Fifth State of the Nation Address

By Ferdinand Marcos

In the "Fifth State of the Nation Address," president Ferdinand Marcos discussed various issues in the Philippines in 1970. He talked about the economy in detail, highlighting topics such as employment, trade, mining, etc. In addition, Marcos spoke of social reform and human resources development, discussing health, justice, community development, and more. A must-read for the historical and political understanding of the Philippines during that time.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Good Press
• Release date: Apr 11, 2021
• ISBN: 4064066445683

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Ferdinand Marcos

Fifth State of the Nation Address

Published by Good Press, 2022

[e-mail]

EAN 4064066445683

Table of Contents

Cover

Titlepage

Text

PART I

INTRODUCTION

This is for me a historic privilege. No man can be exalted higher than to be chosen twice by his own people to lead them; this, at a time of great anxieties and great expectations for the nation and for the world.

Permit me, then, to begin this report by thanking our people for their mandate, and congratulating all those who were elected to office in the last elections.

But the honor of this mandate pales beside its gravity. I interpret this mandate not just as a call to continue in office, but a summons to supreme self-exertion in the service of the nation.

Our country summons us all to exert ourselves to the limit of our God-given powers, endurance and wisdom to raise the nation to a bold, new future.

The situation in the world, as well as that in the Philippines, is marked by sweeping change.

We cannot move forward within the grooves of old habits and outmoded institutions. Progress demands that the barriers of centuries be broken.

But the pursuit of development and the breaking of barriers to progress require such energy and endurance as may strain our resources, both of the public and the private sectors. Thus, the balance of payments problem is now the most immediate and urgent challenge facing our country.

But from an intimate knowledge of our problems, I know and I say that there is no reason to be afraid of the dollar gap. It can and will be bridged in a short time. We should be more concerned about the moral gap—a gap in our self-confidence and our strength of purpose as a nation, a gap that threatens all classes of people in all stations of life.

We must turn these difficulties and problems into opportunities to strengthen our moral fibre as a people, to temper our will and character, to imbue the nation with a permanent sense of discipline so necessary to the achievement of progress.

Today we must offer the alternative to anarchy—a constructive nationalism, not a vituperative chauvinism.

There is ferment and a desire for change. Many cannot describe, nor do they know, the change that they aspire for, but the instinct is there; let the leaders in government help define and outline it for them.

We must offer reforms in the electoral system, abolish social iniquity, work out a government machinery reorganization, provide a modernized penal system, discard feudalism and at the same time oppose fascism.

We must be understanding even with those who refuse to understand us.

For when we establish priorities in development, many will question their lack of standing in such a plan of development as well as in the listing of expenditures. Sometimes we must suffer in silence, for they will question not only our acts I but also our motives as well. Silent we will be, aware as we are that ultimately—as the expression goes—the truth will out, as it always will. These are hazards of authority and leadership. This is the measure of responsibility. You and I must patiently explain.

Government today is often charged with being insensitive, likened to a corporation without a soul. We must demonstrate that government does have the capacity for compassion—for the weak, the underprivileged and the destitute. All the agencies of the government must respond to the needs and problems of the common people.

Our confidence in the future rests on a solid base, namely, our present achievements. The past four years have shown that the spirit of the Filipino people, properly challenged, will more than match the dimensions of the challenges they have to confront.

The only condition is that the nation discipline itself towards its goals. I am not speaking of discipline imposed by a tyrannical government, but of self-discipline in the active exercise of freedom.

Discipline is our salvation as a nation and the key to our future greatness.

We can no longer plead as an excuse immaturity or smallness in the world. We have grown in population to 37 million people, making us the fifteenth largest nation. Among the developing countries, we rank seventh in the world in population. Countries similar to us in geographical area, such as Great Britain and Japan, have demonstrated their capacity to become world leaders. We do not, we need not, aspire to world leadership. We do have the potential to play a larger role in world affairs. But first, we must acquire the discipline of self-denial, the ability to sacrifice present gratification and ease for permanent and lasting national progress.

I ask the leaders of our government– including the members of the Seventh Congress — to set the example and lead the way for national self-discipline.

Let me now turn to the facts of our economy.

PART II

THE ECONOMY

Our economy is developing vigorously.

The economic difficulties—namely, the balance of payments problem and inflation—that beset us are consequences of the massive capital expenditures that we made and not of stagnation. As such, they are temporary and can be surmounted. But to surmount them, we need strength of purpose and discipline. We have to subordinate our personal desires to the needs and aspirations of the nation. We have to train ourselves to use our resources carefully and fruitfully.

To get an overview of our economic state and to provide a context for our new programs, allow me to review the economic gains of the past four years.

Highlights of 1969

The impulse of growth which compels the most intense application of government resources into the process of national expansion, was well on the scene in the four years that ended in 1969.

In those four years, we sought to retrieve the economy from stagnation and decay, and in 1969 it was possible for us to see that our labors had paid off. Revived in purpose and seeking. To pursue larger goals, we found the evidence of our achievement not only in concrete roads, bridges, schoolhouses and other such palpable things but above all in the new determination of the people and government not to cruise along its difficulties but rather to confront them with all the resources at our command.