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Let me greet you a Happy New Year! as we start 2023 on an auspicious note. May this year be kind and favorable to all Filipinos here and abroad.


After the tough challenges of the past three years that made us stronger and better prepared, we are in for some respite. We could not of course totally put down our guard just yet, as we still have to fully overcome the health crisis.

This has been a year of rebounds. We have survived periodic surges of the coronavirus and the ineffectual hard lockdowns that followed increases in daily infection rates. We have survived the loss of jobs and the economic downturn. Not only did we survive these challenges but we are also poised to recover. I am hoping this will continue in 2022.

We should be modestly celebrating the New Year because of the successes we achieved both on the health and economic fronts. We have tamed Covid-19 through an aggressive vaccination rollout program, leading to declining daily cases. We reopened the economy and restored thousands of jobs through less mobility restrictions.