theoretical aptitude, imparting vocational skills and revising the national languages; addressing the needs of the OFWs and the frontliners like the nurses; and addressing climate change.
He also intends to “fix” some “shortcomings in the COVID response” and assure the public that there will be no secrets in public health.
ENEMY TO NONE
Marcos recalled how the Philippines under the his father’s leadership “resisted and never failed to defeat foreign attempts to break up our country.”
He said his father’s strongest critics have even conceded that.
The elder Marcos ruled the country from 1965 for two decades, almost half of it under martial law, helping him to extend his grip on power until his overthrow and his family’s retreat into exile during a 1986 “people power” revolution.
Thousands of Marcos opponents were jailed, killed or disappeared during his rule, and the family name became synonymous with cronyism, extravagance and the disappearance of billions of dollars from state coffers. The Marcos family has rejected accusations of embezzlement.
Marcos Jr said that in these troubling times, what is happening in other countries can happen to the Philippines but “it will not” as we learn from how other countries survive and are coping with their problems.
He reiterated that the Philippines will be a friend to all and an enemy to no one, but giving up is not an option” for the Philippines.
“You will not be disappointed, so do not be afraid. With every difficult decision that I must make, I will keep foremost in my heart and in my mind the debt of gratitude I owe you for the honor and responsibility that you have conferred on me. Whatever is in a person to make changes for the better of others, I lay before you now in my commitment. I will try to spare you, you have your other responsibilities to carry. But I will not spare myself from shedding the last bead of sweat or giving the last ounce of courage and sacrifice,” he said.
He expressed confidence he will be able to keep his promises because of the 110 million Filipinos who now depend on him.
“If you ask me why I am so confident of the future? I will answer you, simply that I have 110 million reasons to start with. Such is my faith in the Filipino. Believe, have hope. The sun also rises like it did today and as it will tomorrow. And as surely as that, we will achieve the country all Filipinos deserve,” he added.
