University President's Address, 1 October 2020

Thursday, 1 October 2020, Rizal Mini Theater, Loyola Heights campus

Good morning.

I think I speak on behalf of everyone when I say this is not what we expected our school year would be: our normally bustling campuses going silent, and everyone shifting to online teaching, learning, and research.

This is also not how I thought I would get to know you: me, speaking to the camera, while all of you tune in online. It’s weird, to say the least, but we are adapting to our situation, continuing to build our community through this shared online experience.

It only goes to show how the Ateneo community can quickly adapt and thrive in unusual situations, such as this pandemic.

This global crisis highlights the fact that we are living in a world full of volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous situations.  

Even if we think we are well-prepared for whatever situation that might come up, life throws us curveballs, and we must confront these creatively and quickly.

I start my stewardship of our beloved Ateneo at this juncture in history. The coming days, months, and years will be critical to the future of our University, and we are all being called to work together to ensure Ateneo will continue to fulfill its educational mission.

Three central goals will be key to our response to this call - goals that embody our distinct values, character, and heritage; goals that build upon the work we have already done and fueled by an insatiable quest for discovery and innovation; and goals that will empower us to face tomorrow.

Resilient University

Our first goal is to make our University more resilient and more responsive to change.

By "resilience," we do not mean going back to the pre-pandemic, “business as usual” approach.

Rather, resilience calls for us to adapt and thrive in the circumstances we are in, in order to fulfill our mission without compromising on quality and excellence.

We have actually already started on this, with AteneoBlueCloud, our virtual campus and community. Ateneo's concept of online learning is not just for it to be a temporary setup; rather, it was designed to adapt to whatever teaching, learning, and formation conditions we might find ourselves in the future - fully online, blended, or in-person.

We will endeavor to be at the forefront of innovation not just in education, but also in conducting research and creative work, outreach, and formation in multiple platforms. We will do this while still upholding, or even surpassing, the standards for academic excellence and integrity Ateneo has always been known for.

“Resilience” also means a call for us to better manage our resources, which help us fulfill our work.

It calls for proper long-term planning and investment in our campuses and physical assets; better handling of our financial resources; taking good care of our name, institutional image, and brand; and most important, taking good care of our people.

Our ultimate aim under this particular goal is for Ateneo to become prepared for whatever the future of learning holds, and for the institution to fulfill its educational mission more effectively by ensuring that it has more than sufficient resources to do so in the years to come.

Deeper Formation

The second major objective is to further deepen our rootedness to our values, and to our unique identity as a Filipino, Catholic, and Jesuit institution.

Ateneo has always believed in the holistic formation of the person; it is a special commitment to guide each member of the community in their quest for overall growth.

Mindful of the uniqueness of each person’s needs and circumstances, we will further our commitment in integrating learning, faith, and service in our programs and partnerships that engage our students, faculty, staff, University leadership, and alumni in the understanding and practice of our Ignatian identity, values, and commitments.

We also aim to cultivate a ministry of leadership among our faculty, staff, professionals, and administrators. We aim to foster in our people a restlessness to discern and do the more, the better, to go deeper, leading to a constant pursuit of excellence and leadership that has faith and service at its heart.

Greater Engagement

Our third main goal is to increase our engagement with our community, nation, and world.

The pandemic, and the greater economic, social, political, and cultural problems our country and the world are facing now, has further magnified the need for every one of us to be more engaged with our world.

We are invited to respond to the challenge of Pope Francis: “The crisis of the pandemic, in a sense, has given us a chance to develop new ways of living.  We must cultivate values, connections and activities that are life-giving.”

The call to go "down the hill" has never been more important, never been more critical, never been more needed.

Everything we do in our University - teaching, research, formation, engagement - should be directed to be in the service of the faith, in the service of others, in the promotion of justice and understanding, and in the caring for creation, our common home.

We will continue promoting and developing new programs and projects that will help heal the divisions in our society and build a more just and humane world that is full of hope for future generations.

We will strengthen our efforts to bring our intellectual, institutional, and spiritual resources to advance environmental sustainability and environmental justice, especially in the face of the ongoing climate crisis.

And we will intensify our work in forming persons for and with others - persons who not only use their talents for the greater good, but who are also committed to standing in solidarity with the poor, the oppressed, the marginalized and with all whose human dignity is ignored, imperiled, or diminished.

The tie that binds: Our Jesuit mission

Our Jesuit mission will be our anchor and our map in fulfilling these goals.

We will endeavor to always remain tethered to our core purpose as a Jesuit university - participating in the Society of Jesus's mission of reconciliation and justice.

Our Jesuit mission is also our map that will give us the confidence to push Ateneo de Manila's frontiers further.

It is a map that directs us to reach new horizons in service, for more lasting value.

It is a map that seeds groundbreaking ideas and concepts that will allow Ateneo education to face challenges and adapt to change.

Reimagine, Transform, Commit

I summarize the work we have in the coming days, months, and years in three words: Reimagine. Transform. And Commit.

We are being called to reimagine Ateneo de Manila’s future, in the face of complex and difficult challenges that lie ahead.  

We are being called to transform our institution and ourselves to be agile and responsive to change in creative, innovative and sustainable ways.

And we are being called to strengthen our commitment to our faith, our mission, and to serving others, especially those at the margins of society, our guiding light as we navigate dark and uncharted territory.

It is only fitting that I speak to you at the start of October, the month of the Holy Rosary. It is the month where we show our devotion to Mary, Mother of God, as exemplified primarily by our wearing of October medals. As we wear our October medals - either physically or via a Facebook profile frame - may we all be reminded to follow her example of devotion, magnanimity, and generosity.

As we sing in our alma mater song, "we pray, you keep us, Mary, constantly true" - constantly true to our mission, our values, our humanity, for the greater glory of God.

We will still gather as a community for a formal investiture sometime in the near future - that is, once the pandemic has subsided and the health and safety risks have gone down. Until then, I hope that even as we are physically distant, we continue to work together as one community to build a more resilient and more engaged University for the future.

Maraming salamat, daghang salamat, thank you.

God bless us all.