President Alfredo E. Pascual

   Distinguished guests, faculty, alumni, parents, staff, friends, and graduates: Isang mapagpala’t mapagpalayang pagbati sa inyong lahat.  I am happy to be with you this afternoon in your celebration of this momentous occasion.

   First of all, to the parents, I know how happy you feel right now. You have every reason to be proud of your children’s achievements and be hopeful for their future.

   To the graduates, congratulations for your achievement!  Today we see an intersection between an end and a beginning in your young life—an end to mark the last day of your four or five years in college and a beginning to signal the start of your adventure into what we call the real world.

   I share your hopes and concerns for the future.  We live in interesting times. Technological advancements have affirmed the belief we have long held that there is no limit to human growth and progress.  In a wired, networked, and globalized world, we can do anything we set our hearts and minds to.

   Yet these are also dangerous and uncertain times.  Only twelve years into the new millennium, already we have seen terrorism and war, we have seen economic meltdowns, we have seen unemployment rise to alarming levels, we have seen tsunamis, earthquakes, and typhoons of colossal proportions—all these on a global scale.

   What these contrasting scenarios come down to is this: the future presents you with both opportunities and challenges.  To be sure, you cannot predict the future, but you know what it requires of you.  Indeed, you can either use your education to make the world a better place, or you can misuse your education to the detriment of humanity.  To bring the situation closer to home, I would say, you can use your education to make our country better, or you can misuse your education to worsen the condition of our people.

   Last January, the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited came out with a report called “The World in 2050”.  In the report, the bank named the Philippines as one of the emerging economies that will alter the balance of power in the next four decades.  HSBC reported that one of the reasons our country will experience unprecedented economic growth is the rising standard in our education.

   It is easy to see why education is considered a significant determinant of economic progress.  The demands of our time are great.  It takes well-educated citizens to open themselves up and adapt to the world’s high-level technologies.  It takes highly skilled citizens to maximize existing and create new resources.  It takes citizens of enlightened reason to transcend superstition and appreciate the value of scientific research and cultural development.

   We live in a digital world where information is instantly made available through high-tech communication platforms.  But it takes critical thinking, insight, and reason to sift through information and extract what is useful.

   I am confident UP has prepared you well for the opportunities and challenges you will face in our rapidly changing world driven by innovation. But as UP graduates, something more is expected of you.

   The UP Charter of 2008 states: “The national university is committed to serve the Filipino nation and humanity.  While it carries out the obligation to pursue universal principles, it must relate its activities to the needs of the Filipino people and their aspirations for social progress and transformation.”  You as graduates of UP are expected to do no less.

   The recognition of UP as the country’s National University in 2008 provided UP greater flexibility to meet the demands of the 21st century.  But with this recognition comes great expectations and immense responsibilities.  UP is expected to mold the country’s future leaders, such as all of you graduates, with absolutely no exception.  

   People from across the nation have a stake in your future because you were “Iskolar ng Bayan”.  From the time you started attending your classes in UP, you have already committed yourself to bigger things.  Your teachers, your family, the men and women of our country are counting on you to take a leadership role in whichever career you choose to follow, be it in the academe, government, business, or NGO sector.  You are expected to serve as an agent of change in your sphere of influence. You are expected to effect changes that, collectively with other UP graduates, will contribute to the achievement of a better life for our country and people.  After all, you the product of UP, which is responsible for shaping minds that shape the nation.

   Our country has never needed you more than now.  Look everywhere and there’s so much work to be done.

   No doubt, you are among the nation’s best minds.  You have great intelligence and strong character.  You are conditioned to outperform a good proportion of Filipinos your age.  But service to the nation is not easy.  You will not succeed all the time.  There will be failures.  Your vision will be tested and thwarted.  You will be disillusioned.  But do not get heartbroken.  As Sir Winston Churchill said: "Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm."

   In your pursuit of success, remember your lessons in perseverance as you tackled the tough demands of your studies in UP.  Remember the sweet rewards of hard work and dedication.  Remember how you aspired for honor and excellence despite all the odds.  Evoke these thoughts when you fail so that you will be ready to try again.

   After leaving the portals of UP, I encourage you to have an active social life.  I don’t mean having parties – although such is part of life.   What I mean by social life in your case as UP graduates, is a life engaged in the experiences, difficulties, and dreams of our fellow Filipinos.  Understanding the collective consciousness, memory, and aspiration of the Filipino people is a crucial step in trying to make our country a better place for all, including, and more so, the marginalized among our people.  What you learned in the years you spent at the University are expected to be applied in the service of the people.  

   As UP graduates, you will be expected to confront national issues and influence the course our nation will take.  You will be expected to take a stand against flagrant injustice, even at the risk of your own lives. You will be expected to serve far-flung and needy communities, to speak up for those with no voices, often without monetary compensation or formal recognition. You will be expected to offer your knowledge, skills and resources for the greater good.  You will do this through public office, through academic or research work, through business and the practice of a profession, through voluntarism and advocacy, or through a position of local or national influence.

   The reason for these high expectations on all of you is simple: You are graduates of the University of the Philippines.  You are leaving UP with a distinct honor and a clear sense of purpose that the others may not have: the honor and sense of purpose that come with being graduates of the country’s national university.  The challenge for you is different.  It is bigger, greater, tougher, more pressing and, in the end, far more glorious.

   When I took over the reins of the University last February, I said: “I envision UP as a university that prepares its students for successful careers and responsible citizenship in a globalized world.”  Responsible citizenship means, among others, fighting the many ills of society that tend to weaken the foundation of our country.  One such major ill is corruption.  What is corruption?  It is wrong to think of corruption only in terms of money, and an activity that takes place only in a government office.

   Corruption is the misuse of power for private gain.  Corruption is one of the reasons the bountiful resources of our country – the same ones that we sing about in our national anthem – are in danger.  If we, your elders, have failed in eliminating corruption and properly utilizing our country’s natural resources, it is my hope that you, young graduates, will be able to make a difference.
Serve the people, in big ways and small, to the best of your abilities.  More than the diploma in your hand, service to the people is what will make you truly a UP graduate.  Together, let us transform the Philippines into a country that we can all be proud about.

Padayon UP!

Salamat po.