Thank you very much to our Executive Secretary, Secretary Luc Bersamin for your introduction; Senate President Migz Zubiri; and the members [please, please take your seats] and the members of the Senate that have joined us here today; the speaker of the House of Representatives, Speaker Martin Romualdez; and the members of the House who have come to join us today; the honorable members of the Cabinet; my fellow workers in government; distinguished guests; ladies and gentlemen, good morning.

Today, it’s my honor to sign into law two bills, which do not only honor two key sectors of society, but mandate measures that protect their rights and promote their development.

To creative minds who boldly set out to transform their dreams into products that win markets and accolades, the Tatak Pinoy Act provides the impetus that will nurture innovative and inventive ideas.

To our active eighty somethings and lively ninety somethings, the expanded Centenarians Act confers upon you the thanks of a grateful nation that you have made strong and stable through your labors.

Each of these laws encapsulates the merits that the Bagong Pilipinas upholds toward building a strong nation.

For example, the Tatak Pinoy Act is about investing in Filipino competence and talent. That genius and gift must be supported, not by exhortation alone but by true, tangible support.

Tatak Pinoy is more than a branding exercise. It is about incubating and incentivizing great products that deserve to carry the ‘Made in the Philippines’ trademark.

It’s not about simply slapping labels on goods and services, but showing their provenance proudly that they are gawang Pinoy.

It is about creating products and services of the highest quality, because Tatak Pinoy is also about excellence, and as a seal of great workmanship, it must only be applied to those that meet this high standard. And as such, we shall give preference and priority to our products.

The expansion of the coverage of the Centenarians Act is a homage to the Filipino trait of compassion, and in our culture, none are showered with more kind and loving care than our elderly.

Under the new law, Filipinos, upon reaching the age of 80, shall receive a cash gift of 10 thousand pesos and every five years thereafter and upon reaching the age of 85, 90, and until 95.

We do, after all, stand on the shoulders of these giants.

But they deserve more than cash in an envelope. What they should get is a support infrastructure that every society owes to its greying population.

There were already close to 10 million seniors two years ago. And there’s some of the— many of us here who have already crossed that Rubicon line [laughter] that’s why, we might be suspected of having passed this bill for ourselves in preparation for our dotage.

But as this demographic enlarges, the societal facilities that attend to them should be expanded as well.

When we think of the future, it is not just about, as Hubert Humphrey once said, “those who are in the dawn of life, our children,” but also “those in the twilight of life, our elderly.”

So, I would like to congratulate the House and the Senate for the laws that we have enacted here today.

It proves, once again, the tenet that bicameralism was designed to bring together the brilliance of two bodies through compromise.

Again, congratulations to everyone.

Maraming salamat!

Mabuhay ang bawat Pilipino! Mabuhay ang Bagong Pilipinas! Maraming Salamat po sa inyong lahat, Magandang Umaga po sa inyo. [applause]

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