Activity No. 3: Transforming the Context of Manuel L. Quezon’s Speech into Hypertext

          Hypertext of Manuel Quezon's Speech

The part of the speech of Manuel Quezon that I found most interesting is the part where he talked about the character of a Filipino that will be the support system of the strength as a nation. It's really true that a nation will not succeed without the help of the people. We really should start with ourselves. Build our strengths and let our weaknesses fade for us to be strong and there will be no doubts with who and what we are. 

Culture:

I have an abiding faith in our people. I know that they have all the faculties needed to become a powerful and enlightened nation. The Filipino is not inferior to any man of any race. His physical, intellectual, and moral qualities are as excellent as those of the proudest stock of mankind. But some of these qualities, I am constrained to admit, have become dormant in recent years. If we compare our individual and civic traits with those that adorned our forefathers, we will find, I fear, that we, the Filipinos of today, have lost much of the moral strength and power for growth of our ancestors. They were strong-willed, earnest, adventurous people. They had traditions potent in influence in their lives, individually and collectively. They had the courage to be pioneers, to brave the seas, clear the forest and erect towns and cities upon the wilderness. They led a life of toil and communal service. Each one considered himself an active part of the body politic. But those traditions are either lost or forgotten. They exist only as a hazy-mist in our distant past. We must revive them, for we need the anchorage of these traditions to guide and sustain us in the proper discharge of our political and social obligations.

Historical:

Social and political conflicts have been the crucible in which the dynamic faculties and virtues of man have been tempered and fused. Chivalry and the Bushido, as well as the industrial revolution and the advancement of science and art, are the offspring of death-struggles of man against man or of man against nature. It is in a sense our misfortune that God has not visited such trials and vicissitudes upon our people in adequate measure. We would be a stronger, sturdier race if we had faced such ordeals. Much as we have endured during our quest for liberty, our sufferings are as nothing compared with the price paid by other peoples. Nevertheless, while we were engaged in our fight for freedom, our nation produced men of great worth and character. But—Bonifacio, M. H. del Pilar, Mabini, Luna—where are their equals now? Who can compare with Rizal, with his serene wisdom and his great courage, his spirit of self-sacrifice preferring death to slavery? Who is there that can tread the level of loyalty and gallantry exhibited by Gregorio del Pilar who, like a Spartan soldier, offered his life as a holocaust to duty? There were many others, giants all, who lived in those days and gave luster to our name. They are dead, and it seems that their individual and civic virtues were buried with them. But the sparks still glow within us, and I know that in an emergency they can be fanned into a flame that will fire our souls with heroic determination.

Political:

Every official of the Government will have to cooperate, and ignorance of, or failure to live up to, the rules of conduct established, will be a bar to public office. There will be some superficial men, self-appointed guardians of democracy, who would brand this movement as the first step towards totalitarianism. Let us not heed them. It is the concern of democracy to raise the character of the people to the highest peak, for democracy itself can only survive and be effective to promote the common welfare, if the people are intelligent, virtuous, and efficient.