Delivered January 20, 2012
at the The Columbia Tower, Mandaluyong City

Happy birthday to everyone.

A hundred and 13 years is quite a long time. 113 years, which started in the same year as the establishment of the First Philippine Republic  in Malolos. So it’s quite historic that at the time when our people, our nation, first stood up for itself, in order to establish a Republic that would embody and that would actualize the hopes and dreams of every Filipino. At that time, the DOTC was also started, the point being that, when our forebears, when the founders of our nation, set forth to create the republic, they found it very important to have such an agency, that this agency would be part of the nation-building that they had embarked on in 1899.

So, today, indeed is a very historic day. and I congratulate the DOTC, all the so many Filipinos who have served as part of the DOTC family, all through the years, up to  the present, and all those who, even up to today, continue to labor so that the DOTC can continue to carry forth its mandate. So let’s give everyone who has given everything to the DOTC, a hand.

I was sitting here, thinking about 113—it’s quite a historic number, it‘s a large number. Maybe too large for human comprehension, since most of us, we say, “Swerte na ako maka-eighty”, or maybe even 70. Kaya yung 113, parang napakalaking idea or cause.

But, we are fortunate because we have another number, which is, of much more human scale. Number 25. And just a few minutes ago, we honored all those who have served the Department for 25 years.

By the way, I was  happy to note that in addition to the plaque there was an envelope because I’m a firm believer in the saying, “ A plake is nice but we prefer cash.”

Twenty-five years. Most of us can relate to that. I was scanning back in my memory banks, what job I may have held for 25 years and I could not find one. I have every 10 years or so, moved on to a different type of job.

Twenty-five  years ago, our honorees joined the Department, a moment of great ferment, of great excitement, of keen enthusiasm for our nation. They joined the Department in 1986 at the time of the EDSA Revolution. There was great hopefulness. There was a great deal of looking forward. Of maybe this time we can get our country on the right track.

I relate that to the founding anniversary or the founding date of the DOTC because also on that day, in January of 1899, when the first Malolos Republic was established, it was also a time of great ferment, of great hope, of keen enthusiasm for the future of our people and our country.

And I relate that to us here serving today. It is also a time of great hope, enthusiasm and encouraged optimism for our future. There is a commonality that stretches through these three period of our history—Malolos, in 1986 when our honorees joined the Department, and us here today, under the leadership of President P-Noy.

At no time in contemporary history, other than in 1986, has there been such a feeling of “maybe this time”. Maybe this time we will get it right. Maybe this time we will not just go along to get along. But maybe this time, maybe, we will be able to make the substantive reforms, the substantive changes, we will break the glass ceilings. To use an analogy, we will break the eggs so that we can make omelette. You cannot make an omelette without breaking eggs. So maybe this time, we will get it right.

We have a courageous leader who is unafraid to challenge the status quo. And if one were to try and step back, and think about what is happening to our country today, it is in fact a challenging of the status quo. It is in fact a challenging of the “Ok lang yan. Yan talaga ang kalakaran, tanggapin na lang natin yan” attitude that we may have been all subject to all these years.

We had that spark in 1986. Somewhere along the way we lost it. And now we found it again. Maybe this time we’ll get it right.

And it is that spirit of enthusiasm, of hope, of optimism, of joy, even, in all of our endeavors, we labor everyday. Not everyday is a highlight day. Not everyday is a super day. Most days are regular days.

All through those 25 years of our honorees, all through those 40 and  42 years of our retirees, all through the years and days that  everyone here experiences, we go through those ups and downs.

But nonetheless, like our honorees, like our retirees, we remain steadfast, we carry-on, we do our duty.

That’s the spirit that I hope we will all carry-forth. Not just this year, but into the years to come—that spirit of can do, that spirit of not “maybe this time” but that spirit of “certainly this time we will make sure, this time we will get it right, this time, we will deliver. This time we will be able to make change, this time we will be able to show how things can be and are.”

And that’s the spirit that is embodied in the theme for anniversary today—about DOTC CARES.

I might fail Bobet’s test, I think I’ll give it a try. About convenience, that’s the C.  About affordability that’s the A; about Reliability, maaasahan, that’s the R; about efficiency, walang aksaya, that’s the E; and about Safety, which is the S.

What I’d like to remind everyone is, it is DOTC CARES, ha. As important as safety is, don’t put S ahead of the C, ‘cause it might be DOTC SCAREs.

So we will keep safety as our number one priority. It’s just that we will put it in the lettering at the end. Ok?

And so, I want to tell our retirees, and our honorees, and all of the “kawani”, all of the “kabahagi” of the DOTC family, I see all of the other agency  heads here  present. Before I end, speaking of our retirees, Mon Liwag of the Philippine Coast Guard will be retiring on his birthday next week. So let’s also give him a round of applause.

I  joined the agency July of 2011. In that time, I’ve experienced several ship collisions, ship sinkings, certainly storms, and floods and now just recently, again, Sendong. And I can tell you that Coast Guard performed admirably. They were on-deck, they were … I can say that, although we truly mourn and feel at a loss, for any loss of life, these have been kept to a minimum, to the barest, barest minimum. Ginawa nating ang lahat para matugunan yung ating tungkulin na pangalagaan ang ating mga kababayan. So, thank you for your service, Mon, as well as thank you for our retirees, and to our 25-year awardees. Let’s give them again a hand.

So here we are, it’s birthday time. It’s a time for us to look back and give thanks to all those who have been helpful to the preceeding year, by the periods. It is also a time for us to re-dedicate ourselves to the very ideals, to the very passions, to the very goals that we have set for ourselves as we started out on this journey, as we embark on this long, long trip of ours to make things better for our people.

Just as our forebears in Malolos in 1898, 1899 set forth, when they instituted the First Philippine Republic, just as the DOTC forebears, I don’t see his…His picture we must put, whoever was the DOTC in 1899. I don’t see him on that wall. I was trying to figure out who he was but whoever he was, kudos to him, and to the long line of all those who have  served the Department since then up to the present, and most importantly to all of you who continue to serve, who continue to patiently persevere, who continue to come in everyday, day-in and day-out, good days and bad days, healthy days and ill days, to come in, to try and do your job, to be professional, to deliver, to live up to that oath that we said at the start of this ceremony, about the oath ng mga kawani ng pamahalaan, to be able to render service to everyone who comes to our attention. It’s a great calling. It’s a great ambition to be able to be of service.

To our retirees, and our awardees, I was thinking that, you know, they are honored here for five  minutes, they come up, they receive their plaque. Parang medyo empty. Medyo kulang.

But I was also thinking that, it’s the idea of having been professional. The idea of having been able to deliver everyday, that is of greater one, of greater value than the plaque. The plaque will, I don’t know, I’m at a loss for words, in Bisaya it’s “napanas na”, nabura na, ano? The plaque will be a…will be erased. And the money, you might spend it, o baka nagastos na ninyo pambayad utang. But it’s the satisfaction of knowing, of coming home knowing that in your own sphere, in your own world, you were able to leave it after 25 years, after 40 years, 42 years in some instances, you were able to leave it much better than you had first come upon it. That you in fact, were a positive ripple, amidst all the other ripples that are going on in the world. That you in fact contributed something as opposed to being a net-taker away.

So I congratulate you. I congratulate all of those who continue to serve the DOTC. I encourage you to continue with your sense of professionalism, of your sense of duty, of being able to deliver, so that every year, when we celebrate our anniversary, we can say that we have moved forward. That this year is better than last. That next year will be better than today, because collectively, all of the energies and the spirits of everyone here at the DOTC, within the DOTC, is a family, are contributing to that future goal of being of service to our people and of service to our country.

Maraming salamat sa inyong lahat. Maraming salamat sa inyong serbisyo. And, happy birthday. Thank you very much.

Delivered  November 11, 2011
at the Mandarin Oriental Manila

Delivered October 6, 2011
at the Hotel InterContinental Manila

Thank you very much Ramon for your kind and gracious exaggerations about me. Going through the introduction gave me an opportunity to go down memory lane and I suddenly feel older and more tired than I did when I first came into the hall.

To Ed Francisco of the MAP, to all of the Officers, Boards of Governors, and Members of the MAP and MBC, and to all the other friends – ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon.

I’m very happy to be here. I was looking forward to this occasion with keen anticipation as a homecoming of sorts. I note many familiar and friendly faces, acquaintances in the audience—people whose paths I’ve crossed in the many roles that I have had in public life as well as in the private sector. I looked at my records and saw that the last time I addressed you my theme was ‘It can’t be business as usual”; I find that that dictum is as relevant today as it was then.

I approach my talk before you today somewhat like a road-show presentation or a shareholders’ meeting – where management discusses the organization – its structure and operations, analyzes its challenges, indicates the opportunities that it sees, presents its plans and shows how it will execute these plans.

It is in this manner that I come before you today to discuss DOTC … Mar Roxas wearing his technocrat hat – to seek your support, to invite you to put your stake in our plans, and figuratively and literally, to seek your approval and investments. I must inform you that I have a 19-page presentation, with handouts and a slideshow; but don’t worry, it’s only 19 pages because unlike the last time I was before you, I had to increase the font size of the letters of the page. When I took on this job, I likened my job at the DOTC to the establishing, maintaining and strengthening of the veins and arteries of the human body that transports life-giving oxygen and nutrients – in our case, people and goods, all throughout the system (the economy). I also saw DOTC for what it is: a support service, one that enables and empowers the people to go about their business. Accordingly, an uneventful day at the Department is a successful one; for us, truly, no news is good news.

Today I am even more convinced of the validity and appropriateness of these analogies. In the short time I’ve been at the DOTC, as part of ordinary course of business, we’ve reviewed, reconfigured and obtained approvals for nearly half a trillion worth of CAPEX plans for the country; gone through ups and downs and hard negotiating and dealing with international companies and their governmental backers (Germany, France and Japan), and you know what I’m alluding to; and, studied and mapped out the key points of intervention to make transport safer, more reliable and efficient for our people.

We also had to deal with: one bus, Dimple, flying off the Skyway resulting in seven dead and three seriously injured; Metro commuters threatened by a jeepney strike (that fortunately fizzled out), and almost daily service interruptions in the commuter rail systems that ferry nearly 1 million people to and from work every day.

We’ve also had to tackle four sea mishaps of note – a passenger ship from Cebu with 178 onboard that sank off Iloilo in clear weather; a large international flagged container ship colliding with a small bulk carrier that sank off Saranggani province (22 rescued and 1 dead) resulting in a 2-hectare oil spill; a RORO vessel with 36 people on board running aground near Mindoro (all 36 rescued); and, a fast craft headed to Cebu with some 220 on board, whose engine caught fire that also ran aground just outside Cebu, along a well-travelled route (all were rescued though 5 required hospitalization).

Whew! Just recounting these incidents makes me reminisce that I had less white hair 90 days ago.

I also recall when I took on this job, I talked (even sang) about “trains and boats and planes”. Here we are 90 days later and I realize I should have said something about roller coasters too!

But the DOTC is not all about mayhem on land and sea. On more congenial days I dig in with my new team to work on the myriad elements that drive the movement of people and goods all over the country; and the regulatory mill that ensures travel and transport are safe, convenient, affordable and reliable. Though seemingly random and a hodgepodge of events, I cited the examples I gave above in order to show you how I see the challenges confronting the department and how I’ve reorganized the DOTC in order to better respond to them.

Whereas in the past, the department was cut-up according to mode of transport – sea, air, rail and road – I quickly realized this was not the best way to organize ourselves given the wide range of problems and challenges present in each of the modes of transport. For instance, whoever I would put in charge of ‘Air’ would have to possess the skill set and temperament of a litigator, an operations man, a regulator, a project implementer and an investment banker. The problems and the work required in all the other modes of transport would similarly require these same complete attributes for whoever would be  assigned to them; an extremely difficult job even in the private sector, a near impossibility in the public sector.

Accordingly, I reorganized the department thematically, meaning according to the prevailing tasks I saw each of us having to perform. Regardless of mode of transport, these tasks would have to be attended to. Thus, the department is now cut-up according to the real time, modern requirements of Problem-Solving, Operations – day-to-day, including Regulation, Operations – Project Implementation including external affairs, and finally CAPEX formulation, planning and financing.

For each of these, I recruited top talent to match up with the tasks required, and I am confident they are up to the challenge. I’d like to introduce them to you: For Problem Solving – an Ateneo Economics graduate, a UP Law standout, a seasoned lawyer rising to lead Sycip Salazar’s Litigation Unit – Undersecretary Juju Lotilla, who I understand has had many of you as clients.

For Operations – day-to-day, including regulatory aspects – a UP Industrial Engineer graduate, #8 in his UP Law class, a seasoned lawyer in the private sector, 3 years as Undersecretary for the Department of National Defense in charge of operations, thus accustomed to large and complex organizations – Undersecretary Paeng Santos.

For Operations – Project Implementation, including external affairs – an Ateneo Law standout, also a seasoned lawyer in the private sector – particularly his stint with NGOs like PRRM and FLAG, with a 2-year stint as Undersecretary in DAR in charge of regional and country-wide projects, thus also accustomed to governmental ways and projects in the countryside, particularly dealing with LGUs – Undersecretary Efren Moncupa.

And finally for CAPEX planning, formulation and financing – a Stanford Economics graduate, an Ateneo Law honors graduate, PriceWaterhouse BOT structurer, a 5-year Baker & Mckenzie transaction lawyer and most importantly, a young entrepreneur – Undersecretary Timmy Limcaoco.

By the way, I have also recruited a well-established and highly regarded engineer and project manager Tito Aliling to help us with the civil engineering aspect of so many of the projects that we have to handle. Unfortunately, due to previous commitments requiring his personal attention and presence, he cannot be full time with us at the department.

All coming from the private sector, they’ve all taken pay cuts. They will have many sleepless nights on the job and more likely than not, won’t get any appreciation and instead only reap criticism. But I appreciate the commitment and patriotism by which they have cheerfully accepted the challenge and I ask you to give them all a round of applause.

You guys better savor that; that’s probably the last applause you’ll get.

Let’s go to some specifics – our role as a problem solver.

First, I see my team and myself as a collective problem solver. By reconfiguring, renegotiating or outright cancellation in certain cases, we have to solve big problems from some past projects that utterly violate the standards of a sound deal, whether because of corruption or technical fault – 3 immediately come to the fore: Northrail, PIATCO and GMA RORO ports, all multi-billion peso projects.

The Northrail project is currently on hold and we are in the process of “reconfiguring” it. While the government supports a rapid railway link to the North, we oppose the current contract, its technical specifications and its attendant arrangements. The reconfiguration will address all the numerous fatal deficiencies of the existing contract and we are hopeful of a successful outcome.

P-Noy very successfully convinced President Hu Jintao, Premier Wen Jiabao and Party Leader Wu Bangguo to be open to this and both the Chinese and PHL leaders have tasked the relevant ministers to attend to the said reconfiguration – an auspicious and good start to this effort.

How will it be different? This time, we want to be the ones to write the Terms of Reference. We will insist on an experienced rail construction contractor. We will insist on a bidding for the contract and we will insist on making payments only after acceptance by the client – in this instance the Republic of the Philippines. In short, this time, we want to rewrite the existing lopsided contract to our mutual advantage.

This time, instead of a train that will go from Caloocan (some 15 kms short of the CBD) to Mabalacat, Pampanga (another 15 kms short of the airport), the reconfigured project will link CBD Metro Manila to Clark. This time we will get tracks that are Standard gauge, that are able to handle heavier loads at faster speeds, instead of the older technology of a Narrow gauge. Moreover, this time we will ensure that what gets built is as what was originally intended, in this case, a fast speed rail link whose target travel time for the 90 km stretch will be a reliable less than an hour, and we not allow it to metamorphose, thru change orders, into something else, like it did presently, a slow commuter train with some 12 stops.

In short, think Hong Kong Airport Express!

Another big item in the problem-solving agenda is the NAIA Terminal 3 case involving PIATCO. The legal situation is quite straightforward though still being appealed: international arbitration bodies and domestic courts already have ruled in our favor, the government’s favor. The Supreme Court has ruled that the contract is fatally defective and thus void from the very beginning.

The Government position is that we will pay JUST compensation, underscore JUST!

In fact, we were prepared to adopt a fair value assessment based on the international practice of having 3 international appraisers -value engineers assess the value of the structure with the midpoint being the agreed upon value. Well, the contra-party rejected this approach and insisted on their claim of some $800 million for a project with a turn-key contract of about $350 million. You be the judge as to whether this would be acceptable, whether for your own companies you would pay the former amount.

By the way, for the record, there is no and there never was a contractual relationship between the Government, the Republic of the Philippines, and Fraport. So I find it absurd that Fraport seeks compensation for the consequences of acts it solely and voluntarily entered into with Piatco! The contracting parties were Fraport and Piatco. It was Piatco’s contract with the Government that the Supreme Court ruled on as being fatally flawed and void from the very beginning.

In short, if they find themselves disadvantaged because they were not in control while having financed the whole project, well then who told them to enter into a dummy relationship to begin with; who told them to keep shelling out money for what were non-recoverable, and probably off book expenses?

It’s very clear, the turnkey contract of Takenaka, the general contractor, was about $350 million. The claimed value by Piatco, including Fraport, was in the neighborhood of $800 million. Why should we pay a tenth beyond what was structured before?

Don’t get me wrong. I am not looking for trouble. We want to establish a fair value so that the government can promptly pay the contractors, including Piatco and take the project to completion. But we will not pay a cent beyond what is proper. In the meanwhile, we are decidedly and deliberately moving on to settle issues on the structural integrity of the terminal as well as arranging with either Takenaka (the original contractor) or other contractors for the completion of all the other work that has to be done to put the airport Terminal 3 up to fully operational status. Once we are through, we will have a reliable, convenient and safe terminal for the public.

By the way, as an update, in my talks with Takenaka, we are setting up a meeting in Japan to try to thresh out the outstanding issues between Takenaka, the general contractor, and the Republic of the Philippines, who would be the ultimate owner and beneficiary of the structure.

On the GMA RORO Port, this P15.7 billion project is another problem we are trying to solve. Presently, we have informed the contractor of our position which is to suspend the contract. You all already know why we find this project objectionable – for example: the fact that its design is not suited for PHL tidal, wind and wave sea conditions, the fact that out of the 72 locations where they were to be installed, some 50 already had port facilities in place, the fact that the local designed cement facilities were about half the cost of these imported ports.

Think about that – nearly P16 billion of your money, the taxes that you pay. Moreover, there was no site inspection, no endorsement from regional development councils, no economic and financial viability studies, and no environmental compliance certificates! In short, the project bypassed the proper budgetary, environmental and procurement processes that are the norm for any such procurement.

What to do? Review, renegotiate, and align with the rules and get the most value for the peoples’ money.

As an update, we presently are in talks with the proponent company and they have expressed a willingness to renegotiate the contract. The government has convened a working group composed of the DOTC, the Philippine Ports Authority, the Office of the Solicitor General, the government’s lawyer in these cases, and the Department of Finance, to handle the financing (which is JICAfinanced), to set the parameters for the negotiation.

Our position is clear – negotiate for a ‘Quantum Meruit’ that will pay for the work actually done or for the materials that were actually delivered and in the process, cancel the onerous contract.

The second role we perform at DOTC is that of the Regulator of the entire transport industry. We shall be strict, consistent, effective, fair and transparent in order to protect the public from the horrifying scourge of transport-related disasters, deadly sea catastrophes, buses falling from the Skyway and airports with less than fully modern navigation facilities.

The life of every passenger on land, sea and air is of primordial importance. And what more important way to measure our performance at DOTC than by our safety score for our passengers. We aim to protect every Filipino who gets on a bus, boat, plane or train.

As applied to the road transport mode, for example, in the granting of Route Franchises for buses and jeepneys, the LTFRB and LTO shall determine, for every such route, a demand and supply equation to preclude congested routes and underserved passengers. We shall only grant a franchise if there is a demand for it, and we will withhold franchises or employ natural attrition when transport supply exceeds passenger volume. Except for routes that clearly are in need of additional transport capacity, we shall suspend the granting of franchises until this comprehensive assessment is done.

Moreover, over the next several years, through a combination of incentives and regulation, we will increasingly make younger the fleets of buses, jeepneys and taxis on the road.

This will equate to less carbon dioxide in the air that we breathe, less breakdown of vehicles and less accidents in our traffic, and for the owners and operators of these vehicles, more fuel efficiency and less operating cost.

Presently, jeepneys have no age limit. Buses have a 15–year old limit; taxis,13 years and AUVs, multicabs and vans – 10 years. Over time, we will steadily reduce these age limits. Already, for taxis we are engaging the industry so we can implement a fleet age target of 7 years.

Accompanying this, we will randomly but rigorously implement drug testing for drivers and emission testing for vehicles. Drug users on the wheels and smoke belchers are both a bane to public safety.

To do away with the medieval quota system of compensation for bus drivers, we are teaming up with DOLE to push for a fixed pay for them. This will soon be a requirement for obtaining bus franchises, so that bus drivers don’t go battling each other recklessly in chasing for passengers, posing a danger to themselves, their passengers and other motorists and pedestrians.

We also already have a working partnership with the DILG and PNP to get the anti-colorum campaign in high gear.

In 1987, we had one of the deadliest maritime disasters in history, the Dona Paz that caused the death of more than 4,000 people. In 2008, we had the Princess of the Stars disaster where about 700 people perished.

This is unacceptable. We intend to make safety standards enforcement a religious vow in the department. No more “business as usual”, “okay lang yan”, or “pwede na yan” attitudes. This goes for the sea captains who are drunk on the bridge, or bus drivers on drugs, or, the owners of ships, buses and all forms of transport who cheat on proper safety and maintenance.

They will not find an inch of sanctuary or protection from the Board of Marine Inquiry, the Coast Guard, the MARINA, the LTFRB and LTO and the CAAP and MIAA as regulators of each mode of transport. We will make every official accountable and weed out the negligent and the incompetent.

Our aim is to reduce the window for any untoward incident by eliminating the Kapabayaan, the Kakulangan and the Katangahan so that, knock-on-wood and God forbid, if anything does happen it is indeed truly an accident, an unavoidable force majeure.

We are making some progress. Last week, at the height of typhoons Pedring and Quiel, we had no sea mishaps because we were firm and proactive in setting the rules. When the appropriate weather signals were hoisted, we didn’t allow ships to leave port.

In the past, sea captains had the discretion on this matter. Now we’ve set up a protocol where at the first level, ships are properly advised of possible danger to their passengers; once objective standards on inclement weather are met, this is followed by an unconditional order to hold anchor at port. The Coast Guard and the Philippine Ports Authority will prevent departure of ships from the port, and MARINA will certainly initiate franchise cancellation proceedings against shipping companies violating any of the standards or any such orders.

We have also revised the structure of “incentives and burdens” in the maritime sector to favor safety and prevention of incidents. We have put in place regulation such that in the event any incident occurs involving any vessel in a fleet, the entire fleet automatically shall be grounded.

Once compliance with safety standards of the other vessels on the fleet are established, they are then allowed to continue with their voyages. This is the opposite of past practice where the operations of all the other vessels in a fleet were allowed to continue even as one of their vessels was involved in an incident, as it was indeterminate whether the conditions of the vessel that were involved in the incident were also present in all other vessels in the fleet.

For the Air sector, our Civil Aviation Authority is focused on regaining our Category-1 status and meeting the international standards for aviation safety. The CAAP has been working on this over the last year and I have made attaining full compliance with the international standard one of my priorities. Out of the 127 total individual “Findings” by FAA and ICAO (25 are overlapping – both FAA and ICAO found the same items), we believe we have satisfactorily attended to all but 7. Among the remaining “open”, unresolved items are: the hiring of additional employees, the comprehensive training here and abroad for all CAAP inspectors, and the conduct of regular flight checks for pilots and aircraft. The FAA is scheduled to conduct a “Technical Review” sometime in December of this year; something like a midterm test, and we are optimistic about the progress we have made. The final test would be sometime next year.

Anecdotally, this is a good example where our cultural predisposition for the easygoing, “okey lang” and “pwede na yan”, “bahala na” clearly hurts us. The principal operating requirement for Category 1 status is quite simple: the setting up of objective international best practice standards and the unrelenting and rigorous application thereof.

For the CAB, this is the entity that negotiates test services agreements with other countries – we shall support modified open skies in order to support our country’s tourism promotion efforts. We shall be mindful though that this not to be at the expense of our domestic commercial airline industry. As I did at the WTO in battling for fair trade, likewise I shall be for fairness in the opening up of our domestic airline markets.

In these, as well as in all other regulations supervised by the DOTC, 24 by 7, we shall maintain the strict, consistent, effective fair and transparent standards in the application of these myriad regulations aimed at protecting the millions of passengers who use our public transportation system.

Another role we have at the DOTC is that of an operator or a custodian of strategic transport resources.

Let me talk about a couple – the NAIA. One of our top concerns is decongesting the NAIA. The airport facility is operating beyond its rated capacity, hence the 30-minute to 1-hour delays either at the terminal, on the taxiway or circling overhead.

Presently, there is an average of 43 movements (a movement is a landing or a take–off) scheduled every hour; this is beyond the weighted capacity of 36 movements standard (meaning one movement every 1 minute and 40 seconds). That’s the time it takes an airplane to land, come to appropriate speed and then taxi out to clear the runway.

Our goal is to increase the handling capacity of the airport by improving its “cycle rate”. We shall do this by constructing first, one then another rapid exit taxiway to reduce runway occupancy time; thus, shorten the 1-minute and 40-second cycle for each movement. This will take a few hundred million pesos and up to a year as we can only do construction work during the airports “downtime”, which is from 1am to 4am. Now, you get to see the kind of problems we have.

More near term, we also shall be reducing the load on the runway and taxiways by transferring general aviation to either Sangley and/or Lipa air bases. This is already in the works and we have started with the flying schools by restricting their takeoff and landing times, as well as helping them relocate to other sites. Private flights, particularly propeller aircrafts, will soon follow.

In terms of passenger number, it is notable that the NAIA airport terminal facilities – Terminals 1,2,3 and 4 – will hit its physical capacity limit this year. We are expecting to reach the rated capacity limit of 31 million passengers by year-end or if not, certainly by next year. Note that for Terminal 3, which has not yet officially opened, by 2010, last year, it already served about 10 million passengers (1.5 million international and 8.1 million domestic), which is the design rated capacity of the terminal.

The LRT-1 has been operating for some 30 years now; the LRT–2, for about 10 years and the MRT for about 11 years. The DOTC, through LRTA, operates both Lines 1 & 2 of the LRT, while we only have a coordinative role in the operations for MRT-3 because as you know, it is owned by a private entity. In all 3 cases, the maintenance of the lines are currently privatized. Collectively, the 3 lines serve about 1 million people every day. Notably MRT-3 is operating way beyond its rated capacity. Its rated capacity is about 350 thousand people per day and 11 currently it is operating at nearly 500 thousand people per day, which is the major cause for breakdowns.

As a window to see how messed up rail transport planning has been over these last decades (I’m not pointing fingers here but this is the fact), all 3 lines have different physical specifications: meaning sizes, engines, signaling systems, types of LRVs or Light Rail Vehicles or cars. In short, there is no  interchangeability nor scale economy at all. Moreover, the ownership of MRT is with a private entity called MRTC, whose ownership and economic interests are in a complex arrangement to include the Land Bank and the DBP.

Anyway, it is no secret that the cars themselves, particularly for LRT-1 and more especially for MRT-3 are old and breaking down. Only about 100 of the LRT-1 cars of the original 140 are still working; the frequent service interruptions, near daily for MRT-3, demonstrate this as well.

We intend to resolve the breakdown and service interruption challenges by: expanding capacity – rehabilitating and rebuilding many of the 1st generation LRT trains and buying new trains for MRT; improving maintenance so it is preventive instead of curative, and if necessary, provide financing to the advance purchase of spares and replacements. We shall fix and replace the bogeys which hold the suspension and brakes for each of the cars and we shall likewise perform major track work and replace the air conditioning units of the vehicles. We shall replace and upgrade the signaling, communication and computer systems that run the trains. And we shall set new and more stringent standards with more serious penalties, in the outsourced maintenance contracts for each line.

The rough estimate for all this about P6.5 B (some $150 million) and we are hopeful about obtaining the money for this – even as we recognize that all the 3 train systems require ongoing and continuous funding support from the government. We will have more details on this in a few weeks time.

I will be discussing the extensions of LRT-1 to Cavite and LRT-2 to Masinag when I take up our role as Developer-Promoter in the next section. Finally, we perform the role of Developer-Promoter … indeed of the physical part of nation-building.

President P-Noy’s Infrastructure Program as it relates to DOTC amounts to nearly half-a-trillion pesos worth of transportation infrastructure projects over the next five years.

So as not to take up too much of your time, these projects are listed and described in the hand-outs. Please be mindful that this list is indicative and not set in stone.

The handouts identify and give you the mandate of each of the 19 agencies under the DOTC. You also have a sheet that tells you how congested the runway of station facilitities is at NAIA – to establish and clearly show that really, the entire operating day is quite filled up. And we have a section that talks about the President’s CAPEX program.

For land transport, we shall expand LRT 1 to add a line from Baclaran to Bacoor in Cavite. It will carry an additional 200,000 passengers a day and decongest the route for private vehicles. What’s unfortunate here is that when I was DTI Secretary some ten years ago, this project was already on a go but for variety of political and other possibly nefarious reasons, the contract with SNC-Lavalin, a Canadian company, one of the largest major contractors in the world, was cancelled. Others were invited to come in; eventually nobody came in and so here we are, 10 years later, and not a single nail has been hammered into this project. In any event, the estimated cost is about 80 billion pesos, 48 billion pesos for the superstructure and 38 billion for the rolling stock.

For the LRT Line 2 Masinag Extension, the 4-km extension costs about 12 billion pesos and will open up a huge part of Antipolo and Marikina area for denser development. It would bring its population closer to the metropolis, making it easier for them to commute to work.

The Puerto Princesa Airport is an upgrade to the present domestic airport. From the present 800,000 actual passengers that used the airport, it will accommodate up to 2 millions passengers at the end of the project.

Laguindingan Airport is presently under construction – it’s on track and it is expected to be finished by the end of next year. We are in the process of writing up the bid documents for the terminal O&M, which we will subsequently bid out in time for the completion of the airport next year.

For Bohol, the government is committed to a modern airport in order to support it as a tourism destination. This will involve a 2,500-meter runway, a new terminal building and up-to-date avionics and navigation systems. The only question now is whether we will build an entirely new facility in Panglao Island, which costs about 8 billion pesos or, use the present site in Tagbilaran extending the present

1500 meter runway by 700 meters, with an estimated cost of 4 billion pesos. So we are validating the cost and we will certainly choose the least cost alternative.

For the NAIA Terminal 1, we have short-term improvement plans to rehabilitate the entire Terminal 1 and this will include: renovating the comfort rooms, providing full WiFi coverage, creating more space in both the arrival and departure areas and generally making it more hospitable to users, even as we are developing, planning out the detailed engineering, lining up the financing and finally constructing the gateway airport of the future which will be in Clark.

Our plans for the Clark as our air gateway for the future are very much linked to the successful outcome of the reconfiguration negotiations on the Northrail project. We’ll have more updates on this after my trip to China. For all these projects, we shall employ the most efficient and least cost financing

structure. Whether it be via PPP/concession agreements, BOT, GAA, ODA or any combination thereof, be assured that we value your money, our people’s money, so we’ll spend it in the most frugal, efficient, effective way possible – the ‘Matuwid na Daan’ is also the ‘Matipid na Daan’.

In designing these projects and setting the specifications for each, we shall always gauge our needs against our means, and against what the true demand is for any of these projects.

I always use the example of buying a car. This is not an advertisement but I find it a good example. The Toyota line has a Tamaraw, Innova, Land Cruiser, or Lexus. Our finances are that for a Tamaraw, and possibly the reasonable aspiration is for an Innova and maybe because we have aggressive growth projections, we opt to think about acquiring a Land Cruiser. In the past, what actually was specified was a Lexus and then we overpay for it and that’s why maybe, many of these contracts are in trouble today.

But gone are the days when we’ll go for an overdesigned and expensive vehicle that we can’t afford and for which there is no demand!

More so, in the procurement of these projects we shall assiduously follow the relevant laws and established procedures for the same. My experience (trying to untangle problematic projects in my 4 years at DTI, investigating these anomalous contracts in my 6 years at the Senate and now my 3 months at DOTC, studying and unraveling these problem projects) is that shortcuts eventually, invariably lead

to delay and problems. Deliberate, clean and honest Procurement leads to good and stable contracts that actually get done!

As PNoy puts it, the people is best served by 5 R’s – the Right project at the Right cost, at the Right quality with the Right people, and Right on time. So there you have it – the DOTC as I see it and as how I intend to do my job.

I hope that one year from now, we can meet again in another shareholders meeting where I can report on the items I have presented before you today. I am hopeful that by then, I will be able to report substantial progress in executing our plans for our transport sector; and how, reverting to the analogy, by use of transplant or stent and by better diet, more exercise and a healthier lifestyle we’ve cleaned up the veins and arteries of the nations circulatory system, nursing it back to vigorous health.

Today, I have made a list of what we intend to do. Next year, we will be ready to give you our report card. We will show you how we spent your money, and you can rate our performance based on the criteria we have set.

You, together with all the Filipinos are our stakeholders, our shareholders, in the whole schema of nation-building.

I am glad to join you today, to be with friends and colleagues, to talk to you about the future of our great country.

Thank you.

Delivered September 17, 2011
in Malolos, Bulacan

Maraming, maraming salamat to Very Worshipful Marcelino “Noli” Garcia for your very kind and gracious exaggerations about me. Palakpakan po natin si Very Worshipful Noli.

To Grand Master Most Worshipful Juanito “Nitoy” Abergas;

Sa aking hinahangaan at parating sinusundan dahil napakalinaw, napakahusay, napaka-makabayan ng kanyang mga “Pearls of Wisdom”. Nadinig ko madalas itong magsalita sa Ingles, ngayon ang unang pagkakataon na madinig siya sa ating sariling wika at masasabi ko yung clarity of thought in English is even made more beautiful because sa sariling wika natin ay may dagdag na patriotic emotion—talagang hinahangaang Chief Justice Rey Puno, palakpakan po natin.

Sa ating kagalang-galang na Punong lalawigan ng dakilang lalawigan ng Bulacan. Natanong niya sa akin, yung lolo ko daw ay naging Grand Master dun sa Macawiwili Lodge dun sa amin sa Capiz, sabi ko, iyong-iyo yun, Macawiwili Willy Alvarado, palakpakan po natin.

Sa ating magiting at, sinisegundahan ko po yung obserbasyon ni Gov. Willy na malayo ang mararating ng ating Punong-Lungsod dito po sa dakilang, makasaysayang Lungsod ng Malolos, Mayor Christian ‘Agila’ Natividad, palakpakan po natin.

Sa aking kaibigan din na madalas hinihingian ng payo at impormasyon para sa mabubuting programa na mailulunsad natin, si Pat Grand Master Pacifico “Boy”Aniag, palakpakan din po natin.

And of course, the worthy heir to this outstanding public service, ang tagapagmana niya na si Carlo, palakpakan din po natin. Mas magandang lalaki yung sa ‘yo Boy; To Right Worshipful Santiago “Boy” Gabionza Jr., ang ating Deputy Grand Master; Right Worshipful Juanito “Jun” Espino Jr., Senior Grand Warden; Right Worshipful Allan Purisima, Junior Grand Warden; nakaalis na ata, Grand Master Eugenio Labitoria; our Very Worshipful Carlo Aniag, that I have greeted earlier; Mga Miyembro ng Kapatiran ng Masoneria ng Gitnang Luzon;

Also a special hello to Mason Boyet Arellano, na napangasawa n’ya po ay isang aswang na taga-Capiz … akala n’ya napanalo n’ya si Aileen, pero nabihag siya ni Aileen dahil nasilo siya ng isang aswang na tulad ko na taga-Capiz—Boyet and Aileen Arellano;

Friends, Ladies and Gentlemen, Distinguished Members of Masonry:

Magandang magandang umaga po sa inyong lahat at maraming maraming salamat po sa inyong anyaya na makasama po ako dito sa inyong paglunsad o simula ng isang one whole year celebration ng One Hundred Years of Masonry in the Philippines. Malaking karangalan po para sa akin ito at nagpapasalamat po ako sa pagkakataong ito. Thank you very much for that.

May inihanda po akong talumpati, at ito po kung papayagan po ninyo ay isusumiti ko po kay Chief Justice Puno at baka malagay n’yo po sa inyong website. Subalit kagabi, nung umuwi po ako mula sa DOTC ay nakapag-isip ako, nagkaroon ako ng konting reflections about my schedule for today, and nakita ko nga po na kayo ang okasyon for today. And I wrote some thoughts down, that I felt I wanted to share with you, imbes na yung pormal na talumpati.

So yung kape kanina ay 3-in-1, ngayon naman po mayroon kayong 2-for-1: isang pormal na talumpati at isang reflections for this morning.

One hundred years is about four generations.

Naisip ko rin po na coming into one hundred days ako sa DOTC. July 4, Independence Day ng America, yung aking pagkatalaga bilang DOTC Secretary at dun din ang pagsimula ng aking pagbihag sa lamesa, sa trabaho, at sa byurokrasya.

And so for me, I gave a reflection of one hundred. What is one hundred? One hundred years ago, was the sinking of the Titanic—we don’t want to reflect on that.

One hundred years ago, a little bit more joyfully, positively, was the inauguration and opening of Manila Hotel, believe it or not. For some, Manila Hotel represents such an institution, such a physical facade of the Philippines, it being at the center of so many important events in our history.

One hundred years ago also, was the election of Woodrow Wilson, in 1912, Democrat in the United States, which for domestic reasons, began the inward looking policy of the US which led to the passing on of the Jones Act, the Philippine Autonomy Act. Yung mga Amerikano nung panahong iyon, 1912— mind you there was trouble in Europe because shortly thereafter, the first World War started. So the Americans at that time had this notion that we are separate from the world. We have the Pacific, the Atlantic, and ‘wag na tayong makialam. And this set of islands somewhere in the Pacific, napakalayo n’yan, wala naman talaga tayong paki-alam dyan, pakawalan na natin sila. Hinihingi nilang kasarinlan, bigay na natin, at dun nagsimula yung proseso sa American ng kanilang pagbibigay o pagbibitiw sa atin. That was one hundred years ago and that Jones Act led to the Hare-Hawes-Cutting Act, Tydings-McDuffy Act and finally, in 1935, after the writing of our 1935 Constitution, Franklin Delano Roosevelt approved such constitution, setting forth now the stage for our independence after the war.

In the course of this one hundred years, more or less every twenty-five (25) years a generation, sinikap ko na i-organize yung mga events sa ating kasaysayan into discrete time periods.

You can say that the 25 years, beginning in 1910 to 1935 was the Fight for Freedom Generation, continuing from the work of our heroes before that. This was the generation that because of their work, up to and including working with our colonial master, the United States, laid the foundation for our juridical freedom later on in 1945.

The generation from 1935 to 1960 could be described as the Independence Generation, separate and distinct from the Freedom Generation, kalayaan, kasarinlan. While we were free in our minds, and in our hearts, and in our efforts, the pillars, the institutions for the exercise of our democracy were still very young, were modest and not yet in full bloom. And so one can describe the generation from the 1935 to 1960 as the Kasarinlan Generation. They fought for these legal institutions—the forms, the expressions of our democracy and our freedom, thus, Independence. In that time, they experienced the Second World War, and they experienced coming together to rebuild our nation after the war.

The next twenty-five years, the 1960 to 1985 period, could be described as the Post-War Generation. We were an independent nation. We were experiencing a boomlet from the ‘50’s and the ‘60’s. There was much tumult in the world, there was a lot of change that was going on, all happening at an  accelerated pace. You can describe this period as our adolescence—para tayong teenager, pormal nang pinakawalan, independent na tayo, sinusubukan natin yung range ng ating freedom and expressions thereof. Hanggang dumating sa extreme, maraming nagsabi na magulo dito sa bansa natin at kumapit-patalim tayo sa isang instrumento na supposed to be magdadala ng katahimikan, ng kapayapaan, ng regularidad…yung Martial Law. Kinapitan natin yung patalim na ‘yun. Only to find that dream of peace, stability and opportunity really descends into a nightmare, isang bangungot, almost like the several rings of Dante’s Inferno.

Hanggang dumating tayo sa susunod na henerasyon, another 25 or 26 years to today, 1986 to 2011, the EDSA Generation. Alam naman po natin yung nangyari sa EDSA na kung saan ang sambayanan mismo, nagsama-sama, pinaglaban yung ating kalayaan, ang ating kasarinlan muli, mula sa diktaturya at matagumpay nating naitatag muli itong demokrasya sa ating bansa. In that time, social, political, economic observers will say na nag-roller coaster din tayo. From the height of the victory of EDSA, masasabi natin na in the course of the next 25 years, bagamat sa ating puso gusto nating magpatuloy yung diwa ng EDSA, gawa, lalung-lalo na sa gobyerno, ito rin ay pumalya, nag-umaberya at dumating tayo sa hantungan kung saan halos mawala muli sa atin yung ating kalayaan at mga karapatan.

Nung nakaraan lamang, nakita natin dun sa WikiLeaks na talagang trinabaho ng nakaraang administrasyon yung panunumbalik ng Martial Law at pagbalik ng State Authoritarian Control sa ating bansa. That’s in the course of one generation, not having learned from the lessons of the past.

Maraming salamat Carlos, maraming salamat din sa ating mga mang-aawit, talaga namang handang-handa, the show must go on. Palakpakan po natin sila.

So EDSA Revolution, ’86, 25 years, from 1986 to 2011, itong taong ito, masasabi natin na bagamat nagsimula sa high point, sa kalagitnaan, halos lumubog. Ngayon, bago nagtapos yung henerasyon na yun, yung bente singkong taon na yun, ay muling lumutang or nakalutang sa pamamagitan ng pagpili ng ating mga kababayan ng isang pinuno, ng isang leader na masasabi nating mataas ang ating kompiyansa na siya ang makapagpapabalik ng matuwid na daan, ng matuwid na pamumuhay, ng matuwid na  pamamahala dito sa ating bansa.

Which brings us to this next generation, starting next year, which is when you will be celebrating your own 100 year in the Philippines. All through these 100 years, masasabi natin at yung ibang naunang mananalita ay nabigkas na yung partisipasyon, yung pamumuno, yung engagement—maganda yung nasabing it was led and executed by the Masons, the revolution.

Ang mga kapatid ninyong Mason, hindi lang kabahagi, kundi nasa sentro ng ating laban para sa kalayaan at kasarinlan. Marcelo H. Del Pilar, Jose Rizal, Andres Bonifacio, Apolinario Mabini, Emilio Aguinaldo, Manuel L. Quezon, at kung hahayaan po ninyo, babanggitin ko din po ang aking lolo na Mason din po, at pinarangalan ng inyong asosasyon sa pagtatalaga ng Lodge 152 after his name. Kung panong nagsimula bilang isang mutual aid na society o mutual aid organization, self –help, hundreds of years ago, has evolved into an organization that is for the benefit, not of one but of all. Inuuna ang kapakanan ng mga kapuspalad, itinuro ang pagpapahalaga sa tamang moralidad, at higit sa lahat, may takot sa Diyos.

These morals and values are the building blocks for a strong family, a strong organization, indeed a strong nation. And so while we contemplate this tectonic glacial movements in our history over the last one hundred years, the generational challenges, and the generational responses thereto, let’s take a pause and take a look at more contemporary, more current changes that are upon us but which we may have failed to notice. But these changes have transformed our nation.

Our nation is very, very different and will be affected differently by global challenges because of these transformative changes. How are they expressed for example?

Physically, let’s start on the physical level. Sa telco halimbawa, telecommunications. Ang iba sa inyo maaalala ninyo na mahirap makatawag, kung nangangailangan ng linya susuhol ka pa. Definitely maghahantay ka at ang komunikasyon, kahit sa loob lamang ng isang bayan ay mahirap na mahirap. Before our country opened up the telecommunications sector, there were no more than 800,000 subscribers with the landline. Today, roughly one generation later, there are 80 million subscribers, which is equivalent to two billion messages happening everyday. Ito yung mga text messages. Magmula sa “ Good Morning”, tungo sa prayer, tungo sa inspiration, tungo sa “Anong oras tayo magkikita?” hanggang sa “Need cash? Loan?” Kasama yan sa two billion na yan. This revolution in telecommunications has changed our nation even in ways we still do not understand. But definitely, we can feel it, we can sense it. And this will be a good building block for a good future.

Sa panghimpapawid, sa Air, one generation ago, we had our pride, Asia’s pride, Philippine Airlines. One airline, Hawker DC9 ang kanyang nililipad. PAL. Nabansagang Plane Always Late. One generation later, dahil nabuksan yung sector na ito, it’s hard to imagine but there are thirty (30) million passengers in our air every single year. Thirty million. Roughly, kung i-divide-divide ho natin yan, sa aking kalkulasyon, that’s one hundred thousand people a day flying. It’s hard to imagine. But it has brought our country closer, tighter, our domestic economy much more resilient. We are not so affected so much by the turbulence abroad.

And, those one hundred thousand passengers a day has brought prosperity to many parts of our country that could only dream of such prosperity no more than a generation ago.

Peso-dollar. Ang iba sa inyo, maaalala pa, within one generation lamang, yung notorious Binondo Sentral Bank, nagkaroon ng rationing ng dolyar. Nagkaroon ng pagtatago ng mga dolyar na ito dahil naging very scarce.

Today, seventy-five (75) billion dollars ang nakaupo sa ating Bangko Sentral na naandyan lang bilang pang-safety natin. Ito yung ating gross international reserves. Seventy-five billion dollars. Maalala ko po noong ako ay naka-upo bilang DTI Secretary, taong 2000, buwan-buwan, pinapawisan kami, binabantayan namin, bilang kasama sa Economic Manager, yung taas-baba ng dollar flows natin, na makalagpas lamang tayo ng five billion dollars na reserve ay tuwang-tuwa na tayo dahil may pambayad tayo sa gastusin nating dolyar sa susunod na buwan.

Ngayon, ang problema natin, sa sobrang dami ng ating dolyar na naka-upo sa ating Bangko Sentral, sobrang lakas ng ating piso. At may mga analyst na nagsasabi na maaari na by year end or early next year, tatagos na tayo sa P40 is to $1. It’s very hard to imagine. Maalala lang natin dati eh yung scarcity ng dollar, ngayon sobrang dami ng ating dollar, kaya yung ating tourism, yung ating BPO, yung ating export sector, furnitures, semiconductors, sa iba pa, ay nanganganib dahil nagiging masyadong mahal yung kanilang mga produkto, nahihirapan silang magbenta sa ibang bansa.

Sa interest rates, from January to July of this year, ang na-savings ng ating pamahalaan sa pagbaba ng interes pumatak sa thirty (30) billion pesos, na nasa plano, nasa budget na babayaran nating interes. Pero dahil nakita ng mga nagpapautang sa atin na matatag ang pagbantay sa pera natin, nabawasan ang pangungurakot. Mahusay ang pamamalakad ng gobyerno kaya binigyan tayo ng mga upgrades. Itong mga upgrades ang katumbas nun ay bawas sa singil sa interes.

Nung simula ng taon, nagtabi tayo para sa pambayad ng interes na hindi na siningil dahil tinitingnan tayo bilang mas mabuting credit. These changes are substantial transformative changes, whose impact will reverberate all through out our economy, our country, in ways we cannot even forecast today. Parang tectonic changes nga ito, hindi nakikita pero malalim, malawak, malaki ang impact nito in the creation of jobs, incomes and livelihoods sa ating ekonomiya.

Ganun pa man, even as these changes are happening in the physical sense, you might say that towards the end of the last generation, this period from 1986 to 2011, and the start of the next, from 2012 onwards, there is a change, that is starting but still too young, too nascent, too new to make a judgment on if it will indeed survive. This is the change in psyche—change in mindset, change in world view that we Filipinos have begun, but as in the past , you will note, that the start of a generational period, what was seemingly a good change, faltered, got lost, and could not find its way back to its source.

This changing psyche is what I refer to as the default notion of what life can be. Whereas before, S-O-P ang pag-e-S-O-P. Yun ang pananaw nating lahat. Maari, simula na sa paghalal kay Pangulong Noynoy, na hindi na ganun ang magiging SOP ng ating bansa. Ano na ang magiging kalakaran sa ating bansa. Ano ang magiging SOP? Sakali, at ito yung ating dasal-pangarap, sakali na maging SOP sa ating bansa yung matuwid, yung tama na pamamahala, this will be another transformative change that will propel us, that will pole vault us to prosperity, to security and to a better future for all.

Hindi pa natin masasabi kung magtatagumpay ito dahil kalalabas pa lamang, nag-isprout pa lamang yung unang pagtingin. Ipagpaumanhin po ninyo kay Ilonggo ako, naga-bisaya ako so medyo hirap ako ng konti sa Tagalog. But this change is just sprouting. It is just coming into view. Hindi pa natin masasabi kung this will grow into a strong sapling and into strong tree or this will be carried away again by the tides of change, and movement and tumult, domestically and internationally.

But it is a start. It is a start because it makes the default world view, the default domestic view, and changes it from SOP of SOP v.s SOP yung nasa tama lang, yung makatarungan, yung matuwid na pamamahala, matuwid na pamumuhay. And that my friends, I believe is the bigger challenge.

More than economic, statistics, more than GNP, GDP and all the other data that we track, what will determine our success as a nation? What will determine what the speaker will say when the Masons of the Philippines celebrates its 200 years, a hundred years from now, another four generations from now? What will determine what we, as leaders of our country, as paragons of success and upward mobility in our country, will do and what we believe in and what we will adopt as the default operating system in the Philippines? Will it be ang pag-e-SOP or will it be yung matuwid na pamumuhay, matuwid na pamamahala? That forms the very foundation of the society we’ll be building.

The analogy for Masons would be the foundation. While many can talk of the walls, many politicians, many commentators will speak about four pillars, four walls—justice, opportunity, economic advancement, education and investment in the people. We must not forget that these four walls are all grounded in a foundation. And if that foundation is weak, because it is presumed to be on the notion of pag-e-SOP, all those four walls will likewise be weak and will crumble. But if that foundation is strong, premised on justice, on respect, on the value of being God-fearing, on godliness and on what is straight and true, whether you and your organization believe in these values, then that structure will be strong and will stand the test of time.

And so Masons of the Philippines, the challenge is before you, as it was present for the Masons of the Philippines one hundred years ago. What will you do? How will you respond to the call? How will you live your lives, actualize your dreams, and engage yourselves with society in order that you can make a contribution in building a strong foundation? Masons of the Philippines, let us go to work.

Maraming salamat, magandang umaga po.

I am happy that the highest office in the land has already been decided with a clear and overwhelming mandate. Binabati ko po ang aking standard-bearer, si President-elect Noynoy Aquino. Wala na pong duda sa kanyang tagumpay. From day one, the success of his campaign has been as important to me as the success of my own. Karangalan ko po ang maging bahagi ng isang matagumpay, tapat, at malinis na kampanya. Karangalan ko po ang patuloy na pagtulong sa tagumpay ng sambayanang Pilipino sa pamumuno ng administrasyong Aquino.

Taos-puso po akong nagpapasalamat sa lahat ng matiyagang pumila na nabilang na ang mga boto; sa humigit-kumulang 14 na milyong sumuporta sa aking kandidatura; pati na rin sa humigit-kumulang tatlong milyong Pilipinong hindi nabilang ang boto sa Congressional Canvass. Kahit kailan ay hindi ko po tatalikuran ang aking sagradong obligasyon sa inyo.

Utang ng loob ko po sa inyo na ipaglaban ang isang matapat at kumpletong bilangan, kasama na ang pag-usisa sa napakalaking bilang ng null votes sa eleksyon sa pagka-Bise Presidente. I have instructed my lawyers to gather records and evidence, and to study and prepare towards the possibility of filing an electoral protest. We have 30 days to do this. I owe it to our people to ensure that the electoral process will truly be an instrument of their will. Nananatili pong bukas ang pinto sa anumang pagkilos na hihilingin sa akin ng humigit-kumulang sa labing-apat na milyong Pilipinong sumuporta sa ating kilusan para sa makabuluhang pagbabago.

Beyond anything else, the Filipino people may rest assured that I stand firmly on the principle that has guided my entire political career: Country above self.

Bayan bago sarili. Para sa akin, hindi po ito campaign slogan lamang. Ito po ay isang batayang paninindigan. This principle will be my bedrock as I work to ensure that that the agenda for reform that President-Elect Noynoy Aquino and I painstakingly laid out will push through.

Let us all rally behind the leadership of President-elect Noynoy Aquino. It is my sincere prayer that the change our candidates swore to bring about in the campaign will be fulfilled. It is my pledge to continue to do everything within my power to support the people’s agenda under an Aquino administration.

Hi everyone,

A year ago, no one expected us to be where we are today. We expected a different fight with different candidates and different issues. The death of Tita Cory has changed all that. It’s turned into a wake-up call for all of us. We’ve lost a hero, yes, but we didn’t want to lose what she stood for: a Philippines with leaders who place country above self, who respect the rights of all; a Philippines where justice is not just an empty word.

Tita Cory’s death has forced us to confront how badly our country has been governed by the present administration of GMA, how far we’ve strayed from our dreams as a nation. I’m sure that you’ve seen our people’s helpless anger expressed in survey after survey. It’s as if the nation wants to cry out at the top of its tired lungs, “tama na, sobra na!”

It’s true that we’ve been forced to bury our old plans and to make sacrifices (and believe me, that was not easy!) But what do you do when you sense that the times, that the country demands it? So we did something new in Philippine politics. In just a few months, we were able to create a new campaign, a new tandem not based on electoral arithmetic like the others.

No expert would have advised this a year ago. Yet here we are: not by careful design, but because the people put us there. Now that May 10 nears, we once again place our trust in the people… in YOU, as you mark your ballot for the future of this country. Rest assured that when the time comes that an Aquino-Roxas administration is given the chance to serve, that trust will be returned a hundred-fold. We will work for one thing only: to make the years from 2010 to 2016 a time of change, a time of hope… a much desired time for renewal.

Ever thankful for your support,
M.

On the Eve of Election Day
I hope to make the right decision,
to think of my family and those of my peers but more importantly
to forget my enemies because tomorrow is not about me.

Palengkes and dampas across the country
Will chant their names into the ballots so honorably fought for.
Fought for by those who care to make a difference.
So one day the Pearl shines as it once did for the world to see.

We can be role-models again, not examples.
But we must remember a word I use a lot.
We must pray to make the right decision.
We must think of our families and those of our peers.

We must all gaze at the magnifying glass
examine the past as we once did in class.
Look at our fathers and our fathers fathers and notice what each have done.
The proven will stand tall as the corrupt grow small.

Because on the eve of Election Day
we will be united.
Together we can make this country more beautiful and honorable than our forefathers
could have ever dreamed.

To do this we must come together and vote together.
Let us look well at that magnifying glass
and remember yesterday then apply it to today.
Who can give you food to feed your family?!
Never mind that!

He or she who teaches us how to earn it ourselves is what we need!
Now is the time to get it right. Educate ourselves!
Realize what kind of people have proven to be beneficial to this country and
Realize when enough is enough. Our Philippines cannot afford to be wrong again.

Remember, we will not be told who to vote for. We will be shown things.
Who is the richest? Who is the smartest? Who can afford the most stuff for us?
All unimportant. Realize who can help you earn your wealth.
Whether it be spiritual, or financial is unimportant, let it be earned and not donated!

Realize these things so that on election day we are left with no question that luster is never lost, only hidden by the rust.

“The inquiries into Senator Mar Roxas’ loyalties border on the absurd. He has long been part of the true opposition, and is no less than the President of the Party that is the most vocal critic of the corrupt Arroyo regime.

“Mar is the last person whose agenda and alliances should be subject to scrutiny. He served when he was asked to serve, and his intentions and actions have always been for the people, above all else. Ang taumbayan ang tanging boss ni Mar Roxas, at hindi niya kailanman pinalagpas ang pagkakataon na makapaglingkod.

“Ito ang dahilan kung bakit isinantabi ni Mar ang kaniyang planong tumakbo bilang pangulo at nagbigay-daan sa pagtakbo ni Sen. Noynoy Aquino. Nakita ni Mar ang pagpapatuloy ng laban nina Ninoy at President Cory ay higit na maipapagpatuloy ni Noynoy. Dahil dito, mismong si Mar ang nagsilbing daan sa pagpapatuloy ng laban para sa tunay na pagbabago. Iyan ang palatandaan ng isang tunay na lumalaban para sa bayan.

“This is in stark contrast with so-called oppositionists who have served only their own selfish interests, or who have secretly formed alliances with the administration in order to prolong the status quo of horse-trading and transactional politics. Kung oposisyon ka lamang sa bukambibig at hindi sa gawa, para ka nang gobyerno ni Gloria; nililinlang mo ang taumbayan.

“There is no doubt that Sen. Mar Roxas, along with Senator Noynoy and the LP, shall continue the legacy of democracy and genuine reform.”

Hi all,

Previously, I wrote about some experiences I’ve had during our recent rallies. Though each rally is a highlight by itself, there are two other aspects of the campaign that I’d also like to share with you: the first is the observation that the youth are more involved today than any other election we’ve had in recent history and the second concerns the random, unplanned conversations I have with different people and their effect on me.

Youth getting involved – When I ran for Senate in 2004, di pa uso ang Twitter, haha. Six years later, the youth seem to have invaded the online space and are actively campaigning for one candidate or the other. I am particularly heartened by Noynoy’s growing number of supporters in Facebook which show him to retain the top spot among the presidentiables online. Along a related aspect, have you noticed the number of universities that have conducted local surveys of their own? More than our previous elections, there seems to be an active push by both students and the academe to participate, if not influence, the 2010 vote. We also see it in the number of young people who are volunteering to campaign. The youth can no longer be said to sit idly by as corrupt leaders plunder the coffers of this nation and further erode the trust of its people. They will fight, in their own capacities, either in their schools or online, to take this country back, to fight for its future, which is their future.

Random unplanned meetings and conversations – Whenever the opportunity presents itself, I like to talk to people from all walks of life to get a sense of what they do for a living and what their problems are. I remember talking to waiters and cooks, farmers and fishermen, teachers and students, OFWs, street vendors, and even businessmen. Sometimes, I give advice. Sometimes I just listen, grateful that they are sharing a tale they feel strongly about. Minsan, pagkatapos ng kanilang kwento, they’d want a picture and I happily oblige. I think I gain more from the exchange though. While they receive a photo, I’m able to gain a different perspective on things that matter to different people. Sometimes, it reinforces my anger at the way we’ve allowed things to slide, at how a badly-run government continues to burden the people and deny their rights (eventually failing to protect them against predators). On the other hand, sometimes their stories help me see how government could do better to address their problems. The people I meet in these random encounters may or may not vote for me but they have shared their lives with me, even for the briefest of moments. And I’m thankful for that. What shines through is the courage of our people to battle the odds, to maintain a spirit of hope and dignity, and a quiet determination to do their part to change this country’s future.

These two aspects of the campaign – the stories I’ve heard coupled with the active participation of our youth – tell me the same thing: people want change and they want it now. In a few weeks time, we will hopefully see this happen. Malapit na po. As we go through these last few weeks together, I’d like to thank those who continue to support, who continue to work 24/7 to make a Noy-Mar tandem a reality after May 10. Your friendship, your trust, and your participation in this campaign will make the stories we’ve heard meaningful and will ensure that the next government will address the frustration of the youth, will listen to its demands of fairness, and give them what they want the most: a government without corruption, a government it can finally trust.

M.

Hi all,

As a gesture of distaste against all the black propaganda on the news (especially those directed against K.), I thought I’d take a step back and write about the good things the campaign has shown me – particularly what I’ve experienced during the rallies in recent months. It always feels good to know that, despite the sweltering heat of summer, the events Noy and I have attended have been a constant sea of yellow volunteers and supporters. Here are just a few interesting anecdotes among the hundreds worth sharing:

In Bacolod, a girl asked me to sign her hand-held Nintendo with a felt-tip pen! I think that’s the first time I’ve ever signed something like that, haha. Whenever Noy and I get requests like these, we feel flattered and deeply honored that people believe that we can make a difference. Make no mistake that if we get elected, we certainly will.

In Naga, an old man, without saying his name, gave me an envelope and simply said, “para sa kinabukasan ng aking mga anak.” Without knowing what it contained, I smiled, accepted, and he left right after. A few days later I opened the envelope to find a P100 bill. I wish that he had left contact details so that I could, at the very least, say thank you. It means a lot to me that people are contributing their time and money to help our government move away from its current system of corruption and deceit. One time in a rally, even a street vendor came over to give me packets of great tasting chicharon!

It’s hard to explain the sheer number of people who attended the recent San Carlos City rally in Negros Occidental. As soon as we entered through the backdoor, we were shocked to see so many people! After walking around for 10 minutes seeing so many happy faces, hearing the chants, and smiling at the people taking pictures, we were suddenly asked to stop. Yun na pala yung dulo ng stage… at sa sobrang dami ng tao, maski yung stage mismo puno! Amazing!

These touching and humbling moments of the campaign show that, despite the black propaganda being waged on the web and outside of it, there are better things to talk about. And these are the things that matter. These stories show that an election campaign takes us out of our routine and forces us to make a choice. Each of us makes this choice not just for our own sakes but also for the entire country. Out of these individual efforts and sacrifices do we build our democracy and ultimately our nation. Seeing people make these choices and going out there with us to change the course of this country is an inspiring experience! That, for me, is the hallmark of this campaign.

Maraming salamat po.
M.