The high honor you have done my brother and myself in choosing us as awardees for the Ramon Magsaysay Award 1962 is very sincerely appreciated. It gives us the great satisfaction of knowing that the work it has been our privilege to do has achieved a significance beyond our borders. It strengthens our belief in the universality of human appreciation in dealing with problems involving the suffering of individuals and masses.
These problems are not confined to one country alone. They apply to suffering humanity everywhere and can only be put right by concerted action and goodwill transcending the bounds of nationality, race, or creed.
To some of us is given this understanding, and the duty and ability to help. A preeminent example was set by the late President Magsaysay — a man of action, a man of the highest integrity. It is fitting to quote the four main objectives of his "State of the Nation" message, delivered on the 28th January 1957:
(1) To safeguard the security of the nation.
(2) To promote the moral and material well-being of the masses.
(3) To develop and stabilize the national economy.
(4) To improve the standards of public service.
From his good deeds we are benefiting today, and in honoring his name we are being honored. Let us remember with humility that we but follow, and let us strive — as he did — to achieve a happier and better world. Like many of you present today, we have lived through troubled times, when the future appeared black and when we experienced trials and tribulations which beset our lives. To us this has given the knowledge that all men are of one community, which will live or perish through its weakest members.
All have a basic and fundamental need, which can only be satisfied by doing as we would wish to be done by. Self preservation demands that we should regard each other as partners and that, as with partners, each must strive for the betterment of the other, since only in this way can we survive.
