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.