Rector-President, Rev. Fr. Gerardo Ma. De Villa, OSB, our Guest of Honor the Honorable Rene Andrei Q. Saguisag, the son of the renowned Senator Rene Augusto V. Saguisag; and his family. To the Dean’s Office: Headed by our Dean. Dr. Ulpiano P. Sarmiento III, Vice Dean Carlo Busmente, Prefect Eliza Camille Yamamoto – Santos, Admin Officer Atty Roben Cadugo Jr., and to the school Registrar, Dr. Rica D. Ancheta, Vice-President for Academic Affairs Dean Andres Ignacio C. San Mateo Jr., Representative from the San Beda College Alabang Alumni Association, Atty. John R. Jacome, our Commencement Speaker, Atty. Roderick R.C. Salazar III, distinguished faculty members, staff, parents, loved ones, guests, and fellow graduates. Good afternoon.
I am no stranger to the podium, for three years I’ve been reminding everyone to please settle down and remember that the bathrooms are down the hallway to the right. However, when Dean Ulan messaged me about delivering this valedictory address, I had to re-read the message multiple times over. Never in my wildest dreams have I ever dreamt of having the honor of delivering this speech.
Yet, here I am – and here we are.
Four years ago, I had the opportunity to be a scholar here for a full year – under the condition that I enroll within three years from graduating from college. And so I did, and I left my job – in the year 2020 at the height of the pandemic. Surely, nothing can go wrong, right? Yeah. See, the world was plunged into a time of uncertainty and fear.
I entered law school – a place wherein support systems mattered – in seclusion. For months, there was no reprieve from the seemingly endless hours of book-screen-book-screen social isolation. My blockmates didn’t even talk to each other, and our prof had to make us form small study buddy groups so that we’d be forced to socialize. Imagine how sad it must be for your professor to be the one to tell you to go make friends. I think it took me several months before I actually befriended my now best friends, Lorraine and Pat, and eventually, I made connections. Since then, things started getting a little brighter.
Gradually, I had come to know our Alma Mater – the Happiest Law School in the Universe. Of course at the heart and core of it, we have our beloved and most benevolent Dean Ulan whom we call our Papa Dean – I still remember being culture-shocked at his whimsy and sense of humor to the je ne sais quoi of his grand speeches; but through and through – We are the happiest law school because of his unwavering dedication and passionate advocacy for legal education, and welcoming all of us, as we are – whoever we may be – as his Bedan children worthy of legal education.
Second, my heart is filled with gratitude to have been under the tutelage of our brilliant faculty members. The study of law in itself is a privilege – but to pursue such study under our professors is a step further. We are the Happiest Law School also because we are assured of quality education.
Third, it is because of all of you, my fellow batchmates, and the communities we have formed and the connections we have made. From formally recognized organizations to the richness of extracurricular opportunities that allowed students to be more than “just students.” We are a community that celebrates each other – well both literally in a sense that we use every excuse to hold a party (shoutout to all the beadles), and figuratively.
I initially didn’t want to join any organization to focus on acads. However, I became a Bar Angel after I was “nabudol ni” Ms. Kate. Little did I know it was a gateway to being sentenced to a law school lifetime of community service here at San Beda. Our inside joke is that I earned my Double Degree Major in Events Planning in CBO, Specializing in Master of Ceremonies. I was a Deputy Chairperson for Communications at CBO and then a Deputy for EDP.
I’ve stayed up late after classes and after studying for the meetings, the extensive planning to the finest purposeful details, and finally execution of countless events, the on-the spot script changes, as well as in making bar materials and publications with Hanz, Franz, and Jus – the blood, sweat and tears paying off when you see its impact on the bar takers, their families, the gratitude of the less fortunate bar takers around the country, and just being with a community that continuously gives back.
There was also the sense of fulfillment in hosting and organizing events outside of bar ops – from the Freshman and Transferee Orientations to the CCDS programs and even the Recognition and Granting of Honoris Causa – it has always been an honor to serve this community which allowed me to explore myself in various spaces – legal writing with BLR and creative writing and poetry with TRC, and the opportunity to engage with social issues in HRC. We are the Happiest Law School because of our ability to be our best selves in it.
While we are a community, we are still very much individual students. In the deliberations, we stood on our own merit: by our own acts, our own academic achievements, and that is where ORA et LABORA really sets in:
ORA or PRAYER: Never underestimate the power of prayer. For every exam and recitation, I prayed to St. Joseph of Cupertino. Before each class, Hannah and I would stay in the chapel and as we call it, “beg God for Divine Mercy during our recitations,” and during finals up to the day of deliberations, Marae, Mmy and I tried to call on all the saints, prayed the Novenas of St Thomas Aquinas and St. Jude Thaddeus. The fact that I stand before you is an answered prayer – the one of many, and one that went beyond what I ever hoped for.
LABORA or WORK: Law school made me summon efforts I never knew I had in me. I remember after each finals I’d always get sick after weeks of overworking; and one time getting sent to the ER; which is funny to me in retrospect. Everyone has their own law school story – of gain and of overwhelming loss, and silent battles. I recall the suicide of my close friends; a loss which never really leaves you, breaking me down even during classes. Maybe there’s even someone you did this for, one who can no longer stand beside us today. But then It’s the cracks that let the light shine through, and through it, I am filled with gratitude, and the Realization that I am never truly alone.
First of all, I thank God for always being there especially at my darkest hours. I absolutely could not have done this without you. To my parents – I love you, mum and dad. I can never really thank you enough for all your sacrifices and love for me. See, I told you I wasn’t sleeping all day. To all of my friends both in and out of law school who believed in me and stayed with me throughout all the panic; the ones who prayed for me or with me; my latundaners, and the little nod and “good luck” as we pass by each other – thank you. To the administration, faculty and staff – for giving us a home within San Beda, thank you.
I could not be more grateful and proud to be a Bedan. We are lions – Bedan Lions – and when lions gather, it is called a Pride. And when Bedan Lions come together – it is an unceasing fellowship of bold and undaunted persons of prayer, work, and peace whose convictions cannot be wavered by trials and tribulations.
We have all come this far having tasted loss and defeat along the way. Do not hold it in shame. Shame is a crutch those who cannot stand on their own convictions. There is no shame for having made it. Whether it was by an extended term, an LOA, a failing mark or any other reason in between. We made it.
My professor who saw me at my lowest, told me to stay hungry, and that’s what we should all be. Not because we gained weight in law school, but because the pursuit of law is endless, and we must never fall victim to stagnation.
There’s still more mountains to conquer but enjoy this moment, this view we share under the same sky.
Even with our professors having years of practice, judges, justices, even. We are all under this same sky though at different mountains. This is a moment of peace, gratitude, and of God’s grace. And, though our convictions are different, may they be a constellation under the same sky which maps us towards the pursuit of truth, justice, and love.
To my fellow graduates, take heart. Take pride. And with conviction, PLEASE repeat after me, “I am a Bedan Graduate – of the Happiest Law School in the Universe.”
It is with the greatest pride and honor that I congratulate you all once again as my Fellow Bedan Graduates.
That in all things, God may be glorified.
Thank you.