Distinguised officers and members of the Manila Overseas Press Club and friends, good evening.

A new typhoon threatens our country and many of us wonder whether we are prepared for the worst while hoping for the best. But typhoons are a reality for which we should always be prepared.

Yet year in and year out our lack of sufficient preparation causes us hundreds of millions in damaged property and countless lost lives.

The message of Ondoy and of other weather disturbances is simple: In times of crisis one cannot afford to be inexperienced or unprepared. Every second counts. Any hesitation on the part of Government and on the part of leadership can be fatal for so many.

Our country faces a far bigger problem than preparing for annual weather disturbances. That bigger problem is the continuing poverty of millions of countrymen, a level of poverty that remains unaddressed year after year after year.

Why?

Because for a long time we have not had leaders who genuinely understood the plight of the poor man – not because they were not intelligent enough, not because they did not care enough, but simply because they were never genuinely poor.

If a leader does not know how it feels to worry about food for tomorrow; if a leader does not understand the stress of having to live under a roof that could be carried away by the next typhoon; if a leader cannot genuinely say that he has felt the pain and even the indignity of being poor in this country – then how can he genuinely work for the interests of the majority of our people?

This reminds me of a movie of years ago, where a white man pretended to be black in order to understand the plight of the black people of America. After he had enough, he reverted to being white and begun championing the cause of black people.

But he was put in his place when one day a black man confronted him with these words: “You can not say that you genuinely understand the plight of us blacks because you still had that option to return to being a white man. We who are really black don’t have that option. The reality of being black is with us day and night.”

It is easy for anyone to say he understands the plight of our poor – but only those who lived as a poor boy can truly grasp the full burden of poverty.

I am not embarrassed to say that I was born poor and lived as a poor boy for the early part of my life.

Some people say that I cannot genuinely claim to be a poor man because I am not dark skinned.

Well, not all dark skinned are poor, and not all poor are dark skinned. In my case, I had to go to the market early, before the sun was even up – and therefore rarely had to be baked in the sun.

And so as a young boy born poor it became my first dream to get out of poverty. The greatest opportunity for me came when I was accepted at UP, and education became for me the great leveler.

This is why, over the years, I have always felt that one of Government’s primary responsibilities is to provide every Filipino with the opportunity to fulfill his God-given potential. And education
is the key to that.

While the world was now opening up to me – and the beauty of a tree-lined campus leaving its mark on the mind of a poor boy accustomed to the slums of Tondo – the reality of my poor roots continued to pull me back to the complication that poverty brings: The loss of human dignity that further hinders the fulfillment of one’s potential.

Thinking back, I now realize that one of the most difficult aspects of life of a poor family is the absence of a decent home, an abode where family can gather together as one and bond.

How does one bond in a shanty? How does one come together and grow together when the roof of your house can be blown away by the next typhoon; when your walls too thin to keep some noises in and others out; when your living quarters are so compressed that when a neighbor sneezes the whole neighborhood catches the cold?

More importantly, how do you teach important values to the next generation when everything around you – your house, your relationships, even life itself – is so impermanent?

This is not to say that it is impossible to do so even under conditions of poverty; I am proud of how my parents were able to raise us with the proper values. But it is a struggle that many others fail at, and when they fail the impact is felt by society as well.

This is why, when I had the opportunity to launch my dream business, I chose to go into housing. And not just any type of housing, but specifically low cost housing. Housing that was affordable to those who, like me, understood what poverty entailed, but with a quality to match those offered by higher priced shelter programs.

And so long, long before I entered public service I was achieving another of my dreams: I was building houses and helping create homes. And in the process we were boosting the dignity of those who could now live comfortably in a place truly their own. And who now began to cultivate important values such as thrift and investment.

And because people now had decent shelter, they became decent to each other – the most important ingredient in building communities.

I am not embarrassed to say that my housing business was built around my dream of providing affordable quality housing for the poorer segment of our society, with the byproduct of uplifting the dignity of homeowners and creating communities.

Before long I was being touted as the first local Filipino billionaire and the king of the mass housing market. Yet I didn’t – I couldn’t – stop dreaming.

As a student at UP, as a young employee in Makati, and then as an entrepreneur, another stark reality hit me: That the best Government is a Government that facilitates – that allows resources to match needs, that provides opportunities, that protects the weak and encourages the diligent and rewards the hard working. When Government is not these but is a stumbling bloc to progress, then it fails in its most basic of responsibilities and loses its reason for being.

This is why I entered government service.

But my experience in public service also taught me one important lesson: As a facilitator, Government need not dictate. In fact, more often than not, Government is more effective when it resorts to promoting dialogue between stakeholders and finding the acceptable compromise that leaves all parties better off in the end.

Indeed, more is achieved when Government gets parties to sit down at the negotiation table and trade interests, than when they stand on opposite sides of a dividing line and trade accusations.

Which is why I now find myself on the edge of striving to achieve my ultimate dream: That of putting together all the elements of my life this far and offering it to our people as the sum total of what I as a leader am and will always be.

Because I was born poor, I dreamt of breaking free from the bonds of poverty with the help of quality education and the opportunity to maximize my potential.

I dream that every Filipino similarly situated as that poor boy from Tondo will also have that same chance, thanks to quality public education and opportunity for all.

When that day comes, the need for our countrymen to seek greener pastures abroad will become a thing of the past.

Because I understood how having no permanent roof over your head to call your own robbed me and my family of the basic dignity, I dreamt not only of building a roof over my head but of helping provide others the chance to own a house they could call their own.

I dream that every Filipino will have access to decent housing that will allow him to nurture his family, respect his neighbors and in the process help build communities.

When that day comes, the complaint that we Filipinos have no sense of community and of country will be a distant echo.

And because I have seen how Government at its best can match resources with needs as it provides the minimum conditions for individuals to achieve their potential, I have continued to dream of a National Government that facilitates rather than hinders, that creates opportunities rather than stumbling blocs, that encourages rather than discourages, that acts rather than speaks, and that is focused less on what is and more on what could be.

When that day comes, Government will be an entity that is respected, not cursed, and the description “public servant” will be an honorific to be sought by many.

But all that I have achieved would be nothing if at the end of my public life I would not have been able to translate my own success into the success of our people.

This is why I stand before you here today, the genuine poor boy from Tondo, armed with 20 years experience as a public servant and 30 years experience in the private sector, ready, willing and able to serve as President of the Philippines from Day One and lead our country in facing whatever storms lay ahead.