The greatest good to the nation and her citizens

Speech during the Investiture of Dr. Marcelo T. Lopez, 3rd President of CNU

Biologically, I have fathered only one child, a son who is now grown and fathered his own children. But whatever shortfall I may have had biologically, God, in his wisdom and his grace, provided me amply in my other endeavors.

Since we are gathered here for a very happy occasion, the investiture of our third University president, please grant me your indulgence if I cast a little modesty aside and claim my little share of the glory that is here.

Sige na, mapagyabang lang nang kunti, kahit isang saglit lang.

Pahambuga sab ko ug gamay bisag kadiyot lang, kung sa pinulongang binisaya pa.

Bitaw, back to the fathering, since that means a lot of things other than just siring a child. Fathering also means creating, or starting something. It means proceeding from one point to another. In other words, progressing or developing.

Aside from the biological aspect, I have been credited for fathering a good number of things. I have started a lot of things and have seen many of them through to their intended purpose, and seen them flower and shower people with their benefits.

But I am not a God or a superman. I have also seen failures, which have given me some disappointment, which is but natural. What would have been unnatural if I have left those disappointments as they are. But I have tried hard to learn from them. And it gives me great satisfaction to learn from my mistakes and, having so learned, to be able to correct them., to redirect them back to where they were headed in the first place.

However, many of the things I started have been particularly blessed by God with his grace and have flown largely on first try without suffering major hitches.

These successful endeavors give me tremendous pride and pleasure.

And again, modesty aside, I can enumerate a good number of them. But that will not jibe with the purpose of why we are gathered here today. So I will just mention the only one that has something to do with this great institution.

I would like to state with great honor that I fathered the law that converted then Cebu State College to what is now the Cebu Normal University with appropriations for its funding.

In Cebuano, it is like nanganak na, may baon pa gyud.

Anyway, as a Cebuano legislator and teacher, as well as an ordinary Cebuano native, whatever I have contributed to make the Cebu Normal University what it is today will always remain one of my greatest legacies, both to education and to the community.

The Cebu Normal University is not only for Cebuanos. Many of those who come here to study are from other areas in the Visayas. Some even come from as far as Mindanao. And I would not be surprised if there are even a few who may come from Luzon.

As you can see, good education, and striving for excellence for which the Cebu Normal University stands for, always attracts students from far and wide who are focused in their studies and are determined to face life with good preparation.

Of particular interest to me is the strength of this school in an area where the country itself is weak. The Cebu Normal University is one of the best producers of the best teachers in the country. It is the premier teacher education University in the south. (A subject fits for a bill!)

I do not wish to set aside the importance of other programs which are just as essential to our national wellbeing but I would like to focus on education, on teachers training because that is one aspect of our national life where we are weakest at the moment.

We do not have enough good teachers to chart the direction and prepare our young, which at latest count now number more than half of our population. Our future citizens and future leaders need good teachers. It is in school where a great deal of what we become in the future is molded.

By becoming a state University, the Cebu Normal University was thrust into a position where it can do the greatest good to the nation and her citizens.

The Cebu Normal University has not failed my expectations. And I thank everyone who has made the realization of such expectations possible — the school administrators, the teachers, and most of all the students, one of whom is my own mother Inday Pining.

Thank you and congratulations to us all. God Bless.