Speech of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. during his talk to the troops

Speeches 16 February 2024

Thank you General Lorenzo.

[As you were. Please take your seats]

Thank you General for the welcome remarks and the kind introduction.

I have just received from your commanders a briefing on Task Force Diamond and the units that are here in Camp Makapandong to give me the latest in terms of the security situation.

Mukha naman maganda ang progress dito. In fact, there is a projection by the planning that siguro by the end of the year, hopefully the target is at by the end of the year, masasabi natin na cleared na talaga ang inyong area. So, that is a good progress.

And I have to congratulate everybody at alam ko naman ang buhay ng sundalo kung papaano. Kaya’t lalo na dito, yung terrain dito. The only way to do what you are doing is to kailangan talagang hahabulin ninyo ‘yung kalaban. You cannot just stay in camp and that’s what you are doing kaya’t nagkakaroon ng ganyang klaseng success rate ang inyong mga military operation. At tinatanong ko nga kung the dissidents are still initiating encounters. Mukhang hindi na, mukhang tayo na. Government forces na ang naghahabol sa kanila and that is a very, very good indication as to the success of the military operations that you have been doing.

So, I must congratulate all of you—the officers, men and women, who have been participating in all of these operations. But I will now proceed to what I tell all our troops sin the other places that I have been to. I tiried to go and visit as much as possible to see the true condition. Alam naman natin marami akong tinatangggap na report pero naiba pagka napunta ka doon at makausap ang mga commander, makausap ang ating tropa—ay very important na to see up close, face to face kung ano ba talagang nangyayari.

But—and in my visits to the other camps, I remind our troops and I’m always telling them that now, whereas before. Iba ang ating approach sa ating internal conflicts that we have within the Philippines. At hinihingi natin sa ating mga sundalo ay kailangan maging war fighter and we still need war fighters and we still need the courage and the bravery and the sacrifice that you have shown.

But now there is an additional dimension to the job that you have. Yung mission ninyo, hindi lang manggyera, kung hindi you have to be also peacemakers at they—we must remember that kahit papaano, ang kaharap natin, Pilipino din yan. Kaya’t mas maganda sana, imbes na maglaban tayo ay pababain na natin sila at tulungan natin sila na magkaroon ng maganda namang buhay upang hindi na sila lumaban sa gobyerno, hindi na sila lumaban sa Pilipinas at yan ang para sa isang leader kagaya ko, ang pinakamasakit na makita ay ang Pilipino lumalaban sa kapwa Pilipino.

Kaya’t hangga’t maaari ay hindi natin ginagawa yan but the military–having said that, the military pressure that you are exerting on the remaining CPGs are—is the reason why they are coming down pero mayroon din tayong program upang sila’y bigyan nga ng hanapbuhay, bigyan sila ng lupa, kung saan ang tinitirahan nila, bigyan natin sila ng tulong na galing sa pamahalaan.

And that is where even the soldiers have to come in and the local governments, the national government of course is leading that, but the soldiers have to play their part as well.

So not only do we need war fighters, we need also peacemakers. And this is the new development, the new aspect, the new dimension to the job that we are facing but I think as we can observe, not only here in Agusan but also in other parts of the country, maganda naman ang nagiging resulta and we’re making progress at dahan-dahan nakikita natin, nababawasan ang gulo sa bawat–everywhere around the country.

And that is why we have been promoting this idea that our war fighters are also our peacemakers.

But for your mission, I have to say that I am looking at the–listening to the briefing that I just had, mukhang very successful. Alam ko na hindi nangyayari ito na by sitting around the camp by accident, ito’y trinabaho ninyo at ‘yung maganda yung trabaho ninyo kaya nagkakaganyan. So, I congratulate you for the good work that you have done. Kagaya, yan ang sinulat ko dun sa guestbook.

Keep up the good work. Congratulations on your successes.

Be war fighters and peacemakers.

Maraming salamat. Thank you very much. [applause]

–END–