Magandang tanghali na.

Magandang tanghali sa inyong lahat and welcome all to Malacañan Palace so that we can properly give recognition to our delegate winners in the ASEAN WorldSkills 2025, which was hosted for the…

The last time was a while back. [TESDA Secretary Jose Francisco Benitez: Twenty-nine years.] Huh? [Secretary Benitez: Twenty-nine years.] Twenty-nine years? That’s too long.

But now we have had it. And I remember when Secretary Kiko and I were planning this, and it was at the Cabinet meeting, and he brought it up and he said that he needed funding because we were going to host the WorldSkills.

And sabi natin, considering that we are working so hard to retrain, reskill, upskill, re – all our workers, this is going to be very, very important.

But I said if we are going to host it, we should do well in the… Huwag naman tayo mapahiya. [applause]

Well, now that you have brought home 10 golds, 7 silvers, 8 bronzes, 5 medallions for excellence. [applause] I think that you have achieved our purpose.

Now, we came – we did very well, and we’re all very proud of you because there is more to this than just a contest or just a competition between different countries in ASEAN. It also shows the quality of the training that we have given our workers. Malaking bagay ‘yan eh. [applause]

Kilalang-kilala na ang Pilipino, Pilipina, na mga manggagawa na pumupunta sa abroad, na nandito sa Pilipinas, kilalang-kilala na na magagaling talaga ang mga Pinoy.

So, pero hindi natin napapatunayan. Sinasabi, sabi doon magaling, sabi doon. Ito, dito sa inyong ginawa at sa naging successful na resulta, ay pinakita natin, hindi ito haka-haka na sinasabi na magaling ang Pilipino na manggagawa. Ay masasabi natin, ito may pruweba na tayo. [applause]

Kung titingnan mo, ikukumpara mo sa ibang bansa, eh maliwanag talaga na ‘yung aming nararamdaman, basta’t ipinagmamalaki namin lahat ng Pilipino, eh totoo naman, may pinagbabasehan. Hindi lamang dahil sa aming pagmamahal sa kapwa Pinoy, kung hindi talaga dahil mayroon talagang galing.

So, ang ating ginawa, ang ating – para naman to encourage our competitors in this WorldSkills Competition, eh parang pasasalamat na rin sa inyo dahil you have shown – you have made our reputation better, you have once again proved to the world the value of the Filipino worker.

And to encourage you, and so to encourage others to follow in your footsteps, mayroon tayong ibinibigay mula sa Tanggapan ng Pangulo, [applause] ay magbibigay tayo ng P100,000 sa bawat gold medalist, [applause] mayroon namang P80,000 ang mga silver medalist, [applause] at mayroon P60,000 para sa mga nag-bronze, [applause] at P50,000 para sa mga nakakamit ng Medallion of Excellence. [applause]

Well-earned naman ito. Hindi namin – ‘pag sinabi natin nagbibigay tayo para pang parangal – ‘yun na nga, para ma-inspire din ‘yung mga iba – ay parangal din sa inyo, pagkakilala sa inyong galing at sa inyong husay at sa inyong pagpaganda ulit ng reputasyon ng bawat manggagawang Pilipino.

Ay ito naman, ay kagaya ng aking… It is a small price to pay, ika nga, for all the work that you do and all the excellence that you have shown and what you have done for the Filipinos and our reputation outside the Philippines, our reputation around the world, our reputation that many of our workers have – hard-earned. Hard-earned ‘yan.

Hindi nangyari ‘yan dahil ginawa lang natin o sinabi lang natin. Ito ay dahil sa dekada na ipinapakita ng ating mga manggagawa. Deka-dekada na ipakita ang inyong husay, ang inyong sipag, ang inyong galing.

And that is why this is an important day for us and it is important that we recognize the excellence that you have shown in all your work.

So, congratulations to you all! [applause]

Maraming, maraming, maraming salamat. At mabuhay – mabuhay kayong lahat! [applause]

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