Press Release
November 17, 2008

"Breaking the walls of fear and apathy"
Transcript of Sen. Richard J. Gordon's speech at the 34th Top Level Management Conference of the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas

It's a great pleasure and honor to be here this afternoon to address a very, very important organization such as KBP. Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas has been a very, very stalwart organization and certainly a pillar in our country.

The media in the world has become, indeed, the fourth estate. It practically dictates the tempo of the times, it controls information, and if it doesn't do so we would all be in trouble.

The recent contest in America with respect to Mr. Obama winning the candidacy was largely sustained by the media. And the fantastic thing about it is that in America both candidates, perhaps with a certain amount of favoritism on the part of the liberal media to Obama, was very instrumental in making sure that people were always informed so that they could make the necessary judgments.

Wasn't it Thomas Jefferson who said that whenever people are well informed they can be trusted in making important decisions?

We're about to have the national elections in 2010. And if we're going to allow ourselves, once again, to have mental management by the powerful and the wealthy, do not expect change in this country. Since 1946, this country has not had change for the better.. It has been a continuous elevator ride down. It has become one of the examples of how not to succeed in Asia. Once upon a time this country used to be Asia's number one, and today it has become Asia's used-to-be.

Across the board, where there is the Air Force, whereas before we had the blue diamonds in the 50's and I used to go to Nichols. What was then called Nichols and now Villamor, what has happened is our Air Force has become all air and no force. Our Air Force used to have the best pilots, the best mechanics, but today we don't even have jets flying our himpapawid.

We used to have the highest literacy rate in Asia. Yet today, we have been overtaken by many other nations. In fact, even in the economy or in education. If you look at education today, even the University of the Philippines has been overtaken by Ateneo, has been overtaken by most Asean nations in the rankings of education in the whole world.

And so, when we start looking at our country today, there's much to be cheerful about, but I cannot just point the blame. I'm not known to fix the blame, I'm known to fix the problem. And part of the problem means that we have to recognize who we are, redefine ourselves, and we need media to do so.

You ask me to speak about transformation versus transactional leadership. I can very well point to you in many examples of how, huwag naman magagalit kayo and you know that this happens, of AC-DC media, which is totally transactional. Attack and collect, defend and collect. That did not come from me, that comes from many media practitioners.

If we want transformation, which means attitude change, gagayahin natin si Ghandi. You have to be the change you want to be. You aspire for change, well be the change you want to be. It has to start from media because you are the most visible, you are in control of the means of information of this country, and for that matter, the whole world. We live in a very instantaneous world. A world where television is always omnipresent all throughout. When something happens there's a TV camera in the bombing in Istanbul, or a landslide in Guinsaugon, Leyte. Right away, people know. Either by way of texting or by way of broadcasting or television, people will know right away. There's no more opportunity to have analysis of what is happening. And that is why it behooves any party or any person who aspires for leadership of this country, and for that matter any part of the world, to be very savvy on information, because like Fedex it is like information must be just in time, on time, all the time. But if you commit to yourselves the fact that you must be responsible, that part of that responsibility must require that you make sure that that responsibility doesn't just mean you use it just in time, on time, all the time, but unadulterated news that is not biased, that is provided in citizenry so that news is given even-handedly all the time.

I saw Mr. Zubiri yesterday at the Senate, banging his wrist on the table because in fact many of our writers, many of our radio and television practitioners indeed commit a bias. Even the owners of media have a bias, and that is fair. You after all have the right to give an opinion but when you do so, it must be accompanied with the accountability so necessary.

Do you remember the time when Mr. Truman was announced, I think by the Washington Post as having lost the elections and had turn in the night and the following morning, Truman had won. And there was a string of newspaper of Truman putting out a newspaper, either the New York Times or the Washington Post, and the headline said, Dewey wins. And I can remember the editors of that newspaper said, Mr. President our newspaper is ready to eat crow anytime you're ready to serve it. All in great humor. Pero ano nangyayari sa atin dito, walang accountability. Pwede kang tirahin, pwedeng sirain ang reputasyon mo, so to speak.

We have become a nation of blame throwers. It's not a nation that fix problems anymore. It's a nation that has put walls, it has even extended the walls put there by our colonial past. A colonial past that shackled like Intramuros. They put walls in our mind and make us feel that we can no longer see the horizon ahead. We cease to be horizon chasers. Whereas Lapu-lapu was never afraid of Magellan, and that Cebuano Muslim conquered the invader right away, so much so that even today nakalagay sa ating national anthem, sa manlulupig di ka pasisiil. Or if I remember my English national anthem, ne'er shall invaders trample our sacred shores. That was Lapu-lapu, there were no walls in his mind. He was not afraid of the ships of Spain that were bigger than his banca boats. He was not afraid of their canons. He put out his sword and slew Magellan. There was no fear in between his ambition. He was confident of himself. He knew what he was capable of.

But today we have a country that has lost its confidence all together. We are filled with self doubt, we are filled with cynicism. And largely because the leadership of this country, the leadership of the media, the leadership of the church, has been generally an extension, a colonial hangover if you will, that doesn't exact ideology, that doesn't demand platform, that doesn't demand counter proposals, but are simply satisfied with just throwing stones and casting flames.

And so you have a nation that is groping in the dark, afraid of the future. In my whole lifetime in public service, I've learned to make the future my friend. I told our people never to fear the future. I've always said, hear me for the future is mine. But today there is that media that hangs in there. I cannot just go and make a statement and be assured that my statement would be given the kind of fair hearing that Obama talks about when he accepted the elections of the presidency. He was given fair hearing to be able to say anything that he pleases that came out in the media in the US. There were debates. And unlike in this country, if you don't debate in America, you would lose the elections. Here, because of the surveys, most of the time perhaps, people have learned, perhaps, to manipulate these surveys. Not the surveyors, but the people who pay for those surveys. They have learned to manipulate them so much so that when they increase their margin, media supports them. And when media supports them it even increases some more so that regulatory capture comes in. And what is that regulatory capture? The fat cows of this country. Yan ang magbibigay ng mas malaking pera and in the process we now have a captive presidency so that by the time he comes over, he is no longer capable of change because he owes the fat cows of this country already. It is called simply, regulatory capture. You cannot change anything that is in my interest without asking me, after all, I paid for your election.

Today you ask me, what kind of political and economic changes are you gonna make? What kind of transformation are you gonna make? Is it gonna be business as usual? Dito pag sinabi mong may pera ka, natatawa nga ako pag may kausap ako, dapat presidente ka na, tatakbo ka ba? Pag sinabi kong 'Oo.' Teka muna, may pera ka ba? Ano'ng partido mo? They don't ask me about my platform. They don't ask me what I can do. They don't look at my track record. They say, 'May pera ka ba?' as if that is the magic formula. And if I say, 'I don't, I'm not running.' They'll say, 'hinog ka na, pwede ka na.' Pero once you say yes, they'll say, 'may pera ka ba?' They say, 'may partido ka ba?' As if that matters.

If you look at elections in the past, people with money had lost the election. People in power, presidents, during the time Quirino was beaten by Magsaysay. Macapagal beat Garcia, an incumbent president. Cojuangco with all his money, lost. Why? Because pagdating sa presidente nag-iisip ang tao hindi lang basta pera. And if you look at the past leaders of the country, Mr. Ramos won the election with Lakas. He went away from LDP because he lost and formed Lakas overnight and he won. Yet media doesn't help the people analyze. If it's still that paradigm na kinakailangan may partido ka para lumabas ang tunay na dapat ihalal.

So today I would like to talk about issues for change. Now that I think I've given you so much sermon here about media and I hope you don't mind. Let me now talk about what is before us in the coming elections. Today you have a country that is totally cynical and doubtful that has lost its way. Everybody wants change, especially after Obama. Nakita nyo by reason of color, meron na kaagad tumakbo, Obama raw siya ng Pilipinas. He's a gaya-gaya, puto maya. Levity aside, everybody aspires for change. But change must come and you must know the issues upon which you're running. And what are the things we need to do?

Question. Are we a united nation today? You cannot govern without unity and stability. Those are the conditions sine qua non for a successful leader. A leader must unite and stabilize the nation. And look at where we are. We have the oldest communist insurgency still ongoing in spite of the collapse of the Soviet empire. We still have the MILF, the MNLF. Tignan ninyo, we still cannot handle disasters. It doesn't take a genius president to know that we have 22 typhoons every year. But we cannot stop this cycle of disaster and poverty. There is no leadership that is cogent, that will prepare the nation na tatama ang bagyo sa inyo para sa ganun kayo ay handa. That's why in the Red Cross we are doing something about it now. We are putting up 143 in every barangay, 44 people who will commit, plan, prepare, practice, and cope and mitigate when we have to rehabilitate during a disaster.

It doesn't take a genius to know that in our country today education has completely gone out of the window. Can you imagine what has happened to us? That is why I filed the Health and Education Acceleration Program. And yet I would like to see that media jump into this proposal. Because tanungin ko kayo, ilang eleksyon na ang nakita nyo na sinasabi lahat pag nanalo ako ang edukasyon gaganda! Pero tinatanong nyo ba kung ano ang gagawin nila? No! They just say gaganda lang, walang pinapakita kahit ano. And what happens to us now? Ganun pa rin.

Today we have 20 million Filipinos in school. Ang kulang na eskwela 40,000 classrooms. Pero in denial ang department of education, sabi 9,000 na lang ang kulang because nababa na namin. But they don't tell you that the 9,000 classrooms is good for two shifts a day in the rural areas, and three to four shifts in the urban areas. Papano matututo ang mga bata? We need teachers, we need 40,000 schoolrooms. And our schoolrooms don't even have toilets. No wonder, practically 80% of them have always stomachaches. That is the statistics I got from the department of health and education. 97% of our children have dental caries. Tanungin ninyo, ilan ang comfort room ratio nito. 151 students to one toilet, that is the average. So how would you expect our kids to be clean, when nakikita nila na ang priority ay hindi yung kalinisan, hindi yung kanilang kalusugan. There are only 617 dentists for 20 million students. And no wonder a lot of kids cannot finish school. 21% are malnourished, so ang nangayayari sa atin only 17 will get to college. Only 62 will finish grade school, and of that only 48 will get to high school and of the 48 only 17, if they are successful, will finish college.

And yet where have we put our money in? we put our money not in infrastructure. It is just like the old Subic, minumura kami sa amin noong araw ang mga prostitutes. We had a social problem. But in reality, they never did anything about that community. In fact it was Subic, Olongapo, that did something about the bases. It's not Manila who did something about it. It was our volunteers. It was our vision, our values, our volunteerism that saw us through. And yet when you look at our country today, ano ang pag-asa? Punta na lang ako abroad. Well, araw-araw merong kaso sa Saudi Arabia. May pinugutan ng ulo last time, meron na naman may kaso dun. Araw-araw meron na. And yet, we are helpless and we could be held hostage at any time, if something happens to those people we can't even bring them out because ang c-130 natin ay iisa na lamang. Hindi natin makukuha yan eh walong milyon ang mga yan nasa abroad. In Saudi Arabia almost 2 million na ang tao natin dyan. So, the long and the short of it is, people find their future overseas. People find their future in foreign lands. Find the future in foreign shores, that is the strategy of every government here. It is not find future in Pilipinas. If I had hostesses in Olongapo that time, it's because they did not take care of their people in Waray land, or in Ilonggo land, or in Bicol land, they were all going there to hold the knife by the blade. But if people contributed to the development and welfare of the countryside, we would not have had hostesses in Olongapo. And we would not have people finding their future in foreign shores if we only took care of the countryside, which up to now we are deafened by media, deafened by our leaders who keep promising us and we don't do anything and just say, 'wala tayong magagawa, talagang ganyan.' Aren't you tired of it yet?

There's no anger.. There's no umbrage. There is just deafening silence. Complete apathy. Complete complacency. Totally defeated. That's why we are not a nation today.. We do not help one another that is why we cannot free ourselves.

I say we can do that. If we did it in Subic, if we did it in tourism, with WOW Philippines, I say, one of the principal things that is wrong with us is there is no commitment to change, there is no focus on change. Leadership is totally unhinged by every disaster, every scandal. And today we have Bolante, two months ago we had Lozada, the previous years and months you name it we have it. And yet, the next thing that I'm talking about is there is no closure.

No change, no closure, no continuity. If we do something good, they change it. The next administration changes it. O bakit hindi tinuloy yung nuclear plant? Ngayon lung umaandar yung nuclear plant siguro naka-apat na tayo ngayon, mas mura siguro ang kuryente ngayon.

There's no closure from Aguinaldo. Sino ba ang leader ng rebolusyon? Aguinaldo o Bonifacio? Nag-aaway pa tayo. Di natin malaman kung sino leader natin. At si Aguinaldo pinapatay si Bonifacio. Si Bonifacio magta-traidor sa rebolusyon kaya pinapatay sya ni Aguinaldo. They could not even get to one another, yung collaboration issue.. Was anybody punished? 'No. Kasama natin yan pare. Pareho nating elitista yan. Patawarin na lang natin, amnesty tayo.' All the way to Ninoy Aquino's death. Up to now there's no closure on Mr. Marcos. There was no closure on Estrada. And there will be no closure on Lozada, there will be no closure again on Bolante. Mark my words. And we just accept it.

So, having said all that, what do we say here today?

Number one is to focus on the national vision that creates not a country that is as if it is a third person, but us�a caring, compassionate, competitive, competent, united, liberal, transformational, secure, safe and successful society.

Kailangan maintindihan ng tao kung saan mo sila dadalhin. It is better to know where you're going and not know how, than to know how you're going and not know where.

It was easy for me to say, we're going to go and make Subic a Freeport. And so I signed up our people on that and I said we can do it if we work together. Remember, if we work together we can free ourselves. If we help one another we can free ourselves. And indeed that's what we did in Subic. We guarded homes that did not belong to us. We created a new paradigm in traffic, in currents, and it became a model for base conversion. And yet in our own country, hirap na hirap tayo. There is no change because there is no commitment to change. There is no courage. We as a people die everyday, our media practitioners are shot, they are killed. And yet, 'talagang ganyan, wala tayong magagawa.'

So we go now to the next aspect. We have unity of vision, and that is how you create unity, to have a common vision. If you have a common vision you will have shared vision, shared values, and shared triumphs. If we aim high to make a country like the Philippines a first world nation by the year 2025, then there is a goal. Then you have to tell people, kailangan meron tayong vision, meron tayong values.

Number one value? I don't have to tell you about it, there are 15 articles in the Constitution that says education must be number one. That the reeling of youth for national efficiency should be there. Nandun lahat yan. And yet, ang budget natin sa education, katawa-tawa. You know, Singapore spends much more money in education than the Philippines. And when you look at Singapore, you can put 18 Singapores in Negros island, and yet it beats our entire country. It has no agriculture, it has no water, they get their water from Malaysia, it has no air space. And yet that small city state beats your entire country, all with your agriculture, your natural resources, your water, your airports, and everything. And yet they have chosen to be leaders in education. Education, walang tatalo sa kanila. So kailangan, ilagay natin into the front burner.

I am not an empty promiser. I am a risk taker as well. Magagalit sa akin ang telcos when I say ang laki-laki ng kinikita nila. Do you know there are 2 billion text messages a day? I would like to enlist your help on this one. And please bear with me and listen, lend me your ears. Two billion text messages a day. Kung piso yun that's 2 billion a day. Do you know that in 1991, there were only 35,000 cellphone subscribers in this country? But today, there are 62 million cellphone owners. So ang lakas. So if you would say, hatiin natin text lang, ang sisingilin natin kukunin yung kalahati ng text ninyo at ibawas natin sa telco dahil kumita na kayo, just for five years. Sabi nila masyadong malaki.. Gawin nating ten centavos sa piso, sa two billion, that's 200 million pesos a day. 200 million pesos a day times 365 days is about 80 billion pesos a year, more or less.

Now, if you say I'm going to build 40,000 classrooms through a government corporation that I'm creating with my bill called Health and Education Acceleration Program, 40,000 classrooms ang target nyo this year tapusin nyo yan, by hook or by crook, eto ang pera. Ang classroom ngayon nagkakahalaga ng 600,000. gawin na nating 1 million per classroom, may computer, may silya, may comfort room, kumpleto na, 1 million. So if you have 40,000 classrooms, you'll need 40 billion pesos. So, gagawin yan you can actually pump prime the economy. All over the Philippines, from Apparri to Jolo will be building schools. Kaya ba yan? Kaya. Pero kukulangin ka ng pako, kukulangin ka yero, kukulangin ka ng karpintero. Are you with me? Nakikita nyo ba? 40,000 classrooms tapusin right away, the gap is closed. You still have 40 billion. Yung 40 billion, gawin natin lahat ng Parents-Teachers Associations from Grade 1 to Grade 6 bigyan mo ng allowance o pagkain para sa mga bata. They will go to school because they can eat in school. Ang magluluto, yung Parents-Teachers Associations. That's giving money to the parents and making sure that kids go to school. You still have another 20 billion. So use that 20 billion for modernizing the teachers' capability, start training the teachers in English, Science and Math. Because we have been losing every year. Every year number 42 ang Pilipinas sa English, Science and Math out of 45 countries. Kulelat tayo palagi.

So for this year you spend 80 billion, next year you don't have to build schools, you can start raising the salaries of teachers. I-improve unti-unti ang education. After 5 years, you can use the money elsewhere. But I bet you once that this starts, hindi na titigil yang mga yan. Magtutuloy-tuloy na yan. But the growth will still continue.

But today there are other problems apart from education. There is the currency reaching in crisis in the world. Germany has just declared a recession. An international organization said the Philippines will be going on a recession. So alam mo na na magkakaroon ng recession, did you hear the government making any plans? No. Did they prepare the people just in case all our maids in Europe because of the lifestyle change baka pauwiin yan. Ang caregivers siguro, ang mga nurses maiiwan, pero yung mga maids baka pauwiin yan. So walang preparasyon. Wala rin preparasyon para dun sa mga mawawalan ng trabaho sa atin. Right now in America people are losing their jobs. And I would like us to be prepared. And yet we don't hear that. We must always be prepared, just as in the winds and scorns of time, the typhoons, the earthquakes and the volcanoes, we must prepare ourselves for anything. These are just some thoughts that I thought I'm going to lay on the table today.

How about your elections? Every president nangako na lilinisin ang eleksyon. But for the first time, we filed a bill to automate the election and make it happen. Hindi ginawa sa barangay elections, hindi ginawa dun sa elections nung 2007, so nainis na ko. Si Melo was appointed, sabi ko, if you do not implement the law that we have approved, I tell you, I sit in the Commission on Appointments, I will reject your appointment. Edi mabilis, gumalaw. We did it in ARMM. Natapos sa ARMM. I'm still not happy with it, but at least, nakarinig ba kayo ng patayan, digmaan kung saan, ng dayaan? Every election in this country there are only two people that come out, yung nanalo at saka yung dinaya, walang natatalo.

I'm sure you are envious of Mr. Obama, when you saw that a black man won in America. And people were asked, mostly black, they said, I will never see it in my lifetime that a black man would win. The whites of course, medyo supremacist ang mga yan, I saw it in my lifetime magkakaroon ng black president. But the point is, if we look at the results of the election maiinggit ka eh because it showed that it was possible. Young people lined up for four hours to vote, some of them voted early, in advance by month. Many of them came out and knocked on doors. They raised more money than the fat cows of America, using internet, using text messaging, they were able to change the paradigm. Do you think we cannot do that in this country?

In the past, in Olongapo, when I became the mayor of Olongapo we cleaned up that city. We made color coding, not the number system, but the color code where yellow stays on the main road because Americans get drunk at night and ang sasakyan nila yung pinakamaliwanag. And when you want to go to the beach, dun ka sa blue jeep because tabi ng dagat ang dadaanan mo, kulay blue. You want to go to the market, take the green jeep, pang-La Salle yan mahilig mamalengke. Walang colorum, may body number, may pangalan, my driver's name, and I told them you are professional drivers, may body number si Jaworski, may pangalan sya sa likod, may color code sya, act like one. Hanggang ngayon walang crime sa tricycles and jeepneys of Olongapo. Often imitated, but never duplicated. Walang political will.

So if you start looking at Subic, volunteerism, a vision of a Freeport, well we did that too. Dennis Mendiola, summa cum laude from Wharton, came down and helped me out. Many, many young people from all over the world they started believing in a sincerely changed country started in Subic Bay. Everybody said it was going to be stolen, it was going to be pillaged like Clark Field, but when we got out of it Subic had become a model for change. Again no continuity. When I was kicked out, smuggling reigned supreme. And you all watched there and you were wined and dined by my successor and you chose to see with one eye closed. And you only wanted to hear with one ear the nice things that they were supposed to be doing. And yet, do you realize that you can open your media to the expose that in three years 13 billion in taxes were lost. And I can prove it to the last car that was smuggled out of Subic, I can prove it, 13 billion in 3 years, 9 billion in cigarettes, I can prove that because there's a paper trail. 4 billion in alcohol, because there's a paper trail. And yet if the president doesn't say, gawin mo yan, kunin mo yan, walang political will, may utang na loob sya doon sa naglagay dyan, hindi nya magagawa yan. And that's why this coming elections is very important and you must know and must rise to the level of importance that everybody is according you the right way to make sure that there is a level playing field for all candidates coming out. If you do not do that then the people cannot make the right choice. I will blame you. And I'll tell you that because you are the ones in control.

I was told earlier, laparan natin yung minutes na pwede. I am for that. Pero sa conditions sine qua non. Suportahan nyo ung ipa-file kong bill na the government will pay for all presidential candidates their media expenses for national broadcast and television needs. That way level ang playing field. Hindi lamang yung sinasabing sipag at tiyaga, hindi lamang yung mayayaman, hindi lamang yung malalaking tao. Tama o hindi?

Ang problema natin is sometimes we would listen, we would take charges but we don't want to do anything. Nothing ever gets done in this country unless we all decide to say, yes we will sign up for that vision, yes we will go on come hell or high water and we will debate because that is what a democracy is all about. You debate ideas and those ideas must be debated and action must be taken. And if people don't act, then that's where the media plays its important role.

When a media man dies, check my record, I have the most speeches in the Senate pero hindi nalalabas sa media. Anytime a media man is shot, a judge is shot, I go up and rise on a point of collective privilege for the nation because once again pinatay ang demokrasya. You know why I do that? Because my father was assassinated. And before that there were two attempts on his life. That is why I became a lawyer. I would have been a CEO of Procter and Gamble if my father had not died. Pero kung wala tayong pakialam, talagang walang mangyayari sa bayan natin. We are defeated even before we have started.

Life is about choices. And if we are poor in this country, it is because there's an absence of choice. We are poor because we are not educated. Many of our people cannot read adequately, cannot write adequately. And once you cannot do that, talo ka na. You have no choice. We're poor because there's no vision in our leadership. We're poor because we have no values, there's no work ethic that is thought by the presidents of this country. You never heard a president say bawal ang tamad sa Pilipinas, lalong bawal ang tanga sa Pilipinas. I said that in Olongapo, you can ask anybody. Last night I saw a kid from Olongapo, I was being interviewed in my office, and I said you're from Ateneo, 'yes, I am grade six sir.' Ok tell me, ano'ng motto natin sa Olongapo? 'aim high.' Ano'ng bawal, 'tamad, sir.' Ano'ng lalong bawal, 'tanga, sir.' He knew because if you ambition for something, you have to have the values of being able to work hard and being able to discern, that way you create choices for yourselves.

So today that it was I'd like to bring forward. Media is the vast repository, is the vessel for change. It is a huge cup where you put information, which would then spread to the breadth and depth of this archipelago. So that people can make informed choices. So that people would know to discern and to make decisions. Not based on people who dance on stage and ask for your vote. Not based on people who can buy the media or buy the votes, but through a system that is focused, fast, friendly, flexible and forward-looking at all times. And if we do not do that then we fail our country. Above all, we fail ourselves.

We seek a new world today. But you see change will not happen unless people buy into it. And you know, unless we decide to be part of the leadership, unless we say government succeed, nations rise because people have come to be part of the process of change. Pag pinagsama ang lider at ang tao, lalabas ang galling ng Pilipino..

And so ladies and gentlemen of the media, the powerful media, kahit na wala kayong pera because you control the air waves, you control opinion, you are most powerful of the lot today. Kahit na hindi kayo kasing yaman ng ibang tao, kayo ang nagdadala, kayo ang may responsibilidad sa paglawak ng pagiisip ng tao, kayo ang makakapagsabi kung ano ang tama at ano'ng mali. You never hear our president or previous presidents say what kind of action is acceptable and what kind of action is not acceptable. That is why today unacceptable deeds like Bolante happens. That is why you see a lot of unacceptable things happen during the election at kurakutan sa gobyerno. We create new vocabularies in the process and we laugh at it. But mostly you do not know that the whole world laughs at us. Singapore certainly tells us, what happened to your country? We always looked up to you in the past, we always thought that you were going to be our competition.

Mahathir came to Subic three times because he was afraid that Subic was going to give his Malaysia's super corridor a run for his money. Even Kenichi Ohmae, the famous financial consultant, said Dick you're not going to win your race with Mahatir because you're appointed, he is a prime minister, and he has all the things that he need to make it happen, you don't. And he was right because I was kicked out. And I was kicked out by a president who was elected because everybody placed their faith in him because he was supposed to be unlearned, he was supposed to be somebody who people can identify with. And what was his first order? Not to uplift the people's hopes by promising them good governance. The first order was a vindictive act of removing Dick Gordon from Subic Bay. That was not what hurt me. What hurt me was that the silence was deafening. Fear was placed before principle.

That is why I feel today I see those things that I noticed then repeated day in and day out in a country that has learned to simply absorb the punches and simply say, talagang ganyan wala akong magagawa. But this representation urges you, encourages you, motivates you to try and say as Ulysses said, 'Come my friends, 'T is not too late to seek a newer world; for my purpose holds to sail beyond the sunset, and though we are not now that strength which in old days moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are; one equal temper of heroic hearts, made weak by time and fate, but still strong in will; to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.'

Break those walls of colonialism in our mind. Break those walls of fear in our minds. And let us build together a bagumbayan, a place where Rajah Soliman went to after he was kicked out by Goiti in Manila and made into Intramuros. A bagumbayan where the Spaniards killed Gomburza, and killed Rizal, and their blood fertilized bagumbayan. And they even mocked us by turning it into Luneta, lunatics, small moon. Because today that is what we have become. Little Lunetas in our minds. A little bit of madness in the minds of every Filipino, but bereft of ambition, bereft the courage to change. It is up to media now to bring forth that next way of changing thrust that would hopefully propel our country to greater heights.

I am simply a senator of this country. It has never entered my mind, made my head bigger. I am like you. I have my own children and my grandchildren. I have a future to take care of not just for them but for the country. Let us work on it together.

God bless you. Mabuhay kayong lahat!

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