Easing poverty, standing up to China on orators’ minds

CITY OF MALOLOS–An ally of President-elect Rodrigo Duterte said all leaders must focus on the task of liberating Filipinos from poverty, during the celebration here of the 118th anniversary of the declaration of Philippine Independence on Sunday.

The need for good governance to enable business and the agricultural sector to prosper, and vigilance against encroachments on Philippine territorial claims, were also major topics that dominated various independence day rites in the province.

“We can achieve our freedom. Each leader is obligated to free our people from poverty,” said Sen. Cynthia Villar, in a speech at the historic Barasoain Church here.

Villar said Filipinos had been waging the war against poverty, and “to combat this today is to unite, to share and to move forward for progress together. Our forefathers achieved the freedom we have today by asserting their heroism, courage and overwhelming love for the country, nationalism and patriotism.”

In the Pampanga capital of San Fernando, Mayor Edwin Santiago led a civic parade and stressed that “a contemporary interpretation of freedom is good governance that empowers the poor and enables the business and agricultural sectors to support a sustainable economy.”

In Angeles City, Francis Tolentino, former chair of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, discussed the country’s territorial dispute with China on Friday when he spoke during the city’s commemoration of the declaration of Philippine Independence at the Pamintuan Mansion.

Tolentino, a lawyer, said the dispute between the Philippines and China “provides a new challenge” to the independence of the Philippines.

“We cannot fully celebrate Independence Day,” he said, because of the row over China’s expansion activities that the government has taken to an international court.

Reflecting on the relevance of raising the flag in front of Barasoain  Church, Sen. Teofisto Guingona III, who led the Bulacan rites, said the territory of the Philippines belongs to every citizen, who should actively defend every acre and sea lane of the archipelago.