Siempre vivo (Always alive)

(Commencement speech, UP Mindanao, 2014)

Biologists say that our bodies are made of cells.

I am in the vast field of communication arts: I infer that our bodies are made up of stories.           

What stories are you made of? Are you made up of cheerful stories: a close-knit family, a supportive and enabling environment or a loving and caring home? Are you made up of stories of sadness: a broken family, bouts with poverty, endless financial obligations or moments of rejection? Or could it be a combination of different stories: a hodgepodge of moments and memories?

Whatever you’re made of, whatever stories you have, you are here this morning — it’s all that matters now. Congratulations, Iskolar ng Bayan.

In special occasions such as this, we have the inclination to be nostalgic. Do you still remember the day you took the UPCAT? Or the day you first step foot in the UP Mindanao campus? When you indulge in nostalgia, who immediately comes to mind? In the flashbacks inside your minds, who are the faces that appear? Are they here with you? What are the images? What are the sentiments? What are the memories?

When you look back, do you remember the sacrifice? Or could it be the lack of sacrifice? Do you have regrets? Do you have failures?  Did you achieve what you set out to achieve for yourself during the first day you stepped foot in this campus? And did you fail? Or did you exceed yourself?

These are important questions but honestly, they do not hold weight now. After all, the past is now gone. The pressing question at the present is: are you wearing the sablay? I want you to touch the fabric of your sablay. That is the texture of success. 

The most significant question is this: What’s next after UP Mindanao?

During commencement ceremonies, speakers would often say “nothing is impossible.” “You can be anything you set your mind to.” “Greatness is within reach.”

I tell you this: Some dreams that we have chosen for ourselves are impossible. Greatness is not easily within reach. Reality can be quite an expert in crushing the spirit. Jobs are scarce. Your first job could be a far cry from what you had silently hoped in your heart to be. Reality can crush dreams. There will be forces that will impede you from achieving your definition of success. These forces come in many forms. But as Nietszche said, “what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.”

But why do we dream? Our dreams empower us. They embolden and fortify us. Dreams inject meaning and magic into our lives. Dreams strengthen the bond that we have with our family. Dreams makes us brave even when we are laden with fear and hopelessness.

However, as UP graduates, for whom do we dream? Who are in our dreams? The brain is the vessel in which we ferry our dreams. To whom are we offering our brains to?

When asked about the meaning of the Oblation, artist Guillermo Tolentino, stated that the “figure of a young man with outstretched arms and open hands, with tilted head, closed eyes and parted lips murmuring a prayer, with breast forward in the act of offering himself” is his interpretation of a stanza from Rizal’s Mi Ultimo Adios.  

Currently, some UP graduates have become embroiled in controversies. Reviewing contemporary history, we learn that there are countless UP graduates who apparently seem to be at the wrong side of history. Some of them must have experienced being fresh graduates — wide-eyed, idealistic and fiery, wanting to change the world. What happened along the way? Did the realities dilute their passions? In order to survive, did they choose to preserve themselves and their small dreams within the comforts and convenience of their mandate? Or like some other UP graduates, have they become jaded and disillusioned? Did they come to the realization that this idealism, this belief that we can serve the people is a lost cause? I do not hold the answers.

At 31, barely middle-class with failed dreams, I still hold the same idealism when I was your age. But I do not deny that there are nights of questioning, of self-introspection — the dark night of the soul. But I wake up the next day and see the raw reality that my community doesn’t need my words or my reflection —  the community needs me to act.

As mentioned, the Oblation is Tolentino’s interpretation of a stanza from Mi Ultimo Adios: “It symbolizes all the unknown heroes who fell during the night.” Unknown heroes. The inspiration behind the Oblation are the unknown heroes. The ones who are nameless and faceless, not given due recognition in history books and public markers. In the same strength, we can draw courage and inspiration from UP graduates who continue to serve the communities in their own unpublicized and sincere ways.

The leaf planted at the foot of the statue is a katakataka plant. Katakataka is called siempre vivo (always alive) in Spanish. According to Tolentino, when any part of the katakataka, either the leaves or a piece of it is thrown, it grows a new plant. Therefore it symbolizes the “deep-rooted patriotism in the heart of our heroes, such patriotism will continue forever and grows anywhere in the Philippines.” When I reiterate the inference that we ought to serve the people: I am not making the argument that we all become development workers or non-profit professionals. Or that we all dedicate our lives to government or public service.

Once we define a singular mode for idealism, we become imposing. Service comes in many forms. When a UP graduate decides to become a stay-at-home mother, does she stop serving the people? Not at all. When an alumnus dedicates his career to a profit industry, is he causing a disservice? No. When a classmate fulfils an entrepreneurial dream, does this become a mockery to the Oblation? No. When service to the people is not as blatant and crystal clear as idealized, are we stripping off ourselves of being Iskolar ng Bayan? No, this university is not an automaton: a mass-produced factory.

At the core of academic freedom is the belief that we are unique, distinct from each other, and hence, each one will play a role that is unique to us. For we are like the katakataka — when we are thrown anywhere, we will sprout. Embedded deep inside of us through a UP education is a deep-rooted servant heart which flourishes everywhere, whatever engagement, career path or field of professional work.

When I say everywhere, I mean everywhere — within the small room of UP graduates who are online professionals; within the halls of the academe, hospitals, courtrooms, governments, banks, private establishments and churches; at the mountains, the seas, islands and plains; hospital beds for UP graduates who are battling their physical ailments; houses and homes where a parent with a UP diploma chose to serve his or her family first; the walls of another university for students taking higher studies; in locations with different zipcodes serving different nationalities; or within the UP Mindanao campus.

UP graduates are katakataka. We can be thrown anywhere. We will survive and we always live.

But for whom do we live?

Amid different career paths, there must be some threads of similarities:

Service to the people means not stepping on other people just to achieve our dreams. We fight for our dreams. It is not synonymous with stepping on people’s hearts.

Service to the people is about power — not amassing power but another kind of power, that is, empowerment which means sharing power.

Service to the people means acknowledging that the fight for human rights and equality is constant and everywhere. That we should always reflect which side are we on: are we with the oppressor or are we with the oppressed?

Service to the people means basic values of respect, word of honor, determination and hard work. It means playing fair.

To strive for personal gain is not evil. But as UP Mindanao graduates, we must have a vision beyond our limited selves. Here lies service.

When we strive to imbibe serving the people in our daily living, does it mean that we will have lives filled with constant peace, happiness and success? The Oblation’s nakedness symbolizes selfless offering of oneself to the country.

If the inspiration behind the Oblation is a stanza from Mi Ultimo Adios (“In fields of battle, deliriously fighting, others give you their lives, without doubt, without regret…”), shouldn’t the Oblation be an iron-clad sculpture in defense and offense for warfare?

The Oblation is naked, stripped off of selfishness, shamelessly outstretching arms showing the world one’s skills and gifts including lessons from hurts and pains, a distinct symbol of offering oneself to the people.

In the same vein, this selflessness and nakedness opens us from attacks. This does not immune us from rejection, disillusionment and pain. When you’re out in the real world, remember that there is rarely a yardstick of service to the people. There is no Oblation to remind you of who you are and who you can be.

What you will see and experience are messages and voices saying otherwise. It would be difficult to ignore these voices. Drown these voices with all your strength. Thus, we must draw strength from each other. We do not fight each other. This is not the battlefield. The battlefield is the real world.

Here, inside this campus, must the epitome of unity in diversity, respect for each other’s gifts and genuine sincerity to empower another thrive — to prepare us for the outside world.

More importantly, we draw strength from the people, most especially the vulnerable sectors.

When we experience certain moments of convenience and comfort, may we never forget that this is still a country of vulnerable sectors. We have limited resources, so to speak. Hence, social services prioritize vulnerable sectors.

When one is vulnerable, one is susceptible to physical or emotional attack or harm. Vulnerable sectors deserve the government’s attention through fiscal support, policies, services and enabling mechanisms.

Anyone among you who come from vulnerable sectors? Why does the government allocate a certain budget for your education? Your education entails P151,000 per year. Tuition ranges from P0.00 to a maximum of P16,000 for 18 units in a semester. Thus, the maximum tuition is about P32,000 per year. The subsidy is around P120,000 a year for those paying full tuition.

What makes you so special? They say, education is a great equalizer, I say, a UP education is the one of the greatest equalizers. Rich, middle-class or poor, you can avail of UP education as long as you pass the UPCAT. Why is the government, with all its frailties, investing in you? The government invested in you because you have the energy, the intellect, the bundles of talents and skills and the ideals and passions which can contribute to positive change. And what makes you more special is that you are not only a UP graduate. You are a UP Mindanao graduate.

Mindanao has unique characteristics, distinct needs and peculiar challenges compared to Luzon and Visayas. You are a Iskolar ng Bayan in Mindanao.

I sincerely hope that all of us, UP graduates, are worth the financial investment. That we are worth the tax cuts not only from the wealthy in our society but the minimum wage employees who can barely make both ends meet.

Like many UP graduates, I still find myself in mazes and crossroads. When in that space, I remind myself of Mohanda Ghandi’s crucible test. A crucible is a vessel which can withstand very high temperatures.

Ghandi said, “I will give you a talisman. Whenever you are in doubt or when the self becomes too much with you, apply the following test: Recall the face of the poorest and weakest man you have seen and ask yourself if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him. Will he gain anything by it? Will it restore him to a control over his own life and destiny? Then you will find your doubts and your self melting away.”

UP Mindanao Class of 2014: Serve the people.

Wherever you will be, be all there.

And serve the people.

Serve because you are expected to serve. Serve because it is embedded in you.

Serve because it is the only way to truly live.

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Dyan Aimee Mabunga-Rodriguez is the policy analyst in ACF (Action Contre la Faim or Action Against Hunger) International Davao Base. She represented Asia in the Leadership Board of the World Youth Movement for Democracy (WYMD) from 2010 to 2013 and represented the global network in Ukraine, Peru, Lithuania and Kosovo. She graduated with a BA Communication Arts degree from the University of the Philippines Mindanao in 2003. At that time, the president of the Philippines gave a Leadership Award to one student leader from the entire UP System, and she was conferred the Presidential Leadership Award. She can be reached at [email protected].