[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2003, Book II)]
[October 18, 2003]
[Pages 1351-1354]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]
Remarks to a Joint Session of the Philippine Congress in Quezon City,
Philippines
October 18, 2003
Thank you all very much. Thank you. Mr. President, Mr. Speaker, Members of
the Congress, distinguished guests, I thank you for your gracious
welcome to the Republic of the Philippines. I also want to thank the
citizens of Manila who lined the streets today for their warm and
gracious welcome to Laura and me. It warmed our hearts. And I want to
thank you for inviting me to be the first American President since
Dwight Eisenhower to address this body.
Earlier this year, Laura and I hosted
President and Attorney
Arroyo at the White House, the first
state visit from an Asian country during my administration. Today we are
honored to visit America's oldest ally in Asia and one of America's most
valued friends in the world.
The great patriot Jose Rizal said that nations win their freedom by
deserving it, by loving what is just, what is good, what is great to the
point of dying for it. In the 107 years since that good man's heroic
death, Filipinos have fought for justice; you have sacrificed for
democracy; you have earned your freedom.
America is proud of its part in the great story of the Filipino
people. Together our soldiers liberated the Philippines from colonial
rule. Together we rescued the islands from invasion and occupation. The
names of Bataan, Corregidor, Leyte, Luzon evoke the memories of shared
struggle and shared loss and shared victory. Veterans of those battles
are here today. I salute your courage and your service. Along the way
and through the years, Americans have gained an abiding respect for the
character of your nation and for the decency and courage of the Filipino
people.
The Pacific is wide, but it does not divide us. Over 2 million
American citizens trace their ancestry to these islands. The commerce
between us is vibrant and growing. We work together each day in law
enforcement and economic development and government reform. Our young
people study at each other's universities. Many Filipinos teach in
American public schools. And just this week, our two Governments
launched a 6-year effort to extend greater educational opportunities to
children in some of the poorest regions of this country. We understand--
we both know that education helps defeat poverty.
The United States and the Philippines are warm friends. We cherish
that friendship, and we will keep it strong. Our countries are joined by
more than a market, even more than an alliance. This friendship is
rooted in the deepest convictions we hold. We believe in free
enterprise, disciplined by humanity and compassion. We believe in the
importance of religious faith, protected by religious liberty. We
believe in the rule of law, made legitimate by the
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will of the people. And we believe that democracy is the only form of
government fully compatible with human dignity.
These ideals speak to men and women in every culture; yet they are
under attack in many cultures in many parts of the world. A new
totalitarian threat has risen against civilization. Like other
militarists and fascists before them, the terrorists and their allies
seek to control every mind and soul. They seek to spread chaos and fear,
intimidate whole societies, and silence all opposition. They seek
weapons of mass destruction to complete their hatred and genocide. The
terrorists will continue their missions of murder and suicide until
they're stopped, and we will stop them.
Every nation in Asia and across the world now faces a choice.
Nations that choose to support terror are complicit in a war against
civilization. Nations that try to ignore terror and hope it will only
strike others are deluding themselves, undermining our common defense,
and inviting a future of catastrophic violence. Nations that choose to
fight terror are defending their own safety and the safety of free
people everywhere.
The Philippines and the United States have seen the enemy on our own
soil. Americans witnessed the murder of thousands on a single day.
Filipinos have known bombings and kidnaping and brutal murders of the
innocent. We've endured the violence and grief of terror. We know the
enemy wants to spread fear and chaos. Our two nations have made our
choice. We will defend ourselves, our civilization, and the peace of the
world. We will not be intimidated by the terrorists.
We're on the offensive against the terrorists, draining their funds,
disrupting their plans, and bringing them to justice, one person at a
time. Here in the Philippines, one face of the enemy is the Abu Sayyaf
group. These killers torture and behead their victims while acting or
claiming to act in the name of God. But murder has no home in any
religious faith. And these terrorists must find no home in the
Philippines.
My Government and your Government pursue a common objective: We will
bring Abu Sayyaf to justice. And we will continue to work together,
along with our friends in Southeast Asia, to dismantle Jemaah Islamiyah,
the terrorist network, as well as other groups that traffic in violence
and chaos. As we fight the terrorists, we're also determined to end
conflicts that spread hopelessness and feed terror.
The United States supports President Arroyo's campaign to establish
a lasting peace with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. Shortly before
his death, Ustaz Hashim Salamat wrote a
letter to me professing his rejection of terrorism. Only that commitment
to peace can bring a better future to the people in Mindanao.
I call on all the members of the MILF to reject terror and to move
forward with political negotiations. When a lasting peace is
established, the United States is prepared to provide development
assistance to Mindanao.
Yet there can be no compromise with terror. Philippine security
forces have the right and the duty to protect local communities and to
defeat terrorism in every form. In the war on terror, U.S.-Philippines
military alliance is a rock of stability in the Pacific.
And this afternoon, President Arroyo and I agreed to update our defense cooperation. We
completed the comprehensive review of Philippine security requirements
announced last May. Today President Arroyo and her Government committed
to a 5-year plan to modernize and reform your military. I commend the
President and your military leadership for taking this bold action. My
country will provide technical assistance and field expertise and
funding.
But success requires more than American assistance. The Members of
this body must invest in the Philippine military to ensure that your
forces have the resources needed
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to win the war on terror and to protect the Philippine people.
Free nations have faced a great challenge all around the world and a
great challenge in Iraq. Saddam Hussein
pursued weapons of mass destruction, sponsored terrorism, oppressed his
people, and for 12 years defied the demands of the United Nations.
Finally, the U.N. Security Council in Resolution 1441 demanded that
Saddam disarm, prove his disarmament to the world, or face serious
consequences. Saddam Hussein chose defiance, and President
Arroyo was one of the first world
leaders to recognize the need for action. The Philippines joined the
United States in supporting and enforcing the serious consequences. You
rose to the moment, and the American people respect your courageous and
principled stand.
Since the liberation of Iraq, we have discovered Saddam's clandestine network of laboratories suitable for
biological and chemical weapons research, his design work on prohibited
long-range missiles, his elaborate campaign to hide his illegal weapons
programs. We've shut down terror camps, denied terrorists a sanctuary.
By our actions, our coalition removed a grave and gathering danger. We
also ended one of the cruelest regimes in our time. Saddam's rape rooms
and torture chambers and children's prisons are closed forever. His mass
graves will claim no victims. The world was right to confront the regime
of Saddam Hussein, and we were right to end the regime of Saddam
Hussein.
Now that the dictator is gone, Americans and Filipinos and many
others share a common vision for that country. Coalition forces,
including Filipino peacekeepers and medical workers, are working for the
rise of freedom and self-government in Iraq. We're helping to build a
free Iraq, because the long-suffering Iraqi people deserve lives of
opportunity and dignity. And we're helping to build a free Iraq, because
free nations do not threaten others or breed the ideologies of murder.
By working for democracy, we serve the cause of peace.
Democracy always has skeptics. Some say the culture of the Middle
East will not sustain the institutions of democracy. The same doubts
were once expressed about the culture of Asia. These doubts were proven
wrong nearly six decades ago when the Republic of the Philippines became
the first democratic nation in Asia. Since then, liberty has reached
nearly every shore of the western Pacific. In this region of the world
and in every other, let no one doubt the power of democracy, because
freedom is the desire of every human heart.
Sustaining liberty is not always easy. The world saw this last July
here in the Philippines. And all free nations rejoiced when the mutiny
against this Government failed. People of this land fought too hard, too
long to surrender your freedom to the conspiracy of a few.
All of you in this chamber are the protectors of Philippine
democracy, charged with upholding the legacy of Rizal and Quezon.
Members of the Philippine Armed Forces are commissioned to fight for
freedom, not to contend for power. I'm certain that in the coming
election, this nation will show its deep commitment to democracy and
continue to inspire people throughout Asia.
In this city, on a January morning in 1995, Pope John Paul II addressed millions of the faithful. He spoke of
the goodness of the Filipino people and the strength of your democracy
and the example this nation has set for others. He said, ``May your
light spread out from Manila to the farthest corners of the world, like
the great light which shone in the night at Bethlehem.'' Ladies and
gentlemen, the world needs the Philippines to continue as a light to all
of Asia and beyond.
There is so much to be proud of in your beloved country, your
commitments to democracy and peace and your willingness to oppose
terrorism and tyranny. The United States and the Philippines have a
proud history. And we face the future bound by the strongest ties two
nations can share.
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We stand for liberty, and we stand together.
May God bless. Thank you all very much.
Note: The President spoke at 4:50 p.m. in the Session Hall at the
Philippine House of Representatives. In his remarks, he referred to
Franklin M. Drilon, President, Senate of the Philippines; Jose de
Venecia, Jr., Speaker of the Philippine House of Representatives;
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of the Philippines, and her husband,
Jose Miguel Arroyo; Ustaz Salamat Hashim, former leader of the Moro
Islamic Liberation Front; and former President Saddam Hussein of Iraq. A
portion of these remarks could not be verified because the tape was
incomplete.