PGMA's Speech during the breakfast meeting hosted by Asia Society and Council on Foreign Relations

PGMA's Speech during the breakfast meeting hosted by Asia Society and Council on Foreign Relations

The Asia Society Bldg., Garden Court New York, USA (26 Sept 2003)

Thank you very much, Frank.

Chairman Holbrooke; Ambassador Platt; Ernie Bower, who shared the Presidential table with us in the state dinner that President Bush gave in my honor; Ambassador Murphy; members of the Philippine delegation; ladies and gentlemen.

Thank you all for coming.

It's good to see many of you again. I was the guest of honor when this office was opened. And before that, I spoke to many of you -- who are here today -- in November of 2001. At that time in November of 2001 when I was your speaker, I spoke of the inseparability of peace, stability and economic progress. That was a few months after 9-11, and everybody was trying to explain away 9-11, trying to look for an explanation of why such an evil should happen. And I was probably the first or at least one of the first voices to say that there is a close link between terrorism and poverty. There is a close link between peace and progress. There is a close link between stability and progress.

And as I said that in November, I don't know how many of you caught it, but it was still a new idea which later on was institutionalized and accepted in Monterey. Today, more than ever, it is clearer than ever before that peace is an indispensable condition for economic development just as development is an essential component of peace.

And for my country, nothing will do more to lift the Philippines out of poverty than peace itself. And to that end, my trip to New York is motivated by my keen desire to advance peace on all fronts. I will travel anywhere anytime to advance peace in Mindanao, in the Southern Philippines.

I'm speaking before the U.N. today but I advanced my trip to New York one day ahead so that I could meet with Prime Minister Mahathir to help advance the cause of peace in Mindanao. The Prime Minister is a prime mover in helping us negotiate with the MILF, the Muslim separatist group in the Southern Philippines. He is a leader in the Muslim world. He is a leader in the organization of the Islamic countries. We expect him to be the next chairman. His role is indispensable. And I'm glad that he continues to support, more than support, push forward our peace process. I hope one of his many legacies will be to bring peace to Mindanao.

Today, I am having lunch with the ambassadors and foreign ministers who are in town from the organization of the Islamic conference. I will be attending the OIC conference next month in Malaysia upon the invitation of Prime Minister Mahathir. That OIC conference will take place just the day before President bush lands in Manila. And I hope to use that time - two days in Kuala Lumpur -- with the OIC leaders to advance the peace process in Mindanao and advance the understanding between all faiths. Because aside from the link between poverty and terrorism, between progress and peace, one of the things that I pointed out and instructed my administration to do when we put together our holistic approach to counter terrorism is that we must advance interfaith dialogue. We must have an understanding of one another's religions. The terrorists of 9-11 and following tried to provoke a religious war. We must use that tragedy as an event and motivation for religious understanding instead.

In the same vein, I met over lunch yesterday with several of the gentlemen who are here in this hall, as in their capacity as leaders of the U.S. Institute of Peace and as experts in peace negotiations, they will also aid the Philippines in the negotiations in Mindanao. I am very happy to learn that five former ambassadors to the Philippines are very actively working through the institute of peace to help us in our peace process. It just shows that once you live in the philippines you will love the philippines and wish it well.

I also believe that some kind of federal system for the Philippines could help solve the problem of Islamic separatism in the south. At the same time, I'm working with other heads of state to ensure continued cooperation in our battle to rid Southeast Asia of the threat of terrorism. More than ever, we need strong alliances to defeat our common foes. And today, our greatest common foe, physically, is terrorism. We need strong alliances too to build global prosperity.

As we make significant progress in Mindanao, let me also reassure you that we also have well in hand the reported threats to our political and economic stability from the military that has captured headlines of late. I speak here of the ill-fated mutiny of July 27, which ended peacefully and quickly without a drop of blood, without any damage to property, solved in about 18 hours.

The Philippines is stronger today than it was before that attempt. That attempt by handful of officers and the political intriguers who backed them. That day we showed that our institution stood tall. Monday, when the market opened, it was relatively stable. The population was calm, the political process is intact.

Speaking of the political process, for those of you who are Philippine watchers -- and there are many of you in this hall who are -- you know full well that the rumor mill is in full tilt in our election season. It's our equivalent of a... Our political equivalent of a typhoon season. That's part of the culture I certainly hope to wreck as I strive to build stronger institutions to support a stronger republic. We must wreck that cycle, but let me assure you the nation is stable, the economy is stronger than many of our neighbors today, and peace in Mindanao is within our grasp.

That doesn't mean that everything is perfect or that I'm downplaying the significance of the event. What I do want to underscore is the underlying strength of our system and reassure you that I'm in firm control. That the country is stable and moving forward on all cylinders.

I inherited, in 2001, a weakened economy, at a time when the global economy itself was weak and volatile, as it continues to be. But notwithstanding that weakness that I inherited domestically and internationally, we have had success in addressing the structural issues that have prevented our economy from reaching its full potential and we're committed to do more.

The potential of our economy to a large extent lies in some of the best human resources to be found anywhere in the world. Many of you here represent some of the international companies investing in the Philippines. You are there in finance. You are there in manufacturing, not only consumer products like cigarettes but also products in the electronics sector, the sector of the 21st century. And many of you are there in ICT and business process outsourcing.

I consider myself not only the head of state responsible for a nation of 80-million people in-country but also the CEO of a Philippine global enterprise of 8-million Filipinos who live and work abroad and generate billions of dollars a year for our economy.

In the past two years, we fortified our macroeconomic fundamentals. And this has paid off in consistent growth all these several years while our neighboring countries were going 'boom and bust' -- big growth rates, one year negative the next or vice versa -- we were steady. And we have low inflation as well while many of our neighbors are suffering from lower or negative growth.

We're making solid investments in infrastructure to help move people and goods and enhance the quality of life. We are focusing on raising government revenues to finance the infrastructure and other needs to make business want to invest more in the Philippines. Our focus on increasing government revenues is centered on improving transparency, something that we are seeking to do throughout the government. We passed the Anti-Money Laundering Bill which has gone a long way in increasing transparency in the banking system.

Our efforts to broaden and strengthen our tax base are also bearing fruit. And those of you who have been following our progress on this front know that this is one reason why we are having such success now in reining in our deficit. Improved collection procedures and anti-graft measures have led to eight consecutive months of higher than target tax revenues.

I'm often asked about the challenge the Philippines and other nations in our region face from the Chinese economy. I have always responded that China is both a competitor and a major market. But judging from our exports to China and our tourists from china in the last two years, I would say that the healthy Chinese economy will be good for our nation and our region.

Finally, Richard Holbrooke asked me about Cancun. And I said that's great because I'm going to say a last word about Cancun. I must say a word about the failure of the Cancun-WTO ministerial to reach agreement on a road map for negotiations to reach the goals by the end of 2004. The WTO, of course, has an upside. It has been instrumental in the explosiveness in the growth of global trade, but it also has its downside. It has increasingly been perceived as not responsive to the needs of developing countries. And when Richard Holbrooke asked me about that collapse in Cancun, well, I reserve our official judgment for this speech and it is: "no deal in Cancun is better than a bad deal" especially, particularly in agriculture.

Now -- I was telling Richard -- now perhaps, there will be a better chance that differences will be ironed out eventually. Because now that the developed countries have gotten this wake up call from Cancun, we can have a balanced result by the next time negotiations are concluded. And while the results may not however be as ambitious as originally planned in the volume of new trade, it might be better in terms of equitable benefits to developed and developing countries alike.

On our part, moving into the post-Cancun world; moving into the post-China entering the WTO world; moving into the world of greater alliances against terrorism; moving into the world where we're still grappling with a world slowdown, I would say that on the part of the Philippines, our resilience and the strategic positioning I have placed on our economy and security agenda will hopefully serve us well.

We will continue to pursue developing our economy on a foundation of market enterprise, strong institutions of governance and rule of law. A willingness to engage the global economy while helping affected sectors of our society to make the difficult adjustment to the inevitable global competitiveness.

Regional stability and prosperity have a direct impact on our own security and economic well-being, and that is why we are very close to our neighbors. In short, we face the future with confidence. Confident that our people will rise to the task and win in partnership with sincere allies.

While at the U.N. -- as I said, after this appointment -- my next one is my speech at the general assembly. Yesterday, I met with Kofi Annan and I am also finalizing the election of the Philippines as the Asian representative to the National Security Council.

My time in New York is targeted and well-spent. And part of that is being able to dialogue with our friends in the Asia society because we are all interested in events of regional security and integration which drive on.

Events of regional security and integration, yes, they drive on. And we shall embrace them with the same fervent spirit that we shall work with all nations for a better world.

Thank you.

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