Philippines, 1969

41. Madam President, it has

been ten years since I last took part in the deliberations of

the General Assembly. I consider it a privilege to return to

this rostrum as leader of the Philippine delegation and in

that capacity to extend to you my sincere felicitations on

your election to the highest office attainable in this

distinguished body.

42. Twenty years ago, as President of the fourth session of

the General Assembly, I had the great honour of occupying

the same exalted position. I remember it as a unique

vantage point, providing an exhilarating view of the state of

the world. But it is also the point of convergence of the

world’s problems. I know from experience what a lonely

eminence the office of President can be and how heavy its

burdens can become. My assurance, therefore, of the

unstinting support and co-operation of ‘my delegation is

more than a ritualistic gesture. It is a token of recognition

of the magnitude of your task and an expression of earnest

hope for your success as President of what we all pray will

be a constructive and fruitful session of the Assembly.

43. The sombre context of our deliberations has been

accentuated by the death in office of your distinguished

predecessor, Mr. Arenales of Guatemala. He was a man of

brilliance and perception. He had an even rarer quality:

moral courage. At the risk of being misunderstood, of

becoming unpopular, he dared to do his duty by speaking

what he conceived to be the truth about certain weaknesses

of the United Nations. His intellectual honesty was

matched by his uncompromising devotion to the high office

entrusted to him. We feel his loss keenly.

44. Permit me first of all to state the Philippine position

on some of the pressing problems on our agenda.

45. We share the profound concern about the deteriorating

situation in the Middle East, where the protagonists

appear to be once again on the brink of open war. We have

pondered this intractable problem deeply, weighing carefully

in our minds and in our consciences the various

solutions proposed. Mindful of the claims, the interests and

the aspirations of both sides, and considering them in the

context of the common need for the restoration of peace

with justice in that troubled area, we maintain our support

for the Security Council’s resolution of 22 November 1967

[242 (1967)] as the basis for an equitable settlement.

46. We remain opposed to the admission of Communist

China into the United Nations and this is a position we shall

maintain as long as Communist China pursues its intransigent

policies and its support of so-called wars of national

liberation which so often masks aggression by proxy. Like

its other Asian neighbours, we are prepared to coexist with

Communist China and the Chinese people but we have a

right to insist that coexistence be based on mutual respect

and scrupulous regard for international law.

47. We look forward to a negotiated settlement of the war

in Viet-Nam but frankly hope that it will not be a peace at

any price. The people of South Viet-Nam have the

fundamental right to determine freely their own destiny in

accordance with the principle of self-determination. They

have earned that right in the crucible of war. They should

not be deprived of it at the peace table.

48. We note with alarm and anxiety the lack of progress

reported by the Secretary-General in the crucial field of

disarmament. This continuing impasse, reflecting a basic

disagreement between the two super-Powers, fosters a

global climate of insecurity which makes it more difficult

to settle particular disputes like those in the Middle East

and Viet-Nam. We shall lend our full support to all

initiatives towards effective disarmament and international

control of strategic nuclear weapons and the prevention of

the development, production and stockpiling of chemical

and bacteriological (biological) weapons.

49. We remain fully committed to the protection and

promotion of fundamental human rights, mindful of the

fact that their violation anywhere in the world constitutes a

direct threat to peace as well as a derogation of the essential

dignity of man.

50. At this juncture I should like to refer briefly—and in

the most friendly way—to the Philippine claim to Sabah.

We are pledged to pursue this claim only by peaceful,

orderly means under the rule of law, and therefore we

reiterate our standing proposal to submit the case to the

International Court of Justice, by whose decision the

Malaysian Government and ourselves should abide. This

step is in consonance with the Manila Accord of 1963,

under which Malaysia and the Philippines agreed:

“...to bring the claim to a just and expeditious

solution by peaceful means, such as negotiation, conciliation,

arbitration or judicial settlement as well as other

peaceful means of the parties’ own choice in conformity

with the Charter of the United Nations and the Bandung

Declaration”.

51. I submit that it is hardly possible to envisage a more

friendly and reasonable approach to this particular problem.

A further touchstone of Philippine sincerity in this matter

is our continued co-operation with Malaysia in the regional

economic and social programmes of ASEAN, the Association

of South-East Asian Nations, which also includes our

good neighbours, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand. Moreover,

the Philippines, having regard to Malaysia’s recent

difficulties, has exercised the utmost restraint with respect

to this question, which, we continue to hope, could be

adjudicated by mutual consent.

52. I now turn to the more general issues of concern to

this Assembly. It gives one pause to realize that the United

Nations is not yet a quarter of a century old. In 1944, as an

observer for the Philippines, which at that time had not yet

regained its independence, I was a witness to the historic

initial steps to organize the United Nations at Dumbarton

Oaks in Washington, and afterwards I had the honour to

lead the Philippines delegation at the formal founding of

the United Nations in San Francisco. That was in 1945,

only twenty-four years ago. Yet it seems already to belong

to another age.

53. The reason is partly because the pace of change in our

world has become so rapid that it is no longer measureable

by the ordinary time scale, and partly because its depth and

scope are transforming life and society everywhere on our

planet to a degree unprecedented in history. It is hardly an

exaggeration to say that we are today living in a different

world from the one for which the United Nations Charter

was designed twenty-four years ago.

54. Among the changes affecting the structure of the

United Nations is the emergence of super-Powers possessing

ultimate weapons in over-kill quantity but unable to impose

peace and order in the world. ‘one of us who signed the

Charter in San Francisco knew anything about the atom

bomb.

55. Another is the emergence of Africa as a major factor

in world affairs.

56. Yet another is the dynamic resurgence of Asia after

centuries of lethargy under Western domination. China,

whose ancient civilization was a fertile source of inventions

helpful to the build-up of Western power and affluence, has

acquired the nuclear technology needed to reclaim its place

among the great Powers. Then again, responding belatedly

to the challenge of the industrial revolution, Japan

nevertheless has forged to the front rank of today’s economic

giants, sparking what may turn out to be a new Asian

renaissance.

57. It is also in Asia that the political limits to the exercise

of great military power are being most sharply defined and

restrained. Asia is in the process of firmly establishing a

principle applicable to other regions, namely, that Asian

problems are primarily the concern and responsibility of

the Asian countries themselves.

58. They—the Asians—are asserting, in the words of His

Excellency President Ferdinand E.Marcos of the

Philippines, their right to “a rule compatible with the

recovered dignity of their new status, and, in keeping with

the purposes of Asian nationalism, demanding that others

place their relationship with them on a basis of equality and

mutual respect”.

59. Relevant to the new relationship between Asian and

non-Asian Powers that might be formed after the war in

Viet-Nam has ended is President Marcos’ perceptive

warning:

“To function in Asia without full Asian support is to

build on shifting sand. The greater the power projected

from outside into Asia, the more compelling the need

that it should operate in harmony with Asian aspirations,

towards goals compatible with Asian independence and

dignity.”

60. There is a portentous stirring among the peoples of

Asia today as they become more and more deeply involved

in the great enterprise of transforming their ancient

societies through economic and social development. As in

other parts of the developing world, Asia’s youth is in the

forefront of this gathering march towards that glittering

goal of the Charter: “better standards of life in larger

freedom”.

61. I believe that this Assembly should pay special

attention to the emergence of youth as one of the most

important factors in the process of change in the developing

countries. The Secretary-General’s observations on this

point are worth pondering. In his statement at the opening

of the forty-seventh session of the Economic and Social

Council in Geneva on 14 July 1969, he finds that:

"... while science and technology speed forward with

inventions and discoveries which were beyond imagination

even a few decades ago, young people are less

content with the sluggishness of the institutions and the

structures of political, economic and social life. Many of

them are impatient, understandably impatient, with

injustice and they question the existing channels of

institutional change...

“It seems obvious that, during the years ahead, societies

all over the world will have to adapt their priorities and

allocate their resources to take into account the demands

of youth.”

62. I feel that it would be useful to bring to the

Assembly’s attention the conclusions of some of the past

Presidents of the General Assembly, some Permanent

Representatives and other friends of the United Nations

who participated in the fourth conference on the United

Nations of the next decade which was held in Quebec from

22 to 27 June 1969 under the auspices of the Stanley

Foundation. A sense of profound, pervasive, revolutionary

change, presenting mankind with both danger and opportunity,

informed their deliberation and manifests itself in

the joint statement in which they sought to convey a

message of warning well worth reiterating from this

rostrum. It is a warning that coincides with the significant

alert sounded by Secretary-General U Thant in the introduction

to his report that is before us—a report which is

marked by a sustained tone of gloom, and in which he says

that “time is running out” [A/7601/Add.1, para. 198] for

efforts to save world peace. The Quebec statement of past

Presidents and Permanent Representatives and students of

political science declared:

“As we enter the 1970s, the world sits on time bombs:

an accelerating arms race, rising racial hostility, exploding

population, the widening economic development gap and

the lag of human institutions behind scientific progress.

“Major changes in the United Nations are needed to

make it more capable of maintaining peace, justice and

freedom under law...

“New opportunities lie before us. New roles for the

United Nations are opened by world problems such as

population, pollution, and the new frontiers of the

sea-bed and outer space. Increasing international contacts

and the growing interdependence of nations compel new

forms of co-operation. The failures of old structures and

programmes open the door for new. The idealism of

many young people, and their determination to participate

in building a better world, should be enlisted to

strengthen the United Nations.

“The twenty-fifth birthday of the United Nations in

1970 should be more than mere ceremony. It is time for a

searching examination of the strengths and weaknesses of

the United Nations—and new determination to make the

United Nations adequate to the dangers and opportunities

of the 1970s.”

63. Those are the considered views of some of the past

Assembly Presidents and a group of political scientists and

United Nations representatives who conferred in Quebec on

the role of the United Nations in the coming decade. Their

suggestion that major changes be made to update the

United Nations and make it a more efficient instrument for

achieving the goals of the Charter deserve, I believe, the

most careful consideration by this Assembly.

64. During their tenure, these past Presidents served the

General Assembly with the whole-hearted dedication that

has become an honoured tradition. They have since kept in

close touch with United Nations affairs meeting together

with other close observers and students of the world.

Organization in 1965 in San Francisco, in 1967 in

Burgenstock, Switzerland, and again in 1968 in Dubrovnik,

Yugoslavia. The joint statement of their meeting last spring,

to which I have referred, is a succinct summing-up of the

most urgent of the major concerns of the United Nations.

More than that, it provides the basis for an agenda for

constructive action in the next decade.

65. A fundamental review of the structure, powers, and

procedure of the United Nations is an important item in the

Quebec agenda. It is a proposal which my delegation

considers both appropriate and timely. It is true that the

purposes and principles of the Charter were, in a very real

sense, written for the ages—valid not only for this generation

or the next but also for the generations to follow. But

the machinery and the methods for their realization were

not meant to be immutable. After twenty-four years it is

certainly necessary to scrutinize them closely and see how

they may be made more useful and effective in our rapidly

changing world.

66. That was the reason for the provision in Article 109

for a General Conference to review the Charter ten years

after its coming into force. That Conference unfortunately

was not held; we were told by the great Powers that it

might open a Pandora’s box of problems. No one has

checked if the lock on that Pandora’s box has remained in

place. If it has, the box itself must be full of holes, because

the problems it is supposed to contain are out in force,

bedevilling the United Nations and its Member countries—

and making it an ineffective instrument for peace.

67. First in 1955, then in 1966, the Philippines formally

reiterated its proposal for a review of the Charter. On 21

September 1966, in his address to the General Assembly,

President Marcos declared:

“... the review and revision of the Charter... already

years overdue ...can no longer be deferred. A whole new

world has emerged” —and come into being in the twenty

years since San Francisco—“the Charter should faithfully

reflect the realities and the vital needs of this new world.

Only thus can the United Nations become an instrument

fully responsive to the aims and aspirations of Member

nations...” [1411th meeting, para. 29].

“For the United Nations itself, there is a clear and

admitted need to perfect its organization, to improve the

techniques employed in its manifold operations, and to

bring to its work, particularly in the developing countries,

an even greater sense of mission and dedication.”

[Ibid., para, 28.]

68. My delegation would tike to see included in the agenda

of the next session of the General Assembly, coinciding

with the twenty-fifth anniversary of the United Nations, an

item on the review of the United Nations Charter. We

envisage three main areas of change.

69. The first would be functional. It would include

measures to ensure: first, that this general debate—this

important function in which we are now engaged—should

be more meaningful, more productive, less wordy, and

closely geared to the vital problems confronting the

Assembly, not local parochial, national problems, intended

only for home consumption; secondly, that the decision-making

process, including the voting procedures, should

facilitate the taking of more effective and realistic decisions

capable of being translated into viable programmes enjoying

wide support; and thirdly, that there should be more

effective co-ordination of United Nations activities and

programmes, with overlapping agencies duly integrated and

assessment procedures established to make certain that

maximum results are achieved and that proliferation of

agencies stop.

70. The second principal area of change would be, in the

broad sense, political. It would include measures to improve

the peace-keeping capacity of the United Nations; enhance

its ability to initiate collective security arrangements in

areas vulnerable to aggression or subversion; and augment

its resources for conciliation, mediation and arbitration of

international disputes.

71. The third main area of change would be in the

economic and social fields. It would centre on measures to

facilitate the formulation of a global strategy for development,

based on a workable partnership between the rich

and the poor nations intended to bridge the steadily

widening poverty gap which threatens to tear the international

community asunder in the coming decade. This is a

crisis we must watch because it is coming.

72. In due course, the Philippine delegation will submit

specific proposals spelling out the changes I have briefly

touched upon. We are well aware that structural reforms

alone will be futile without the will to translate the Charter

into reality. But we consider it wise to have the instrument

ready when the will to make it work manifests itself, as it

must if the survival of man in conditions of dignity and

peace is to be assured.

73. This is all the more necessary, in our view, as the time

draws near for embarking on the Second United Nations

Development Decade. The preparations for this momentous

undertaking should provide a common ground for the

concerted efforts required to cope successfully in the 1970s

with the same formidable challenge that the First Development

Decade, unfortunately, has failed to surmount.

74. On the part of the United Nations, two major reviews

of far-reaching implications to international co-operation

for economic development are in the process of being

completed. The first is Sir Robert Jackson’s “capacity

study” for the United Nations Development Programme.

The second is the “grand assize”’ of international assistance

for the past two decades which the World Bank has

commissioned another past President of the General

Assembly, Mr. Lester Pearson, to conduct. It is our earnest

hope that these two searching reviews will help provide a

firmer basis for the vastly expanded international effort

needed to ensure the success of the Second Development

Decade.

75. For their part, the developing countries of Asia, Africa

and Latin America should consult more closely together on

a common strategy for the coming decade. The Government

of Chile has taken a commendable initiative in gaining

the support of the developed countries for a declaration of

Latin American views of how to accelerate economic and

social development in the 1970s as expressed in the historic

consensus of Viña del Mar of 17 May 1969. In the

Organization of African Unity the African countries have

an effective instrument for consultation and joint planning.

A parallel effort could be made by the Asian countries.

Collaboration within UNCTAD makes available to the three

regional groups workable modes of high-level co-operation

which could be expanded to suit the requirements of a

common strategy for the Second Development Decade.

76. On the part of the developed countries, what is

required above all is the basic decision, duly reflected in

their policies on international aid and trade, to help the

developing countries achieve the target of 6 to 7 per cent

annual average growth rate in the next decade. The

Secretary-General, in his statement at the opening session

of the conference on the Second United Nations Development

Decade on 9 May 1969, considers it

“... tragic that, at the very moment in history when

assistance efforts are beginning to yield results, public and

official support in the aid-giving countries appears to be

weakening“.

The Secretary-General says that that is tragic, and I believe

it is more than tragic, it can be fatal.

77. The Secretary-General finds it ironic that many people

in the rich countries who realize the cost and the dangers of

neglecting poverty at home “seem unable to apply the

lessons of their domestic experience to the shrinking world

in which they live“.

78. In his statement at the opening of the Economic and

Social Council, the Secretary-General notes that adequate

resources are available, given the political will to use them.

He says:

“I continue to be struck by the magnitude of the stake

and the relatively limited sacrifice, in financial terms,

which would be needed to improve on the past trends in

the economic growth of the developing countries: only a

slight reduction in expenditure on armaments would

suffice to make available the external resources required

for solving at least some of the gravest economic and

social problems of today’s world.”

79. Implicit in all these is the imperative need for a more

decisive commitment to the purposes and principles of the

Charter on the part of all Members of the United Nations.

The problems of peace and development transcend national

and regional boundaries. They underline the inescapable

reality of our interdependent world.

80. Three years ago the President of the Philippines

reminded the General Assembly [1411th meeting] that the

unresolved threat of nuclear annihilation imposed a desperately

short deadline on United Nations efforts to ensure

mankind’s survival. Again this is underscored by Secretary-General

U Thant in the introduction to his annual report

[A/7601/Add.1] now before us.

81. On 9 May 1969, in his statement at the opening

session of the conference on the Second United Nations

Development Decade, the Secretary-General issued this

warning:

“I do not wish to seem overdramatic, but I can only

conclude from the information that... the United

Nations have perhaps ten years left in which to subordinate

their ancient quarrels and launch a global

partnership to curb the arms race, to improve the human

environment, to defuse the population explosion, and to

supply the required momentum to world development

efforts. If such a global partnership is not forged within

the next decade, then I very much fear that the problems

I have mentioned will have reached such staggering

proportions that they will be beyond our capacity to

control.”

82. With characteristic wit, the late John F. Kennedy

illuminated one aspect of the problem most pertinent to

the Second Development Decade. He said: “If a free society

cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few

who are rich“. Let us repeat that. “If a free society cannot

help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are

rich.”

83. If I have voiced some thoughts that are critical of this

Organization and some aspects of its work, it does not

mean that my delegation has lost faith in the United

Nations. On the contrary, we would like to enhance its

effectiveness because we believe in it.

84. The Philippine people are among the founding

Members of the United Nations. Our belief in the freedom

and dignity of man, our hopes for the future, and our

commitment to the kind of world in which those hopes

could find fulfilment are embodied in the purposes and

principles of the United Nations Charter, in the drafting of

which we had the privilege of having a hand.

85. Our support of the United Nations, through the

vicissitudes of its first two decades, has been firm and

unstinting. It will remain steadfast through whatever trials

and ordeals may lie ahead. Twenty years ago, when I had

the inestimable privilege of presiding over the General

Assembly, the cold war was at its height. In the aftermath

of the Berlin blockade, the danger of a third world war

appeared to be a very real one. Then the Korean War

exploded. I confess, I spent many a sleepless night thinking

of ways to help reduce tensions and develop modes of

accommodation between the contending sides.

86. But on the supreme question of man’s ability and will

to survive—and not only to survive, but to presevere in his

everlasting quest for the fullness of freedom and dignity—

my faith has never wavered; and that faith is as strong

today as it was twenty years ago.