MANILA: President Marcos on Thursday pledged that he would solve the country’s problems without adding more burden on ordinary Filipinos as the country’s 17th President, and that he would offer “no excuses” for things he would be unable to accomplish over the next six years.
“I will try to spare you, you have your other responsibilities to carry. But I will not spare myself from shedding the last bead of sweat or giving the last ounce of courage and sacrifice,” he said in his inaugural speech.
Believe. Have hope. The sun also rises like it did today and as it will tomorrow. And as surely as that, we will achieve the country all Filipinos deserve,” he said in an allegorical clincher to his 26-minute speech.
Marcos, 64, took his oath of office before Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo at the National Museum for Fine Arts, the former Legislative Building that was shut down by his father, who declared martial law and ruled by decree from 1972 until he was toppled in the 1986 People Power Revolution.
Without directly referring to his father’s dictatorial regime, the new President said he wanted Filipinos to be forward-looking and not to dwell on what had happened.
“I am here not to talk about the past,” he said. “I am here to tell you about our future. A future of sufficiency, even plenty of readily available ways and means to get done what needs doing—by you, by me.”
“We do not look back, but ahead,” he said.
But he himself could not help harking back to the days of “glory” under his father, Ferdinand, although avoiding any mention of the allegations of human rights violations, corruption and ill-gotten wealth amassed by the late dictator.
His remarks suggested that no better president came before and after his father, except to some extent, his predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, whose daughter, Sara Duterte, is his Vice President.
He offered reconciliation to his opponents and critics, and urged Filipinos to unite to recover from the economic crisis caused by the pandemic.
“Come, let us put our shoulders to the wheel and give that wheel a faster turn to repair and to rebuild and to address challenges in new ways to provide what all Filipinos need to be all that we can,” he said.
He said he was glad that his call for national unity during the presidential campaign resonated among Filipino voters—the same message he intended to emphasise during his presidency.
“I believe that if we focus on the work at hand, and the work that will come to hand, we will go very far under my watch. You believe that too. And I listened to your voices who are calling for unity, unity and unity,” he said.
He lauded his father and Duterte especially for improving the country’s infrastructure and agricultural production.
The new President took his oath in front of the country’s dignitaries, including outgoing Senate President Vicente Sotto III, diplomats, his mother, former first lady Imelda Marcos, and other members of his family—his wife Louise “Liza” Araneta-Marcos, sister Sen. Imee Marcos, and his three sons, Ferdinand Alexander, Joseph Simon and William Vincent.
Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory letter to Marcos, according to the Chinese news agency Xinhua.
Xi recalled that he had talked with Mr. Marcos by phone and reached “important consensus with him on upholding good-neighbourly friendship of the two countries and joining hands for common development,” the report said.
Xi said he was ready to work with the new Philippine leader “to chart the course for the development of bilateral ties from a strategic and long-term perspective, and continue to write a great chapter of the China-Philippines friendship and cooperation for the new era, so as to benefit the two countries and their people.”
