[1] Speech delivered by retired Chief Justice ARTEMIO V. PANGANIBAN during the capsule-laying ceremony of the Museum for Liberty and Prosperity held at Alabang Global City in Las Pinas City on September 2, 2026
To begin with, let me greet and welcome our special guests, first from our Supreme Court led by Chief Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo, Senior Associate Justice Marvic M.V.F. Leonen, Justice Rodil V. Zalameda, and several officials of the Supreme Court. Ladies and gentlemen, the Judicial and Bar Council, the constitutional agency that screens and nominates to the President the appointments to vacancies in the judiciary has invited the five most senior justices of the Court to succeed Chief Justice Alex who retires on November 6 after attaining the compulsory retirement age of 70. Two of those five senior justices are with us today, Senior Associate Justice Marvic and Justice Rodil. Ladies and gentlemen, my fearless forecast is that one of them will be chosen by President Bongbong Marcos aqws the next Chief Justice of the Philippines. Mga kaibigan, palakpakan po silang dalawa. Naniniwala po ako na isa sa kanila ang magiging Punong Mahistrado natin sa Nobyembre.
Let me now turn my gaze to our special guests from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP)led by former BSP Governor, former Finance Secretary and now a member of the Monetary Board Benjamin E. Diokno, representing BSP Governor Ely M. Remolona who could not make it due to a prior commitment. Secretary Diokno is accompanied by BSP’s Director of Corporate Affairs Jay Edward G. Amatong, BSP Museo Deputy Director Cecile T. Galicame and other officials.
May I also greet our host, Dr. Allen Roxas, Chairman and President of State Properties Corporation (SPC), the generous donor of the 3,350 square-meter home of our Museum for Liberty and Prosperity. May I acknowledge the humble but capable SPC Executive Vice President Mary Maquilan, as well as my fellow SPC directors William B. Go and Reynaldo T. Cometa, as well as the other SPC officers especially Atty. Joy Fabian and Engineer Philip Ong.
May I also present the directors and officers of the Foundation for Liberty and Prosperity led by our Vice Chairman former BSP Governor Say M. Tetangco Jr., and my fellow FLP trustees, retired Senior Associate Justice Telly M. Perlas-Bernabe and her low profile husband, Compañero Rick Bernabe, Baron Travel CEO Len P.S. Yaptangco and her husband Alex, AIM Prof. Tet Manalac and her husband Noy, Atty. Joel Emerson Gregorio, who is also FLP’s Corporate Secretary, and Atty. Arvin Paolo Cortez, representing the FLP Scholars Society.
Friends, Ladies and Gentlemen, the capsule we will be laying in about an hour is a major milestone marking the birth of my long-held dream of a futuristic, immersive, interactive, AI-powered and tech-driven museum embodying the philosophy of safeguarding liberty and nurturing prosperity under the rule of law. This museum is not a memorial of the past. Neither is it the home of the arts and sciences. Rather, our museum is a forebearer of the future.
Since my school days when I founded and headed the National Union of Students of the Philippines, I have always battled for liberty of the mind and for the ability to conquer poverty and enjoy prosperity. Hence, my mantra was and still is: Justice and jobs, freedom and food, ethics and economics, liberty and prosperity must always go together. One is useless without the other.
I expanded these ideals when I practiced and taught law, dabbled in business, grew in Catholic faith, engaged in socio-civic-philanthropic work and authored judicial decisions. The vital phrase “under the rule of law” was implied in my mantra but Canadian Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin – during the Global Forum on Liberty and Prosperity held here in October 2006 during my term as CJ – advised, and I agreed, that the phrase must be expressed, not merely implied.
These ideals and dreams remain abstractions unless they grow into actions and multidimensional paradigms. Philosophies grow and take root when institutions give them life and rigor. In this endeavor, FLP has found steadfast partners in two of our country’s foremost independent institutions: the Supreme Court to safeguard liberty, and the BSP to nurture prosperity.
I believe that these two independent institutions are the bedrocks of our philosophy because as technology surges and casts unprecedented shadows over liberty, FLP’s sanctuary shall be the sacred halls of justice. While the museum explores new digital frontiers, the Court remains the most vigilant guardian of emerging rights against awesome state powers amplified by technology.
In turn, the BSP helps nurture prosperity through its prudent stewardship of financial stability. Truly, the BSP fosters conditions in which enterprises can prosper, people’s entrepreneurial genius can flourish, and jobs can spring up.
Of course, to be effective and efficient in our work, we need the cooperation and assistance of the Presidency and of Congress. FLP will always turn to these political branches to complete its work.
Notably, both the Court and the BSP have institutional continuity. In time, political leaders may be replaced and their programs altered but the non-partisan leadership in these two non-political institutions endure and their legacies last ad infinitum. For example, rare breed of justices may also pass in time but their decisions live on.
The same is true for FLP. Since its inception in 2011, it has been sustained by three generations of distinguished jurists, business titans and professionals. Its founding board was dominated by leaders from divergent fields: retired Chief Justice Hilario G. Davide Jr., the late management guru Washington SyCip, education icon Edilberto C. de Jesus, retired Justice Angelina Sandoval-Gutierrez, my late wife, Asian Institute of Management (AIM) Prof. Elenita C. Panganiban, and yours truly. Today, from this first generation of leaders, only Dr. de Jesus and I remain as FLP trustees.
Gradually taking over are the second-generation FLP leaders led by former BSP Governor Say, retired Senior Justice Telly, Baron Travel Corp. CEO Len P. S. Yaptangco, AIM Prof. Tet P. Mañalac, and FLP’s executive director Susan Gavino.
Comes now the third-generation leaders like British-educated Joel Emerson Gregorio, young brilliant lawyer Arvin Paolo Cortez (who represents the FLP Scholars Society), Miguel P. Sandejas (fresh from his MBA at Babson College in Boston and his Master of Science in Law at Northwestern University in Chicago), Jacob Barbosa (an Esmel fellow from AIM) and lawyer Rachel Lois Gella (first placer in the FLP dissertation writing contest in 2024).
This generational relay is carried in the capsule we are about to lay. By filling it with the museum’s blueprints, the AGC masterplan, newspapers of the day and the P3,000 BSP banknote and coin commemorating the Court’s 125th year anniversary, we practice the very continuity we preach and the ideals we cherish.
The capsule will be a seed planted on fertile soil. Though small now, with time and care, it would grow into a giant Narra rooted firmly in the rule of law. By inspiring a deeper appreciation of liberty and prosperity, the seed will grow into a living monument for generations yet unborn.
To close, on behalf of the Foundation for Liberty and Prosperity, may I thank you again for taking the time to be with us in this historic capsule laying.
Maraming salamat po.