Marcos vows to fight threats to freedom

MANILA, Philippines — President Marcos has vowed to continue the fight against threats to freedom and repel those who trample the country’s “sacred shores.”

In a speech during the 125th anniversary of the First Philippine Republic in Malolos, Bulacan yesterday, Marcos urged Filipinos to be modern-day heroes and help the country prosper.

He honored Filipinos who fought for freedom, saying the beneficiaries of their heroism will continue to pay their dues.

He said that stewards of the heroes’ legacy are expected to pay rent by making the economy sound, the democracy stable, the future secured and the nation strong.

“For that is the only way that we can honor those who founded this Republic, those who fought for its ideals and those who fell in the war. The fight continues up to this day, because while the great cause of freedom endures, it still faces threats, some shocking, some subtle, but all met with the same resolve,” Marcos said.

He warned that those who trample the country’s “sacred shores” would face resistance.

“The spirit of Malolos commands us to resist you, for the territory our forefathers fought for is unconquerable,” he said.

Marcos did not provide specifics, although the speech was delivered amid reports about fresh incidents of harassment of Filipino fishermen by Chinese coast guard in the West Philippine Sea.

The Philippine Coast Guard reported that Filipino fishermen were forced by the Chinese coast guard to return the shells they collected from Panatag Shoal.

Marcos talked about modern-day problems, saying Filipinos are now fighting wars that involve no armies to be crushed or trenches to be overwhelmed, and do not require bloodshed or rushing of barricades.

“They are harder to vanquish and they exact a toll of poverty, hunger and disease that claim more lives than any armed conflict,” Marcos said.

He said Filipinos have been waging a war against hunger, with farms as battlefields, because a republic that does not feed its people will be consumed by their anger.

“The administration has been working for higher income and better jobs to emancipate people from the bondage of poverty,” he said, noting that a republic is impoverished if only a few