Thank you very much.
Our Honorable Vice President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo; Honorable Senate President Franklin Drilon; Honorable House Speaker Manuel Villar Jr.; Honorable Supreme Court Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr.; Former President Fidel V. Ramos; excellencies from the diplomatic corps, led by Dean of the Diplomatic Corps Archbishop Antonio Franco; Our Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Angelo T. Reyes and commanding generals of the Armed Forces Major Services; honorable members of the 11th Congress; honorable members of the cabinet; honorable local executives; other distinguished guests; my co-workers in government; the First Lady, Dra. Loi; mga minamahal kong mga Kababayan,
This is the first opening session of Congress and my first state-of-the-nation address to be held in the 3rd millennium and in the 21st century. It is obviously an auspicious occasion for new beginnings.
Specifically, it should be a new beginning for Mindanao, a new beginning for the economy, a new beginning for integrity in government, and a new beginning for the country. It will also be a new beginning for the presidency.
To begin with, we will write a new history for Mindanao. We will rectify centuries of historical wrongs committed by successive colonial powers, and decades of inequities committed by successive Philippine governments.
Mindanao has traditionally been called the Land of Promise. This romantic name has always been a one-way affair. The rest of the country has always expected Mindanao to fulfill its promises to them. It is now time for the rest of the country to fulfill its promises to Mindanao. We should now convert Mindanao into the Land of Fulfillment.
Let us not forget that Mindanao is an integral, inseparable, and organic part of the Philippines. It has been so for the past four and a half centuries. It is so today, it will be so forever.
This is why the government had to neutralize the attempt of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front to amputate the southern parts of the country away from the organic whole and to convert them into an independent Muslim state. They were winning their war of territorial encroachment simply because the previous government refused to fight, pretending that it wasn't happening. In fact, the MILF had already occupied and hoisted their flag over large territories in Mindanao--in at least 46 camps--under the nose of the preceding administration, which was either naive enough to tolerate them or too timid to stop them.
In contrast, my government was decisive enough to expel them. As President, I could not just stand by while the rebels ate up more and more of the country's territory they were not elected to govern. When I took office, I swore to preserve and defend the Constitution. It was my solemn duty under that Constitution to repel the armed rebellion and to defend the sovereignty and integrity of the republic.
The MILF could not be talked out of their position, whether territorial or ideological. They said that their goal of secession was non-negotiable. Well, neither is the sovereignty and integrity of the republic. No one can challenge that proposition by force of arms and get away with it.
It would have been quieter if the conflict could be resolved by an exchange of words rather than by an exchange of fire. But whenever words were tried in the past, in the name of so-called peace but which in reality was appeasement, the rebels simply used the peace talks as an opportunity for arms buildup, for troop recruitment and training, for deployment, for territorial consolidation, and for enlarging their threat to the republic.
There would have been a larger space for tolerance if they had pushed their cause in the open marketplace for ideas. But instead, they built up an army and used their firepower to force their separatist aims on an unwilling people.
True to form, the MILF took advantage of the 1997 ceasefire to commit at least 227 violations. These include the kidnapping of Father Luciano Benedetti in September 1998; the occupying and setting on fire of the municipal hall of Talayan, Maguindanao; the takeover of the Kauswagan Municipal Hall; the bombing of the Lady of Mediatrix boat at Ozamiz City; and the takeover of the Narciso Ramos Highway. By doing so, they inflicted severe damage on the country's image abroad, and scared much-needed investments away.
The numerous camps they maintained were not Boy Scout camps. They were staging areas and launching pads for expanding the MILF rebellion further. These military camps were not under the command and control of the government of the Philippines. They owed their allegiance elsewhere.