Fellow Countrymen:
This is the hour of fulfillment of the supreme aspiration of our people for centuries. It is but fitting that we should, on this momentous occasion, dedicate a prayer of thanksgiving to those who paid the full price of blood and treasure for the freedom which we have now achieved. Rest at long last in your hallowed graves, immortal heroes of the Filipino race! The long night of the vigil is ended. You have not died in vain. The spirit of Mactan, of Balintawak, of Bagumbayan, of Malolos, and of Bataan lives again!
The Republic which we are consecrating here today was born in the midst of a total war. Our countryside was transferred into a gory hattlefield to become a historic landmark of that titanic conflict. From the crucible of a world in turmoil was unleashed the mighty force that was to spell the liberation of Asiatic people from foreign domination. Today, as we witness the triumphal realization of our national ideal, we would be sadly wanting in those magnanimous qualities which distinguish a noble and valiant race, if we did not forgive the wounds and havoc inflicted by that war, the immolation of our youth with their golden promise of the future, the untold sufferings and privations undergone by our innocent population. This is no time for indulging in unseemly recriminations or for ventilating our grievances. In all dignity and out of the fullness of our hearts we could do no less than acknowledge before the world our debt of honor to the August Virtue of His Majesty, the Emperor of Nippon, for ordaining the holy war and hastening the day of our national deliverance.
The presence here of high diplomatic and official representatives of the Nipponese Empire and other nations of Greater East Asia testify to the traditional friendship and mutual understanding between all Oriental peoples. In the name of the Filipino people, I wish to convey to the honored guests our sincere assurance of goodwill, and to ex press the fervent hope that the fraternal ties which unite our people with theirs will grow ever stronger and firmer in the years to come.
I wish to take advantage of this opportunity also to make public our grateful appreciation of all the acts of kindness showered upon th Filipino people by the Commanders of the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy in the Philippines, past and present. I make special reference to General Shigenori Kuroda, Highest Commander of the Imperial Japanese Army in the Philippines, and to General Takazi Wachi, Director-General of the Japanese Military Administration, without whose sympathetic assistance and encouragement, the Preparatory Commission for Philippine Independence would not have been able to accomplish its work promptly and expeditiously.
Our first and foremost duty as a free and independent nation is to maintain peace and order within our borders. No government worthy of the name will countenance public disorder or tolerate defiance of its authority. Unless we enjoy domestic tranquillity, we cannot prosecute to a successful conclusion those labors essential to our daily existence and to our national survival. Without public security, our natural resources will remain undeveloped, our fields uncultivated, our industry and commerce paralyzed; instead of progress and prosperity, we shall wallow in misery and poverty and face starvation.
In the ultimate analysis, all government is physical power and that government is doomed which is impotent to suppress anarchy and terrorism. The Constitution vests in the President's full authority to exercise the coercive powers of the State for its preservation. In order to make those powers effective, my administration shall be committed to the training, equipment and support of an enlarged Constabulary force strong enough to cope with any untoward situation which might arise. Certainly, everything must be done to forestall the indignity and humiliation of being obliged to invoke outside intervention to quell purely internal disturbances.