Answer:
President Fidel V. Ramos
Explanation:
WE CONVENE HERE this morning to advance one more step the cause of social reform to which we are all committed. Three months ago, many of us from the public sector and the leaders of the basic sectors—farmers, fisherfolk, urban poor, rural poor, workers, women, youth, the elderly, the handicapped—forged a Social Reform Agenda in preparation for today’s event.
At that meeting, we declared our common commitment to place the Filipino people at the center of development, and to make as the real measure of growth the well-being of the ordinary Filipino.
Last June, we decided on a package of Government interventions to integrate the most disadvantaged among our people into the mainstream of society—by providing for their basic needs and giving them the opportunity to help themselves.
That Social Reform Agenda did not just talk of goals. It laid down strategies and specific programs of action. It focuses not only on our wish list, but on what is achievable. And it recognizes as vital for the Agenda’s success that the private and public sectors work in concert in the effort at reform.
Since our meeting last June, we have started carrying out our social reform program, especially in the 19 poorest provinces we had identified as the most needy areas. Even as we meet, the work of reaching out to our poor communities is continuing—carried out by thousands of Government workers and volunteers from non-Government and people’s organizations.
