President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Romualdez Marcos Jr. attended his first-ever flag-raising ceremony together with the Malacañang employees at the Kalayaan Grounds in Malacañan Palace on Monday, July 4.
In his brief remarks, he assured employees of fostering a good working relationship with them under his helm.
Marcos related that he took upon himself to attend the flag-raising rites during the first Monday of the week and being the newly-elected President of the country, because he wanted to personally greet and meet the employees of Malacañang and “start off on the right foot” with them.
“Sana naman ay ito ay simula ng isang napakagandang working relationship sa atin. (I hope this will be the start of a very good working relationship among us.)” he said.
The Chief Executive noted that there will be changes among the top officials in the Office of President (OP) but he then allayed the fears of employees and told them to just focus on their duties and responsibilities in their respective offices.
“We consider you. Hindi kayo ang empleyado namin (You are not our employees), you are our partners. Hindi namin magagawa iyong gagawin namin kung hindi sa inyo. (We cannot do our jobs without you.),” he stressed.
Marcos called on the employees to unite and help him in performing his task as President, efficiently and effectively.
“Hindi naman kasi simpleng bagay ang trabahong ibinigay sa atin. Kaya naman kailangan natin at siguro naging tama talaga ang mensahe noong kampanya na magkaisa, Kaya’t pagkaisahan natin ito at kakayanin natin ito. (Our job is not an easy task. That is why we need and maybe our mantra of unity during the campaign was really perfect. Let us do this together and I know we can handle this.),” he said.
“I’m very happy to see you all. Mukhang (It seems you are) ready to go, very enthusiastic for this next administration. We need that. Keep it going. Keep up the good work that you have been doing for the years previous,” he added.
The President said he expects the employees to continue to work with passion and enthusiasm and even work harder to be able to serve the public better.
“Iyong multiplier effect ng trabaho ninyo baka hindi ninyo alam. (You probably didn’t know the multiplier effect of your work.) Pero ‘yung trabaho niyo when you sit at your desk and you do something and you make a decision or you push something or you expedite something that affects not only you, not only me, that affects millions of people. Kaya’t napakaimportante na itama natin ‘yang ating gagawing trabaho. (That’s why it is very important that we do our job efficiently.),” he said.
Given the warm reception shown by the Malacañang employees to the President, he said he felt that he was in a “friendly territory.”
Present during the event were Executive Secretary Victor Rodriguez, Special Assistant to the President Antonio Lagdameo, and Presidential Management Staff Chief Naida Angping. PND
###
