To mark Independence Day, Senate President Koko Pimentel III called on the nation on Monday to remember and honor the courage of our men and women in uniform, as well as thank them for their service to our country.
Pimentel urged Filipinos everywhere to “remember the courage of all those who fought for our freedom” and “thank them for their service to our country.”
The senator from Mindanao added that 119 years after the Philippines first won its independence, the country still faced “a continuing struggle and a different set of oppressors” and the nation must still work collectively to win “real freedom.”
“Real freedom,” according to Pimentel, must “mean real independence – not just freedom from foreign intervention but, more importantly, freedom from poverty and other social problems and freedom from lawlessness and also terrorism.”
Pimentel said that the Senate and the whole government were committed “to live up to the expectations of our people, as well as to giving what the people deserve not only as Filipinos but also as human beings in a free, just, humane and prosperous society.”
The President of the PDP Laban added that the country should rally around the President, who is working “to bring back national honor and dignity.”
“It is under his leadership and vision that we must all rally around to in order to achieve liberty – to bring home those who are sacrificing overseas because they have no opportunities or alternatives here at home.”
Pimentel stressed that in addition to this, the thrust of the Duterte Administration is “to provide the basic needs of our people who have yet to experience any assistance or upliftment from its elected and appointed officials” so that government could “finally fulfill the promise of a caring and compassionate government.”
“Today freedom must mean overcoming the call of the times and the challenges of the moment; freedom from hunger, freedom from fear, freedom from the problems besetting a modern, developing, and constantly-changing world.