Thank you very much, ES Luke Bersamin; the officials and employees of all of the Office of the President; all of you that are my fellow workers in government, good morning.

It is important that we are here to be together to be able to join you, my fellow workers in the Office of the President, for today’s flag ceremony.

Our presence here not only shows our commitment to honor the flag but to also the ideals and the traditions, and identity as Filipinos.

It also demonstrates our commitment to fulfill our duties and responsibilities as public servants.

The fact that we are reminded of the fact that the Office of the President is a 127 year old institution.

And this is important to remember this because we have to, once in a while, take a step back, take a breath and remember how important the work that we do is.

And what a great responsibility has been given us by our people.

And it is a responsibility that we must fulfill, it must be a responsibility that we must do so as to make our people proud of us.

Because without the work that we do, the leadership of the entire country will be much weaker and the directions in which— that we want to take for the next coming years and perhaps even beyond the time that we are here in Malacañang, here that we are in the Office of the President, will continue to feel the effects.

And that is why, I suppose the one way to put it is that we have to absolutely get this right, we have to absolutely do our jobs, and people need for us to be responsible and to realize how important the work that we do is.

Sometimes because of the volume of the work, sa dami ng trabaho ay hindi natin naiisip na— basta trabaho lang. Ngunit ang katotohanan diyan, bawat isang proyekto, bawat isang desisyon, bawat isang implementasyon ng polisiya ay nararamdaman ng buong Pilipinas.

Kaya’t kailangan na kailangan na ipagbuti natin ang ating mga trabaho. Kailangan ipagbuti natin at lagi natin maalala ang ating pagmamahal sa bansang Pilipinas at sa ating mga kapwang Pilipino.

So, I am very happy that we are able to celebrate this. To remind ourselves once again that it is important work that we do, does not mean na magiging mayabang tayo, dahil that’s quite the opposite of what is required of us.

Ang kailangan dito ay—talaga ay maging makapumbaba [mapagpakumbaba] at ‘yan ang napakagandang prinsipyo na dapat natin sundan.

Tayo’y nagseserbisyo, tayo ay— hindi tayo ang mahihirapan kapag tayo ay magkamali, ang mahihirapan ay ang pangkaraniwan na Pilipino.

Kaya’t wag natin kakalimutan sila dahil lahat ng ito ay ginagawa natin para sa taong bayan. Lahat ito ay ginagawa natin para sa kababayan natin. Lahat ng ito ay ginagawa natin para sa kinabukasan ng Pilipinas.

Maraming salamat and keep up the good work. [applause]

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