President Carlos P. Garcia's Speech against the Parity Law

Delivered during the joint session of the Philippine Senate and House of Representatives on September 18, 1946, this is the speech of then Senator Carlos P. Garcia against the resolution amending the Constitution, giving American's equal rights in the exploration of our resources and operation of public utilities.

THE ISSUE

Gentlemen of the Congress:

        There are moments in the life of a nation when its parliament is called upon to deliberate on questions involving the nation's very life and death. There are times when the parliament of the nation determines questions that affect the very depth of its being and very essence of its fundamental national ideals and principles. Such a moment has come to this Congress. It will  now decide and determine whether we will keep this land of ours and all our natural resources for the Filipino people and for our posterity, or whether we will open it to the acquisition and exploitation of Americans and other aliens hiding behind American fronts. We are called to determine whether this national patrimony, this sacred heritage for which millions of our race have fought, suffered and died, shall remain ours to keep and preserve, or whether alien hands will be allowed to appropriate its blessings. We are called upon to decide this momentous debate whether or not this land of ours will remain the cradle ad grave, the womb and tomb of our race - the only place where we build our homes, our temples, and our altars and where we erect the castles of our racial hopes, dreams and traditions and where we establish the warehouse of our happiness and prosperity, of our joys and sorrows.

       In short, we will answer the question - shall we pass this constitutional amendment, permitting the alienation of our land and resources to foreigners? In the magnitude of this transcendental question, parties and personalities are lost, offices, ambition, wealth and temporary power become molecular particles lost in the greatness of the issue. Hence, we have come here only as Filipinos to think with our hearts and determine with our soul and the momentous answer. On this sacred hour, as we chart the course of state, after communion with the spirit of the nation, and consultation with our ancestors - our great dead whose deeds and thoughts and visions were beacon lights of our past that will illumine our path in the uncharted future, we come to the solemn conclusion that our answer must be no, no, and no.

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