From the Website of GPH - Government of the Philippines
Message of President Aquino to the Quezon City Medical Society
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Speech
of
His Excellency Benigno S. Aquino III
President of the Philippines
at the conferment of presidential awards to
various heads of departments and agencies
[Delivered at Malacanan Palace, Manila, on June 23, 2016]
This
afternoon, we continue a healthy tradition of gratitude—recognizing
those who have served the country and the administration by means of the
honors of the Republic. All of you in this hall have answered the call
to bring change to our country, and I, myself, am witness to the depth
of your sacrifice.
Many of
you gave up jobs and put your careers on hold to take far less lucrative
positions; many of you gave up time with your loved ones; many of you
have willingly stood with me in the crosshairs of opponents of reform,
and have thus been on the receiving end of baseless attacks, even on
your character. Some of you have even put your own lives in peril, not
once, but multiple times, responding to disasters both natural and
man-made. Each of you has shared in the burden, and each of you has made
it a little bit easier to carry the responsibility of bringing hope and
a better life for our people. Indeed, over the course of our
administration, I have remained keenly aware of everything you’ve given.
This is why, every time I am praised for anything, I make it a point to
say that I couldn’t have done anything without you, and without our
countrymen, simply because that is the truth.
Most of
you here have personal experience of how healthy my impatience can be
when it comes to our people’s well-being. Yet, without complaint and
with boundless enthusiasm, you energized the bureaucracy and made an
impact on the lives of our people. You saw the hopes and dreams of our
countrymen and turned them into tangible realities. You took what many
considered to be impossible, and made it possible. In fact, I think
that, if my dad could only see what we’ve done together, maybe he would
be a little less inclined to sing “The Impossible Dream.” As we leave
office, we can do so with our heads held high, because we’ve done right
by the Filipino people. Thus, on behalf of our people, and from the
bottom of my heart, I must say: Thank you very much.
For
practically all of you, the solitary reward for your work may have been
just a few kind words from me, or an invitation to share a modest meal,
so perhaps this formal reward can somehow try and make up for that
shortfall. Today, I bestow two
awards: The Order of Lakandula—one of the Senior Honors of the Republic,
meant to recognize civil and political merit—and, secondly, the
Presidential Medal of Merit, granted to those who have rendered
outstanding service to the President. I must emphasize: By giving these
awards, I do not mean to diminish the contributions of those who are not
receiving them. Nevertheless, I think it is incumbent upon me to give
official recognition to those who have gone above and beyond even our
expectations.
To all
our awardees today: You have been chosen to be here based on your
remarkable performance during our administration. But at the same time,
these awards are meant to raise the bar for all. In seven days, many of
us here will return to regular civilian life. Of course, I think all of
us deserve some rest after all the work that’s been done these past six
years. However we cannot be complacent. Awards like the ones we are
conferring today must always remind us of how much our country needs
everybody’s help, and how—as regular citizens—we must remain engaged in
improving the lives of our fellowmen and protecting our democratic way
of life. Now that our time in office is coming to an end, we must
continue to do our own, small part in the grand task of building a
nation. And I hope that, perhaps even on an unofficial level, we may
still find ourselves working together, as fellow citizens this time, to
give rise to a Philippines that we can be truly proud of.
Thank you one and all, and congratulations.
GPH Website
OTHER HUMAN RIGHTS PROMOTIONS WEBSITES
PROTECTION AND PROMOTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
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