Press Release

March 4, 2016

Transcript of the speech delivered by

SENATOR MIRIAM DEFENSOR
SANTIAGO
Our Lady of Fatima University, Valenzuela City
4 March 2016

Thank you very, very much for your hospitality. If I become president of the
Philippines, I shall return to this very place and try to duplicate this environment. I
will hear mass for the students of Our Lady of Fatima University and I will give you
free lunch.

I just want to ask you a few pick-up lines.

Google ka ba? Lahat kasi ng hinahanap ko, nakita ko sa'yo. Kung bibigyan kita ng
grade from 1 to 10, at 10 ang perfect score, 9 lang ang makukuha mo. Kasi I'm the
one who will complete you.

Maglaro tayo ng kahit ano, huwag lang taguan, kasi someone like you is hard to
find.

Ok lang sa akin mahilo ka, basta sa akin lang iikot ang mundo mo.

You've asked me with your generosity and spirit to come join you and discuss
politics in the future. It's not so difficult if you're a student of Our Lady of Fatima
University to find out what are the three essential characteristics of a true leader
of the people who might possibly come from this university.

Number one, the person who should be the next president should be
characterized by academic excellence. Dapat naman 'yung pinaka-marunong sa klase,
hindi 'yung mga pinaka-gago. Makita ko pa lang sa telebisyon, kung anu-anong sinasabi
na akala niya ang galing niya. Minsan 'pag nagsalita 'yung mga gagong 'yun, hamunin ko
ng suntukan yan. Dapat naman na ang pinaka-marunong sa atin, 'yun ang leader natin.
'Wag maski sino na lang, basta marami ang pera niya.
 Ngayon, ang tanong ko sa inyo ay ganito: Sa ilalim ng ating batas, the
commencement of the formal campaign period is on February 9, pero bago ang
February 9, nag-kampanya na at malaking-malaking pera ang nilagay nitong mga
kandidato sa mga advertisements sa television. May mga milyon, may mga bilyon. Saan
nila kinuha itong milyon at bilyon? Nagnakaw sila ng pera para magastos nila sa hindi
pa pumapayag ang batas. Pagkatapos 'pag nahalal na 'yan, nakaupo na, magnanakaw
ulit 'yan. Titiisin lang ba natin 'yan? Year after year after year!

Tapos, unang characteristic na hinahanap natin ay academic excellence. Pangalawa

ay professional excellence. 'Pag graduate ka na, 'pag naging doctor, nurse, or a
lawyer, or an engineer, or an architect. Whatever the profession that you might
choose, you should want always to enjoy a reputation for good, honest work from
your colleagues. In other words, dapat kung anong natapos mong kurso, magaling ka
sa pinag-enrollan mo. That is called professional excellence. Halimbawa 'yung mga
binibigay na trophy or awards ng mga NGO.

And finally, in the field in which I hope Fatima University people will excel in the
very near future, I hope in addition to academic excellence and professional
excellence, we shall see from you moral excellence.

Anong klaseng mga tao 'to, tumatakbong lider, pero ante mano, may pera na sila.
Saan nila kinuha yan kung hindi nila ninakaw? Kaya dapat meron tayong academic
excellence, professional excellence, and moral excellence. We should be able to live
our lives in such a moral way that we can always face our creator and tell him, "I did
my best for your greater glory and the salvation of my soul." That is the goal of
every student in this university.

We don't hope to become all of us, each one a leader. Hindi naman pwedeng lahat
tayo ay leader. Basta, ang parating hangad ay hindi tayo ang maging pinaka-mayaman
sa ating baryo o barangay, o sa ating lipunan. Hindi ang tayo ang pinakamaraming bahay
o pinakamaraming sasakyan o pinakamaraming kerida. Alam niyo kung sino sila,
nagmumukhang mabait kunwari pero alam namin sa senado, hindi pa kami umuuwi,
tinatawagan na sila sa cellphones nila ng mga kerida nila. Hindi na nahiya! Nakakahiya
itong bayan na ito.

If this is all we have reached after so many years of American-oriented

education, it is a shame. It is a shame we have gone to school for so long, and we have
not yet even discussed the basic principles of what makes a good citizen. In any
country, there will always be riches in natural resources and people resources. But
in any country, there will always be stories of horrendous poverty. Hindi dapat na
ang iba sa atin ang yaman-yaman at nakaupo sa hantungan ng mga mayayaman. Pareho
lang dapat. Merong mahirap, merong mas mahirap, merong mas mayaman, pero hindi
dapat napakalaki ng agwat na parang balewala nalang na ang iba, akala nila, basta
nahalal na sila, libre na silang magnakaw nang magnakaw ng pera ng gobyerno.

Sino ang nagsabi sa bayan ng Pilipinas na ang mga pangalan ay maibibigay sa publiko
dahil sila ang mga unang-unang smuggler? Walang gumagawa ng ganoon kung hindi puro
lang generalities ang sinasabi nila.

It is time for the Filipino to people arise! Rise up and fight for your country. You
ask me how to change this country? I've already told you what the ingredients are,
but most of all, the foremost requirement to change our society is to change
ourselves. People pray, "God, change the world. It's such a bad, bad world!" But I say
no, you can improve on that prayer. Instead you say, "God, change this world and
begin with me."

I come to this university still filled with fire. I'm already of much older age than
you are, I know that change is always possible to the person whose heart is pure. So
remember this, we have a date after the elections. If I'm elected to Malacañang, I
myself will come here and lure you our promises to ourselves that we should be true
to God, to our creator. Only then shall we be able to say that we as Filipinos have
managed to change our country. We didn't wait for any other country, for the U.S.
or Japan or China, to remake this country for us. We make ourselves.

You ask me how to do it, I say, look into your heart, for the answer lies there.
Look into your hearts, you will find the answer to the question. Love God with all your
heart and all your soul, and all your longing to be part of the real universe. Even if
you have gathered in this hot place where you have come to be with each other,
notwithstanding the inconvenience, we are pledged today to fight for our country.
We do not succeed, as for you, I will never stop, I will not quit, I will never surrender!
Ipaglaban natin ang ating bansa. Hindi naman pampa-gwapo ito eh, ang taong ganyan,
artista 'yan. Kung nag-a-artista siya sa'yo, edi sinungaling.

Maraming pera sa bansang ito, hindi lamang natural resources, but we are also
rich in natural resources. Ang daming mga magagaling na Pilipino. Nag-imbento ng kung
anu-ano na pinapakinabangan ng buong mundo. Ang daming mayayaman na yumaman
nang dahil lang sa utak ng Pilipino.
 So, we have all the riches we can ever want. What we want are people who will
love you and who will care for you - people who will look at you as a friend, and not
necessarily as a rival or as an enemy. In other words, I come to you my fellow
Filipinos, I ask you, let us have a sense of shared destiny.

What we can conclude for today's gathering is that everything is possible for as
long as our heart is pure, and we demand for the Filipino people only the best that
we can give. We demand courage, we demand the freedom to speak and to write. We
demand a country worthy of every Filipino.

And so we say to the poet who recited this poet before, we say this back to him,
the poet said:

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate,

I am the captain of my soul

Ladies and gentlemen of Our Lady of Fatima University, come, be the masters of
your fate and the captains of your soul. Thank you.