Convocation of PUP Sablayan Branch

Thank you for considering us as part of your 9^th founding anniversary celebration with the theme, “Pagsusulong, Pagtutulungan, Pagsusumikap nang Sama-Sama para sa Matatag na Unibersidad”. It is such a privilege to give you a Convocation Speech in behalf of my immediate superior, my principal, Vice-Mayor Walter “Bong” B. Marquez.

Technically, to render convocation speech is a sort of giving or sharing advice. This is the task you gave to the good vice-mayor who cannot be with us tonight due to an official function he is attending in Manila today. He is part of the Vice-Mayors’ League of the Philippines which is, as I speak now, is having a national election.   

Let us break down the 3 important words in your theme:

Theme 1 : Pagsulong (Moving Forward).

Last May 8, 2019, Ricky Lee, the award-winning Filipino writer, journalist, novelist, and playwright, speaking for the graduation rite of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) told his audience:  “Makisangkot ka! Don't be selfish. Give your life to others, even if just sometimes.” He said too, “Go to the mines, the mountains, the children and the elderly. Ask what you can help with.” Needless to say, hindi tayo magkaka-iwan ng marka kapag hindi tayo umiimik. Magkakaroon lamang ng tunay na kabuluhan sa buhay, sa gawain at anumang dimensyon ng pag-iral ay sa PAGSULONG na naglilingkod sa kapwa. We must be involved and move forward. Or move on, as the millennials would say.

The only thing we can do is to move forward. Do not let the situation crush you. Keep them going and damn the obstacles and make one tiny little step after another. It is difficult after some time you’ll notice that by taking one step after another, you’ll eventually overcome the struggle. We can move on, we must move on.

Theme 2 : Pagtutulungan (Cooperation).

Cooperation NOT Competition is the game’s name. It’s long been declared that the nature of life is based on survival of the fittest. History also tells us that people must constantly compete to survive. In some ways its rings true. But what is more powerful than competition that incorporates cooperation? It’s Love and Hope.

Consider this: love is more powerful than hate. Hope is more powerful than fear. And if we believe in love and hope, then we believe in the power of cooperation. We are not animals. We are their highest form. Cooperation is the true natural state of human beings.

As competing students you, as dictated by the system, develop antagonistic behavior. We want to know that we matter, that we are valuable part of your school that we are connected with the people upon whom they rely for nurturing. 

Cooperation is anything and everything that helps us feel connected and part of something meaningful. It can be a thought, a touch, a glance, an act, a memory. There are infinite ways of being in this world.

Denice Dare, whom she calls herself a “Love Activist” and “Soulful Life Educator” and my  source of this input, said that, “The underlying effect of competition; we envision ourselves as separate. We lose touch with our inter-connectedness, our wholeness, our oneness.” The opposite of competition is PAGTUTULUNGAN.

Theme 3 : Pagsusumikap (Hard Work)

Success is something that we all want to achieve in our lives. The type of success aspired to can vary greatly from person. Some people want nothing more than to be happily married, have a large family and bring up their children well.

Consider these: Hard work is the price for anything you are going to get. It builds self-discipline. It teaches you values. You make your own life with it. It gives your results. (Note to self: Expound. Give examples.)

Other people strive for academic success and becoming as highly educated as they can, while some people are much more career-focused, and even with this group, their main marker of success can be different things: the power they have, the money they earn or the good they do, a combination of things or something else entirely. Because every type of success is very different, every road to success is very different too, but everyone’s route has one thing in common which is a key to success: Hard Work or PAGSUSUMIKAP.

Sa pagwawakas, nais kong ibahagi ang isang bagay na batid na ninyo: ang PUP ay isa sa mga huling halimbawa ng pamantasan na lunduan ng malaya at progresibong kaisipan. Saksi dito ang makataong pagtingin nito sa kalinangan at edukasyon, magmula sa agham hanggang sining, na may iisang dakilang layon: ang ipunla at kalingain ang kabuuan ng pagkatao ng isang indibidwal. Instrumento rin ito para sa kaganapan ng layong edukasyon para sa mahihirap bilang karapatang pantao at kalayaang akademiko. Mga salalayan kung bakit nilayon ng mga tagapagtatag nito, kasama ang taong aking kinakatawan ngayon, na itayo ang pamantasang ito sa lalawigan ng Kanlurang Mindoro.

Maraming salamat po at sa ngalan ni Vice-Mayor Bong Marquez, pagbati ng makabuluhang ika-9 na anibersaryo sa Sintang Paaralan dito sa mahal nating Bayan ng Sablayan.

Mabuhay tayong lahat.

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(* Delivered October 9, 2019 at Siburan Hall, Municipal Building, Sablayan, Occidental Mindoro)

Photo: The Faculty of PUP Sablayan Branch; Taken by Prof. Reinne Alcaraz