The military is replete with heroes. They have long offered their lives to preserve democracy. From the Spanish colonizers to the Japanese invaders, "the HUKs", the CPP-NPA and other threats to our security, our heroes left a legacy of love of country and people. They are the pillars of democracy and laid the foundation of the peace we enjoy today.

      The stamp of the Armed Force's competence is found today along the long stretches of roads and highways, school buildings and other infrastructures in the country. In numerous towns and villages where many of our countrymen live, the medical units of civic action teams of the AFP bring not only health facilities but hope and faith as well.

      The sustained and dedicated work of those civic teams have indeed created in the people in long neglected areas their first sense of government, their first real knowledge that their life of ignorance and misery can possibly change for the better.

      The AFP now leads the nation and the Filipino people in the preservation of our liberties and freedom. The soldier's commitment is clear: Patriotism, Peace and Democracy.