Our freedom, paid for by the blood of our heroes, has been challenged several times since. But our people rose to the occasion at every turn, defending their liberty with everything they had, prepared to render the ultimate sacrifice if asked to do so.

The heroism of our forefathers should inspire us to fight for a strong Philippine nation.

Heroism comes in many forms — we can become heroes today by renewing the same spirit of freedom of our forefathers as we celebrate the 112th anniversary of our independence with the theme: . This year’s theme reminds us that freedom is not bestowed — it is something that we must achieve together. Where before our heroes fought to gain political freedom, today we must rely on our sense of community and solidarity to gain freedom from economic deprivation. Let us carry on their struggle by devoting our collective energies to the battle against poverty — uniting and working as one to overcome the forces of division and strife, and tightly embracing peace, development and stability. No nation is immune from the impact of the global crisis. We must continue to focus on our economic freedom.

It is not enough for us to celebrate our day of freedom by remembering our heroes. We must also think about their hopes for a better life for us and commit ourselves to work even harder to realize them. Only then can we say that we deserve the gift of freedom. Filipino workers all over the world, by their courage, integrity and sweat of their brow, have truly become the modern-day heroes of our country.

Thus, it is fitting that as we celebrate the birth of our nation we do not only honor our founders and the principles they fought for, we also give honor to all Filipinos who rise above difficult circumstances and strive for excellence in their respective fields. We are fortunate to have such dedicated men and women in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The Philippine spirit and commitment to freedom should prompt every Filipino to count his blessings of political freedom. Our nation needs all of us pulling in the same direction so that truly our freedom, our will be the . Excellence and industry — the Filipino has all these qualities in abundance. Add to these the unity of a people determined to rise from poverty and achieve economic freedom... these are the building blocks of our freedom.

Let us all work together as we celebrate our sovereignty as a nation and work together in pursuit of our common goal: a world that is free from fear and free from want.