Inauguration Speech of President Joseph 'erap' Estrada in 1998

Good afternoon.

The light is fading, the day is almost over, and yet this late afternoon is the morning of a new day. The day of the Filipino masses. One of their own is finally leading them.

The last time I was here at the Quirino Grandstand, I was with President Cory Aquino, Cardinal Sin, and other religious leaders and fighters for democracy. We were here with many of you to stand up and be counted as friends of the democracy. Ask yourselves then, how could anyone call me a dictatorial type?

The last time I was there, in the old Senate building, we were only Twelve -

Twelve against a superpower;

Twelve against a government under its thumb:

Twelve against public opinion:

But twelve for the sovereignty and honor of our country.

Ask yourselves who has principles.

Maybe I felt strongly about getting all the wrong priorities out of the way so we can focus on the right things at once.

Maybe I felt that we cannot wait for time to heal our wounds and that we should help along the healing process.

Who has been hurt and insulted than I? I have been hurt, and my mother even more deeply at having to listen to all those insults against her son in tri-media. I am but human and I don't want to forgive. But I must. And I have. I must work with those who hurt me because we have only one country between us. I must work with them and they must live with me, because every Filipino is needed to meet the challenge of national survival in the regional crisis.

If I seemed impatient, it was only for peace. We must put yesterday behind us, so we can work for a brighter tomorrow. I did not mean for us to forget the past. I don't. But I hope we will not let the past get in the way of a future that calls for cooperation to achieve peace and prosperity.

Finally, I felt that the common people have waited long enough for their turn, for their day to come.

That day is here.

And it comes not a moment too soon on the centennial of the birth of Filipino freedom.

One hundred years after Kawit, 50 years after independence, 12 years after Edsa, and 7 years after the rejection of foreign bases, it is now the turn of the masses to experience liberation.

We stand in the shadow of those who fought to make us free-free from foreign domination, free from domestic tyranny, free from superpower dictation, free from economic backwardness. We acknowledge a debt of gratitude to Jose Rizal, Andres Bonifacio, Emilio Aguinaldo, Manuel Quezon, Ramon Magsaysay, Cory Aquino, Fidel Ramos, and the magnificent twelve of the 1991 senate who voted for Filipino sovereignty and honor.

These are the men and women who gave birth to the idea of Filipino freedom; who struggled in war to give it recognition; and worked in peace to make it come true. Cory Aquino brought freedom back after it was taken away and Fidel Ramos showed how power should respect the people's freedom of choice in elections.

They also began the slow and difficult work of making freedom more meaningful - not just for the rich but also for the poor who are more but have nothing.

It is time. Time to speed up the improvement of the living conditions of the common people. Time for them to have a fairer share of the national wealth they create and a bigger stake in their own country.

Some will say we cannot rush these things. First, focus on the economy again. Of course, we must improve the economy. How else can the people's lives improve? But why not both together? Why must economic progress always be at the people's expense?

When it was a question of economic reforms to rebuild business confidence and restore business profits, the reforms were never too fast or too hard, especially for the common people to bear.

Six years after Cory Aquino, the foundations of a strong economy were laid. In the six years of the Ramos administration, the economy was paying big dividends to its biggest stockholders. This time, why not to the common people as well, for a change? Must we always measure progress only by the golf courses of the rich?

I hope this message will not be taken badly by the rich. It has always been their turn, and it is also their turn again. For it is the priority of my administration to create the environment of peace and order in which business does well. But, surely, it is time for the masses to enjoy first priority in the programs of the government.

As far as resources permit, to the best of our ability and the limit of our energy, we will put a roof over their heads, food on their tables and clothes on their backs. We will educate their children and foster their health. We will bring peace and security, jobs and dignity to their lives. We will put more infrastructure at their service, to multiply their productivity and raise their incomes.

But this time things will be different. What wealth will be generated will be more equitably shared. What sacrifices are demanded will be more evenly carried. This much I promise, for every stone of sacrifice you carry, I will carry twice the weight.

This I promise the people. You will not be alone again in making sacrifices, and you will not be the last again to enjoy the rewards when they come.

I ask the rich to take a share of the sacrifices commensurate with their strength. What each of us carries is not our individual burden alone, but the fate of our country that we must all share, and which none of us can escape.

While I ask you to share these sacrifices with me, I will not impose any more on you when it comes to...