Speech of
His Excellency Benigno S. Aquino
President of the Philippines
At the 2nd Integrity Summit
[Delivered at the Hotel Intercontinental Manila, Makati City, on September 18, 2012]
Excellencies of the Diplomatic Corps present; Secretary Babes Singson; Secretary Greg Domingo; Mr. Ramon del Rosario; Mr. Hubert D’Aboville—I hope I pronounced that better this year; [laughter] Mr. Ed Francisco; Ms. Maritess Zamora; Mr. Jackie Chan—not the actor, of course; [laughter] Dr. Edilberto de Jesus; Director General Lilia de Lima; Integrity Consortium members; Partners in Integrity; fellow workers in government; honored guests; mga minamahal ko pong kababayan:
Magandang umaga po.
Last year, I reported to you the inroads that we have achieved in terms of reestablishing a culture of integrity in government: From appointing good people to key posts, reforming our budgeting process, and fostering transparency in our bidding processes; to urging private entities to engage more actively in nation-building through corporate social responsibility and clean, honest, efficient entrepreneurship.
These are real, tangible reforms that have borne real, tangible results. The economy is responding: We have garnered, so far, eight positive credit ratings actions, and two of the three major credit rating agencies rank us one notch away from investment grade. If achieved, this could open up Philippine bonds to a whole new set of buyers, and could possibly lead to even lower borrowing costs. Out of 144 economies, we are now ranked 65th in the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report—the first time we broke into the upper half of rankings since being included in the report in 1994. This comes after two consecutive ten-place jumps in two years—clearly indicating that we must have been doing the right thing since we came into office. The GDP growth for the second quarter of this year—pegged at 5.9 percent—is well above the average market forecast of 5.3 percent, and brings us near the upper boundaries of our own projection of five to six percent for the entire year. And in case NEDA a mistake of pegging it at six, I will not be displeased if they made an error in that direction. [Laughter]
And we have been channeling these economic gains into projects and programs that will make the country even more competitive. Our budget for social services has seen a steady, upward trend since we took office: 698.8 billion pesos of the proposed two trillion-peso national budget for next year have been allocated towards social services—13.9 percent higher than this year’s 613.4 billion pesos. As for infrastructure: As early as June, we have already released 73.66 percent of funds for the year’s infrastructure program. That’s 151.6 billion pesos out of the 205.8 billion that has been alloted for this year.
We have been chaneling the budget into investments in our people—in education, health, poverty alleviation, and infrastructure—because we recognize that sustaining our economic momentum requires a citizenry that can compete in the global arena.
At the bottom line of our strategy is ensuring a level playing field: One that is stable, rules-based, and whose outcomes are predictable. Many of you here who are captains of industry thrive because you manage risks well. You know how to identify problems, come up with potential solutions, and lay the basis of a comprehensive plan to achieve success in your field.
But the best-laid plans can be derailed when rules change and when decisions are based on whims, sometimes to serve the interests of but a few. This is what we have tried to change since we took over office; this is the rationale behind our agenda of integrity-based governance. We believe that a level playing field—in essence, a just society, built upon institutions that are fortified by the people’s trust—is the foundation of sustainable growth.
We talk of sustaining growth because the Philippines is in it for the long haul, and we owe it to future generations of Filipinos to bequeath a country that is better off than when we arrived. This entails making difficult choices.
There is the right way to do things, and it is not always the easy way. Often, we are faced with the option to take a shortcut, which might attain positive short-term results, but sets the tone for a bigger problem that will have to be addressed down the line.
I am faced with a choice: I can just kick the can down the road, and let the next set of leaders deal with this problem. After all, the politically prudent thing to do would be to not rattle the cage, to not make any noise about something that is, at the moment, not yet an issue. But as a friend of mine said, my mindset and the way I do things, is not very typical of politicians. I prefer to pick up the can rather than kick it down the road. I’m here to solve problems, and I believe a person of integrity is also a person of foresight—he will not pass on a problem to someone else when he can solve it himself. So that is why my administration is studying creative solutions to all of these challenges, and hopefully we can find a way to make these problems gone in the shortest possible time without burdening our taxpayers unreasonably.
This has been my second keynote address in the two years of the Integrity Summit; perhaps it would not be too brazen if I assume that my appearance here is a sign that your community remains firm in its trust of my administration. I am already looking forward to the next summit, and perhaps, God-willing, I will still be around to witness the succeeding ones long after I step down from office which will happen in three years and nine months. [Laughter] By then, I hope, there will be even more people who will recite the pledge of integrity, and live up to it in their everyday actions. I hope that the principles of inclusion, collective action, and communal responsibility will continue to galvanize every sector, from across the public and private spheres, into building a society that will allow our nation to thrive in a just and equitable manner. And I hope that whoever stands on this podium in the future will be a person of foresight; someone who definitely will not kick the can down the road; someone who will solve problems; someone who will fortify the culture of integrity that we are building now.
Again, thank you for everything and onwards to more integrity.
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Source: The Official Gazette of the Office of the President
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