Who Has Been the Biggest Influence in My Life?
Diosdado Macapagal, First State of the Nation Address, January 22, 1962
“Five-Year Integrated Socio-Economic Program for the Philippines”
Message to Congress of His Excellency Diosdado Macapagal
President of the Philippines on The State of the Nation
[January 22, 1962]
Mr. Vice President,
Mr. President,
Mr. Speaker,
Monsignor Antiporda,
Ladies and gentlemen of the Congress;
I appear before you today, the elected representatives of the sovereign people, not as President of one party but as President of the entire Nation.
As such, I am charged with the constitutional duty, which I am resolved to carry out, of serving the interests of the members of all groups of our people and doing justice to every man.
It is in this spirit that I now come before you. For in administering the affairs of this nation, you and I share the common responsibility of providing the leadership, the guidance and the service that a democratic government owes to the people. You and I must provide for their enjoyment of those basic requisites for decent living and of those adequate opportunities for the attainment of material prosperity and spiritual fulfillment. Only thus will they be able to stand in dignity and freedom in the community of nations.
We assume our joint responsibilities at a time when the Nation is faced with many serious problems. The eyes of the world are focused on us, anxious to see how this new Government will face the difficulties confronting it. Our performance will be judged not only by our own people but also by the other nations of the world, not only by the present but also by posterity.
Because of the impelling and serious problems facing the country today, I should like to depart from the traditional practice of my illustrious predecessors of delivering an all-embracing State of the Nation message. I shall not burden you now with all the details usually embodied in such a message, especially those related to the customary and routinary
“Five-Year Integrated Socio-Economic Program for the Philippines”
Message to Congress of His Excellency Diosdado Macapagal
President of the Philippines on The State of the Nation
[January 22, 1962]
Mr. Vice President,
Mr. President,
Mr. Speaker,
Monsignor Antiporda,
Ladies and gentlemen of the Congress;
I appear before you today, the elected representatives of the sovereign people, not as President of one party but as President of the entire Nation.
As such, I am charged with the constitutional duty, which I am resolved to carry out, of serving the interests of the members of all groups of our people and doing justice to every man.
It is in this spirit that I now come before you. For in administering the affairs of this nation, you and I share the common responsibility of providing the leadership, the guidance and the service that a democratic government owes to the people. You and I must provide for their enjoyment of those basic requisites for decent living and of those adequate opportunities for the attainment of material prosperity and spiritual fulfillment. Only thus will they be able to stand in dignity and freedom in the community of nations.
We assume our joint responsibilities at a time when the Nation is faced with many serious problems. The eyes of the world are focused on us, anxious to see how this new Government will face the difficulties confronting it. Our performance will be judged not only by our own people but also by the other nations of the world, not only by the present but also by posterity.
Because of the impelling and serious problems facing the country today, I should like to depart from the traditional practice of my illustrious predecessors of delivering an all-embracing State of the Nation message. I shall not burden you now with all the details usually embodied in such a message, especially those related to the customary and routinary