GMA'S LEYTE CALL: ECONOMIC FREEDOM
[PHOTO AT LEFT - LEYTE RITES: President Arroyo walks beside (from left) US Ambassador Francis Ricciardone, AFP chief Gen. Narciso Abaya and UK Minister of State for Trade, Investment and Foreign Affairs Douglas Alexander after wreath-laying ceremonies on the 60th anniversary of the Leyte landing yesterday. Photo by WILLY PEREZ ]
MACARTHUR SHRINE, PALO, LEYTE, October 21 , 2004 (STAR) By Miriam Desacada - Celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Leyte Gulf landing that marked the beginning of freedom from Japanese occupation as World War II drew to a close, President Arroyo called yesterday for economic freedom for the Philippines.
With her to mark the anniversary of the Leyte Gulf landing were surviving Filipino, American and Australian veterans who fought to liberate the Philippines from the Japanese Imperial Army.
In her keynote address, the President called on Filipinos to devote themselves to achieving economic freedom — liberation from poverty and the financial crisis.
"Only taxes can liberate Filipinos from poverty and crisis," she said. "Political rhetoric will not save the poor. Only a purposeful agenda carried out with strong resolve to reduce our debts and finance our development from our own resources, our own taxes - only these can liberate Filipinos from poverty and crisis," the President said.
"Sixty years ago, (US Gen. Douglas) MacArthur came back to fulfill a promise. That promise led to our military liberation. Today, let us make a promise. Let us make a new pact with history to win back our economic freedom and correct the moral and economic deficits of the past," the Chief Executive said.
The fight against the problems posed by the looming fiscal deficit, mass poverty and widespread hunger, the President said, "is the most important war today. Let us make this promise now, on this hallowed ground where our patriots fought one of the greatest battles of all times."
‘A pivotal moment’
In an official statement released by the White House and the US Embassy in Manila and read by US Ambassador Francis Ricciardone, US President George W. Bush said the landing of allied troops on the shores of Leyte island was "a pivotal moment in the history of the War in the Pacific and in the human struggle for liberty. The Leyte Landing is a central event in the long history of friendship between the peoples of the Philippines and the United States."
"This year we are privileged that American, Filipino and Australian veterans once again stand on the very beach where they fought for the liberation of the Philippines six decades ago," Bush said. "Many of those brave Allied soldiers made the ultimate sacrifice on these shores in the cause of freedom."
To the veterans of the landing at Leyte Gulf, Bush sent this message: "Know that we will continue to recognize this date as a day to draw renewed inspiration from your courage and sacrifice in the cause of freedom. We will pass on to our children what your great generation has passed to us: A world where liberty is the right of all humankind and where men and women will remain vigilant in its defense."
Mrs. Arroyo also called on rebel groups to stop their armed struggle, even as she cited the gallantry and heroism of Filipino, American and Australian World War II veterans who fought and died to liberate the Philippines during the Pacific war.
She retold a story by the late statesman Carlos P. Romulo, then a young officer who waded behind MacArthur on the shores of Leyte in that famous photograph: " A Filipino, frail and weak with hunger, approached (Romulo) and asked ‘what can we do to help?’"
"That frail and weak Filipino did not ask for food, for clothes or for anything at all. What he asked was what he could do to help win the war," the President said. "That is the Filipino. Such selflessness and bravery are innate in the Filipino."
Now, "we have finally come to the higher maturity and strategic partnership," she said as she lauded US counterterrorism training that has helped her police and military crack down on terrorists and leaders of the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group.
She said Washington was also assisting with wide-ranging defense reforms worth about P4 billion ($71.4 million) over the next six years, in addition to about $20 million in aid to conflict-ridden areas in Mindanao.
"Our commitments to freedom and the war against terror are unflagging, and they will be as unflagging in our determination to seek a just, honorable peace with rebels and insurgents," she said.
"We will put down terrorists by the sword (and) at the same time seek to turn the rebel swords into plowshares," she said.
The President also praised the Japanese government for its transition from war-time enemy to post-war ally, citing the financial assistance it is extending to the Philippines.
"I cite the Japanese people for extending assistance to us through grants and loans and we use (this assistance) in our development efforts," she said.
She also praised the US for its continued economic support for the Philippines in terms of business investments and the pivotal role played by the US government in combating money laundering activities.
Mrs. Arroyo acknowledged that ties with the US, Australia and other allies were frayed recently. They criticized Manila for withdrawing its small peacekeeping contingent from Iraq early to save the life of kidnapped Filipino truck driver Angelo de la Cruz.
"But we do owe that freedom to decide our national interests to the blood shed by Filipinos and Americans, and Australians, in the Second World War," she said. "And we do appreciate that as the controversy has ebbed, we have arrived at a higher kind of maturity in our strategic partnership."
The Leyte landing allowed MacArthur to fulfill his famed vow "I shall return," made when American troops were forced to withdraw to Australia in 1942, when the archipelago fell to the Japanese Imperial Army.
Then President Manuel Quezon and Vice President Sergio Osmeña fled along with the American troops to Australia, where Quezon died of tuberculosis and Osmeña became president in exile. Osmeña returned with MacArthur’s troops, which landed in Leyte on Oct. 20, 1944.
The landing preceded the Battle of Leyte Gulf on Oct. 22 to 27, 1944, that involved over 739 ships in one of history’s largest naval battles.
From Leyte, the Americans went on to invade the main Philippine island of Luzon and liberate Manila in February 1945. The Philippines was granted full independence the following year.
The Japanese offered little resistance and instead chose to fall back toward Leyte’s mountains and stage a defense there. All but 800 of the 80,000 Japanese died. — With Marichu Villanueva, Marvin Sy