Thank you very much to my nephew, Governor Matthew Marcos Manotoc. All the — nandito lahat, everybody is here.
Laoag City Mayor Michael Marcos Keon; lahat ng — our host mayor for today, Mayor Albert, how nice to see you all. All the mayors here na hindi ko na nabati, ang ating vice governor, Vice Governor Cecile and the — I suppose I have to — and our 2nd District Congressman, Congressman Angelo Barba. And this is going to be — medyo naiiba ito kailangan kong batiin ‘yung anak ko. Congressman of the 1st District, our newly minted Congressman, Congressman Sandro Marcos. All the municipal mayors, I see some of provincial employees that are here, the members of the Sanggunian and for everyone that has come today to help us celebrate the Marcos Day celebrations here in Ilocos Norte. Naimbag nga aldaw yu amin (Magandang araw sa inyong lahat).
Well, we continue the celebration. We came back from Manila, in Manila we had a Thanksgiving Mass together with my mother, with Irene, and I came here now to be naman with you on Marcos Day.
And on my way here, nagulat ako ‘yung sinabi ni Sandro, he asked me, “Have you been back?” And I haven’t. I haven’t seen you all for months and months and months.
And as ever, it feels good to be back home. Well, I think it is very appropriate, especially this year. I think it’s a very meaningful celebration of my father’s birthday, because it is very clear that there is very much — there has been very much a rebirth in the country.
And why do I say that? I say that because those of us who have kept his memory alive, who have kept the sense of duty and commitment to the Philippines alive in all the times that were very, very difficult and have continued to be constant in the belief that what my father started, that what my father wanted to do was something that was honorable, something that was noble, and that was service to his country and to his people.
With the mandate that our people have given us, and I say “us”, because no victory, no great enterprise has ever been won by just one person. This victory belongs to all of us, not just Ilocanos, not just family members, not just the supporters, not just the loyalists but all Filipinos, this victory belongs to.
We return now and that is why I consider it in a way a rebirth of the Philippines. Because we return to the values that we had learned from President Ferdinand Edralin Marcos.
We return to the values of honor and of duty and of compassion. These are the elements that sometimes we have found lacking in the past few years. And this is our opportunity to return it, not only to government, but to every part of our society.
This is an important opportunity that has been given us, to us by God. And we should know full well how important that this opportunity that has been given us is for all of our people and for our country.
We should know full well that this is a grand responsibility that has been given us. And we cannot waste such an opportunity or we will have neglected our duty to our people.
We will not have done the work we know needs to be done, the work that Ferdinand Marcos taught me and taught all of us.
So let this be once again a kind of beginning. A beginning that in fact returns to the old days and the old ways. Not the old ways of doing things but the old ways of service, of honor, of dignity, of love, of compassion, of patriotism.
These are the things we learned from Ferdinand Edralin Marcos. These are the things we keep in our heart. And these are the things that will guide this administration.
Thank you and good afternoon.