Speech of Secretary Cerge M. Remonde - University of Perpetual Help - Molino Campus Commencement Exercises

Reception Hall, PICC, Roxas Boulevard, Pasay City

01 April 2008, 3:00 PM
Dr. Antonio l. Tamayo, Chairman of the Board, president and CEO, UPHS, Jonelta and Dalta, and founder of UPHS-Dalta;

Dr. Daisy M. Tamayo, Chairman of Presidential Execution Board and co-founder, UPHS-Dalta;

Mr. Anthony Jose M. Tamayo, Chairman, Presidential Management Staff (my counterpart), Dalta Group of Companies;

Mr. Richard Antonio Tamayo, Executive Vice President, Dalta Group of Companies;

Dr. Ramon C. Cercado, Chancellor;

Dr. Gloria M. Alberto, School Director;

Ms. Erlinda Arguelles, High School Principal.

Graduates, parents, families, guests and friends.

I am truly honored to be invited here today as commencement speaker for your 12th commencement exercises.

From Cebu last March 24, where I addressed an almost equal number of graduates at my high school alma mater, the Cebu State College of Science and Technology, it surely is a long way here to PICC, and to your University of Perpetual Help System, Dalta as well as Jonelta.

Coming from a family of educators myself, I am awed and flattered at this rare privilege to speak before the presidents of the UPHS Dalta and Jonelta system, Dr. Antonio l. Tamayo and Dr. Daisy Moran Tamayo, who represent the second and succeeding generations of the Tamayo family, on whose ideals and principles, vision and philosophy, your great university system is founded.

Drs. Antonio and Daisy Tamayo, I understand, represent the best in professional and management training from the University of the Philippines, Ateneo de Manila, the George Washington University in Washington, DC, and the Southeast Asian Interdisciplinary Institute, that is why the UPHS Dalta and Jonelta systems have been consistently turning out outstanding graduates from its various course offerings.

As member of the Cabinet and as oversight official of some of the government’s major programs and projects -- like infrastructure and micro, small and medium enterprise development -- I am glad that training and molding the character of our youth is in the hands of dedicated educators like Drs. Antonio and Daisy Tamayo, and the rest of the family of the late UPHS patriarch and matriarch, Dr. Jose G. Tamayo and Dr. Josefina Laperal Tamayo.

UPHS Class of 2008, you are indeed privileged and favored to have this great family as your mentors.

“Education,” according to Nobel Laureate and former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, “is a human right with immense power to transform.”

“On its foundation,” he adds, “rest the cornerstones of freedom, democracy and sustainable human development.”

Education, in fact, is the fastest and best means of broadening our minds and improving our lives. Every Filipino parent wants a sound education for his child – and that is why your parents willingly make sacrifices to put you through the better schools.

This year, the government, for its part, is expanding access to elementary, high school and the college or technical-vocational school with 10,000 new classrooms, 10,000 newly hired teachers, and over 50 million new textbooks and other instructional materials for millions of elementary and high school students.

High school scholarships and grants in aid now number over 62,000, college scholarships have likewise been increased, aside from the dost science and math scholarships offered to almost 14,000 high school and college students. Teachers, especially English instructors, have their own upgrading programs too. And for you, graduates, those inclined to pursue graduate courses or quickly acquire job skills, may seek new scholarships for graduate programs in state universities or training for work courses offered by government.

Today’s UPHS-Dalta Class of 2008 has a double reason to celebrate. First, you now have the qualifications for many jobs; and second, you join the great Filipino workforce at an exciting time in the nation’s development. Let me tell you a bit about that.

In the new millennium, we have been making big strides in bringing our vision of a new Philippines to reality. A new Philippines with a stable, responsive and financially sound government that upholds democracy and protects our freedoms, with a people empowered, educated and productive, is building a dynamic, globally competitive 21st century economy. We are also establishing the material foundation of a proud republic that is humane, progressive, globally oriented and respected by other nations of the world.

We are on our way to achieving this vision. After twenty-eight consecutive quarters of growth hit 7.3% last year – the highest in 31 years – our economy has reached a new level of stability and maturity that makes our growth more sustainable.

Of the last four administrations, ours has achieved the highest average GDP growth of 4.6%, the lowest inflation average of 5.5% despite soaring global oil prices, and the biggest average employment increase of about 900,000 additional jobs a year.

This expansion now stands on very solid foundation, thanks to our courageous, if painful fiscal reforms. The dollar inflows from surging investment and tourism have combined with record OFW remittances to boost the peso. While exporters and overseas Filipinos get less pesos for every dollar, the strong currency has benefited all of us by slowing the rise in consumer prices.

Just think: if the exchange rate had remained at p 55 to the dollar today, gasoline and diesel prices would have been higher by P 4 to P 5 a liter. The rice we imported recently would have cost almost P 39,000 per metric ton instead of the less than P30,000 we paid some weeks ago. The strong peso has been our shield from runaway inflation, and we thank the sacrifices of our OFWs and taxpayers, and our sound fiscal decisions for that.

Infrastructure, a requirement of investors, also brings in more tourists who contribute to our economic expansion, eases travel for everyone and speeds up the transport of farm products to commercial centers. In the last few years, we have been experiencing a construction fever building major roads and farm to market roads, bridges, seaports and airports and ICT facilities. Many of you have enjoyed traveling over these improved roads to visit your hometowns during breaks, and you can attest to the comfort of traveling now compared to a decade ago. RoRo-capable ports have stabilized the price of food by reducing transport and cargo handling expenses while making travel to your favorite vacation destinations cheaper and faster.

New facilities for ICT have enabled you to call or text your loved ones from almost anywhere in the Philippines or do your research or play video games in the internet cafes mushrooming throughout the country. The same ICT infrastructure has made it possible for several call centers to expand operations to the provinces and give jobs to thousands in the provinces.

Lately, the issues of corruption and the seeming political instability of the country have been raised as obstacles to our continued growth.

Escalation of lifestyle checks, along with the reduction of red tape and strict enforcement at the BIR, Customs and other income generating agencies, have led to the investigation of more officials. The improved technical and investigative capability of the Ombudsman’s office has increased the conviction rate of those accused of graft by almost nine times. Moreover, the procurement transparency group was created to expand the private sector’s participation in ensuring that procurement in government will always be handled above board.

Government’s sound economic policies and its efforts to rid the country of corruption have been met with approval by international development agencies. Recently, the us government’s millennium challenge corporation, which helps countries fight poverty, announced that the Philippines has been selected as eligible for the MCC compact which gives millions of dollars in grants to fight poverty. The MCC’s decision and those of other institutions are valid indications of their continuing confidence in our country’s ability to control corruption and alleviate poverty.

Many Filipinos say they are searching for the truth, and so are we in government. But truth can be established only by hard evidence presented to the courts.

Now more than ever, the world expects that political and controversial issues be resolved by democratic institutions and judicial processes, not divisive and potentially violent protests. Investors and tourists flock to places where the rule of law, not mob rule, decides the course of national events.

By elevating our politics from the streets to the courts and the polling precincts, we shall achieve the political calm and democratic maturity that the world applauds and investors prize. Then your leaders can concentrate on the crucial tasks of strengthening the nation, sustaining our economic growth, and putting food on your tables, your children in classrooms, and peace and order in your communities.

Yet, even as we sustain our growth through fiscal soundness and the rule of law, and reinvest much of its burgeoining fruits in our people, we must all do more to reduce poverty in our country. And the three things we must do are: invest, invest, invest. Enterprises, families, communities, and governments must all spend more on development, for our clan, our communities, our country, and our common future. In this way, we shall eradicate the poverty chaining our land.

Indeed, that is the singular goal of the president and her administration. In this effort, we significantly reduced the incidence of poverty by more than 3% between 2000 and 2003 by raising our primary spending, which excludes debt payments, by P 111 billion. However, the ratio slid down in 2004-2006 when spending was curbed by fiscal constraints, re-enacted budgets and oil-fueled inflation. We were able to increase primary spending by only P 55 billion, or half of the previous period’s gain. But we are making up for this slowdown: in 2006 to 2008, spending on government programs and projects will rise P 281 billion, and this is expected to reduce the incidence of poverty well below the 2003 level, as well as bring relief to those living within the poverty line who will be the first to bear the negative effects of a possible global economic slowdown and the continuing increase of world oil prices.

The double concerns of a shrinking global economy and spiraling oil prices are bringing up global food prices and causing some economies to feel jittery. Our country is making preparations to soften if not counter their impacts. The enlarged budget for social services will go directly to high-impact projects that increase agricultural production, improve the delivery of food to retail outlets, expand health coverage and distribution of affordable medicine and give a lifeline to the poorest families.

Government is increasing the number of food “Bagsakan” centers and Tindahan Natin outlets that sell affordable rice and noodles on retail. The NFA has imported rice to ensure that we have a ready buffer stock, and will retail to consumers at subsidized prices. The number of Botika ng Barangays nationwide have been increased to 11,000 and free health insurance for indigents has been expanded. More public hospitals have been upgraded so the poor can avail of more specialized medical attention and 123,000 very poor families throughout the nation will be given cash subsidies on condition that they continue sending their children to school and regularly visit health centers.

In adopting your guiding principle -- character building is nation building -- the UPH system points us to the mortar and brick foundation of a truly progressive and stable nation: character.

That you include spirituality in the same breath or sweep as the physical, intellectual and social, confirms the perpetualites commitments to be “Helpers of God.”

After having shared with you some insights on government priorities and concerns, let me now leave you with these thoughts from a renowned member of the United States Supreme Court in his address to some veterans of the us civil war, in Keene, New York, in 1884.

He said: “… It is now the moment when by common consent we pause to become conscious of our national life and to rejoice in it, to recall what our country has done for each of us, and to ask ourselves what we can do for the country in return.”

Those were the words of Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., further immortalized 75 years later when President John F. Kennedy used it in his inaugural address.

What, indeed, can we do for our country in return!

Thank you. And Godspeed to our new graduates.

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