INDEPENDENCE DAY 2013

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HAPPY MORNING! It is good to see so many of you
this morning and I know that each of you here comes
with only one and the same purpose - to join us in
commemorating the ll5th anniversary of our
independence as a nation.
With that one purpose we have achieved what this
year’s theme calls for – “Ambagan Tungo sa Malawakang
Kaunlaran.” Loosely translated, it means collective or
putting together all our efforts towards progress for all.
This, indeed, is very attainable when everyone does
his duty and contributes his share to nation building so as
to make this country progressive, peaceful and fit for the
quality of life we all aspire. Progress cannot be attained
by one man alone nor by a small select group but by
everyone concerned and that is all of us. This is the spirit
of the day and the spirit that will sustain us to hold on to
the freedom and independence we now enjoy.

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 Today is Wednesday, June 12, 2013, and, of course, as
we all know, is our ll5th Independence Day anniversary.
Sadly, this is my last Independence Day celebration with
you as your mayor. If my memory serve me right and I
am sentimental about it, the first time I celebrated and
spoke on Independence Day as your mayor was also on a
Wednesday, June 12, l996. (I hope I am right because you assumed office
as mayor on June 30 (?) l995 and this was already after Independence Day.) That was

some 17 years ago and today I am happy that here we

are still, bound by a common sentiment and interest.
Though I said I speak with a tinge of sadness today, I
am happy at the same time that next year I will still be
celebrating the day with you and by that time as your
congressman. Thank you! Thank you very much from the
bottom of my heart for giving me that mandate to bring
the City of Bacolod to the attention of the higher echelon
of our national government. Thus, I am sure this is not
going to be the last but only the beginning of a new
phase of my life and, of course, yours too. Where I
succeed you succeed first and foremost because your

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voice is supreme and surely I will bring that to the
August halls of Congress.
Now back to today’s celebration. We are here to give
some special moments to remember our forebears, the
founding fathers of this freedom day . Like any other
city, town or province in the Philippines, Bacolod City
pays tribute to them for their vision and idealism,
coupled with their tears and blood and even lives, to
make the Philippines a country for all of us Filipinos.
Theirs was a difficult and laborious fight for freedom.
A writer once remarked that their struggle was like a
butterfly trying to free itself from its cocoon, painfully
but happily struggling to be free so as to experience the
wind and the sun. Yes, we came out victorious from that
struggle and for the next one hundred fifteen years we
have been enjoying the fruits of their labor. Sadly
though, we also had to endure many trials, crises and
challenges to nationhood. You are very well aware of the
many problems that continue to confront our country,
be they economic, civil, political or those of external
nature. There was also World War II to reckon with.
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 But our country the Philippines is blessed. God loves
us and thanks to Him we remain intact as a nation. We
glorify the Almighty for seeing us through all these years
and putting us on the right track, no matter what. I am
speaking in general of the Philippines and, of course, of
Bacolod, in particular.
I am proud to say that as Bacolenos we have that
certain resiliency of the spirit uniting us as a people and
binding us in our common interest for the best of our
city.
This is what the word “ambagan” in this year’s theme
means, some kind of common interest or contributing
for the common good to attain and sustain the progress
we have made. Through the good years or the bad
years, I believe we may have been shaken but were
never broken or splintered. We continuously remain on
the right track and not only remain but have been
moving fast, even surging ahead to liberate Bacolod city
from the crises of its mono crop economy to being one of
the country’s fast growing billionaire cities.
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In the past nine years, we have been enjoying the
independence and freedom from the grim statistics of
unemployment due to the very favorable business
environment for major investments which have been
giving jobs to many of our unemployed. May I make
mention of the business process outsourcing or call
centers that lately gave us the mark as Center of
Excellence.
The construction boom is very visible as multi-million
investments continue to pour in. Aren’t all these the
gauge of a business friendly city for which Bacolod has
been cited and awarded? These investments generate
jobs that liberate many from extreme want.
We have also freed our people from educational
depravity because of economics by establishing the
Bacolod City College which right now debunks the myth
that quality education is only for the rich. Poor but
deserving, many of our Bacolod City College graduates
are now gainfully employed and have gotten out from
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their poverty level status. These people are our living
examples of the essence of independence which is
freedom from depravity.
A roof over their heads and a home of their own
surely will free our people from security worries or from
the threats of nature. I am proud to say that today with
our land banking system and housing projects, we have
given
many of our people the freedom to sleep soundly at
night, secure from rain and wind and man-made dangers
at night.
My friends, there are actually many things to say about
how we in our city enjoy the various forms of freedom,
but these freedom, remember, have also their own
limitations. Take, for instance our freedom of expression
which oftentimes has been abused to malign people.
Those who go beyond the limits of this freedom cannot
just get away but have to be meted the proper legal
sanction. There is no such thing, though, as absolute
freedom because ours is an independent country, a
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democracy with its constitutional limits and by being law-
abiding we sustain the essence of such democracy.
Before I end, let me pose this question. What is to you
the real meaning of Independence? I hope every one of
us knows theanswer. Independence, freedom and
liberation is in our hearts and in our minds. It is not the
frills of the celebration that count. It is what is in the
mind to rediscover the ideas, the vision and the mission
and the ideals of those people who struggled hard for
our democracy. It is for our hearts to feel the warmth
and the zeal of purpose of our forebears.
Now is is onus to value those ideals so that as one
people we continue to envision, like what our heroes
did, the kind of society we want. It is for us now to shape
our present for the future generation.
On the youth of today now falls the task of putting
into their hearts and in their minds to sustain for the
future what this present generation has done to keep
alive the embers of courage and bravery of our heroes
and heroines to give us today’s independence.
 We in this generation have continued to value the
freedom we are now enjoying through all these one
hundred fifteen years. To the young of today, let this
freedom be your tool in shaping, in building and in
achieving the best quality of society you all want. To the
young people of today and in the future, be strong, be
determined to make this society better than the best.
Let freedom, independence and liberation reign today
and always in Bacolod, in the Philippines and above all in
our hearts and minds.
Again, Good morning! God bless the Philippines. God
bless Bacolod City and her people.