Greetings and preliminaries. 

I am a proud daughter of the City of Malabon, where I spent most of my formative years. It is in this city where I first dared to dream big dreams, first of excelling as a student and then of distinguishing myself as a professional in my chosen field -- broadcasting. For me, Malabon was more than a city where you could find the best pansit, exotic zoo animals and even perennial floods. As a wide-eyed child then and as a Senator of the Republic now, Malabon has and always will represent a birthing ground of lofty ideals, a place of limitless possibilities and a home where servant-leaders are born.

Today, we commemorate 26 years of honoring the city’s exemplary citizens, the great men and women of Malabon who have brought pride and honor to our hometown. We recognize the new graduates, bar and board passers, honor graduates and outstanding citizens of Malabon on the occasion of the 26th Gintong Parangal, a long tradition of honoring the city’s modern-day heroes.

Indeed, heroism is what our country needs the most at this juncture in our nation’s history. The kind of martyrdom that asks us to give our lives to our country not by shedding blood, but by offering our talents, skills and abilities in the service of our nation, when everybody else has chosen to jump ship and join the brain drain exodus.

Let me tell you an inspiring story. I’m sure that most of you have heard about the glorious feat of the three Pinay Everest summiteers Noelle Wenceslao, Carina Dayondon and Janet Belarmino. Last May, these three Filipino women reached the summit of Mt. Everest, setting the world record as the first women in Southeast Asia to reach the summit of the world’s tallest mountain at 8,848 meters or 29,029 feet above sea level, and the first women in the world to have scaled the mountain through the more difficult traverse climb, which has only been achieved by a handful of male mountaineers.

Even when people were dying as they attempted to reach the summit, these heroic Filipinas braved altitude mountain sickness and risked their lives in the name of national glory. Our Filipino climbing team lacked the resources and sophisticated equipment of their international counterparts but they made it to the top because they were armed with the Filipinos trademark determination, readiness for personal sacrifice and prayerful spirit. While there was no monetary reward awaiting them in reaching the summit, what motivated the three Filipinas to reach the top was knowing that they carried the hopes and dreams of each Filipino on their shoulders. They wanted to show the world the capacity for greatness of Filipinos and to infect our countrymen with national pride, amid the growing culture of grief, skepticism and doubt that has been plaguing our people, especially the youth who dream of nothing but leaving the country. Everest, they said, represented the impossible. More than just wanting to set a world record, these Filipinas offered everything that they had in order to accomplish what many thought could not be done because they wanted to restore our people’s faith in themselves.
      
The message of our Filipino Everest mountaineers goes out to all of us Filipinos and to all of you, recipients of Malabon’s Gintong Parangal award, who have scaled your own life’s Everest and triumphantly conquered it. Every time you choose excellence over mediocrity, service over apathy and perseverance over resignation you are restoring our people’s faith in our country and inspiring others to believe that they, too, can make a difference. We are all role models to each other and in this invisible chain that links us together, the success of one outstanding citizen of a city is the collective triumph of a nation. 

A public affirmation event such as this, where we celebrate the accomplishments of our brothers and sisters, goes a long way in reinvigorating our sense of pride and dignity as a people. I commend the city government of Malabon and the Kalipunan ng mga Samahan sa Malabon or KASAMA for continuing this tradition for the past 26 years. Certainly, this is a project that must be undertaken by each and every local government unit and local community group in the country for it pays tribute to the most important resource of our nation: our people.

The Gintong Parangal of Malabon recognizes the awardees as treasures of the city and living heroes of our country. May each of the recipients of this worthy award carry this title as a badge of honor and a firm reminder that you are called upon to contribute your own share in aspiring to realize our goal of making our country a center for excellence and reclaiming our nation’s place among the developed countries in the world. Let us give our countrymen a reason to stay or to come back and stake their future in our country, optimistic that a brighter future awaits our nation.

Congratulations to Malabon’s outstanding and inspiring citizens, you are truly this city’s golden treasures. May the Gintong Parangal continue to inspire the youth of Malabon to see this city as a birthing ground of lofty ideals, a place of limitless possibilities and a home where servant-leaders are born, just as I have as a child. May we dream bigger dreams and soar to even greater heights as we let this tradition of honoring live on.

Maraming, maraming salamat po. Mabuhay ang bayan ng Malabon, mabuhay ang mga ginawaran ng Gintong Parangal at mabuhay tayong lahat!