I should like to begin this statement, by expressing the sincere feeling of gratification which the Philippine delegation and I personally share with others over Mr. Boland’s election to the presidency of the Assembly. We see in him a worthy embodiment of the sterling qualities of the Irish nation, whose fierce love of liberty the whole world has long held in deep respect and admiration. We hope that with him at the helm the ship of the United Nations will successfully weather the storms of angry debate that have developed here and avoid the shoals of dangerous conflict that lie across its course. May it eventually reach, under his steady hand, the haven of harmony and reconciliation.
72. We also welcome the representatives of the newly independent countries that have recently joined the growing family of the United Nations. Their presence here today is an eloquent tribute to the understanding and good will of the metropolitan Powers concerned as well as to the efforts of the United Nations to promote and defend the freedom of peoples everywhere,
73. The presence among us of many of the world’s great leaders has given a new dimension to the deliberations of the General Assembly. Despite some discouraging evidence to the contrary, we remain hopeful that they will apply their personal prestige and broad experience of statesmanship to bring about a heightened sense of sobriety and responsibility in the deliberations of this developing parliament of man and federation of the world.
74. We live in an age of revolutionary change in science and technology and in the social and economic life of nations. We live in a world which is seeking mightily to transcend itself. Such a situation, while productive of hope, is nevertheless fraught with grave dangers which we need to muster quickly if we are to survive and realize our larger goals.
75. My country shares the universal desire for a lasting peace and a more abundant life. Peace is supremely important to all of us because it can mean the difference between survival and annihilation. But it is particularly indispensable to the developing nations like mine, because there are so many things that wait to be done. The economic and social impulse in our lands remains to be fulfilled. We want to educate our children, to stamp out ancient plagues, to till our lands that have lain fallow, to provide useful work for every able-bodied citizen, to produce more food, clothing and shelter for all our people.
76. This is why the Philippines attaches great importance to the purposes and principles of the United Nations. We have pledged ourselves to the pursuit of peace — a peace of dignity, of friendship, of honour and of justice for all mankind. We shall always strive to help the United Nation achieve these goals. But while we are profoundly dedicated to peace, we categorically reject a peace of submission imposed by the powerful upon the weak.
77. In the face of the perils of thermonuclear war, our first and foremost duly is to find quickly a practical, way to prevent it. There is a role which the smaller nations can perform to this end through the exercise of the power of moral persuasion. Those who in cynical disbelief prefer to speak of the "naked realities of power" would do well to study the record of the General Assembly, Lacking the physical power to impose its decisions, it has yet been able to fashion effective solutions by sheer moral strength to many a grave crisis in recent history. As we meet today, that strength has increased. We strongly hope that it will be used to the fullest in this Assembly in the same responsible manner as before.
78. It is in this spirit that I should like to state the views of my delegation on some of the important questions before the Assembly.
79. We are convened this year in an atmosphere of unprecedented anxiety. If the situation permitted a jest, we would say that the Assembly appears suddenly to have lost its taste for moderate sentiments. No stronger words have been spoken nor more bitter feelings exposed for public inspection than during the past two weeks of debate in this body. We recognize that this has a certain therapeutic value and that its cleansing effect on the raw sources of our emotions should then enable us to consider in a calmer frame of mind the grave problems which confront us. Even as we speak, we hear the familiar but urgent admonition to pause, to consider, to reflect. Our problems are far too grave to be obscured by issues of lesser moment.
80. In our view, two main problems overshadow all others. The first is the question of disarmament, together with the related problem of utilizing the most advanced scientific techniques for peaceful purposes only. The second is the raising of living standards in the less-developed areas of the world. In the solution of the first problem lies our only hope for human survival; in the solution of the second, our only hope of surviving as free men.
81. Last spring we pinned our hopes for a relaxation of tension between the great Powers on the Summit Conference which was to be held in Paris. While it would have been extravagant to expect agreement on general and complete disarmament, we none the less hoped that a beginning would be made toward that ultimate goal. Some positive progress toward disarmament by stages under adequate international control and inspection, a tacit understanding among the nuclear Powers to suspend further tests, the consideration of proposals on the limitation of conventional armaments, the thorough discussion of the problem of protection against surprise attacks — all these were within the realm of the attainable at the Summit Conference. The existing cold war could have been subjected to the warmer winds of conciliation, accommodation and compromise.
82. Today, the evidence before our eyes offers scant comfort. The dialogue between East and West which was sharply broken in Paris bas not been resumed. So long as this condition obtains, the present atmosphere of crisis will persist. Meanwhile, as we mark time on the great issues of peace and survival, some unsuspected action arising from error or miscalculation could plunge the whole world into sudden and total destruction.
83. Clearly a start must be made somewhere. Time, normally a great healer, may in this instance serve merely to harden attitudes and positions. Therefore we shall support any unselfish initiative towards the re-establishment of contact between the great Powers principally involved, which could lead to the resumption of the interrupted negotiations on disarmament. In accordance with this view, my delegation will vote in favour of the draft resolution submitted by the delegations of India, Indonesia, Ghana, the United Arab Republic and Yugoslavia [see A/4522], together with such amendments as may be acceptable to the majority.
84. We cannot stress too strongly the urgency of this problem. The dangers of the fierce competition in nuclear weapons are not merely potential; they are ever present and terrifyingly real. No one can say with accuracy the extent to which the world’s surface, the atmosphere, air and waters have been polluted by deadly radiation arising from past nuclear tests. Nor can anyone surmise, without a shudder, the number of persons now living or still unborn who are doomed to be the innocent victims of our folly.
85. We favour the reopening of discussions as soon as possible in the Ten-Nation Committee on Disarmament. If for any reason this is no longer practicable, then it might be wise to consider returning the discussions under direct United Nations auspices once more. But we would regard with considerable misgiving the creation of a committee larger than the Ten-Nation Committee. A larger body, in our view, could be expected to exact its own penalties in the form of unwieldy and cumbersome procedures which would tend needlessly to protract debate and to delay rather than to promote agreement.
86. For, after all, it is not the size or even the composition of the negotiating body which determines the viability of an agreement on disarmament. The sole, indispensable condition for such an agreement, as Prime Minister Macmillan has said [877th meeting], is the elimination of fear and suspicion. This can be achieved only through the removal of the fear of surprise attack. This, in turn, is wholly dependent upon equality of sacrifice and equality of security, subject at every stage to verification through a foolproof system of inspection and controls.
87. The existence of military alliances and foreign bases is a symptom, not a cause, of the prevailing climate of mutual fear and suspicion which bedevils our world. The Philippines is a party to one of these alliances, as was mentioned by the Prime Minister of Australia, and there are American bases on our territory. We have agreed to these solely out of an overriding concern for our national security and in the free exercise of our national sovereignty.
88. A subject colony for nearly 400 years, invaded and conquered twice within a period of fifty years, and threatened by communist subversion and rebellion within a few years after independence, my country can hardly be said to have a predilection for foreign troops and foreign bases on its territory,
89. For any country, regardless of ideology, foreign bases constitute a constant source of embarrassment and irritation. To show how far this is true, I need only mention the fact that negotiations between my country and the United States to revise our military bases agreements have been going on for more than two years. We would be happy to be without these bases, but in the context of the situation in our part of the world and in the light of our experience of repeated invasions, we also know that we would not be secure without them. Therefore, we accept their existence as an unavoidable necessity. At the same time, we are determined to make certain that their operation does not infringe on our territorial integrity and national sovereignly.
90. Our long struggle against foreign domination was inspired, among other things, by an ingrained antipathy towards foreign troops as such. For four centuries and more we had fought against too many of them — first Spanish, then American, then Japanese. Indeed, our great national leader, the late President Quezon, voicing the anxiety of our people, proposed in the years before the Second World War that an independent Philippine Republic enjoy a status of neutrality guaranteed by the great Powers.
91. But the realities of the post-war world compelled us to renounce our traditional inclinations. We had to forgo our natural distaste for foreign troops and foreign bases in the interest of our national security and the defence of our freedom. Therefore, we wish to affirm with all possible earnestness that our membership in SEATÔ and the establishment of United States bases in my country are without any aggressive intent whatever but are motivated solely by the purpose of mutual defence. We recognize that we are a part of a deterrent force against the aggressive intentions of international communism. We are fully aware of the penalties, nay the risks, which we incur by being a part of this deterrent force. And we are not unmindful of the advantages enjoyed by the uncommitted countries whose representatives have spoken to us here of the superior virtues of neutralism.
92. But we would ask them honestly to consider this thought: that it is precisely the existence of this deterrent capacity of the free world which keeps communism in check and maintains a certain balance of power in the world — and it is therefore a condition of peace, however precarious for the moment it may be.. For it is only in this condition of a balance of power that the neutrals can perform their useful role of mediation, conciliation and compromise. If the free world were to break up its defensive alliances and dismantle its defensive bases in advance of a working agreement on disarmament, the floodgates would be opened and communism would overwhelm the world, including the neutrals themselves.
93. When the communists stop rattling their atomic rockets and missiles, and we are no longer menaced by communist subversion and attack, there will no longer be any need for defensive military alliances and foreign bases in the Philippines and they shall be completely dismantled and abolished.
94. The point is that we cannot all be neutrals; some of us have to perform the unpleasant and even dangerous duty of helping to keep the scales of power in equilibrium. While the scales remain in balance, the neutrals have the opportunity to play their part as peacemakers. The moment those scales are badly tilted one way or the other, the neutrals are not only out of business, but war then becomes inevitable.
95. I quote from the speech of Mr. Khrushchev on 3 October 1960: "The real situation in the world today is that the strength of the two greatest Powers — the Soviet Union and the United States — is at least equal, and that if we also take the other socialist countries into account, as well as the former colonial countries, the peaceable States have on their side not only right and justice, but force” [882nd meeting, para. 33]. This is the balance of power of which I have been speaking, and in the judgement of Mr. Khrushchev it is already tilted in favour of his side. If the words of anger and menace which we have heard him speak here have been inspired by his assessment of the present situation, what words and actions are we to expect from him and his allies when they do have an undisputed preponderance of power in the world?
96. Therefore, as the representative of a country that is openly committed to the side of the free world, I should like to say to our uncommitted friends: we have chosen a policy of commitment according to our best lights and by the same right of self-preservation that you claim for yourselves, which we fully respect. We pray that you may succeed in your efforts to reduce tensions and to remove the danger of war. But so long as such danger exists, we deem it our duty to help keep the world in balance in the perilous present, just as you deem it your duty to help fashion a long-range programme for a just and enduring peace which will be acceptable to all.
97. The second most vital problem of our time is the urgent need to raise living standards in the less developed areas of the world. The world economic situation continues to present the picture of a worsening imbalance between those who have and those who have not. Roughly two-thirds of the world’s population live in the so-called under-developed or less developed areas. They share among themselves just one-sixth of the world’s total income. In contrast, one-sixth of the world’s population which inhabits the industrialized and highly developed countries earns two-thirds of the world’s total income.
98. It is for the bridging of the gap between the less developed and the highly developed areas that the United Nations must harness its efforts and resources. Whereas In the past the resources of the under-developed areas were mere objects of exploitation by the colonial and industrial Powers, today we have the opportunity through sustained, co-operative effort to develop such resources for the benefit, in the first instance, of the native inhabitants themselves, and of the rest of the world as a whole,
99. That the rich countries should assist the poor involves not a matter of charity, but a principle of self-interest, of justice and of peace. It is in the self-interest of the rich, industrial Powers to help the less developed countries because their own economies cannot long survive in isolation amidst the backward, impoverished and unproductive economies of their neighbours. And it is simple justice that the colonial Powers, which for centuries have appropriated the wealth of the subject countries, should restore to the latter a portion of the resources that were extracted from them. Finally, it is truer today than ever before that the world cannot exist half slave to hunger and half free from want.
100. It is in this spirit that we welcome the powerful support which President Eisenhower has given to the principle of multilateral economic assistance to the less developed countries on a more substantial scale than has heretofore been possible through the United Nations. For it is a fact that for most recipient countries the existing programmes of technical assistance touch merely the surface of their present need; what they require are development funds for projects whose value and feasibility are no longer in doubt. The carrying out of the United States proposal would be a virtual revolution in the field of economic and financial assistance, and it is fortunate that it has been advanced by the country which has most generously contributed to the existing programmes of economic assistance.
101. I turn now to the question of the Congo (Leopoldville). My delegation voted for the resolution [1474 (ES-IV)] on this question which was adopted by the fourth emergency special session. We continue to support the right of the Congolese people to work out their destiny in peace and liberty. This right is, and must be, essentially their own. Furthermore, this is merely the corollary of a larger principle — namely, that the liberated peoples of Africa should be allowed to develop their own democratic institutions and to fashion their own future in the manner best suited to their traditions and their needs.
102. There, in the bustling continent of Africa, the United Nations faces a great challenge and a great opportunity. The challenge is one of assisting the peaceful growth and development of not one, not two, but more than a dozen countries emerging eagerly into freedom with its attendant responsibilities. The opportunity is one of proving that Africa can be insulated against the clash of embattled ideologies and prevented from becoming one more arena of the cold war.
103. My Government views the United Nations efforts in this direction with gratification. It sees also in the resolution on the Congo problem the main outlines of a policy which may be applicable to comparable situations elsewhere that may arise in the future. In the face of an extremely complex and difficult situation, the United Nations forces have been able to restore order to a degree which we hope will soon permit the Congolese people themselves to resolve the personal rivalries and constitutional problems that have so bitterly divided them. Once again, we pay tribute to the scrupulous impartiality with which the Secretary-General has directed the United Nations activities in the Congo. We hope that he will derive increased strength and courage from the powerful endorsement which he has received from the delegations of those countries that have no selfish interests to serve in that unhappy country.
104. The crisis in the Congo is still far from being solved, however, and the peoples of Africa look to the United Nations for a just and rapid solution. We sustain the view contained in the resolution adopted by the fourth special emergency session to the effect that aid to the Congo should be channelled only through the United Nations. In the same degree that we are resolved to see the last vestiges of Western colonial imperialism eradicated from the Congo, we must make certain that the infiltration there of communist imperialism, whether open or disguised, shall not be permitted. The Congo belongs to the Congolese, and now that they are free, we must help them to resist the onslaughts of a more ruthless form of imperialism than that from which they have just been liberated.
105. As regards the problem of Algeria, we must express regret that the hopeful initiative which President de Gaulle took early this year, when he publicly affirmed his Government's policy of an "Algerian Algeria" through the application of the principle of self-determination, has so far produced no hopeful results. The tragedy of Algeria has so long agitated our hearts and minds that we must press unceasingly for an end to that bloody conflict. The conscience of the French nation itself is being torn cruelly in the face of this six-year-old war whose end is not yet in sight. We must continue to urge a peaceful solution to this problem, such as will fulfil the just aspirations of the Algerian people to freedom and be worthy of the great nation that gave to the world the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen and that only this year, in an unparalleled act of renunciation, recognized the independence of thirteen new States in Africa.
106. No session of tile General Assembly has heard more sustained and more vigorous denunciations of Western colonial imperialism than the present one. It is natural that this should be so, for this year, with the recognition of the independence of seventeen countries, we are hearing the death rattle of that imperialism. It is also right and proper that we should heed the warning voiced, among others, by President Sukarno [880th meeting] that we cannot trust this imperialism to die quietly without a further struggle.
107. All the countries that have been freed from the colonial yoke will need constantly to seek out and destroy within their territories the last remnants of colonial imperialism. They will need to be ever on the alert against the reintroduction of colonial influence and domination through economic devices which are calculated to render ineffectual and meaningless the grant of their political independence. And they will need to develop a sense of their own national dignity which will make impossible the continuation of policies based on race prejudice and discrimination, for the pursuit of policies of economic domination and the persistence of practices of racial discrimination are the twin evils against which the peoples of the newly independent countries must exercise unrelenting vigilance.
108. Having said this, we should be naive indeed to believe that the worries of the newly independent countries are over. Since subject peoples are familiar with the ways of their former masters, they are well able to recognize the latter’s every stratagem to recover the privileges they have renounced. They are therefore prepared to take the necessary steps to combat the devious intentions of their former masters. On the other hand, they are comparative strangers to the more insidious methods by which international communism seeks to subvert their liberties and their institutions. The danger exists, therefore, that they will not be as well prepared to overcome the dangers posed by the new imperialism as they undoubtedly are to combat the menace of the old,
109. Of these twin dangers we in the Philippines are entitled to speak, for we have known them both. And we can only regret that there has been a tendency to speak here of communist imperialism in muted tones as if it were indiscreet to suggest that, in denouncing the evils of Western colonial imperialism in season and out of season, the communists are merely playing the cunning game of the wolf in sheep's clothing.
110. We hold no brief for Western colonial imperialism. We were a Spanish colony for nearly four hundred years, and we fared no worse and no better than the other twenty-odd colonies of Spain during the heyday of its imperial glory. Yet, when we consider the history of those four hundred years during which our people rose in rebellion every two or three years, we can yet candidly admit that amid the long litany of evils which colonialism wrought in our country there has remained a residue of good. Upon the basic oriental elements of our native culture, Spain grafted the values of that Latin civilization of which it was the principal bearer to the New World and which now serves as a precious link between us and the twenty republics of that continent.
111. Above all, it was Spain that gave the peoples of our seven thousand islands, speaking a multitude of languages, a sense of national identity. Philippine nationality was thus forged in the very fire of the fervid colonizing spirit of the Spanish "conquistadores", and, when that fire began to die down at last, it was the turn of Philippine nationalism to arise full-blown and victorious.
112. The story of American rule in the Philippines is well known to all. The Prime Minister of Cuba referred to it in his statement before this Assembly [872nd meeting]. Indeed, it is true that there are significant resemblances between the history of Cuba and that of the Philippines in their relations, first, with Spain and, later, with the United States. But, without denying fixe expansionist impulse that brought the United States to Cuba and the Philippines at the turn of the century, we Filipinos are more readily able to view our experience in sober and balanced perspective.
113. The United States came to the Philippines in 1898 in the course of the Spanish-American War. At the time of their arrival, we were on the point of winning our revolutionary struggle against Spain. Our troops were knocking at the very gates of Manila. The United States offered to assist us and we accepted them as allies. Later, however, they decided to occupy our country on the ground that we needed to learn how to govern ourselves. We fought them bitterly for four years, because we believed that we were well able to govern ourselves, having already established a revolutionary government of our own under a Constitution every bit as modem and liberal as the United States Constitution itself. In the end, we bowed to superior force, and we laid down our arms. In 1916, the United States Congress passed a law promising to grant independence to the Philippines as soon as a stable government was established. In response to the unremitting clamour of our people for independence, the United States Congress passed another law in 1934 definitely committing the United States to grant our independence after a transition period of ten years following the establishment of a fully autonomous Commonwealth. On 4 July 1946, shortly after the end of the war in the Pacific, the promise was fulfilled to the letter, and the Philippines became independent. By this unprecedented act, the United States set in motion a peaceful procedure for the grant of independence to subject peoples that other colonial Powers were later obliged to follow.
114. Was United States colonial rule more virtuous than most? That may be a matter of opinion, but the fact of the matter is that the United States, during the forty years of its domination of the Philippines, did initiate a number of policies unorthodox for colonialism. They helped us to establish a public school system so that, by the end of the United States régime, the Philippines had one of the highest literacy rates of any country in Asia. They set up a programme for the advanced education of hundreds of Filipino students in American universities — a policy which anticipated by fifty years the present Fulbright programme of exchange of students. They constructed hospitals and stamped out epidemic diseases. They built roads and bridges and developed agriculture and industry. They permitted our people the full enjoyment of civil liberties. They developed and strengthened our democratic institutions. By introducing English common law to our country, they enabled us to fashion a legal system which is unique in its judicious blending of the best in Roman civil law with the best in Anglo-Saxon jurisprudence.
115. Of course, the motive of economic gain was not lacking. United States investment capital came to set up essential public utilities and help us develop our natural resources. But the truth is that United States investments never reached our country in amounts sufficient for our needs and requirements. Since independence, we have been unable to attract United States capital in sufficient amounts despite special inducements of various kinds. Fortunately, Filipino capital has begun to fill the vacuum and, as the process continues, our own citizens are gaining control of an ever increasing portion of the national economy, This process is being encouraged by a surging spirit of economic nationalism which has taken hold of our people as they realize that their political independence will mean nothing unless it is buttressed by economic freedom and self-sufficiency. This is the new spirit of nationalism which today animates the administration of President García.
116. We are confident that our relations with the United States, now that we are independent, will continue to be inspired by a spirit of mutual respect and consideration. The Americans are no saints, but this you can say of them; as "imperialists” they proved to be more inept than their rivals in the game; they allowed us too many liberties; and now that we are independent, they know better than to disregard our opinions or to ignore our rights. Here is one little interesting detail: you can discuss, argue and talk back to the Americans, as we have discussed, argued and talked back to them during all the years of our subjection, and since then — without being slapped down or getting shot at dawn. One wonders, sometimes, what would happen to a Latvian or an Estonian or a Lithuanian who talked back to Mr. Khrushchev. We know, of course, what happened to the Hungarians who did just that.
117. I would like to address my concluding words to our distinguished Secretary-General, Mr. Hammarskjold. Last Monday, we heard with deep emotion his courageous statement to the General Assembly [883rd meeting]. We are grateful to him for his pledge of unflinching fidelity to the ideals of the United Nations and for his assurance of unbending loyally to our Organization as a whole, but more especially to the small countries that are gathered here. We acknowledge his pledge and return it to him with equal earnestness and fervour. We have implicit faith in his good judgement, in his spirit of fairness and impartiality. As one of the great world statesmen of our time, he incarnates in his person our hopes for a better world and for a United Nations to which the little peoples of the world can repair for their security and salvation. We need him.
118. For him there are many trying days ahead. For his antagonists are among the most powerful ones in the world, and they have promised relentless pursuit. But today, as never before, it is mightily important that the power of righteousness should not resign the battle in the face of outrageous wrong. We humbly beseech the Secretary-General to stand with us till the end so that together we shall give the lie to the ancient dogma of the despots and totalitarians that might is right.