The main way out of this paradox is paved by responsible citizenship. And this points the responsibility directly at each one of us as Filipino citizens. In other words, we all need to think differently, away from our common tendency to point our finger at the President. More importantly, we need to act differently: Instead of expecting that all good deeds in and for the nation should emanate from the President, we all need to be committed, personally and individually, to contributing more than our due share to do good for the country every day.

If we come to think about it, this is what our highly cherished freedom demands of each of us. To live up to our ideal of being free and remaining free, we all have to live up to our duties and responsibilities as citizens of our country. For us, the dictum holds true: Freedom always comes with responsibility, in much the same way as rights always come with duties.

How are we to do so?

We all know that to be genuinely free, we should all be able to stand on our own feet. We should all have the ability to live and work autonomously and independently, each with a capacity to add value and contribute positively to the common wealth of our society. It is partly for this ideal that we all have to study, form ourselves, obtain knowledge and skills, and develop our other talents so we can have the independence we cherish in life and in work: This is what subsidiarity is about!

We should always acknowledge, however, that no matter how independent we are, we always need to be in teamwork with others. We need to think of others and look for opportunities by which to serve them. In fact, all the initiatives and undertakings we have in life and in work can not be — and should not be — for ourselves alone. They have to be mainly for others; moreover, they are always undertaken in close cooperation with others: This is what solidarity is about!

In sum, if we set our sights at further building our nation under God as one community, we must secure its foundations, which can be none other than our individual selves. Our task is to make of ourselves as strong foundations of our nation. And we would become so if we bring our freedom inextricably tied with responsibility, and our subsidiarity with solidarity, into all our decisions and actions in every circumstance in our everyday life and work, as we exercise our rights and discharge our duties.

In simpler terms, each one of us should be striving each day to becoming the strong and secure foundations of our country by acting always as responsible citizens, who deeply love our country.