President Ramos: Good Afternoon, Your Excellency....

President Ramos: Good afternoon, your Excellency. Good afternoon, everybody.

Sri Chinmoy: Mr. President, my students and I are here to be blessed by you for the New Year.

President Ramos: I understand you will be staying here in the Philippines for about a month.

Sri Chinmoy: We have been in Manila for about a week, and we are going to Cebu City this evening.

President Ramos: You can observe the peace process that is now going on in our country. It is the first time in the last fifty or sixty years that we have been able to make significant progress.

Sri Chinmoy: We are extremely proud of you for being first in so many things. You are the first Protestant President of the Philippines; you are the first professional soldier to become President and the first engineer to become President. As an engineer you dreamt of being a builder. Now God has given you the golden opportunity to build your nation.

President Ramos: We need the support of leaders like you for the peace process.