I love my country. It is the land of my birth. It welcomed me as an infant, offered me a safe shelter in my youth, and lent me a precious identity in adulthood. It has witnessed the highs and lows of my life and has been there through all its ebbs and flows. Though I walk in the valley of darkness, I shall not fear, for I have a place--a country--to call my own.

The Philippines is beautiful, and its people, if they aren't yet, could be beautiful as well. Be proud. But better yet, be the greater Filipino.

There can never be peace in Mindanao unless and until the non-Muslims among us remove the prejudices in our hearts against our Muslim brothers. Are we prepared to do that? If we're not, peace in Mindanao may just have to wait longer.

In the final analysis, the true national hero of our land should be he who loves his country more than his own self but second only to his God and the good that He represents; he who tirelessly works for the greatest good of his people and who willingly sacrifices his own good for that of his countrymen. This is our country's national hero-- the epitome of the finest Filipino and the finest human being, the yardstick by which we should measure our own deeds as citizens of this country and of the whole world. Rizal vs. Bonifacio is not the real issue; the real issue, the one that truly deserves our most avid attention, is whether we ourselves can pass for national heroes. Can we?

The Americans, minus their warts, are a great people. We can say the same thing for ourselves. The only difference: The Americans know they're great; we don't.
The next People Power Revolution I want to be part of is an internal revolution, a personal cleansing, a ridding of my own wrongful attitudes, unjust expectations, and selfish aspirations. It is a revolution that all Filipinos must take part in if our society is to survive. It is the true People Power Revolution--the power of a people to transform themselves from within.