PGMA's Speech during a meeting with the Filipino Community in Jersey City |
St. Peter's College, Yanitelli, Center, Kennedy Blvd. Jercey City, USA (26 Sept.2003) |
| Thank you very much, Ambassador
Del Rosario. Governor McGreevey; Mayor Cunningham and Mrs. Cunningham, Assemblywoman Guigley; Mayor Rivas, Father Loughran; Consul General Lacanlale; Loida Nicolas, representing the Filipino-Americans all over the country; and Rudy Nicolas, thank you for your wonderful plaque; Carmen Flores and the other leaders of the community; all the different members of the event organization committee of this wonderful Philippine community, thank you very much for your wonderful welcome. Isang magandang gabi sa inyong lahat. At careng Cabalen cung capangpangan, mayap a bengi quecongan. Dagiti kakailyak ti bangir ni mamang ko, naimbag nga rabii yo amin apo. Tan masantos ya labi ed sikayon amin, pangasinan. Sa aton mga kaigsuonan gikan sa mindanao asa ko nidako, maayong gabii kaninyong tanan. Kag sa mga kasimanwa sang akon bana, maayong gab-i sa inyo nga tanan. Nagagalak akong makapiling kayong mga pilipino na nakatira sa New Jersey at sa North East United States. Consul General Lacanlale tells me that Jersey City has the largest concentration of Filipinos in this state, in fact in her whole jurisdiction. There are even more Filipinos in jersey city than in the whole New York State in New York City. Hindi lamang 'yon, nalaman ko rin ayon sa supplemental report ng U.S. census of year 2000 na kahit isang porsiyento lamang ang Filipino sa populasyon ng New Jersey State, kayo naman ang pinakamataas na per capita income sa lahat ng ethnic groups. In the state of New Jersey for the 2000 census of 1999 income, the per capita Filipinos is 81,000 dollars. The statewide median income was 55,000 dollars. At hindi lamang 'yon, sa lahat ng Pilipino sa buong United States, pinakamataas na per capita income taga-Jersey City. And I would like to encourage the Filipino-American community to translate your economic prosperity into political clout in your adopted country so that you can help advance the interest of your fellow Filipinos. And so that you can contribute to the strengthening of bilateral relations within the United States and the Philippines. But even now here in New Jersey and Jersey City, I can also see already the Filipinos political clout. The fact that your governor and your mayor and your assemblywoman are all here that's tribute to you, the Filipino-Americans and their constituency. And I have learned that in New Jersey alone, many Filipino Americans hold important positions and perform important jobs for your community. Well, we are very proud of Bergenfield county mayor, Mayor Rivas, the first Filipino-American to be elected as mayor in Eastern U.S.A. and, you're running for re-election, aren't you mayor? And he said, "so I told you why you have a big constituency." and he said, "hindi lang yon, ang dami kong Kapampangan sa aking constituency." Well, hearing Jersey City, again, Lingling Lacanlale already said that some of the staff of Mayor Cunningham are also Filipino-Americans like Serafina Senco and Eduardo Tolosa. Congratulations on your recent appointment as director of Jerset City's department of finance and city assessor of Jersey City. A tribute not only to the competence of our Filipinos but the fact that they are in the revenue generating agencies is a tribute to the integrity of the Filipinos here in Jersey City. I also met Lucy Hughes earlier and she is with the governor. And I thank you Lucy for bringing Governor McGreevey to our very important gathering. Made important by their presence, made important by the fact that in this hall are some of the most prosperous and respected F ilipinosin the United States. Most of you have chosen to become American citizens but I'm grateful that nonetheless, you have kept your connections to the Philippines. And we in the Philippines continue to be proud of what you have all attained. Without doubt advocating Philippine interests and issues in the U.S. requires a strong and united Philippine-American community. And in the same manner that you have made the Philippines proud of you, the Philippine government also recognizes your continued support for our welfare back home so we have given you a voice in the conduct of Philippine affairs through the Overseas Voting Law. I remember saying that when the bill is passed into law, I will sign it in 24 hours and I did. And that's because, for many years when I was a senator, you have always asked me to file a bill to give you voting rights. And I always would file that bill, but when I was a senator it never went beyond the committee level. Finally, when I became president from year 2001, my first State of the Nation Address, I already asked Congress to pass it as part of the urgent administration measures -- it has passed. And I hope in the years to come, more and more Filipino-Americans will register to vote for candidates in the Philippines. And at the same time, it's also good for the welfare of the Philippines that you make your voices heard here in the United States. In recognition of your contributions to the Philippine economy, I have also just sign into law something I think is more important to you than the Overseas Voting Bill, and that is the Dual Citizenship Act. The passage of the Dual Citizenship Law is part of our country's response to globalization but also it serves the strong homing instinct of every Filipino of there long stay in a foreign land. We know that you continue to love the Philippines even if you're already American citizens. You demonstrate this because you've maintained your contacts and your interest in your homeland, and many of you when you retire, you retire in the Philippines. And many of you want to own properties and invest your hard-earned money in our country giving a further boost to the Philippine economy. Now, with the Dual Citizenship Act you can buy all the land you want and you can invest it in any business in the Philippines. Let the me also take this opportunity to reassure you that back home we have well in hand the reported threats to our political and economic stability. I'm sure last July 27 you were all watching not just The Filipino Channel but CNN and all the channels here because some elements of the military captured the headlines of that day. I'm speaking here of the ill-fated mutiny but which ended peacefully and quickly within 20 hours without a shot being fired, without a single drop of blood being shed, without a single square meter of property being destroyed. And because we showed the world that we can addressed such a challenge quickly and bloodlessly, the Philippines is stronger today than it was before that attempt. That attempt was done by a handfull of officers and the political intriguers who backed them. But on that day -- and the market data followed -- we saw that our institutions stood tall, our market remains stable, the population calm, and our political process intact. Nonetheless, I would still ask you to spend even more remittances this time to the country, because it doesn't mean that everything is perfect in the country, or that I am downplaying the incident of that day, the significance of that situation. No, I am not downplaying the event, rather what I want to underscore is the underlying strength of the Philippine democratic system. And I reassure you that I am in firm control. The country is stable and moving forward on all cylinders. The fact that I am here rather than hold up in Malacanang is testament to the fact that the country is stable and strong. And I will repeat, I remain confident that our nation is stronger as a result of overcoming that coup last month and that we had no cause for concern. I'm here because I have an obligation to fulfill my duties abroad in pursuit of peace in Mindanao and in pursuit of the fight against terrorism. There's nothing going on at home that would deter me from this overseas trip and besides I owe a visit to the Philippine community of New Jersey. I can come to visit you because I have confidence in the support of the people back home who believed in upholding the democratic traditions of our nation. But as a fellow Filipino speaking to fellow Filipinos, let me express that it does a disservice to the nation for political intriguers to continually try to upset the ship of state. Those self-centered political intriguers are motivated by selfishness and they should focus on a positive agenda of building up the nation not tearing it down. I say this because being Filipinos you know full well that the rumor mill is in full tilt in our election season. It is our political equivalent of the typhoon season, and that is part of the culture back home that I certainly hope to break as I try to build stronger institutions to support a stronger republic. We must break that cycle, but let me assure you again the nation is stable, the economy is even stronger than many of our neighbors. While some of them are suffering from very low growth rates or negative growth rates, our country has experienced stable growth rates in the last two and a half years and low inflation at the same time. And, of course, peace in Mindanao is within our grasp. My main focus has been to break the cycle of politics, focus on economic reform, work for peace, and the fight against terrorism. Because today , it is clearer than ever before that peace is an indispensible condition for economic development just as development is an essential component for peace. Nothing will do more to lift the Philippines out of poverty that peace itself. 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. Yesterday, I met with Prime Minister Mahathir to help me advance the cause of peace in Mindanao. He is the prime mover in helping us negotiate peace with the MILF. As a leader in the Muslim world and the organization of the Islamic countries his role is indispensible, and I hope one of his many legacies will be to bring peace to Mindanao. But I would also like to acknowledge that president bush is doing much to help our peace in Mindanao. Last may, some of you were there in Washington when I made my state visit, our joint communique contained a commitment from President Bush that the U.S. will give financial and diplomatic support for our peace efforts with the MILF. And they have been giving diplomatic support. The U.S. government has assigned the u.s. institute of peace to help us in our negotiations. And in this team of negotiators we have a very high-powered set of five former U.S. ambassadors to the Philippines working again for the Philippines for our peace process --Ambassador Nicholas Platt, Ambassador Murphy, Ambassador Wisner and Ambassador Solomon and Ambassador Bosworth -- five former U.S. ambassadors all holding important positions in America's society today and they are all working to help us in our peace process with the MILF. At the expense of the U.S. government not at our expense. But that's not the only financial assistance of the u.s. government for our peace process, they have also put in their congressional budget an initial 30 million dollars as a carrot for the peace process so that the moment the MILF signs a peace agreement the USAID will spend 30 million dollars to rehabilitate the conflict areas. 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. While I was in the U.N. yesterday and today, I also made a speech before the general assembly, I met with Kofi Annan, and I finalized the election of the Philippines as the Asian representative to the U.N. Security Council. This is great honor for us because a seat in the U.N. Security Council is not done by rotation, it is done by elections. And the Asians voted for us. I also met at lunch yesterday, as I said earlier, with the U.S. Institute of Peace and their negotiators who will aid the Philippines in our crucial negotiations in Mindanao. So, my time in Northeastern United States is Targetted and well spent. Governor McGreevey asked me, how long am I staying here for? Well I said I arrived yesterday morning and I'm leaving right after this meeting. But it's time well spent: Kofi Annan, Mahathir, the U.S. Institute for Peace, the Filipinos of New Jersey. I'm promoting the interest of the Philippines in the United Nations. This trip is not a trip to the U.S. specifically, it is a trip to the U.N. New York happens to be where the U.N. is located. So, since my trip is primarily for U.N.-related activities, it's not necessary for me to spend a longer time than my U.N. activities. I already worked with Washington anyway on a range of issues every day. It's easy for me to call up President Bush at any time. We worked together on a number of issues everyday. I do not need to take a trip to get things done here . I just need to take an extra trip to get to know these very successful Filipinos in New Jersey. And I'm sure you share with me the thought of looking forward to a warm rousing welcome for president bush by the Filipino people when he visits in October. The Filipino experience in this country is a positive outcome of time -honored friendship based on shared values and traditions. Filipinos among other ethnic groups are held in the highest respect and trust. And not only here in New Jjersey even in the west coast. Today, in New York, I was also able to have a conversation with the young Filipina scientist named Marie de Guzman Gordon, is she here? I asked her to come. There you are Marie. She's from the west coast, from University of Southern California. I asked her to be here so that the Philippine community can know her because she has discovered a gene therapy cure for cancer approved by the FDA. That's the use of bio-technology rather than chemotherapy to cure cancer. And we should be proud of her as they in the west coast are also proud of you Filipinos here. Indeed, I look forward to the day when as a community you can put more Filipino-Americans in positions of influence in areas of public policy, legislation, administration, law enforcement and justice. I would like to take this opportunity also to repeat that we have another young Filipino here, Pierre Barredo, who is running for state senator. I also call on your support in our efforts to push the veterans bill. The Veterans Bill has passed Congress is now in the senate. And that's farther than it has ever gone in a long time, in the many years we've been trying to pass the Veterans Bill. And the chances of seeing the veterans bill passed have also increased because now when I went to Washington I met a newly-formed U.S.-Philippine caucus in the U.S. Congress who are made up of congressmen and congresswomen dedicated to pushing the cause of the Philippines in the U.S. Congress. I want to congratulate Ambassador Del Rosario for pushing that caucus to come into being. And speaking of Filipinos in California, we have other Filipinos in California, also prominent, working on the veterans bill. I don't know if you know Dean Devlin, he is the producer of movies like "The Patriot," "Independence Day," "Godzilla," he is Filipino-American. He is producing a video infomercial to present to the U.S.Senate, an advocacy for the Veterans Equity Bill. And who are starring in his video infomercial, other Filipino-Americans like Lou Diamond Phillips, Tia Carrere and Rob Schneider. They're all working for the cause of the Philippines, they are all proud of their Philippine origin. The pivotal role of overseas Filipinos in nation-building cannot be overemphasized. Aside from all of these that I've mentioned, there is also that particular statistic that Filipino-Americans constitute one-third of all overseas Filipinos but you contribute two-thirds of foreign exchange remittances to the Philippines. I take this opportunity therefore to thank you and to ask you to continue to support our economy so that our inspiration of liberating our people from poverty can be fully realized. Ako'y taus-pusong nagpapasalamat sa inyo dahil sa mga napakalaking kontribusyon ninyo dito sa hangarin ng ating bayan. Inaasahan kong tuloy ang inyong tulong sa ating bansa para naman matamo natin lahat ang ating mga minimithi at sana sa ganun darating ang araw masasabi natin 'yung mga Filipino ay kasing-matagumpay doon sa pilipinas kagaya ng dito sa New Jersey. Sa inyong lahat magandang gabi. Maraming salamat sa inyong pagdalo. |