Ms. Ronadale Zapata
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VP RALLIES FILIPINOS AND AMERICANS TO THE WAR AGAINST POVERTY AND TERRORISM

26 October 2005

More than half a century after the end of World War II, the Philippines is again at war. It is waging a war against widespread poverty and world-wide terrorism.

 

This was the admission of Vice President Noli ‘Kabayan’ De Castro during the commemoration of the 61st Anniversary of the Leyte Gulf Landing at the MacArthur Landing Memorial National Park in Palo, Leyte.

 

In his speech, Vice President De Castro lamented that long after General Douglas MacArthur landed at the historic Leyte Gulf with Sergio Osmeña Sr., President of the Philippine Commonwealth and General Carlos P. Romulo, signaling the return of democracy to our land, the Philippines is still besieged by these gigantic problems.  

 

The Vice President explained that every worker who loses his job, every woman who is forced to sell her body to strangers, every child who ends up begging in our streets have something in common—they are all casualties of war.   To address these problems, the ex-officio alternate chairman of the National Anti-Poverty Commission acknowledged that the government and all its instrumentalities have to work double-time in its anti-poverty program.

 

On the other hand, Vice President De Castro recounted that the war on terrorism had taken a more global perspective as even rich and advanced countries like the United States of America and, more recently, England and our ASEAN neighbor Indonesia have had horrible experiences perpetrated by terrorists that resulted in massive destruction of lives and properties.

 

The Vice President believes that in this ugly war against terrorists, a united front among the Filipinos and the Americans, together with other peace-loving peoples of the world, is needed in order to emerge victorious.

I have faith that the war against poverty and terrorism will not be won by superior arms, but rather by a superior spirit. Both the American and Filipino people believe in democracy, in equality among men, and in enabling every person to achieve his full potential. These are the very powerful principles—stronger than the forces that brought poverty and terrorism in our midst-- that would deliver us from the bondage of poverty and the evils of terrorism.

Ref No. VPMEDIA 05-155