(Eagle News) – President Ferdinand Marcos Jr attended his first flag-raising ceremony in Malacanang, on Monday, July 4, saying he wanted to start things right and promised to have a very good working relationshiop with the Palace employees.
“First Monday nga pala, meron tayong flag raising. So I made sure na makapunta ako para mag-start tayo, we start it on the right foot with all of us,” he said.
Marcos Jr., recognized the hard work being done by the men and women working inside Malacanang, and thanked them for this.
He said he knows that they do their work as part of serving the people, and that they follow whoever has been chosen by the Filipino electorate to lead the nation.
The new Philippine president also told the Palace workers that he does not consider them as employees but as partners in his work in Malacanang.
“Hindi kayo ang empleyado namin. You are our partners. Hindi namin magagawa ang gagawin namin kung hindi (dahil) sa inyo,” President Marcos Jr said.
Marcos Jr., 64, the son of the late President Ferdinand Marcos, said he felt very much welcomed by the Malacanang workers, and thanked them for their “very kind reception.”
He promised to consider them in all that he would do, and reiterated the unity theme of his campaign and inaugural speech.
He also promised to meet them individually, at one point or another.
At the end of his speech after thanking the Palace employees, President Marcos Jr, was visibly moved as the Malacanang workers applauded him, as he looked around the Palace grounds which was very familiar to him.
He grew up inside Malacanang. It was his family’s home for about two decades during his father’s 20-year rule, from the time that he was just eight years old, up to the time that they were forced into exile in 1986, when he was 28 years old.
“Keep up the good work. Gawin lang natin ang ating mga trabaho. Siguro one or two steps beyond,” Marcos Jr said.
He said that he was “very very happy” to have attended his first flag ceremony at the Palace, now as the country’s president.
“Thank you for a very, very kind reception. Parang ang pakiramdam ko I really am in friendly territory,” he said.
(Eagle News Service)