Paglulunsad ng Pang-Isang Daang Taon ng Pagkakatatag ng Grand Lodge of the Philippines

Delivered September 17, 2011
in Malolos, Bulacan

Maraming, maraming salamat to Very Worshipful Marcelino “Noli” Garcia for your very kind and gracious exaggerations about me. Palakpakan po natin si Very Worshipful Noli.

To Grand Master Most Worshipful Juanito “Nitoy” Abergas;

Sa aking hinahangaan at parating sinusundan dahil napakalinaw, napakahusay, napaka-makabayan ng kanyang mga “Pearls of Wisdom”. Nadinig ko madalas itong magsalita sa Ingles, ngayon ang unang pagkakataon na madinig siya sa ating sariling wika at masasabi ko yung clarity of thought in English is even made more beautiful because sa sariling wika natin ay may dagdag na patriotic emotion—talagang hinahangaang Chief Justice Rey Puno, palakpakan po natin.

Sa ating kagalang-galang na Punong lalawigan ng dakilang lalawigan ng Bulacan. Natanong niya sa akin, yung lolo ko daw ay naging Grand Master dun sa Macawiwili Lodge dun sa amin sa Capiz, sabi ko, iyong-iyo yun, Macawiwili Willy Alvarado, palakpakan po natin.

Sa ating magiting at, sinisegundahan ko po yung obserbasyon ni Gov. Willy na malayo ang mararating ng ating Punong-Lungsod dito po sa dakilang, makasaysayang Lungsod ng Malolos, Mayor Christian ‘Agila’ Natividad, palakpakan po natin.

Sa aking kaibigan din na madalas hinihingian ng payo at impormasyon para sa mabubuting programa na mailulunsad natin, si Pat Grand Master Pacifico “Boy”Aniag, palakpakan din po natin.

And of course, the worthy heir to this outstanding public service, ang tagapagmana niya na si Carlo, palakpakan din po natin. Mas magandang lalaki yung sa ‘yo Boy; To Right Worshipful Santiago “Boy” Gabionza Jr., ang ating Deputy Grand Master; Right Worshipful Juanito “Jun” Espino Jr., Senior Grand Warden; Right Worshipful Allan Purisima, Junior Grand Warden; nakaalis na ata, Grand Master Eugenio Labitoria; our Very Worshipful Carlo Aniag, that I have greeted earlier; Mga Miyembro ng Kapatiran ng Masoneria ng Gitnang Luzon;

Also a special hello to Mason Boyet Arellano, na napangasawa n’ya po ay isang aswang na taga-Capiz … akala n’ya napanalo n’ya si Aileen, pero nabihag siya ni Aileen dahil nasilo siya ng isang aswang na tulad ko na taga-Capiz—Boyet and Aileen Arellano;

Friends, Ladies and Gentlemen, Distinguished Members of Masonry:

Magandang magandang umaga po sa inyong lahat at maraming maraming salamat po sa inyong anyaya na makasama po ako dito sa inyong paglunsad o simula ng isang one whole year celebration ng One Hundred Years of Masonry in the Philippines. Malaking karangalan po para sa akin ito at nagpapasalamat po ako sa pagkakataong ito. Thank you very much for that.

May inihanda po akong talumpati, at ito po kung papayagan po ninyo ay isusumiti ko po kay Chief Justice Puno at baka malagay n’yo po sa inyong website. Subalit kagabi, nung umuwi po ako mula sa DOTC ay nakapag-isip ako, nagkaroon ako ng konting reflections about my schedule for today, and nakita ko nga po na kayo ang okasyon for today. And I wrote some thoughts down, that I felt I wanted to share with you, imbes na yung pormal na talumpati.

So yung kape kanina ay 3-in-1, ngayon naman po mayroon kayong 2-for-1: isang pormal na talumpati at isang reflections for this morning.

One hundred years is about four generations.

Naisip ko rin po na coming into one hundred days ako sa DOTC. July 4, Independence Day ng America, yung aking pagkatalaga bilang DOTC Secretary at dun din ang pagsimula ng aking pagbihag sa lamesa, sa trabaho, at sa byurokrasya.

And so for me, I gave a reflection of one hundred. What is one hundred? One hundred years ago, was the sinking of the Titanic—we don’t want to reflect on that.

One hundred years ago, a little bit more joyfully, positively, was the inauguration and opening of Manila Hotel, believe it or not. For some, Manila Hotel represents such an institution, such a physical facade of the Philippines, it being at the center of so many important events in our history.

One hundred years ago also, was the election of Woodrow Wilson, in 1912, Democrat in the United States, which for domestic reasons, began the inward looking policy of the US which led to the passing on of the Jones Act, the Philippine Autonomy Act. Yung mga Amerikano nung panahong iyon, 1912— mind you there was trouble in Europe because shortly thereafter, the first World War started. So the Americans at that time had this notion that we are separate from the world. We have the Pacific, the Atlantic, and ‘wag na tayong makialam. And this set of islands somewhere in the Pacific, napakalayo n’yan, wala naman talaga tayong paki-alam dyan, pakawalan na natin sila. Hinihingi nilang kasarinlan, bigay na natin, at dun nagsimula yung proseso sa American ng kanilang pagbibigay o pagbibitiw sa atin. That was one hundred years ago and that Jones Act led to the Hare-Hawes-Cutting Act, Tydings-McDuffy Act and finally, in 1935, after the writing of our 1935 Constitution, Franklin Delano Roosevelt approved such constitution, setting forth now the stage for our independence after the war.

In the course of this one hundred years, more or less every twenty-five (25) years a generation, sinikap ko na i-organize yung mga events sa ating kasaysayan into discrete time periods.

You can say that the 25 years, beginning in 1910 to 1935 was the Fight for Freedom Generation, continuing from the work of our heroes before that. This was the generation that because of their work, up to and including working with our colonial master, the United States, laid the foundation for our juridical freedom later on in 1945.

The generation from 1935 to 1960 could be described as the Independence Generation, separate and distinct from the Freedom Generation, kalayaan, kasarinlan. While we were free in our minds, and in our hearts, and in our efforts, the pillars, the institutions for the exercise of our democracy were still very young, were modest and not yet in full bloom. And so one can describe the generation from the 1935 to 1960 as the Kasarinlan Generation. They fought for these legal institutions—the forms, the expressions of our democracy and our freedom, thus, Independence. In that time, they experienced the Second World War, and they experienced coming together to rebuild our nation after the war.

The next twenty-five years, the 1960 to 1985 period, could be described as the Post-War Generation. We were an independent nation. We were experiencing a boomlet from the ‘50’s and the ‘60’s. There was much tumult in the world, there was a lot of change that was going on, all happening at an  accelerated pace. You can describe this period as our adolescence—para tayong teenager, pormal nang pinakawalan, independent na tayo, sinusubukan natin yung range ng ating freedom and expressions thereof. Hanggang dumating sa extreme, maraming nagsabi na magulo dito sa bansa natin at kumapit-patalim tayo sa isang instrumento na supposed to be magdadala ng katahimikan, ng kapayapaan, ng regularidad…yung Martial Law. Kinapitan natin yung patalim na ‘yun. Only to find that dream of peace, stability and opportunity really descends into a nightmare, isang bangungot, almost like the several rings of Dante’s Inferno.

Hanggang dumating tayo sa susunod na henerasyon, another 25 or 26 years to today, 1986 to 2011, the EDSA Generation. Alam naman po natin yung nangyari sa EDSA na kung saan ang sambayanan mismo, nagsama-sama, pinaglaban yung ating kalayaan, ang ating kasarinlan muli, mula sa diktaturya at matagumpay nating naitatag muli itong demokrasya sa ating bansa. In that time, social, political, economic observers will say na nag-roller coaster din tayo. From the height of the victory of EDSA, masasabi natin na in the course of the next 25 years, bagamat sa ating puso gusto nating magpatuloy yung diwa ng EDSA, gawa, lalung-lalo na sa gobyerno, ito rin ay pumalya, nag-umaberya at dumating tayo sa hantungan kung saan halos mawala muli sa atin yung ating kalayaan at mga karapatan.

Nung nakaraan lamang, nakita natin dun sa WikiLeaks na talagang trinabaho ng nakaraang administrasyon yung panunumbalik ng Martial Law at pagbalik ng State Authoritarian Control sa ating bansa. That’s in the course of one generation, not having learned from the lessons of the past.

Maraming salamat Carlos, maraming salamat din sa ating mga mang-aawit, talaga namang handang-handa, the show must go on. Palakpakan po natin sila.

So EDSA Revolution, ’86, 25 years, from 1986 to 2011, itong taong ito, masasabi natin na bagamat nagsimula sa high point, sa kalagitnaan, halos lumubog. Ngayon, bago nagtapos yung henerasyon na yun, yung bente singkong taon na yun, ay muling lumutang or nakalutang sa pamamagitan ng pagpili ng ating mga kababayan ng isang pinuno, ng isang leader na masasabi nating mataas ang ating kompiyansa na siya ang makapagpapabalik ng matuwid na daan, ng matuwid na pamumuhay, ng matuwid na  pamamahala dito sa ating bansa.

Which brings us to this next generation, starting next year, which is when you will be celebrating your own 100 year in the Philippines. All through these 100 years, masasabi natin at yung ibang naunang mananalita ay nabigkas na yung partisipasyon, yung pamumuno, yung engagement—maganda yung nasabing it was led and executed by the Masons, the revolution.

Ang mga kapatid ninyong Mason, hindi lang kabahagi, kundi nasa sentro ng ating laban para sa kalayaan at kasarinlan. Marcelo H. Del Pilar, Jose Rizal, Andres Bonifacio, Apolinario Mabini, Emilio Aguinaldo, Manuel L. Quezon, at kung hahayaan po ninyo, babanggitin ko din po ang aking lolo na Mason din po, at pinarangalan ng inyong asosasyon sa pagtatalaga ng Lodge 152 after his name. Kung panong nagsimula bilang isang mutual aid na society o mutual aid organization, self –help, hundreds of years ago, has evolved into an organization that is for the benefit, not of one but of all. Inuuna ang kapakanan ng mga kapuspalad, itinuro ang pagpapahalaga sa tamang moralidad, at higit sa lahat, may takot sa Diyos.

These morals and values are the building blocks for a strong family, a strong organization, indeed a strong nation. And so while we contemplate this tectonic glacial movements in our history over the last one hundred years, the generational challenges, and the generational responses thereto, let’s take a pause and take a look at more contemporary, more current changes that are upon us but which we may have failed to notice. But these changes have transformed our nation.

Our nation is very, very different and will be affected differently by global challenges because of these transformative changes. How are they expressed for example?

Physically, let’s start on the physical level. Sa telco halimbawa, telecommunications. Ang iba sa inyo maaalala ninyo na mahirap makatawag, kung nangangailangan ng linya susuhol ka pa. Definitely maghahantay ka at ang komunikasyon, kahit sa loob lamang ng isang bayan ay mahirap na mahirap. Before our country opened up the telecommunications sector, there were no more than 800,000 subscribers with the landline. Today, roughly one generation later, there are 80 million subscribers, which is equivalent to two billion messages happening everyday. Ito yung mga text messages. Magmula sa “ Good Morning”, tungo sa prayer, tungo sa inspiration, tungo sa “Anong oras tayo magkikita?” hanggang sa “Need cash? Loan?” Kasama yan sa two billion na yan. This revolution in telecommunications has changed our nation even in ways we still do not understand. But definitely, we can feel it, we can sense it. And this will be a good building block for a good future.

Sa panghimpapawid, sa Air, one generation ago, we had our pride, Asia’s pride, Philippine Airlines. One airline, Hawker DC9 ang kanyang nililipad. PAL. Nabansagang Plane Always Late. One generation later, dahil nabuksan yung sector na ito, it’s hard to imagine but there are thirty (30) million passengers in our air every single year. Thirty million. Roughly, kung i-divide-divide ho natin yan, sa aking kalkulasyon, that’s one hundred thousand people a day flying. It’s hard to imagine. But it has brought our country closer, tighter, our domestic economy much more resilient. We are not so affected so much by the turbulence abroad.

And, those one hundred thousand passengers a day has brought prosperity to many parts of our country that could only dream of such prosperity no more than a generation ago.

Peso-dollar. Ang iba sa inyo, maaalala pa, within one generation lamang, yung notorious Binondo Sentral Bank, nagkaroon ng rationing ng dolyar. Nagkaroon ng pagtatago ng mga dolyar na ito dahil naging very scarce.

Today, seventy-five (75) billion dollars ang nakaupo sa ating Bangko Sentral na naandyan lang bilang pang-safety natin. Ito yung ating gross international reserves. Seventy-five billion dollars. Maalala ko po noong ako ay naka-upo bilang DTI Secretary, taong 2000, buwan-buwan, pinapawisan kami, binabantayan namin, bilang kasama sa Economic Manager, yung taas-baba ng dollar flows natin, na makalagpas lamang tayo ng five billion dollars na reserve ay tuwang-tuwa na tayo dahil may pambayad tayo sa gastusin nating dolyar sa susunod na buwan.

Ngayon, ang problema natin, sa sobrang dami ng ating dolyar na naka-upo sa ating Bangko Sentral, sobrang lakas ng ating piso. At may mga analyst na nagsasabi na maaari na by year end or early next year, tatagos na tayo sa P40 is to $1. It’s very hard to imagine. Maalala lang natin dati eh yung scarcity ng dollar, ngayon sobrang dami ng ating dollar, kaya yung ating tourism, yung ating BPO, yung ating export sector, furnitures, semiconductors, sa iba pa, ay nanganganib dahil nagiging masyadong mahal yung kanilang mga produkto, nahihirapan silang magbenta sa ibang bansa.

Sa interest rates, from January to July of this year, ang na-savings ng ating pamahalaan sa pagbaba ng interes pumatak sa thirty (30) billion pesos, na nasa plano, nasa budget na babayaran nating interes. Pero dahil nakita ng mga nagpapautang sa atin na matatag ang pagbantay sa pera natin, nabawasan ang pangungurakot. Mahusay ang pamamalakad ng gobyerno kaya binigyan tayo ng mga upgrades. Itong mga upgrades ang katumbas nun ay bawas sa singil sa interes.

Nung simula ng taon, nagtabi tayo para sa pambayad ng interes na hindi na siningil dahil tinitingnan tayo bilang mas mabuting credit. These changes are substantial transformative changes, whose impact will reverberate all through out our economy, our country, in ways we cannot even forecast today. Parang tectonic changes nga ito, hindi nakikita pero malalim, malawak, malaki ang impact nito in the creation of jobs, incomes and livelihoods sa ating ekonomiya.

Ganun pa man, even as these changes are happening in the physical sense, you might say that towards the end of the last generation, this period from 1986 to 2011, and the start of the next, from 2012 onwards, there is a change, that is starting but still too young, too nascent, too new to make a judgment on if it will indeed survive. This is the change in psyche—change in mindset, change in world view that we Filipinos have begun, but as in the past , you will note, that the start of a generational period, what was seemingly a good change, faltered, got lost, and could not find its way back to its source.

This changing psyche is what I refer to as the default notion of what life can be. Whereas before, S-O-P ang pag-e-S-O-P. Yun ang pananaw nating lahat. Maari, simula na sa paghalal kay Pangulong Noynoy, na hindi na ganun ang magiging SOP ng ating bansa. Ano na ang magiging kalakaran sa ating bansa. Ano ang magiging SOP? Sakali, at ito yung ating dasal-pangarap, sakali na maging SOP sa ating bansa yung matuwid, yung tama na pamamahala, this will be another transformative change that will propel us, that will pole vault us to prosperity, to security and to a better future for all.

Hindi pa natin masasabi kung magtatagumpay ito dahil kalalabas pa lamang, nag-isprout pa lamang yung unang pagtingin. Ipagpaumanhin po ninyo kay Ilonggo ako, naga-bisaya ako so medyo hirap ako ng konti sa Tagalog. But this change is just sprouting. It is just coming into view. Hindi pa natin masasabi kung this will grow into a strong sapling and into strong tree or this will be carried away again by the tides of change, and movement and tumult, domestically and internationally.

But it is a start. It is a start because it makes the default world view, the default domestic view, and changes it from SOP of SOP v.s SOP yung nasa tama lang, yung makatarungan, yung matuwid na pamamahala, matuwid na pamumuhay. And that my friends, I believe is the bigger challenge.

More than economic, statistics, more than GNP, GDP and all the other data that we track, what will determine our success as a nation? What will determine what the speaker will say when the Masons of the Philippines celebrates its 200 years, a hundred years from now, another four generations from now? What will determine what we, as leaders of our country, as paragons of success and upward mobility in our country, will do and what we believe in and what we will adopt as the default operating system in the Philippines? Will it be ang pag-e-SOP or will it be yung matuwid na pamumuhay, matuwid na pamamahala? That forms the very foundation of the society we’ll be building.

The analogy for Masons would be the foundation. While many can talk of the walls, many politicians, many commentators will speak about four pillars, four walls—justice, opportunity, economic advancement, education and investment in the people. We must not forget that these four walls are all grounded in a foundation. And if that foundation is weak, because it is presumed to be on the notion of pag-e-SOP, all those four walls will likewise be weak and will crumble. But if that foundation is strong, premised on justice, on respect, on the value of being God-fearing, on godliness and on what is straight and true, whether you and your organization believe in these values, then that structure will be strong and will stand the test of time.

And so Masons of the Philippines, the challenge is before you, as it was present for the Masons of the Philippines one hundred years ago. What will you do? How will you respond to the call? How will you live your lives, actualize your dreams, and engage yourselves with society in order that you can make a contribution in building a strong foundation? Masons of the Philippines, let us go to work.

Maraming salamat, magandang umaga po.