President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said commemorating All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day, or Undas, is not only about remembering the dead but also about continuing the legacy they left behind.
‘During these twin feasts, we proclaim that those who came before us do not vanish into nothingness but continue to live on in our hearts and minds,’ Marcos said in a statement on Saturday, Nov. 1.
‘Every act of remembrance carries a greater meaning; to pray is to enter communion with our saints and deceased loved ones, to light a candle is to bind our conscience with their legacy, and to lay flowers is to pledge to uphold their mission,’ he added.
The President described the Undas tradition as a time for ‘a solemn pause to pray, reflect and recall the many people whose deeds and presence continue to be felt long after their passing.’
‘Ultimately, these occasions remind us of the paradise that awaits in the hereafter-where poverty, pain, and suffering no longer hold purchase, and where the Lord Almighty resides in splendor among His people,’ Marcos said.
‘Until then, our duty is to fashion a foretaste of its splendor here on earth,’ he added.
Marcos is the namesake and son of late strongman President Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr., who declared martial law in 1972 and ruled over the country for nearly 21 years. The People Power Revolution in 1986 overthrew his administration and sent Marcos and his family into exile in Hawaii. He died in 1989, after a long battle with heart, lung, and kidney ailments.
Marcos is in South Korea for the 2025 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.