The themes of Beyond the Classroom are the culmination of a diverse professional journey. Dr. Celerino Tiongco’s original career path was not in education; he studied geology, worked in mineral exploration and mining, and held roles in business consultancy and publishing before joining the Center for Research and Communication (CRC) in 1975. His eventual transition into education gave him the opportunity to further explore questions he had first encountered 25 years ago during his doctoral studies at Columbia University, particularly on the moral imagination. The years of reflection eventually led to a fundamental inquiry: What does it really mean to educate a person beyond the development of competence? In his book, Dr. Celerino Tiongco argues that education is essentially human formation—a quiet work that takes place through patient conversation, attentive silence, and the humility of sowing seeds without controlling their growth.

Dr. Celerino Tiongco emphasized that while the book carries one author’s name, it is the fruit of a shared effort. He credited several key figures who contributed to the book’s completion, including Rex Drilon II, who prodded him for years to write; Fernan Lukban, who made the book a personal project in celebration of his sixty-fifth birthday; Ambassador Jose L. Cuisia, Jr., who authored the foreword; and Fr. Carlos Vicente Estrada, who reviewed the moral and doctrinal aspects of the text.

The book has also received significant endorsements from leaders in education and the Church. Juan Edgardo M. Angara, Secretary of Education, noted that the book brings attention back to the “greater task of forming persons” rather than focusing solely on measurable outcomes. Robert Kugelmann of the University of Dallas described the work as a “gentle, loving touch” that urges readers to cultivate the heart, while Socrates B. Villegas, Archbishop of Lingayen-Dagupan, called it a “visionary guide for the future” that is both conversational and authoritative. Sheldon Shaeffer, former Director, UNESCO, praised the book as an “antidote to the pessimism” often found in modern education literature.

Beyond the Classroom: Ten Vital Educative Tasks for Our Times is presented as an invitation to lifelong learning. As Dr. Celerino Tiongco reflected during the launch, the title refers to more than just physical locations; it points to the lifelong work of becoming more human and of helping others do the same. The book is now available to readers as a present contribution to the continuing conversation about education.

Today, the UA&P Center for Student Affairs announced a new university-wide dress code, which primarily implements business casual as the minimum for students and staff members of the University.

To start, “business casual” is not the same thing as “business formal.” To dispel any potential misunderstandings, we must clarify the nature of “business casual” according to the University’s Student Handbook (2024–2025) and the newly announced “University Attire Policy”.

Business casual, as per the Student Handbook, consists of “business-appropriate short or long-sleeved tops/blouses” for women and “short or long-sleeved collared shirts [ . . .] or polo barong” for men, which are to be worn with “full length slacks or trousers” for either sex, or “skirts or dresses” for women exclusively (p. 128). Women are also asked to wear “closed/peep-toe shoes; pumps; dress heels,” whereas men are asked to come to school in “dress shoes, oxfords, loafers or closed walking shoes with socks.”

For this reason, business casual can still be interpreted quite flexibly. The bare minimum for business casual in the handbook is a well-fitted collared shirt, a well-fitted pair of trousers, and a decent pair of shoes. In fact, the idea behind business casual is that one may appear presentable without necessarily having to look uniform. In other words, business casual is what university instructors and professors are asked to wear daily.

The new dress code does not mandate “business formal,” which consists of a suit and tie (or its cultural equivalent) for men and “formal long or three-quarter sleeved tops with or without collar” for women (ibid., p. 127).

Talk of a change in dress code policy has been brought to the students’ attention since the beginning of the previous academic year. This has garnered significant amounts of controversy among students, on account of which I previously suggested that the implementation of these proposals has been delayed, and for a more lenient interpretation of “business casual.”

Fortunately, this has been done.

In the new “University Attire Policy”, the definition of business casual has actually been clarified and in many ways expanded. To begin with, women will not be required to wear heels. The new policy simply requires “sneakers” or, more generally, “open/closed-toe footwear, provided it has a back strap.” Furthermore, the new guidelines allow for “denim, chinos, khakis, dress slacks, and similar trousers” for both men and women. This means that jeans are permitted, so long as they are not “ripped jeans”

The old definition of business casual did not make any provisions for wearing T-shirts; however, the new policy permits those worn with “a blazer, sport coat, or business jacket” for men and “a blazer, cardigan, sweater, or business jacket” for women. “Business jacket” in this case can refer to a windbreaker or something similar.

In conclusion, the new policy actually allows students to wear, at minimum, a decent collared shirt, a decent pair of trousers, and a decent pair of shoes—including sneakers. The new policy is, in many ways, more flexible. A lot of things will remain the same.

President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. delivered his penultimate State of the Nation Address (SONA) against a backdrop of severe global and domestic strain. Soaring oil prices driven by the ongoing Middle East war continue to fuel economic hardships, particularly for vulnerable sectors. Domestically, the political climate remains tense, rocked by a multi-billion-peso flood control corruption scandal implicating lawmakers, DPWH engineers, local officials, and private contractors, alongside a highly polarized, live-broadcasted impeachment trial against Vice President Sara Duterte.

While the SONA highlighted several measures to ease the daily economic burden on ordinary Filipinos, many rely on short-term populist remedies—such as subsidies (ayuda), oil price rollbacks, excise tax reductions, targeted relief for farmers and transport workers, and free commuter rides. Although these emergency interventions provide immediate relief to vulnerable sectors, the speech lacked sufficient emphasis on long-term institutional solutions. The President did outline key legislative initiatives—including the Sariling Kuryente Act, EPIRA amendments, and revisions to the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act—which require painstaking congressional approval. While much of his “progress report” naturally centered on Executive initiatives, actively engaging Congress is vital to institutionalizing these reforms so they endure beyond his term.

Addressing high energy costs is critical, as electricity prices remain a major barrier to attracting investments, building heavy industries, and expanding local businesses. While the President’s push for renewable and indigenous energy is commendable, bolder solutions are urgently needed. Because the Philippines suffers from the highest electricity rates in ASEAN, its foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows consistently rank among the lowest in the region. The President also highlighted the Pax Silica initiative, which promises to bring high-tech industries to Luzon; however, it will demand massive energy capacities that the country cannot supply in the short term. On a more decisive note, he boldly reopened the debate on nuclear energy—a highly contentious and emotionally charged political issue, but a necessary conversation given our energy realities.

On food security, the President rightly acknowledged the gravity of the problem and detailed support programs for farmers, proudly announcing the distribution of land titles. However, land redistribution alone merits a more nuanced look based on empirical research. Numerous studies highlight the drawbacks of micro-farming, where smallholders face acute shortages of capital, technology, entrepreneurial skills, and market access. In contrast, agricultural leaders like Vietnam and Thailand leverage large-scale farming to maximize economies of scale, mechanization, and global competitiveness. Furthermore, a major gap in the speech was the absence of a strategy for water security, particularly our overdependence on the dwindling capacity of Angat Dam, which supplies both Luzon’s agricultural heartlands and Metro Manila’s consumer needs.

The administration deserves credit for major infrastructure projects—both ongoing and nearing completion—such as railways and highways. Yet these remain heavily concentrated in Luzon; expanding modern transit networks to the Visayas and Mindanao is essential for stimulating rural economic growth.

To his credit, the President set a strong tone by opening his SONA with a sharp focus on corruption—specifically targeting the multi-billion-peso flood control scandal. His declaration—“Hindi ako pangulo ng aking pamilya, hindi ako pangulo ng aking kaibigan, ako ay pangulo ng Pilipinas at ang tungkulin ko ay sa inyo, ang aking mga kapwa Pilipino”—marked a dramatic moment. The public now expects him to mobilize the full force of government to hold all perpetrators accountable, regardless of political ties.

However, the speech noticeably omitted two systemic anti-corruption and governance measures currently pending in Congress: the Anti-Political Dynasty Bill and the Political Party Reform Bill. Without these legislative safeguards to curb oligarchic dominance and foster democratic maturity, the nation’s underlying political, social, and economic struggles will persist.

On the international front, the President reaffirmed the nation’s resolve to defend its territory in the West Philippine Sea, and directed a message to China, “Let me remind our friends and our detractors: Filipinos are a noble, kind, gracious, and great race. We are not greedy. We are not racists. We are not liars. We are respectful, and we are dignified. We are Filipinos, and we do not yield.” To amplify this declaration on the global stage, he could have explicitly cited the support of our Western allies, sending an unmistakable signal of collective deterrence to China.

Finally, the President closed on a strong nationalist note, and a call for unity: “Pilipino sa diwa; Pilipino sa dugo. Mana-ig nawa ang pagkakaisa, at ang pagmamahal natin sa Inang Bayan at sa kapwa-Pilipino. Sa bagay na ito, hindi tayo magkaka-tunggali. Tayo ay magkakabigkis — tulad ng ating pinamalas sa ating buong kasaysayan. Sa mga pang-aalipusta, hindi tayo matitinag. Sa manlulupig, hindi tayo pasisiil ... My beloved countrymen, Let us continue the work that we have started. To make the Philippines the country that Filipinos deserve. There is no nobler cause than this. We do this for our children. We do this for our future. We can but do this, because we love our country and we love our people.”

This article originally appeared on 1 August 2026 in Dr Alviar’s Manila Bulletin column, “Inciting Insights.”

The views expressed here are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect those of the Publication and the University.

When the Pax Silica initiative was announced, criticism came swiftly and from many directions. Environmental groups worried about the enormous electricity and water requirements of AI infrastructure. Governance advocates questioned whether the country had the institutional capacity to negotiate well and regulate such a massive undertaking. Labor groups fret on who would ultimately benefit, while others raised concerns about foreign control, national security, inequality, and whether the Philippines would simply shoulder the environmental costs while richer countries captured the technological gains. Recently, BCDA clarified that no data centers—the central point of many environmental concerns—are planned for the Tarlac portion of the Clark ecosystem. Whether that completely addresses the environmental debate remains to be seen, but it is a reminder that the details are still evolving. In fact, the parties have yet to conclude negotiations, and the public has not seen the negotiating text. Yet the discussion—both for and against Pax Silica—has taken on a life of its own.

Among the many concerns, one stands out because it deserves careful attention. It is the fear that the Philippines will end up contributing only the lowest-value activities in the AI ecosystem while the sophisticated work—chip design, cutting edge software development, advanced research, and innovation—remains elsewhere. This is not really an argument about whether Pax Silica will generate growth or exports for the Philippines. Most people agree it probably can. The real concern is distribution. Will Filipino workers and firms remain trapped at the bottom of the value chain while others capture the knowledge-intensive jobs and the highest returns?

That concern deserves to be taken seriously, but it also rests on what economists would call a static view of industrial development. The Philippines is not entering this race from the sidelines. Electronics has long been the country’s largest export industry. For decades, Philippine firms and workers have been part of global production networks for semiconductors and electronic components. Pax Silica is not about creating an electronics industry from scratch. Rather, it is about taking that existing foundation and connecting it to an even more advanced ecosystem—one built around artificial intelligence, advanced chip technologies, high-performance computing, cloud infrastructure, AI-enabled manufacturing, cybersecurity, and digital innovation. If today’s electronics supply chain is a national highway, Pax Silica aims to connect the Philippines to an expressway where the technologies, investments, and opportunities are moving much faster. The real value of joining that network is that it helps overcome one of the country’s biggest constraints: attracting the scale of technology investment needed to move into the next generation of industries.

The Philippines has seen this kind of evolution before, although in a different industry. When the BPO industry first arrived, many dismissed it as little more than call centers. Then it grew into accounting services, human resource management, healthcare information management, software development, engineering support, legal process outsourcing, and sophisticated back-office operations for global banks and multinational corporations. That transformation did not happen because the industry skipped the simpler tasks. Rather, it materialized because firms built experience, workers acquired new skills, and clients gradually gained the confidence to entrust Philippine operations with more sophisticated functions. Ones firms become part of a production network, they understand the standards, logistics, quality systems and what customers require. This familiarity lowers the cost of taking on more complex work. Economists call this learning by doing. Businesses simply call it building capability.

This does not mean upgrading happens automatically. It requires good education, workforce development, infrastructure, sound institutions, and above all, astute negotiation. The critics are asking an important question, and it should not be ignored. But perhaps the more useful question is not whether the Philippines starts somewhere lower on the value chain. Most countries do. The real challenge is making sure it does not remain there. That seems to be where the negotiations should be focused. Beyond attracting investment, the Philippines should negotiate for opportunities to build local capabilities, develop Filipino suppliers, upgrade the skills of our workforce, and encourage technology transfer. In the end, the success of Pax Silica will not depend on where the Philippines enters the supply chain, but on whether it creates real opportunities for the country to move up it.

This article originally appeared on 7 August 2026 on Dr. Manzano’s LinkedIn page, “Pax Silica: Where to Start and Where to End Up”.

The views expressed here are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect those of the Publication and the University.

One of the biggest lies fostered on humanity was the need for it to impose genocide on itself. That was what the myth of “overpopulation” ultimately decreed: that humans are becoming too many for the planet and thus need to be reduced either before (i.e., through contraceptives or abortion, or destroying the institutions of marriage and the family) or after (euthanasia or assisted suicide) they come into existence.

Unfortunately, that Malthusian mindset was completely wrong. The world is not heading towards overpopulation. The world is just simply too big for us. And if a recent Lancet study holds true, the world’s population may even shrink to alarming levels.

Thus, “the global population was projected to peak in 2064 at 9.73 billion (8.84–10.9) people and decline to 8.79 billion (6.83–11.8) in 2100.” Total fertility rates (TFR) for several countries are expected to fall drastically: “By 2050, 151 countries were forecasted to have a TFR lower than the replacement level (TFR <2·1), and 183 were forecasted to have a TFR lower than replacement by 2100. 23 countries in the reference scenario, including Japan, Thailand, and Spain, were forecasted to have population declines greater than 50% from 2017 to 2100.”

Even more disconcerting is the expected aging global population: “with 2.37 billion (1.91–2.87) individuals older than 65 years and 1.70 billion (1.11–2.81) individuals younger than 20 years, forecasted globally in 2100”.

China, the supposed upcoming superpower, is seen to have its population halved by 48% by the end of this century, with India (expected 1.09 billion by 2100) and Nigeria (791 million) overtaking China’s predicted 732 million. Because of its one child and boys only policy, China, forecasted to become the largest economy by 2035, will gratifyingly see it becoming second place again to the US by 2098.

So, “while the world was expecting a baby boom driven by the COVID-19 pandemic as people locked down in their homes for several months, the supposition came crashing down. The reality is much soberer and the pandemic has actually led to a baby bust rather than a boom. Research shows that the US is facing the biggest slump in births in a century, France has recorded its lowest birth rate since World War II and China has received 15 per cent fewer registrations for babies.”

Pew Research Center, meanwhile, points out that “other advanced countries have also begun to experience declining birth rates. Italy, Japan, France and Belgium are among the nations that have reported sudden drops in births about nine months after the start of the pandemic, compared with the previous year”.Also, as mentioned in this column previously: “Official figures for England and Wales reported a record 50.1% of women being childless by the age of 30”. Finally, this is complemented by the Lancet study: “A sustained TFR lower than the replacement level in many countries, including China and India, would have economic, social, environmental, and geopolitical consequences”.

And what is the prime cause for the shrinking birth rates? The Lancet study says this: “access to contraception will hasten declines in fertility and slow population growth”.

Because once you introduce into society the idea that having children and the family are burdens, it becomes very difficult to reverse and the population slide becomes a long continuous downward spiral.

Which brings us to the RH Law. As pointed out by the Supreme Court (Imbong vs Ochoa, GR 204819): “The population of the country kept on galloping at an uncontrollable pace. From a paltry number of just over 27 million Filipinos in 1960, the population of the country reached over 76 million in the year 2000 and over 92 million in 2010. The executive and the legislative, thus, felt that the measures were still not adequate. To rein in the problem, the RH Law was enacted.”

Wisely, the Supreme Court saw through the deception propagated by RH Law’s supporters: “Despite efforts to push the RH Law as a reproductive health law, the Court sees it as principally a population control measure. The corpus of the RH Law is geared towards the reduction of the country’s population.”

Unfortunately, all that did not prevent the Court from making the inexplicable mistake of ruling in favor of the RH Law. Nevertheless, it did make this quite prescient remark: “At any rate, population control may not be beneficial for the country in the long run. The European and Asian countries, which embarked on such a program generations ago, are now burdened with aging populations.”

Let’s hope the Administration will be wise enough to get rid of the RH Law before it causes more damage at taxpayers expense.

This piece was originally published in Atty. Gatdula’s column, “Being Right,” in BusinessWorld on 10 March 2026. The views expressed here are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect those of the Publication and the University.

The tariff story for the Philippines has been something of a roller coaster. The rate started at 17% on President Trump’s “Liberation Day” in April 2025, later rose to 20%, and was then lowered to 19% following the Marcos–Trump meeting. After the US Supreme Court ruled against the use of emergency powers to impose these tariffs, the administration introduced a temporary 10% global tariff under Section 122. When that measure expired on July 24, 2026, it was replaced by a 12.5% Section 301 tariff covering many Philippine products. The question, then, is: To what extent do the Trump administration’s tariffs hurt the competitiveness of Philippine exporters in the US market?

The headline rate does not tell us everything. Competitiveness is always relative. A US tariff clearly puts Philippine exporters at a disadvantage against American producers. But when we compare the Philippines with other foreign suppliers, what matters is the difference between the tariff they face and the tariff imposed on us. If nearly all exporting countries face the same rate, the Philippines’ relative position changes very little. If a competitor faces 10% while the Philippines faces 12.5%, our disadvantage is the 2.5-percentage-point gap—although even that can be significant for products with narrow profit margins.

Product exemptions matter just as much. Many major semiconductor tariff lines—covering some of the Philippines’ most important exports—have been excluded. This provides some protection for the electronics industry, although it does not mean that every electronic product is exempt. The actual tariff depends on the product’s specific US tariff classification. In other words, a headline rate of 12.5% does not mean that every Philippine export entering the United States pays 12.5%.

This may partly explain why, despite the headline tariffs, Philippine exports to the United States still grew strongly during the first half of 2026. Exports increased by about 28%, while the Philippine trade surplus with the US rose by nearly 49%. This does not mean tariffs are harmless. Exports might have grown even faster without them, and some shipments may have been brought forward in anticipation of tariff changes. The broader lesson is that we need to look beyond the headline rate. We must examine which products are covered, which are exempt and, most importantly, what tariffs our competitors face. In trade, as always, the devil is in the details.

This article originally appeared on 4 August 2026 on Dr. Manzano’s LinkedIn page, “Why the Headline Tariff Does Not Tell the Whole Story”.

The views expressed here are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect those of the Publication and the University.

In a flash, you hear the crack of the shinai (bamboo swords) hitting the kote (wrist armor) faster than the eye can follow. The roars of the combatants declaring where they aim to strike shake the room, and the thundering sound of bare feet hitting the floor snaps like thunder. In a split second, it is over. A point has been won, but there is no fist-pumping or smiling; only silence hangs between those holding shinai. From the outsider’s perspective, it looks like a medieval combat reenactment; to its practitioners, it is a process of self-mastery.

This is kendo, a modern Japanese martial art derived from the samurai sword art of kenjutsu. Kenjutsu was practical, and focused on killing as much as it was about the development of the self. When the samurai class was abolished in the 19th century, the emphasis on actual killing in kenjutsu waned, but its psychological framework survived in kendo. In an age where combat has evolved beyond swords, thousands choose to practice kendo to master themselves instead. The art of kendo goes beyond defeating opponents; it is the art of conquering yourself and developing a beautiful, disciplined character. Through combat, practitioners learn that they must better themselves to better their swordsmanship. I learned this lesson in my time in the University of Asia and the Pacific’s Kendo Club, where learning more about swordsmanship changed my perspective on life and self-improvement in three important ways:

Combat puts the anxieties of daily life into perspective.

As a perfectionist, my natural tendency is to fear the future and lament the past, such as stressing about upcoming tests and fretting over my previous scores. When I began kendo, I was taught that you strike with the resolve to kill someone each time—and to accept that failing to strike true meant your death as well. The shinai used in kendo are bamboo swords to ensure safety in training, but for kendoka (kendo’s practitioners) they are imagined as steel blades.

This is the mindset demanded of the kendoka, and the discipline it demands is of equal weight to that responsibility. When you believe yourself to carry the weight of a life in your hands, there is no room for triviality: you must commit your entire being to a single moment. There is no room for worrying about tests, thinking about your appearance, or showing off with fancy flourishes. In that single moment, the only truth that remains is your mortality. When an opponent who gives their all comes at you with brutal precision and intent to kill, shouting at the top of their lungs to demonstrate their spirit, the only option is to survive.

Before each session, kendokas are made to meditate to ensure they are focused on nothing but kendo and that they strike with the conviction of someone actually fighting for their life. The conviction of either kendoka in a battle drives the ferocity of each of their strikes, with the cuts of shinai deciding matches in split seconds. Returning from combat as intense as that in kendo is grounding, much like a near-death simulation that drives people to change how they live. After your body is flooded with stress hormones, the transition to peace and safety is dramatic.12 Kneeling in silent meditation at the end of a session quiets the mind and spirit in sharp contrast to the loud chaos that preceded it. As I attended more training sessions, I found that missing a few marks on my last test felt increasingly inconsequential, and the stress from upcoming tests faded into a task to be done rather than to be feared. When you are reminded of your vulnerability, it becomes easier to distinguish what actually matters in your life—the things that still feel important after confronting your mortality.

Conflict is a mirror to one’s shortcomings and a path to improvement.

When the human body is put under stress, its default response is the fight-or-flight mechanism—blind reactionary panic.34 Kendo demands more. When you are aiming to kill someone before they kill you, it demands awareness, strategy, and action. The true depths of your character—your courage and focus—can only be tested through conflict of the mind, body, and spirit. Can you remain focused when fear takes hold of your body? Did you train your body well enough to respond to attacks in time? Can you hold on when your muscles feel like they’re burning and your breath is short?

If you are distracted, anxious, or wrathful, you will fail. If your mind wanders for a moment, your opponent’s sword will be on you before you can blink. If you are too scared to fight, you will miss opportunities to strike. If you let rage fuel you, you will overcommit to strikes. It is only when you are pushed to your limits in combat and training that the boundaries of your character are defined, and only then can you go beyond them. When I forced myself to let all other thoughts fade, only mindfulness and focus remained. When I had to strike even when I felt uncertain, I learned to be decisive. When I trained to be aware of my body at all times, I gained poise and control. Through practicing kendo, I learned to untie the knots of my own shortcomings and build confidence to become a better version of myself. I learned to let go of my worries, stay calm under pressure, and wield my body better than I ever imagined possible.

We are not perfect, and never will be.

While there is always a desire to improve, there is also an acknowledgement that we can only approach perfection, but never attain it. When I was learning the basic strikes as a beginner, I remember my seniors in our Kendo Club calming me down because I was frustrated. I had managed to execute one strike really well, and never again. I spent hours repeating the same strike, but none of the hundreds of strikes felt as good as the one I was trying to imitate. My seniors told me that the beauty of kendo is that everyone can progress at their own pace. In kendo, victory is progress because its primary goal is to discipline the human character by practicing the principles of the katana, not simply winning tournaments. This is true to the point where many kendokas choose not to get ranked, and simply practice it to develop themselves. Since the refinement of the human character is a lifelong process that is never truly complete, kendo training can never be finished. I carried that lesson with me; and in everything I do, I try to remember the feeling of chasing that ideal strike. Although I may never fully realize my ideals, my journey is worthwhile if I draw closer to them in my endeavors.

Despite being a martial discipline rooted in ancient samurai sword arts, kendo is, at heart, an analogue of suffering that teaches us to be better in life. It seems counterintuitive that peace can be found in what is essentially swinging swords at other people, but I came to learn that it is precisely through that combat that kendo shows its beauty as an art form. Each strike, movement, and decision emulates the possibilities of loss, challenges, and frustrations we are forced to deal with in our lives.

When you stand to lose everything in combat, you realize what matters. When your opponent strikes, you are forced to be better. When you learn how to approach perfection without attaining it, you find peace. When the echoes of the shouting fade, and the shinai are set aside, kendo leaves us with a simple, beautiful gift: the clarity to see who we truly are, and the enduring discipline to return tomorrow and try again.

As my grandmother lay on her hospital bed, I asked if she could buy my favorite snack on the other side of the phone. It was such an ordinary request that I never imagined it would become the topic of our last conversation.

For fourteen years, Mama was the first person I saw after stepping off the school bus, and she somehow always knew what snack would make a long school day feel shorter.

As a child, none of it seemed remarkable. It was simply the way she loved me—what every afternoon looked like.

That was true of so much of our time together. We’d wander through cafés around our neighborhood and tag along on grocery runs. Somewhere between the bread aisle and the cashier, she’d quietly add chips, chocolate, or a bag of frozen french fries to the cart because she already knew what I’d ask for before I did. French fries became our unspoken tradition—she rarely waited for me to ask. Whenever we got home, I’d find them waiting for me in the pantry.

At the time, I only saw a snack. I hadn’t realized yet that it was her way of saying, “I thought of you today.”

I didn’t understand then why those ordinary moments stayed with me. What felt like routine while I was living became what memory refused to let go of.

Looking back, I don’t remember Mama for the extraordinary things she did; I remember her for the small but meaningful gestures that filled my ordinary days.

I didn’t realize how much those moments stayed, even with other people, until after I graduated from elementary school. I’d occasionally run into former teachers who would smile and ask, “How’s your grandmother?” before asking how I had been. It wasn’t difficult to understand why.

She treated ordinary encounters as moments worth paying attention to. During holidays, she’d prepare small gifts for the people who kept our school running behind the scenes. But it wasn’t the gifts alone that people remembered. She’d stop to chat with the security guards, ask the janitors how they had been, and linger long enough to hear their answers.

Home was no different. Before I had the chance to downplay an award or dismiss a speech competition as “just another contest,” she had already gloated to our relatives about it. Whenever I finished editing a school project or video presentation, she’d ask to watch it. Hours later, I’d hear the familiar audio coming from her phone—the sign that she had decided to watch it again. Before I’d leave to meet friends, she’d remind me to send pictures. Later, I’d find her scrolling through them long after I had forgotten I’d taken them.

For as long as I could remember, her presence felt as permanent as home. Days unfolded the way they always had, so when she was admitted to the hospital a few days after my birthday, I never doubted that she’d recover. I assumed we’d return to our old routines soon enough.

When I shared that last video call with Mama, we talked the way we always had. There was no dramatic goodbye because neither of us knew it would be the last. Before we hung up, I laughed and said, “Get well soon, ha. You still owe me french fries.”

A few days later, she was gone.

For a long time, every memory of Mama led me back to the hospital. Mentioning her name was enough to make my chest tighten. I’d replay our last conversation until I was exhausted, convinced I had somehow failed her with my final words. Why didn’t I tell her I loved her? Why didn’t I thank her for everything she did for me?

But grief changes slowly but surely. The days I cried until I couldn’t breathe became less frequent, and life slowly filled itself with ordinary routines again. My mom and I still talked about Mama, but somewhere along the way, our conversations began ending in laughter instead of silence. Without noticing it, I stopped visiting the memory of the hospital and returned to the life we shared before it.

Only then did I understand why those last words stayed. They were never remarkable on their own. “You still owe me french fries,” held grocery trips where she’d slip a frozen bag into the cart before I could ask, rides home from school, afternoons that ended with snacks waiting in the pantry, and the assumption that there would always be another ordinary day together. What I thought was the memory of one conversation had been carrying years of ordinary life all along.

Maybe that’s why the ordinary lasts. We remember milestones, but we live in routines. The moments that shape us are rarely dramatic; they’re repeated often enough to become part of who we are. A grocery cart can carry years of companionship. A photograph can hold an entire relationship. And even a simple request for french fries can hold an entire childhood.

Somewhere along the way, the last conversation stopped being the memory I returned to the most. The regret no longer lives at the center of that memory. The life that came before quietly took its place. What remained instead was everything that had come before it. And somehow, those last words came to hold all of it.

The french fries were never what stayed with me. They were simply the ordinary moment where fourteen years of everyday love decided to remain.

When the new Management Committee assumed office last year, the very first question we had to answer was not about finances, enrollment, or organizational structure.

It was something much more fundamental. It was the answer to the question:

What is UA&P? What is UA&P for? Who is it for?

Because before we could even decide how and where to lead this University, we first had to understand why it exists.

To answer that question, I had to meet with our founders, Dr. Jesus Estanislao and Dr. Bernardo Villegas. I also sought the wisdom of many of the pioneers who built this institution—Dr. Dumol, Dr. Torralba, Dr. Abola, and many others.

We revisited our founding documents: the Credo, the Mission Statement, the Statement of Principles, as well as the other documents that define the identity of this University, including the letter of the then Prelate of Opus Dei, Bishop Javier Echevarría, to UA&P’s first president, Dr. Jess Estanislao.

And what we discovered was not a new direction. What we discovered was a direction that had guided UA&P from the very beginning—and a direction that ought to guide UA&P for as long as it exists.

That UA&P is, first and foremost, an apostolic undertaking.

That UA&P exists to bring people closer to God through the university education it provides.

That UA&P exists to form men and women of competence and character who, through their professions, will positively influence society—so that in the process, they may become, as St. Josemaría would say, saints. Saints in the middle of the world—men and women who sanctify their ordinary work and transform society from within.

And in the process, we, as the ones tasked with providing this formation, would end up as saints ourselves.

This, ultimately, is the purpose of UA&P.

This is also the reason why I accepted the responsibility of serving as your President. As I shared during my investiture last year, this is the only reason I accepted this office. And I hope that each one of you, whatever your role in this University, sees this same mission as the reason why you are here.

Together, we confidently and courageously embark on this noble journey. We have to—because, again, as St. Josemaría said, “this world’s crisis is a crisis of saints.”

And so, once we clarified our purpose, the next question naturally followed.

How do we accomplish this mission? How do we form the next generation of business and industry leaders who will make a positive impact on society?

Again, the answer was already found in our own founding documents. As stated in our Mission Statement, UA&P aims to achieve this by “reaching a level of excellence in its research and teaching programs that will earn for it a place among the most prestigious academic institutions in the Asia-Pacific region.”

Thus, through our Credo, every member of this University has agreed to dedicate and commit themselves to “the highest standards of professional excellence in their academic, scientific, and cultural endeavors.”

Excellence is not a new direction for this administration. It is, in fact, our founding direction.

Because if we aspire to form exceptional leaders, then we ourselves must become an exceptional university.

Because before students can choose UA&P, they must first have a compelling reason to choose us.

And so our task, therefore, was quite clear from the beginning: to help raise future saints by forming men and women of competence and character; to prepare leaders who will positively influence business, government, and society; and to build a university worthy of that mission—a university whose research, teaching, and formation are recognized among the finest in the Asia-Pacific region.

It is an ambitious vision, and a difficult mission to achieve. And it is a task given to us within the context of having to stabilize the University’s finances, addressing internal divisions and unrest, responding to an increasingly competitive higher education landscape, laying the ground work for the next 100 years, and preparing the university for succession.

It was within this context that I first met with the Management Committee. I asked them for only three commitments.

First, unity of purpose. We may disagree on everything, but we cannot disagree on why we are here and what we aim to achieve—that our responsibility is to bring this University to the level of excellence required to fulfill the mission entrusted to it by our founders.

Second, fortitude. We would be making difficult decisions—unpopular decisions. But if they were necessary for the long-term good of the University, we would make them anyway.

Third, freedom from vested interests. We are not here to advance anyone’s personal agenda—including our own. Our loyalty must be to the University, to our students, and to the mission we have been entrusted to carry forward. Every decision must answer one simple question: Will this bring UA&P closer to its mission?

And so, once we agreed on those principles, we got to work.

We adopted a three-pronged strategy. Every initiative, every policy, and every decision had to satisfy three fundamental requirements: Catholic, Business, and Excellence.

First, Catholic. We had to ensure that UA&P remained faithful to the Catholic idea of what a university ought to be.

This is the idea of the university articulated by St. John Henry Newman in The Idea of a University—a vision that has profoundly shaped Catholic higher education, and one the Church herself reaffirmed just last year when Pope Leo XIV proclaimed Newman a Doctor of the Church.

It is likewise the vision authoritatively expressed in St. John Paul II’s Apostolic Constitution Ex Corde Ecclesiae, which reminds us that a Catholic university exists not merely to transmit knowledge or prepare students for employment, but to pursue the whole truth, to integrate faith and reason, and to provide the integral formation of the human person through a genuine liberal education.

Second, Business. We had to be clear about what distinguishes UA&P in the higher education landscape.

Every great university is known for something. Harvard is known for leadership. MIT for science and technology. Juilliard for the performing arts. Likewise, UA&P must be known for what it does best.

Our roots trace back to the Center for Research and Communication (CRC), which was once regarded as the country’s leading independent think tank on economics, business, and public policy. This is not just our heritage—it is our DNA.

And the market continues to recognize this. Nearly eighty percent of our students enroll in business-related programs. Parents come to UA&P because they want their children to receive an education that is not only intellectually rigorous, but also professionally relevant.

But how does this relate to the liberal education we seek to provide? It does not mean abandoning or diluting that education. On the contrary, it means remaining faithful to it.

Liberal education forms the person; professional education prepares the person for practice. The two are not competing ideals—they are complementary.

Liberal education provides wisdom, character, and ethical foundation. Professional specialization provides the competence, skills, and expertise to lead in the marketplace.

Our objective, then, is not simply to produce graduates who can find jobs. It is to form business and industry leaders—professionally competent, ethically grounded, and inspired to use their talents in the service of society.

This is the distinctive value of a UA&P education: Catholic formation as the purpose, liberal education as the foundation, professional specialization as the means, and leadership in business and society as the outcome.

Third, Excellence. If we are serious about forming the next generation of industry leaders, then we must be prepared to compete with the best of the best.

Our aspiration has never been merely to be a good university in this country.

From the very beginning, our mission has been to achieve a level of excellence in research and teaching that earns UA&P a place among the most prestigious academic institutions in the Asia-Pacific region.

Excellence, therefore, is not optional. It is intrinsic to our mission.

We cannot expect to attract the best students, inspire the best faculty, or form exceptional leaders if we are willing to settle for mediocrity.

That is why we made the deliberate decision to raise our standards across the university. We are raising expectations for faculty and staff. We are strengthening accountability. We are reviewing our programs, our systems, and our ways of working—with the aim of strengthening academic quality across the institution.

In every initiative, we asked a simple question: Does this move UA&P closer to becoming the best university it can be?

Excellence is not about prestige for its own sake. It is about offering our very best to God, giving our students the education they deserve, and remaining faithful to the mission entrusted to us by our founders.

Having clarified our purpose, our strategy, and our standards, we then had to confront reality.

Every generation inherits both opportunities and challenges. Ours was no different.

If UA&P was to fulfill its mission, we first had to strengthen the institution itself. Three realities demanded our immediate attention.

First, financial sustainability. A university cannot fulfill its mission if it cannot sustain itself. The past several years had made clear that our financial model required urgent attention. Difficult decisions had to be made—not because we wished to change the character of the University, but because we wanted to preserve it for future generations.

Second, our brand and market position. We needed to become clearer about who we are and what we stand for. In an increasingly competitive higher education landscape, excellence alone is not enough if people do not understand our distinctive value. We had to articulate, consistently and confidently, what makes a UA&P education unique.

Third, our institutional culture. No strategy, however brilliant, can succeed without the right culture. We had to rebuild a culture of professionalism, accountability, discipline, collaboration, and unity. We had to break down silos, raise expectations, and remind ourselves that while we may belong to different offices and schools, we all belong to one University and one mission.

These three priorities became the lens through which we evaluated every initiative during the past year.

I will not attempt to enumerate all the initiatives we have undertaken. You have seen many of them. You have been part of many of them. More importantly, they all point to one thing: they are directed toward a single purpose—making UA&P a better instrument for its mission.

Our work is far from over. There is still so much to be done. Even now, we are laying the groundwork for the new UA&P campus in Carmona, the UA&P Business School, the UA&P Medical School, and bespoke programs that will extend our mission to new frontiers.

We will continue to face difficult decisions. We will continue to make mistakes. We will continue to have disagreements. But as long as we remain united in our purpose, faithful to our identity, and uncompromising in our pursuit of excellence, I have every confidence in this University’s future.

Years from now, when people look back on this chapter in the history of UA&P, I hope they will not remember us merely for the buildings we constructed, the policies we introduced, or the programs we launched.

I hope they will remember us as the stewards who rediscovered who UA&P truly is.

The stewards who restored confidence in its mission.

Who raised its standards.

Who had the courage to make difficult decisions—not because they were popular, but because they were right.

Who placed the mission above self-interest, and excellence above mediocrity.

Ultimately, universities are not transformed by strategic plans, organizational charts, or even presidents. They are transformed by people—people who believe in a mission greater than themselves, and who dedicate their lives to advancing it.

That is why I ask each one of you today to renew your commitment to this apostolate.

Whether you teach in the classroom, work in an office, maintain our campus, mentor our students, or support our operations behind the scenes, your work contributes to the formation of the next generation of leaders entrusted to our care.

And so, let us continue to form men and women of competence and character. Let us continue to form leaders who will transform society. And above all, let us continue to pursue excellence—not for prestige or recognition, but because offering our very best is the most fitting response to the mission God has entrusted to us.

If we remain faithful to that mission, then I have no doubt that the best days of the University of Asia and the Pacific are still ahead of us.

And so we ask our Lady, Star of the Orient and Mother of UA&P, to continue leading us always to her Son, who is the Light of the World.

May she guide this University—its faculty, staff, students, alumni, and friends—as we strive to make UA&P ever more faithful to its mission, and ever more worthy of being truly God’s work.

Thank you, and may God bless us all.

As reported by another publication: “President Marcos Jr. led the mid-year AFP command conference at Camp Aguinaldo on July 4 with Department of National Defense (DND) Secretary Gilberto Teodoro, Jr.,” along with “service unit commanders, ground commanders, and other high-ranking officials.” Reportedly, “following a heated discussion,” an “unnamed AFP general… stood up, rendered a salute, and said: ‘Permission to leave, sir.’ Other generals in the room allegedly followed suit.”

However, there was one thing wrong with the account — it was an absolute lie and complete rubbish.

AFP spokesperson Col. Francel Padilla vociferously debunked the “fake news”: “I was there personally. There is nothing of that sort that happened.” In fact, “it was a very professional exchange of ideas and discussions and there [were] also a lot of updates that [were] given. It all ended on a positive note.” (“Another fake news! No walkout of AFP generals during command conference — official,” Manila Bulletin, July 16, 2024). Her statement was later corroborated by others present at the conference.

Clearly the foregoing acts are seditious.

Even more so when such fake news was followed by open calls for President Marcos Jr. to step down and for the military to disobey or otherwise withdraw support from the Commander-in-Chief.

We must stop the normalization of treason.

The Revised Penal Code (Arts. 134-142) penalizes with up to six years imprisonment any person that incites others to sedition or leads or tends to stir up the people against the lawful authorities.

Batasan Pambansa 39 or the “Act Regulating the Activities and Requiring the Registration of Foreign Agents in the Philippines” penalizes those propagandizing in favor of a foreign hostile country to the detriment or damage of Philippine national security.

Finally, there is Commonwealth Act No. 616, “An Act to Punish Espionage and Other Offenses Against the National Security.” This covers instances of a person sharing confidential information that could negatively affect the security of the country, either by sharing it with foreign countries or unduly sharing it with the public in a manner undermining the government’s declared national security policy.

However, it is the provisions of Section 3 thereof that are now most relevant: Imprisonment of up to 10 years can be imposed upon any person who, with intent to interfere with, impair, or influence the loyalty, morale, or discipline of the military, naval, or air forces of the Philippines: (a) advises, counsels, or urges, or in any manner cause insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, or refusal of duty by any member of the military, naval, or air forces of the Philippines; or (b) distributes any written or printed matter which advises, counsels, or urges insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, or refusal of duty by any member of the military, naval, or air forces of the Philippines.

Moved by the utter gravity of the situation, constitutionalist and Dean of the San Beda Graduate School of Law Fr. Ranhilio Aquino posted this on his Facebook page on July 17):

“Elements, agents, servants of the PROC [People’s Republic of China] who have wormed their way into Philippine society should be sniffed out, exposed and either proceeded against judicially, perhaps even administratively, or summarily deported.

“Those who insist that there is no such thing as a Philippine claim in the West Philippine Sea are maintaining a position adverse to the interests of the Republic. There is something more than free speech involved here: the paramount interests of the Republic of the Philippines and the threat of a society subverted by lackeys of a foreign power.

“Under German law as well as the laws of many other countries, it is a crime to deny that the Holocaust ever occurred. There are some propositions that CANNOT be maintained. There is a limit to the capacity for free speech — when free speech is such that it makes the future survival of the Republic perilous, then such speech cannot be countenanced.

“Government must also purge itself of those elements that not-too-subtly use their positions to support the PROC incursions into what international law holds to be ours.”

We completely agree. We urge the Marcos Administration, in the interests of national security, to investigate and prosecute anyone and everybody practically committing treason (in the general sense of the word) in our midst. It must assert its authority in securing the Constitutional goal of securing “the sovereignty of the State and the integrity of the national territory.”

We also urge Congress to criminalize treason even in relative “peacetime.”

We must not allow the perversion of our civil liberties to be used against us by those seeking to undermine not only our constitutional system but our Republic itself.

This article originally appeared in Atty. Gatdula’s BusinessWorld column, “Being Right,” on 19 July 2026. The text is reproduced in full below.

The views expressed here are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect those of the Publication and the University.

This piece won second place at the II Edición Certamen Literario “Relato de Trilla” essay competition in Almedinilla, Cordoba, Spain, on 12 July 2026. The original essay (in Spanish) is reproduced below the English translation that follows.

It is 7:00 in the morning on a sunny June weather, Baldomero forces his way to get ready for a long and tiring day. The sun rose more than an hour ago from the hills of the Sierra Madre in Labrador. The sun’s rays reflect a very bright hue with glimpse of a rich tropical forests of various hardwood such as molave, acacia and mango fruit trees. Baldomero starts to feel the sweat on his face and expects more of perspiration as humidity rises more during this day in his hacienda. He breathes in the salty fresh air as he sees fishermen in their boats or bancas as he takes his morning ginger brew in front of an endless sea. His thoughts take him to a previous saying where once his land was the Spanish imperial dynasty where the sun never sets.

“Don Baldomero, Don Baldomero, the karitela is ready to take you to your hacienda, Sir.”

A voice of a young man disturbed his melancholic thoughts as the karitela, a two-wheeled horse drawn carriage has been waiting for him to bring him to oversee your locals, men and women in the planting of rice in his vast hacienda of more than 500 hectares located in Pangasinan, Luzon, Philippine Islands.

With his crisp breezy camisa de barong Tagalog, a wide-brimmed sombrero and a cane in his right hand, Baldomero is ready. During the Karitela ride, his pensive thoughts led him to reflect his own land, in the Subbetica region, Andalucia, Spain which he left behind more than 20 years ago. Just as the Karitela with the obedient horse with covered eyes trotted its way from the beach-front house to the stoned-lined road of the municipio and the San Raymundo parish church and town plaza, Baldomero was lulled to a dreamy daze. He remembers his childhood where agricultural workers harvested wheat on a hot June summer in Andalucia. Though different breeds of equine animals, local horses differed from the mules he once knew, however both horses are determined to have the same strength of an important work animal.

‘Yaah! Arre buey, camina mulo!
Que el sol esta en lo mas alto

“Don Baldomero, Don Baldomero”, we are here”, the karitela driver in his loud voice signaled the end of the journey. They have arrived at Sta. Romana, the hacienda of Baldomero where young and old locals, darkened by the heat of the scorching heat of the sun have started transplanting rice seedlings into the rice paddy. It is the perfect time to start according to lunar predictions before rice becomes ready to be harvested in three months. A carabao, half-submerged in the rice paddy with its wooden plow stuck at its back, stared blankly at Baldomero.

Though he has been called several times by the local farm workers, Baldomero seemed to be stuck in his karitela’s seat recalling his Andalucian dream of being a latifundista. He recalls vividly his parents and townspeople all gathered in the harvest of wheat with loud chatters of complaints, challenging their frustration with a lament of wheat land that farmers would never own. Suddenly, lyrics of a cante de trilla enveloped his thoughts echoing his recollections of a farm-laborer’s plea.

Esta tierra no es mia
Que es del duque y del marques
Yo lo labro noche y dia
Y el pan no lleva a ver

His deep pensive nostalgia was cut short when he heard the local rice farmers being so submerged happily in water in the rice paddies. They were singing a folk song telling fellow workers of the need to twist and bend while transplanting rice in the muddy, water-filled rice paddies all day with no chance of sitting nor standing. The song brings happiness to everyone and lessens the hardwork of all day tilling the soil.

Plantar no es ninguna broma
Todo el dia agachado
No puedo ni ponerme de pie
No puedo ni sentarme

Baldomero oversaw the day happily though he differed in the lunch brought from home. His wife prepared for him bread and smoked dried meat. He ate with his loyal agricultural workers , miggled with them and received reports of previous harvests, planning the care of the rice until it is ready in three months. He made sure of his being an “amo” who is caring, concerned, and well-loved.

At the end of the day, Baldomero reflects that he has fulfilled his dream of being a latifundista of his adopted land, he calls the Philippine Islands.

Son las 7:00 de la mañana de un soleado día de junio. Baldomero se dispone a duras penas para prepararse para una larga y agotadora jornada. El sol salió hace más de una hora desde las colinas de la Sierra Madre en Labrador. Sus rayos reflejan un brillo intenso, dejando entrever la exuberante vegetación tropical de diversas maderas duras como el molave, la acacia y el mango. Baldomero empieza a sentir el sudor en el rostro y anticipa que transpirará aún más, ya que la humedad aumenta durante el día en su hacienda. Respira el aire fresco y salado mientras observa a los pescadores en sus barcas o en la orilla, y disfruta de su infusión matutina de jengibre frente a un mar infinito. Sus pensamientos lo llevan a un dicho del pasado, donde su tierra fue antaño territorio del imperio español, un lugar donde el sol nunca se ponía.

“Don Baldomero, Don Baldomero, la karitela está lista para llevarlo a su hacienda, señor.”

La voz de un joven interrumpió sus pensamientos melancólicos mientras la karitela, un carruaje de dos ruedas tirado por caballos, lo esperaba para llevarlo a supervisar a los lugareños, hombres y mujeres, en la siembra de arroz en su vasta hacienda de más de 500 hectáreas ubicada en Pangasinan, Luzón, Islas Filipinas.

Con su fresca y ligera camisa de “barong Tagalog, un sombrero de ala ancha y un bastón en la mano derecha, Baldomero está listo. Durante el paseo en karitela, sus pensamientos lo transportan a su tierra natal, en las sierras subbéticas de Andalucia, España, que dejó atrás hace más de 20 años. Mientras la karitela, con su obediente caballo de ojos tapados, trotaba desde la casa frente a la playa hasta el camino empedrado del municipio, la iglesia parroquial de San Raymundo y la plaza del pueblo, Baldomero se sumió en un ensueño al recordar su infancia, cuando los campesinos cosechaban trigo en un caluroso verano de junio en su pueblo, Almedinilla. De razas diferentes, los caballos en las Islas Filipinas se diferenciaban de aquellas mulas que conoció, si bien ambos tipos de caballos estaban decididos a tener la misma fuerza que un animal de trabajo importante.

‘Yaah! Arre buey,camina mulo!
Que el sol está en lo más alto

“¡Don Baldomero, Don Baldomero, ya llegamos!”, el conductor de la karitela, con voz fuerte, anunció el final del viaje. Habían llegado a Santa Romana, la hacienda de Baldomero, donde jóvenes y ancianos del lugar, ensombrecidos por el sol abrasador, habían comenzado a trasplantar plántulas de arroz al arrozal. Según las predicciones lunares, era el momento perfecto para empezar, antes de que el arroz estuviera listo para la cosecha en tres meses. Un carabao, un búfalo asiático, medio sumergido en el arrozal con su arado de madera clavado en el lomo, miraba fijamente a Baldomero.

Aunque los campesinos locales lo habían llamado varias veces, Baldomero parecía estar atrapado en su asiento de la karitela, rememorando su sueño andaluz de ser latifundista. Recordaba vívidamente a sus padres y a los vecinos reunidos durante la trillando en la era, murmurando quejas y expresando su frustración con un lamento por las tierras que jamás poseerían. De repente, la letra de uno de aquellos cantes que los gañanes de vez en cuando entonaban durante la trilla, inundó sus pensamientos.

Esta tierra no es mía
que es del duque y del marqués
yo lo labro noche y día
y el pan no llego a ver

Su profunda y reflexiva nostalgia se vio interrumpida al oír a los campesinos locales, sumidos alegremente en el agua de los arrozales. Cantaban una canción popular que les contaba a sus compañeros la necesidad de retorcerse y agacharse mientras trasplantaban el arroz en los arrozales fangosos e inundados, sin posibilidad de sentarse ni de ponerse de pie. La canción les brindaba alegría y aliviaba el duro trabajo de labrar la tierra durante todo el día.

Plantar no es ninguna broma
Todo el dia agachado
No puedo ni ponerme de pie
No puedo ni sentarme

Baldomero pasó la jornada con alegría, aunque no estaba de acuerdo con el almuerzo que había traído de casa. Su esposa le preparó pan y carne seca ahumada. Comió con sus leales trabajadores agrícolas, conversó con ellos y recibió informes de las cosechas anteriores, planificando el cuidado del arroz hasta que estuviera listo en tres meses. Se aseguró de ser un empleador atento, considerado y querido.

Al final del día, Baldomero siente que ha cumplido su sueño de ser un latifundista en su tierra adoptiva, las Islas Filipinas.

Filipandaluz

The orientation was made possible through the efforts of UA&P PEER, the student arm of the Office of Guidance and Counseling, alongside the various offices of the university, who spent the midyear planning and preparing for the program. The arm comprises students who once stood in the freshmen’s shoes and have since decided to use the skills and character they built in the university to create the same opportunity for a new batch of students.

The first day began with programs designed to acquaint the students with the identity and culture of UA&P. University President Atty. Philip Yeung gave the welcoming remarks and shared how the university’s core values prepared him to lead his own alma mater. His speech was followed by a talk by Assistant Chaplain Fr. Gary Soria, who connected the University’s Catholic identity with the theme and mission of Freshstart. The opening program also featured a panel discussion where students, Jaron Pomer, Malix Dumlao, and Alvaro Cordero shared their insights on the spirit of Unitas within UA&P’s academics, athletics, and activities. The freshmen then showed their competitive spirit by participating in a quiz bee on the academic policies and mechanics of the university. Lastly, the students met the deans and program directors of their respective schools to learn about the programs awaiting them in the next few years.

The second day of Freshstart centered on the services, offices, and structures available to help students thrive in the university. First, the IT Office and Quality Assurance Office guided the students through UA&P’s essential online platforms, Canvas and Edusuite. The freshmen then competed in an Amazing Race where they explored the campus through a series of challenges and games held in key spaces of the school. Afterwards, the Center for Student Affairs introduced the LIFE Program, the units, and the offices that aid the students’ holistic development. The final talk of the day showcased UA&P’s unique mentoring program and the nearby study centers available outside of school.

Freshstart concluded with a celebration of the community and experience present in the university. With chants and cheers, UA&P’s drumline, Wildfire, welcomed the freshmen to the Parking and Sports Building (PSB), where student interest groups gathered to showcase the different opportunities, activities, and teams present outside the classroom. Finally, Freshstart’s closing program marked the end of the orientation with a fashion show of business casual outfits and performances by UA&P Chorale, Reverb Music Productions, Squadra, and UA&P PEER. The segment ended in the Li Seng Giap Auditorium, where cameras flashed as students captured memories of their start in the university.

Over 3 days, Freshstart equipped the newest members of the UA&P community with the knowledge, friendships, and confidence to begin college life. As Entry Batch 2026 turns the first page of its story, the chapters that follow are now theirs to write.

Despite Nolan’s intention for the movie, the months leading up to the theatrical release brought controversy regarding choice of casting and accuracy of the script with Homer’s text. When I sat down to watch the Odyssey with my colleagues for the first time, I heard a meandering laugh to my right when the first person we saw on screen was Travis Scott, dropping some beats on a replica of a 12^th century BC dining table. As a literature teacher, I already knew this was a different take from one of Homer’s greatest epics. However, I wanted to know how far Nolan reframed Homer’s ancient hero. So I’m endeavoring on this review and analysis of Nolan’s adaptation to one of Homer’s beloved stories. Spoilers ahead.

One of the biggest achievements of this movie was trying to bring Matt Damon home. Dr. Joem Antonio pointed out to me that Nolan unknowingly (or perhaps intentionally) brought out “the Matt Damoniest movie of Matt Damon movies,”1 which made the 3-hour movie felt a bit shorter than expected. Matt Damon was a war survivor (Saving Private Ryan), a clever tactician (Good Will Hunting), a navigator stranded in a faraway land (Interstellar), an undercover operative (The Departed) and most importantly, an amnesiac assassin (Jason Bourne Series). With all these movies, Matt Damon has practically become his own genre. He may not be casted as a major superhero (except for that one moment in Thor: Ragnarok) but he finally found his own superhero as one of Homer’s most famously written generals, Odysseus.

The Odysseus I encountered in Nolan’s The Odyssey actually feels less like Homer’s hero alone and more like a homage to Dante Alighieri’s version. Inferno 26 depicts a tragic version of Odysseus who crossed the strait of Gibraltar, only to find his whole ship obliterated, his men taken by the sea, and Odysseus himself damned in the fires of the Fraudulent Counselors. What appears to be a Titanic incident is, in fact, the work of a leader who weaponized his intelligence against his own men, hiding the weight of divine prohibition in the guise of bravery. “You were not made to live your lives as brutes, but to be followers of worth and knowledge.”2 Such a statement speaks true of our own potential. Imagine how this spurred Odysseus’s men to venture forth where no man has gone before. Yet the problem already lies in the act alone, going where no man has gone before, where Odysseus removed the deadly implication, they might all just die.

Nolan imitates this same tragic fate with some of Odysseus’s actions, especially using Sinon as bait in luring his enemies to accept the Trojan horse as a peace offering and dedication to Athena. When they met in Hades, Odysseus kept calling Sinon brave despite Sinon feeling the weight of his wasted life, knowing the consequence of being used by Odysseus. His men even became defiant of him when he chose to strike an arrow to the Cyclops out of spite. The central theme focused so much on the unburied dead that he left as casualties. Odysseus showed no explicit moments of remorse, but he moved on with his intelligence leading them to more unchartered territories. Nolan’s Odysseus is not merely cunning; he is a man whose intelligence helped him against many obstacles but sadly destroyed him.

At first, his intelligence resembles cunning or what we Filipinos call diskarte—outmaneuvering someone by wit and observation. Odysseus always planned two steps ahead and earned his reputation as the smartest and most cunning of the Greeks. Yet Nolan refuses to celebrate cunning for its own sake. Odysseus’s plan to construct the Trojan Horse was more than a military strategy—the Trojan Horse was a betrayal of Zeus’s law that turned a whole city upside down. That law is the bedrock of civilization, and the Trojan horse cast it aside into a bloodbath driven by rage, vengeance, and sacrilege.

Witnessing Troy burn down to the ground felt devastating. People were running aimlessly from the streets, Trojan warriors were almost lined up in a chopping block, and Greek warriors pillaged without mercy left and right. The character of Zendaya was apt to be Athena because she was also among the innocents that Odysseus saw beheaded. The camera never fully shot her beheading but instead cut to the statue of Athena desecrated as remnant of a ransacked Troy. This showed the sacrilege that Odysseus helped bring about because of the Trojan horse. Despite a wildfire that lit up the whole city, Troy was enveloped by the darkness of the Greeks, their long-held rage for 10 years finally came to a close, or so they thought.

The film kept repeating how abandoning Zeus’s law affects everyone. It simply follows what we know about natural law today. The only difference being that it focuses on treating guests with hospitality because they might be gods in disguise. Disobeying this law seems cruel but Nolan’s movie takes this even further. Disobedience invites destruction to unfold in a domino effect: it infects the person, pollutes interpersonal relationships, and ultimately destroys civilization itself. Odysseus felt this deeply. That is why when he talked to Penelope as a beggar, he was expressing the long-held trauma within. The massacre in Troy was never a well-earned victory by the Greeks. The first act of the film shows Odysseus’s own mind suppressing his memory of Troy. Perhaps that is why the sequence of events in Troy were never fully shown but only in sparse moments. Odysseus focused more on getting himself and his men back home. It was worse for his men because they normalized the atrocity they had committed. In a town not so far from Troy, they pillaged the villagers for food. So, a whole whirlwind of punishments awaited them from the gods as Odysseus’s men set sail back to Ithaca. Even Athena appeared before Odysseus with disdain.

These punishments from the Gods appeared as great forces of nature and mythological creatures that brought death to each and every one of Odysseus’s men. Burke’s idea of the sublime perfectly captures the vastness and terror that was inflicted towards them.3 The sheer scale and deafening roar of the Cyclops, Scylla, and Poseidon’s relentless, crashing waves reduced the Greeks to nothing but extinguishable pawns in their world. Most notably, the Laestrygonians, men who were almost twice the size of Odysseus, massacred almost all of Odysseus’s men and destroyed his two escort ships, leaving him to escape with only one ride home. To think that all those scenes were done in the Mediterranean itself with real props and real danger, made it more impressively horrifying to experience in a movie theater.

Odysseus was portrayed as a rebel against the gods. He remained defiant of their power, unleashing his own vengeance upon the Cyclops and never giving a proper burial for his men. When Odysseus’s men were all devoured by the waters of Poseidon, he arrived on Calypso’s island like a patient waiting to be examined.

Odysseus is an interesting patient. Besides Dante’s version, Odysseus resembled so much of Shakespeare’s Hamlet as well. The way Hamlet procrastinated to fulfill his father’s request resembles Odysseus’s 8 year long stay in Calypso’s island, eating Lotus flowers and living a simple life with Calypso. Hamlet and Odysseus were given another chance in finishing what they started. Penelope’s brooch, a tiny figure of Athena, became his lifeline. When Calypso finally saw that Odysseus no longer relied on Lotus flowers, she gave him back what he needed. Gripping the delicate gift amidst the horrifying chaos, we see a man who finally recognizes his own fragility. It isn’t his intellect or cunning that brings him home, but his desperate hold on this small, beautiful reminder of his wife, a reminder of whose unnamed innocent woman was beheaded because of him, and a reminder that it isn’t too late to go back home after all those lost years. The brooch fits well with Burke’s definition of the beautiful: that which is small, light, and fragile.4

That is why Odysseus’s return home was providential. Both Hamlet and Odysseus submitted to fate, no longer meandering, and no longer defying God. They became true to themselves and accepted what life throws at them at that moment. “We defy augury. There is a special providence in the fall of a sparrow.”5 Odysseus arrived in Ithaca posing as a beggar, succeeded in the contest proving that he is worthy for Penelope, and exterminated all the suitors. The last part seems like it came out of an action movie that solved everyone’s problems, but that’s not the case.

Odysseus fulfilled his wife’s request and since Antinous did not accept the lot, Odysseus was forced to deal with the suitors in honor of Sinon’s request from the afterlife. Odysseus honors the dead, and the bloodshed that Odysseus committed still comes at a cost. Compared to the original ending from Homer where Athena directly intervened and made a treaty, Nolan’s version carries more reverence for the afterlife. Odysseus heads west with his wife to bury the dead and honor his fallen comrades. It may seem like an ordinary visit to the morgue. However, this was Odysseus’s reclamation for the sacred. He is paying for the price for his own defilement of Zeus’s law and perhaps that is why the Gods let Odysseus cleanse Ithaca of its own wannabe usurpers.

In the end, he returns to fulfill what his wife wanted: “to chase the escaping sun”.6 It seemed like a fairy tale ending between two lovers, but this was a poetic conclusion of Penelope and Odysseus embarking their own odyssey together. The war on Troy was never isolated. Ithaca itself faced the consequences of Odysseus’s actions, and his last act was to reclaim what is sacred.

Behind the jarring Travis Scott cameo lies a profoundly human story, one that exposes effects of betraying Zeus’s law. Nolan’s Odysseus embodies both Dante’s version and Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Nolan treated Homer’s character not as a as a rigid, untouchable relic. Nolan’s Odysseus captures the cunning he was known for, while adding another layer that pays deep reverence to the afterlife and death. The film reminds us that we are all lost at sea at some point, battling forces much larger than ourselves. But as long as we hold onto the small, beautiful things—the lifeline of our humanity—there is always a providence which comes at the right time to lead us home.

“Lahat ng mababawi mula sa mga sangkot na tiwali ay agad ibabalik sa kaban ng bayan.”

Marcos reported on the year-long investigation into flood-control corruption, with the first contractors, DPWH officials, and lawmakers already charged and jailed.

Major Accomplishments:

• ~₱25B in funds and assets recovered, frozen, or preserved from accused officials

• Over ₱800M already returned to the Treasury

• First contractors, DPWH officials, and lawmakers charged and jailed

Significant Pledges:

• Return all recovered corruption funds to the national treasury

• Continue prosecution through the Ombudsman and National Prosecution Service
  

2. Energy Crisis Response

“Sa kabila ng pagsara ng Strait of Hormuz ay nagawa nating makabili at makapag-angkat mula sa ibang pagkukunang bansa ”

Following the outbreak of war in the Middle East, Marcos declared a State of National Energy Emergency and moved to diversify the country’s oil supply and cushion consumers from price shocks.

Major Accomplishments:

• State of National Emergency declared; current oil is sourced from Japan, South Korea, Oman, India, Russia, and China

• ~2-month national fuel supply secured despite the Strait of Hormuz closure

• Gradual (not sudden) pump-price increases negotiated with oil companies

• 3-month suspension of excise tax on LPG and kerosene

Significant Pledges:

• Return all recovered corruption funds to the national treasury

• Continue prosecution through the Ombudsman and National Prosecution Service

3. OFWs and the Middle East War

“Sa kabila ng pagsara ng Strait of Hormuz ay nagawa nating makabili at makapag-angkat mula sa ibang pagkukunang bansa ”

Following the outbreak of war in the Middle East, Marcos declared a State of National Energy Emergency and moved to diversify the country’s oil supply and cushion consumers from price shocks.

Major Accomplishments:

• State of National Emergency declared; current oil is sourced from Japan, South Korea, Oman, India, Russia, and China

• ~2-month national fuel supply secured despite the Strait of Hormuz closure

• Gradual (not sudden) pump-price increases negotiated with oil companies

• 3-month suspension of excise tax on LPG and kerosene

Significant Pledges:

• Return all recovered corruption funds to the national treasury

• Continue prosecution through the Ombudsman and National Prosecution Service

4. Transport Relief

“Ang sektor ng transportasyon ang pinakamatinding tinamaan ng epekto ng krisis. Tsuper, operator, pasahero, manggagawa, o negosyo man — lahat ay umaray sa matarik na pagtaas ng presyo ng produktong petrolyo.”

The transport sector was singled out as hit hardest by the oil crisis, prompting fare discounts, subsidies, and fee suspensions for drivers, operators, and commuters alike.

Major Accomplishments:

• Libreng Sakay program and revived Service Contracting Program for buses and jeepneys

• Up to 40% total fare discount for students, seniors, and PWDs

• 50% fare discount retained on LRT2 and MRT3

• ₱10/liter diesel subsidy for jeepneys and UV Express; reduced airport, port, and toll fees

Significant Pledges:

• Sustain AICS cash relief and TUPAD Tuloy-Pasada support for drivers

• Continue subsidized fares and fees while fuel prices remain elevated

5. Infrastructure & Mass Transit

“Sisikapin ng DOTr na sa pagtatapos ng Administrasyong ito, tapos na rin ang railway hanggang Clark.”

Marcos highlighted progress on rail and road projects, alongside a newly enacted right-of-way law meant to remove the biggest chokepoint in transit development.

Major Accomplishments:

• Right-of-way issues now resolved faster under the Accelerated and Reformed Right of Way Act

• First phase of Cebu Bus Rapid Transit opened

• Storm-damaged bridges in Samar, Isabela, Cagayan, and Iligan repaired and reopened

Significant Pledges:

• Open North-South Commuter Railway (Valenzuela–Malolos) next year; extend it to Clark

• Open 12 new MRT7 stations next year, extending service toward Sacred Heart, Quezon City

• Launch Ilocos Norte Bus Rapid Transit next year

6. Disaster Resilience

“Mahigit anim na raang libong pamilya ang ating nasaklolohan.”

Citing recent earthquakes in the Visayas and Mindanao, Marcos described a shift from reactive relief to a predictive, pre-positioned national disaster response network.

Major Accomplishments:

• 600,000+ families assisted after the Visayas-Mindanao earthquakes; over ₱3B disbursed

• Nationwide disaster network built: 15 hubs, 76 spokes, 919 last-mile facilities

• Emergency relief now deliverable to affected areas in under 24 hours

• 137 evacuation centers built nationwide

Significant Pledges:

• Build “Ligtas Pinoy Centers” in disaster-prone areas (Bicol, Eastern Samar, Bukidnon, Davao de Oro)

• Amend the National Building Code to modern disaster-resistance standards

7. Agriculture and Land Reform

“Nakapagtanim na tayo ng labingwalong milyong puno, at patuloy pa rin ang pagtatanim.”

Marcos reported continued gains in farm productivity and mechanization, alongside a push to finish outstanding land-title and debt-condonation commitments to agrarian reform beneficiaries.

Major Accomplishments:

• 18 million coconut trees planted under the national replanting program

• 145 rice processing systems, 3 large cold-storage facilities, ~40,000 machinery units distributed

• 400,000+ land titles distributed to agrarian reform beneficiaries (500,000+ hectares)

• ~₱19B in crop insurance claims paid out over four years

Significant Pledges:

• Complete distribution of remaining land titles next year

• Complete condonation of agrarian reform beneficiaries’ debts this year

• Plant 100 million coconut trees by the end of the Administration

8. Energy Security

“What we have uncovered is truly a national treasure: an untapped reserve of natural gas.”

Beyond crisis response, Marcos pointed to a new Malampaya gas discovery and record petroleum contract awards as the foundation of the country’s future energy mix — and floated a return to nuclear power.

Major Accomplishments:

• Malampaya service contract extended to 2039; new 222 billion cubic-feet gas reserve discovered

• 14 petroleum service contracts awarded — the most in any single presidential term

• 2 petroleum contracts co-managed with the BARMM Government, a historic first

Significant Pledges:

• Complete nearly 200 power projects (~10,000 MW) by 2028

• Develop hydrogen power plants in Marinduque, Masbate, Zamboanga Sibugay, and Basilan

• Revisit nuclear energy production to reinforce energy security

• Pass the “Sariling Kuryente” Act for accessible home solar and storage

9. Health

“Mula lagpas limang milyong pamilyang Pilipino noong 2022, umabot na sa mahigit pito at kalahating milyong pamilya na ang nakatamasa ng benepisyo ng PhilHealth.”

PhilHealth’s benefit programs continued to expand in coverage, funding, and digital accessibility, alongside tax relief on medicines.

Major Accomplishments:

• YAKAP preventive-care program reached 4.5M of 25M registered Filipinos this year

• GAMOT program: 75 essential medicines covered, ₱20,000/year benefit limit, 300,000+ beneficiaries in 7 months

• VAT removed on 2,000+ medicines, including cancer, hypertension, diabetes, and mental health drugs

• Zero-Balance Billing benefited ~3M patients in DOH hospital wards

• e-MAIFIP launched on the eGovPH app (56M+ users), cutting medical-assistance requirements to two

Significant Pledges:

• Expand PhilHealth screening to kidney, liver, thyroid, and Hepatitis B disease

• Double the PhilHealth benefit package for children with developmental disabilities

• Begin planning a national Virology and Vaccine Institute

10. Education

“Ngayon, isandaan at apatnapung kolehiyo na ang pumasok sa World University Rankings.”

Marcos cited rising college rankings, teacher promotions, and new student-support roles, while flagging online harms to children following recent school violence.

Major Accomplishments:

• 140 PH colleges now in the World University Rankings for Innovation, up from 12 in 2022

• 81% placement rate for tech-voc (TVET) graduates

• 80,000+ teachers and school heads promoted; 30,000+ new teaching positions added

• First batch of 10,000 School Counsellor Associates deployed to public schools

• AI-readiness training reached 1.8 million students, parents, and teachers

Significant Pledges:

• Build 400,000+ classrooms nationwide via DPWH, PAGCOR, LGUs, and private-sector PPPs

• Strengthen school security and bullying/incident-response protocols with LGUs and the PNP

11. Housing & Social Protection

“Itinaas natin sa sampung milyong piso ang limit ng pautang para sa pabahay.”

Marcos reported continued expansion of the 4PH housing program and social insurance coverage, alongside relief measures for borrowers hit by the crisis.

Major Accomplishments:

• 500,000+ homes built or funded under 4PH, including 100,000+ added this year

• Pag-IBIG housing loan limit raised to ₱10 million; membership now at 17 million

• ~44 million Filipinos now covered by SSS, including 80,000+ informal-sector workers

• SSS pension increase moved up to June from its scheduled September date

• Up to 6-month (1-year for agricultural) loan payment relief granted by banks, GSIS, SSS, NHMFC, and Pag-IBIG

Significant Pledges:

• Build 400,000+ classrooms nationwide via DPWH, PAGCOR, LGUs, and private-sector PPPs

• Strengthen school security and bullying/incident-response protocols with LGUs and the PNP

12. Foreign Relations & Trade

“The Philippines now has 23 free trade agreements in force or under active negotiations with other countries.”

Marcos credited the country’s expanded trade network and investment facilitation for cushioning the domestic economy, while previewing new industrial and space initiatives.

Major Accomplishments:

• 23 free trade agreements in force or under negotiation

• Over ₱6 trillion in investments facilitated via Green Lanes over 3 years (~400,000 jobs)

• ASEAN chairship outcomes: Plus Three Emergency Rice Reserve, Digital Economy Framework, Petroleum Security Agreement

Significant Pledges:

• Finalize a new Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement with the UAE

• Develop the Pax Silica Industrial Hub as an AI-centered manufacturing and logistics center

• Conduct a sounding rocket launch test from Cagayan’s planned spaceport next year

13. Peace, Order & Sovereignty

“Your government will do all that is necessary to continue upholding this Award... against any attempt, foreign or domestic, to undermine this achievement.”

Marking the 10th anniversary of the 2016 Arbitral Award, Marcos reaffirmed the government’s commitment to the ruling while highlighting a milestone peace agreement and upcoming Bangsamoro elections.

Major Accomplishments:

• 10th anniversary of the final and binding 2016 South China Sea Arbitral Award

• Peace pact with the CBA-CPLA formalized, 15 years after signing

Significant Pledges:

• Continue upholding the Arbitral Award through peaceful and legal means

• Ensure a peaceful, orderly, and credible first BARMM regular parliamentary election under RA 12317

Former office spaces on the ACB’s 2.5, 3.5, and 4.5 landings are being converted into six discussion rooms, giving students and faculty dedicated spaces for collaborative learning, small-group discussions, and small classes.

Each room measures approximately 16.5 square meters and accommodates up to eight persons. The rooms are equipped with a TV monitor for presentations and the sharing of digital learning materials, glass writing surfaces for brainstorming and working through ideas, and Wi-Fi connectivity to support online research and other technology-enabled activities.

The rooms currently run on the ACB’s existing centralized air-conditioning system while the University studies a permanent cooling solution. Under consideration are a Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) system and split-type air-conditioning units, with the University weighing efficiency, operational requirements, and long-term needs. Part of the rationale behind a dedicated system is to give the rooms independent cooling, so the centralized ACU no longer needs to operate just to serve these smaller spaces.

The conversion is part of the University’s broader effort to repurpose existing spaces for current academic needs, turning former offices into venues that support dialogue, teamwork, and small-class instruction.

The University Library will manage the six discussion rooms, overseeing their use and ensuring their availability for academic collaboration and learning.

It is hoped that the new discussion rooms are environments where ideas can be exchanged, questions can be explored, and students can learn from one another further strengthening the University’s commitment to a culture of collaboration, professionalism, and lifelong learning.

We woke up one day with a huge rally in EDSA on June 30 organized by the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) in support of one of its prominent members involved in politics, Senator Rodante Marcoleta. Reportedly without securing a permit beforehand from local authorities, that lightning organized protest of around 9,000 religious followers caught the police and traffic enforcers by surprise as thousands of daily EDSA commuters endured long hours of traffic and inconvenience travelling to and from work and school. According to news accounts, when authorities attempted to clear vehicles blocking EDSA-White Plains Avenue, tensions flared leading to confrontation and several arrests (“Thousands join INC rally on EDSA,” Manila Bulletin, 30 June 2026). The day before, Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla said that plunder charges against Sen. Marcoleta may be filed soon over alleged campaign donations during the 2025 elections which he did not disclose in his Statement of Contributions and Expenditures upon his own public admission aired on a TV program. The protest was also attended by several political figures, including Sens. Imee Marcos and Alan Peter Cayetano, who belong to the Senate minority bloc with Sen. Marcoleta. The rally continued the next day and then, moved to Liwasang Bonifacio in Manila on the third day.

Some political analysts interpret this as a show of force for government and politicians to realize the capability of the religious sect’s leaders to mobilize their followers within a short span of time to support a cause they have identified.

Two days earlier, on June 28, another religion-related rally was held in the same EDSA People Power Monument dubbed the White Ribbon March. Securing the required permit days before, Church and civil society groups called for government accountability amid the ongoing probe into flood control corruption scandals and impeachment proceedings against Vice President Sara Duterte. Sticking to these issues, BAYAN President Renato Reyes emphasized that the protest is neither pro-Marcos nor pro-Duterte. The event started with a mass celebration presided over by Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) Inter Religious Leaders’ Council for National Transformation lead convenor and Kidapawan Bishop Jose Colin Bagaforo who called on government officials to stop being self-centered and embody the selflessness of Jesus Christ. “We believe that a better future can only be achieved through better politics, politics that serves the people’s interests, protects human dignity and is guided by justice rather than greed,” he said in a previous statement. Afterwards, personalities from various religious groups and civil society spoke about major political issues afflicting our country, particularly, corruption and the need to fight against it. The Philippine National Police (PNP) said that no untoward incident took place, and the gathering was generally peaceful. Although traffic slowed down a bit near the People Power Monument with barriers set up to manage the flow of vehicles on this no-work Sunday. It helped that motorists were previously advised to plan alternative routes so as not to inconvenience the public.

The contrast between the two religion-inspired rallies is noticeable in terms of organization, cause, and public reception. It is worth noting that the White Ribbon focused on political issues: corruption and accountability, is composed of diverse groups of civil society organizations fighting for change and reform including ideologically opposed groups like the Catholic Church and leftist movements but united by a common cause, and is generally peaceful according to the PNP, well planned with a secured permit on a Sunday.

The deeper question to be asked though is whether religious groups should be involved in politics. Must a religion which ideally should be helping people in their spiritual needs and is concerned about the afterlife support political agenda, confront secular issues such as impeachment and investigations on flood control anomalies, encourage followers to go to the streets to protest against the government, specify whom to vote during elections?

For the Catholic Church, there are documents, for example, the CBCP Pastoral Exhortation on Philippine Politics (1997), which provide clear-cut principles to guide the behavior of Catholics in politics. While Church leaders are discouraged from directly getting involved in purely political matters, the lay persons must realize their obligation to live their faith in public life, and to transform society following the Christian teachings on truth and justice, human dignity, common good, preferential option for the poor, solidarity and subsidiarity, fulfilling all these with personal freedom and responsibility … and creativity.

In this latter sense, yes, religion may get involved in politics by providing guidelines on the moral and spiritual dimensions of politics, and by encouraging the lay persons to make them a reality.

This article originally appeared on 17 July 2026 in Dr. Alviar’s Manila Bulletin column, “Inciting Insights.”

This article was originally a homily delivered by Fr. Cruz at the Junior College Baccalaureate Mass, July 23, 2026.

My dear graduates, standard wisdom tells us that when a great chapter ends, we stop to say thank you. Today, as we celebrate this Mass of Thanksgiving for the graduation of this batch of Junior College students, our hearts are naturally filled with joy and gratitude. In today’s Gospel, we hear Mary proclaim her famous canticle, the Magnificat: “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” The Magnificat is Mary’s great song of praise for everything God has done in her life. Whenever we look at God’s presence in our lives, there is always a reason to give thanks. Today, we thank God for your journey, your learnings, your achievements, and the people who have been your sources of support. Every achievement is a gift, and a gift is the proper object of our gratitude. Graduation marks an important end, but in the eyes of faith, every end in God’s plan is also a new beginning.

We all know how to say “thank you.” But in our daily lives, we can easily take this simple act for granted. Often, we view thanksgiving as a form of closure. We receive a gift, say “thank you,” and close the interaction. The phrase “thank you” can sometimes sound like a polite farewell—a goodbye until next time. If gratitude is only a polite closing remark, we miss its true depth.

Look at what happens in today’s Gospel. What is the context of Mary’s canticle? Out of deep gratitude for what God had done for her, she went out of her way to serve Elizabeth, her cousin. This gives us a profound lesson today: True gratitude is not a closure; it is a beginning.

There are three things we can learn about gratitude. First, gratitude opens our hearts: it turns our attention outward toward others. Second, gratitude generates generosity: when you truly recognize a gift, your natural response is to pass that gift forward. And finally, gratitude inspires joyful service: it transforms our achievements into opportunities to serve.

Dear graduates, this achievement is a gift—not just for you to keep, but for you to share. This graduation is not merely the final page of your Junior College chapter. It is an invitation to do something more for others: for God, by placing your talents in His hands; for your family, by honoring the sacrifices they made to bring you to this day; and for your teachers, mentors, and friends, by living out the values they instilled in you.

Let us ask the Lord to foster in each of us a truly grateful heart—a heart that does not simply say “thank you,” but a heart that loves more, gives more, and serves joyfully.

Congratulations to all of you, and may God bless you on this exciting new journey!

To the President of UA&P, the members of the Board of Trustees, the faculty, staff, parents, distinguished guests, and most importantly, the graduates—congratulations.

Today is a day of achievement. A day of celebration. A day that marks the end of one chapter and the beginning of another. And as you stand at this crossroads, many people will ask you familiar questions: “What university do you plan to attend?” “What course will you take?” “What career do you want to pursue?” These are good questions. But I would argue they are not the most important ones. The more important question is this: What kind of person do you want to become?

Because the next four or five years will not just shape your career. They will shape your character. And character, perhaps more than ever before, matters. Let me explain why.

We often hear about the importance of competence. Competence is the ability to consistently perform a task or role effectively. It is the combination of knowledge, skills, and behaviors that allow us to achieve results. Character, on the other hand, is something different. Character is the moral strength to choose what is right, even when it is difficult. Both are important. Because character without competence is a waste of good men. Competence without character can create dangerous men. But character with competence can change the world.

Today, as artificial intelligence rapidly transforms our society, this distinction becomes even more important. McKinsey estimates that more than half of today’s tasks will be impacted by AI. In the past, competence was often defined by what you knew or what you could do. Today, information is increasingly available to everyone. Tomorrow, AI may be able to perform many of the tasks we once considered uniquely human.

So competence is becoming less about what you know and more about how you use what you know and what you choose to use it for. And that is where character comes in. So today, I’d like to share three ideas that may help guide you as you enter this next chapter of your life.

First: invest in your identity, not your image. We live in a world that is increasingly obsessed with image. Social media encourages us to carefully curate how we appear to others. Likes, views, and followers can sometimes become measures of self-worth. But image is not identity. Image is how people see you. Identity is who you really are. So how do you build identity? By doing new things. And by doing hard things.

Doing new things helps you discover what genuinely interests you. It exposes you to possibilities you never knew existed. Doing hard things helps you discover something even more important—whether you are merely interested in something or truly committed to it. I’ve learned that when you do interesting things, you meet interesting people. And when you meet interesting people, interesting opportunities often follow. But it is through hard things that you discover your true potential. The process of stretching beyond your comfort zone is one of life’s greatest adventures. Because that is where you create what I call core memories. Core memories are pivotal experiences that shape your character, your worldview, and your values. These are the moments that leave a permanent mark on who you become.

I remember in 2009 I was 19 years old, a student of UA&P – when one of the most devastating typhoons that ever hit the Philippines Typhoon Ondoy or Tropical Storm Ketsana struck. This typhoon has caused approximately P11B in economic damages, affecting a million families, injuring more than 500, and claiming the lives of over 400 people.

As a member of the student council then, I co-led with the university center of student affairs the collection and distribution of donations and relief goods across metro manila, Marikina, and Rizal. I remember volunteering at the Philippine Red Cross, riding a 6x6 army truck to flood stricken areas to distribute goods and give trauma counseling to children and families affected by the flood.

UA&P then became a hub for the city of pasig for donations, students, alumni and neighbors all used the school facilities as a distribution center. They were not necessarily comfortable experiences, but they were transformative experiences.

It was in this experience where I saw how the UA&P community often wrongly perceived as out of touch was actually passionate and united in serving others in this time of crisis. It was this experience that inspired me to found the outreach, advocacy, and leadership student organization Catalyst of UA&P, now on its 17th year with over thousands of members and beneficiaries.

As I founded this organization, I vividly remember my mentor telling me during an outreach activity. He said: “When people participate in outreach activities, there are actually two beneficiaries. One is the person receiving the gift who benefits from the material use of the gift. The other is the person giving, who gains a deeper understanding of life and its realities.” I’ve never forgotten that lesson.

It was in this moment that it was made clear to me: the moments that change us are not the moments when we receive something. They are the moments when we give. So whenever life presents you with an opportunity to create a core memory—to serve, to lead, to sacrifice, to build, to take a risk—step up. Those moments will shape your identity. And if you focus on building your identity, your image will take care of itself.

Second: broaden your perspectives, but deepen your ideals. As you grow older, your world will become bigger. You will meet people from different backgrounds. You will encounter different ideas. You will experience success and failure. And through it all, I encourage you to broaden your perspective, but deepen your ideals.

To broaden your perspective means learning from others. Listen to their stories. Understand their struggles. Appreciate experiences different from your own. The wider your perspective becomes, the more wisdom you gain. To deepen your ideals, means identifying the values you hold most dear. What principles will guide your decisions? What ideals are worth standing for? What kind of leader do you want to become?

Lee Kuan Yew recognized as the father of modern Singapore once said: “You start off with idealism, you should end up in maturity with a great deal of sophistication giving a gloss to that idealism. But what usually happens is a great deal of erosion by the soft and baneful influences of power, leaving nothing of the idealism behind and only the professionalism of political leadership without idealism’s leavening values” (Lee Kuan Yew, Speech at a conference on youth and leadership 1967)

I believe there is great wisdom in that statement. As you grow in experience and influence, do not abandon your ideals. Refine them. Strengthen them. Ground them in reality. But never lose them. The world does not simply need smarter people. It needs people who are smart enough to remain true to their values. To the graduating class—now is the perfect time to invest in your idealism. Idealism is needed to have a leavening effect on the world.

Finally: create quality relationships. Your achievements will matter. Your skills will matter. But the people you journey through life with will matter even more. There is a saying: “The people who sit beside you in class today may become the people who stand beside you for life.”

Some of the friendships you build during these years may become lifelong friendships. Some may become future business partners. Some may become mentors. And some may become the people who help you through life’s most difficult moments. Never underestimate the importance of genuine relationships. Invest in people. Be a good friend. Be someone others can trust. Because at the end of the day, success is far more meaningful when shared with others.

Graduates, today you celebrate an important milestone. But this is not your destination. It is only the beginning of the next chapter. The next few years will open new doors. Some opportunities will excite you. Some challenges will test you. Some failures will humble you. And some experiences will transform you. Embrace all of them. Build your identity. Protect your ideals. Cherish your relationships.

And remember: your degree may open doors. But your character will determine what happens when you walk through them. To the parents, congratulations and thank you for your sacrifices and unwavering support. To the faculty and administration, thank you for shaping these young minds.

And to the graduates—congratulations! We are counting on you. We are rooting for you. Take life one day at a time. Continue building both your competence and your character. Because when competence and character come together, extraordinary things become possible.

Thank you, and God bless you all.

Our biggest challenge is that we skip pain, skip patience, and skip reality.

Good morning to our beloved administrators: Atty. Philip Yeung, president of UA&P, Miss Ele, our program director, Miss Chinky, our deputy program director, and Miss Au, our former program director. To our teachers. To our mentors. To our parents, families, honored guests, and most importantly, my fellow graduates.

I want to talk about the three things our generation has learned to skip without even thinking: pain, patience, and our own unfiltered lives.

Our biggest challenge was never life’s difficult moments. It is that we never learned how to stop skipping it. Dearest Batchmates, starting today, let’s fight the easy.

These are our problems. First, we always skip the pain, suffering, and the hardships. Our generation grew up with a “retry” button. In games, failure isn’t final, you can just respawn. But you can’t in real life. It doesn’t pause when it hurts. And because we’re so used to erasing failure, many of us quit the moment something actually costs us something.

I had personal experience with this with Sir Garry. Before having him as a professor, I passed all other subjects with flying colors. However, my first few quizzes proved my own doubtfulness right. It was the worst grade I have ever gotten in my life. I was very close to giving up then and just try to barely pass. However I learned to change my perspective on that class. Rather than seeing it as a subject I just had to pass, I saw it as a subject I genuinely wanted to learn.

Change your perspective on pain and suffering. Switching how you see it does not change the difficulty but it changes the way the difficulty means to you. The same professor who once seemed like an obstacle became one of the people I’m most grateful for.

Famous Athlete and Writer, David Goggins said “Don’t stop when you’re tired, stop when you’re done.” Dearest graduates, I need you to hear this clearly: pain is not proof that you are failing. It is proof that you are exactly where growth happens.

Second, we skip the process. We skip intros. We skip ads. We want the result to come without it taking much time. But nothing that matters was built on 2x speed. The things that actually change your life can never be fast forwarded.

We rush through high school to get to college. We rush through college to get to a career. We are so focused on reaching the next milestone that we forget to appreciate the journey shaping us while we’re still in it. This is where character gets quietly built. Not on a stage, not with an award in hand, but in the hours nobody sees. Patience when success doesn’t come quickly. Humility when we fail. Integrity when no one’s watching. Compassion because we know what it feels like to struggle. Perseverance because the things worth having rarely come easily.

Excellence isn’t just a gift we get on graduation day; it’s something we earn over time. Competence doesn’t magically appear the moment we receive our diploma. It’s shaped through countless hours spent in classrooms, late nights studying, and learning from our mistakes. All those everyday moments that go unnoticed. While graduating may validate our skills, it’s the journey we take to get there that truly defines who we are and what we’ve accomplished.

When Filipino tennis star Alex Eala fought back from a set down at the Miami Open, a reporter asked how. She said patience was key. Waiting for the right moments. Not rushing. Waiting. Dearest graduates, I urge you: let your character build slowly, silently, and humbly in the hours nobody claps for, because that’s where it’s actually being built.

Third, we skip reality. We do not just skip boring videos. We skip OUR own boring, in-progress, unfiltered lives. We replace them with watching everyone else’s very much filtered lives. We compare our behind the scenes to other people’s edited lives. Model, Winnie Harlow said it best: “social media is not real life. It’s a highlight reel. And we’ve been grading our whole lives against someone else’s edited version.”

And here is the sad thing: we are in a generation that compares ourselves to everyone, everywhere, all the time. Not just a girl in your class. Not just your neighbor. Everyone. Every stranger’s ‘perfect’ relationship, ‘perfect’ grades, ‘perfect’ life. Imagine this happens all before breakfast, all before we’ve even had the chance to live our own day.

Here is the hard truth. Other people’s feed will never show you the photo they deleted. The argument they had before the ‘happy anniversary’ post, or the unimaginable late nights a person had to become top of their class. Nobody ever wants to post the practice. Nobody wants to post their failures. They post the filtered, edited, and mostly fake stories.

A few months ago, actor Gabriel Basso shared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon that he came across a photo of the summit of Mount Everest while “doom scrolling” and immediately deleted Instagram. He shared that he didn’t deserve to see that view without any effort. Dearest graduates, the same is true for us. Go conquer the world on your own timeline, in your own story, and stop scrolling through someone else’s highlight reel while your own life waits.

So as we walk out of this hall today, we take away more than just certificates and medals. We take away all the lessons, failures, successes, friends, people who believed in us when we didn’t believe in ourselves. Soon enough, this ceremony too shall conclude. Tomorrow, a new level starts. New assignments, new lecturers, new responsibilities, and new worries will follow.

I pray you take in consideration the challenges I have given. The next time your body moves before your mind does, please remember that the next time you want to quit, or rush, or scroll and compare, I need you to pause. Not skip. And choose the harder, slower, and more real thing. Because normal skips. Normal quits. Normal rushes. Normal compares. And we were never meant to be normal. Fight the pain. Fight the rush. Fight the comparison. Fight the easy.

Congratulations Junior College Batch of 2026!

“Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once shared these words with us.

To our Guest of Honor, Mr. Jolo Valdez, our University Chaplain, Fr. Alfred Cruz, Atty. Philip Yeung, University President and Members of the Management Committee: Dr. Gladys Golo, Mrs. Aurea Cruz, and Ms. Viory Janeo, the University Registrar, Mr. Rey Vincenzo Cruz, College Deans: Dr. Philip Peckson, Dr. Peter U, Dr. Annie Mendoza, and Dr. Noemi Torre, College of Arts and Sciences Vice Dean: Mr. Moreal Camba, School of Management Vice Dean: Dr. Ruel Maningas, Junior College Program Director and Deputy: Ms. Elerosa Caparas and Ms. Maria Cristina Uy, Program Directors, invaluable faculty, beloved parents, esteemed guests, friends, and most especially, my fellow students, our JC finishers:

Dr. King refuses to give us a middle ground, a passive position; if you aren’t actively giving, you are sliding into the dark. Because the truth is, you cannot live a fulfilling life without dedicating it in service to others. As we celebrate our accomplishments today, let us recognize their purpose: to elevate ourselves to our highest calling—the betterment of other people’s lives.

Today, I would like to share three simple truths with you all about love, service, and leadership:

First: Love is how you live a fulfilling life. Saint Josemaria Escriva says: “You need a heart which is in love, not an easy life, to achieve happiness.” There are many things we can choose to pursue and wallow in in our lives—wealth, fame, and power. My question is: are these pleasures enough to fill an empty heart? When I ask you today to reminisce on the past two years you’ve spent at this university, what comes to mind? Probably stressful test papers, intense review sessions, and running around to get group work done. I think I speak for all of us, though, when I say the memories that shine the brightest are the ones you’ve made with the people you care about—people who have stood by you and supported you at your lowest. In those memories, we glimpse a simple truth: the impact of love on our lives is greater than anything else we carry with us. It is through love that we fulfil the highest purpose God has given us, and it is through love that we feel fulfilled.

The first truth is that love is how you live a fulfilling life; the second truth is: Love is found in the service of others. When you serve others, you love. Pope Francis tells us: “Love is not words, it is work and service.” The greatest embodiment of this is Christ: Jesus died on the cross, but saved the world—that was His ultimate act of service, and thus His ultimate act of love. It is through service for others that we find deeper meaning in the lives we lead and the work we do. I realized this when I began at UA&P, when I recall the first time I felt truly happy was in my review sessions with my first friend group and study group; I felt an incomparable warmth in my heart when I found I could help others with the little whiteboard review sessions I hosted. Describing this feeling, my mother told me as a child: “In one way or another, every person in this world is suffering. There is no greater thing we can do in our lives than to help lighten that burden. That is what it means to love, and why we have to do our best.” That feeling I felt is the essence of love: the betterment of others’ lives, and the fulfillment that comes with it.

If the first truth is that love is how you live a fulfilling life, and the second is that love is found in service of others, the third truth is: excellence is goodness. The ultimate lesson my mother taught me in love, it is a simple idea: the better you become as a person, and the larger your reach, the more people you can help. In my small review sessions, I felt inspired to do my best for others from the warmth I felt, and so I did. My review sessions grew larger and larger, and soon enough, they became class review sessions with 26YP5 at ACB 508. Later on, they became batch review sessions. For all of you who were there with me, one last time: clap twice if you’re with me? As my reach increased, so did the lives I was able to touch. This is why we are called to leadership as the promising young trailblazers we are: the more people we can reach, the more we can serve. The better we serve, the better we love.

To my family, my mom Dianne and Tita Cai, my irreplaceable friends, my amazing orgmates, wise mentors, brilliant teachers, everyone who has helped me get here, and, most importantly, God: thank you. You have all taught me something important: it’s that love lifts us to greater heights, and those greater heights let us love more. What I want to leave you with today is this: as we celebrate today, talk to those you love, thank them for doing their best, and ask how you’ve changed them in whatever small acts of service you’ve dedicated to them—cherish their words and let them carry you to greater heights. I hope it gives you the strength to refuse the darkness of selfishness and strive for more—because with you, you will be carrying the people you love. Excellere et servire, Batch 2026—may you lead with competence and serve with character.