ASoG MPM Class of 2021 valedictorian highlights value of integrity in valedictory speech
22 Apr 2022
Valedictory Speech
Jaime D. Bonifacio, Jr.
Class of 2021
Ateneo School of Government
Ateneo de Manila University President Father Roberto C. Yap of the Society of Jesus, Vice President for the Ateneo Professional Schools Dr. John Paul C. Vergara, Dean of Ateneo School of Government Dr. Ronald U. Mendoza, Ateneo School of Government Commencement Speaker for 2021 the Honorable Senator Risa Hontiveros, University Officials, Faculty and Staff of the Ateneo School of Government, Special Guests of the University, Family and Friends, and to everybody watching this commencement exercises online, good afternoon, magandang hapon po sa inyong lahat!
I am extremely grateful and truly honored to speak before you today. But to be honest, it has not been easy to process my thoughts and decide on the contents of my speech. I had this dilemma whether to be funny and optimistic, or inspiring and academic at the same time. But I resolved to just share with you the things that I would like to be constantly reminded of as I serve others.
In the past few months, I had a chance to talk to barangay health workers in several provinces across the country. Our discussions mostly focused on how they help deliver basic health services in their respective communities and the usual challenges they encounter in the performance of their tasks. Most of their stories ring the same message I’ve been hearing for years. These community volunteers, many of whom are senior citizens, have to walk for several hours, no matter the weather, just to deliver essential health services house to house to the marginalized. When communities were put on lockdown because of COVID-19, they helped distribute food packs to quarantined households and monitor close contacts and COVID-19 cases in isolation. Some of them have been serving their communities for more than three decades already, and it is common knowledge that they only receive a meager monthly allowance – not even a thousand pesos in many areas. Most of the time, they even shoulder the transportation expenses for their visits to the communities they serve. When I asked what kind of support they needed, they only mentioned simple things like umbrellas, rubber boots to protect their feet during the rainy season, face masks and alcohol, and transportation allowance for a tricycle or habal-habal ride. During these conversations, I wanted to hear more materialistic or a bit “selfish” reasons as to why they remain as volunteers, because the allowance they get is not at all enticing.
I was hoping for things like wanting to obtain a scholarship grant for their children who want to go to college or secure civil service eligibility so they could land regular government positions. But the “most self-serving” reason I got was wanting to learn more about health that they could apply in their households. I probed and probed yet still the most common explanation they gave me was “to serve others” or “dahil masayang maglingkod sa iba.” A volunteer from a Higaonon community in Mindanao shared that it is the “sense of duty” that compels him to continue serving his community.
He said,
Kailangan po ng kagaya kong katutubo para maipaabot ang mga health messages sa mga katribo ko. Kailangan ng volunteer na makakaintindi sa kanila at maiintindihan nila. Kung hindi po ako tutulong, baka mas lalong mahirapang makarating sa kanila ang mga serbisyong kailangan nila.
These words I heard over and over again, embedded in me the realization that many Filipinos truly have the spirit of service – even in the face of adversity.
But although inspiring, these stories of BHWs also make me sad about the realities on the ground. It is disheartening that to serve – to practice compassion, continues to be difficult for many of us. BHWs who have the purest of intentions face so many challenges. Many of them even get replaced at the whim of local officials, despite their commitment and dedication.
Yes, we are in a country where it is easy to be corrupt and difficult to serve with honesty, compassion, and integrity.
Kadalasan, kapag gusto mong maglingkod at gumawa ng mga proyektong tutulong upang iangat ang buhay ng mga nasa laylayan, marami kang pagsubok na pagdaraanan. You would need to go through incapacitating government bureaucracies, face criticisms, and sometimes get ridiculed like what happened to many community pantry organizers. Many would doubt your intentions and accuse you of being a fraud. Fortunately, those who genuinely want to serve rise above these challenges. But they should not be facing these difficulties in the first place. They should instead be given support and assistance and not be thrown with obstacles and distractions along their way.
On the other hand, there are just too many incentives for engaging in corruption whether in small or big things. Quick fixes are enticing. Yes, it is easier to give kotong to a traffic enforcer than to go through the process of paying penalties for a petty traffic violation. And because corruption has become a way of life in our society, it seems that going with the flow is the only way to go. Many even justify their choice of leader with reasons like “lahat naman kurakot, lahat naman sinungaling, so pumili ka na lang ng magaling at matalino kahit magnanakaw.”
I agree that there is no 100 percent effective vaccine against corruption. No one is truly immune to it. Everybody can get infected. Wealth does not give immunity. We have seen ridiculously wealthy people exploiting the poor and using the power of their pockets to gain the law’s favor. Education is not a highly effective vaccine either. Many of our highly educated brilliant leaders are tainted with dishonesty, fraud, and abuse of power. Corruption does not discriminate based on position. It happens from the smallest barangay halls to the highest government institutions, even the Malacañang Palace. Even religious belief does not fully spare one. We have heard of priests, pastors, church leaders, people who call themselves God’s Appointed Son, who abuse others and hoard material things under the cloak of false godliness.
But still, good leaders, good people should relentlessly resist the idea that to get good things done, you must get, not just your hands filthy, but even your soul. We should not allow ourselves to be consumed by this vicious system. Instead, we must constantly remind ourselves that genuinely good things are accomplished by good deeds, with good intentions, and through good actions.
One of my favorite authors, Ellen G. White, once said,
The greatest want of the world is the want of men - men who will not be bought or sold; men who in their inmost souls are true and honest; men who do not fear to call sin by its right name; men whose conscience is as true to duty as the needle to the pole; men who will stand for the right though the heavens fall.
But to have these men, to be these men, we need to put up systems of integrity. Systems that will help produce honest and compassionate Filipinos. We need to strengthen formal and informal education systems that will instill in our children and youth the values of integrity, honesty, compassion, and respect for the sanctity of life and human rights. These are basics that we all thought are taught at home, in the church, and in the community, but many of us forgot that not everyone is privileged to be raised in a godly home, not everyone feels welcome or are welcomed by churches, and not all live in a community that is conducive for building Christian values.
Our country needs leaders who know that they, their colleagues, the people they serve, and even their families are like computers and mobile devices: always prone to getting corrupted. So, they must work hard to establish systems and strengthen institutions that will make it tremendously hard for them and the future generations to engage in corrupt practices. Systems that will compel them to be honest, transparent, and accountable for their misconduct and moral turpitude.
Our country needs people who will continuously endeavor to put up systems of compassion that will make it easier to serve the needy and uplift the lives of the downtrodden. So that helping others would not be too difficult anymore for well-intentioned people like our BHWs.
I have met individuals at the ASOG who I believe are already a part of this movement. They are people who equip themselves to become better servant leaders whom I have learned to admire; like Atty. Gally Angeles, a city councilor of Lipa who wears many other hats every day but has still been able to attend our late-night meetings to contribute to our assignments and learn from our discussions. People like Gius Castasus, the SK president of San Pedro Laguna who at a young age dedicated his life to the service of his community and the welfare of the youth. I have met in our virtual classrooms leaders whose commitment to learning is truly admirable, like Mayor Rommel Maslog, Dr. Bong Ybiernas, Major Martha Sapalo, Marlon Molmisa, and many others. We started our journey at the ASOG face-to-face and transitioned to online classes when the pandemic happened. The journey has not been easy, especially since many of us work in the frontlines. But we endured the difficulties and restrictions and persevered through personal challenges because we all knew that even amid the battles for the welfare of the people, leaders must not cease from equipping themselves. True leaders must not sit on their laurels but instead take advantage of every opportunity to gain better perspectives and a richer understanding of the people’s plight, especially the poor and the marginalized.
As ASOG-educated leaders and highly privileged individuals, we are called and have the responsibility to be the leaders that our country needs. We need to be steadfast in our fight against corruption and abuse of power. We must participate in the realization of the reforms we want to see in our respective battlefields, be it in the private sector, the government, the LGUs or the national agencies, the armed forces, the academe, or the medical field; and whether we work behind the scenes or in the actual bloody political arena. We must all fight for a just, humane, honest, and transparent governance.
Our battles have not been easy and will never be. Temptations to just go with the flow will never cease to assail us. But let us keep on fighting, bearing in mind the examples set by Jesus, the greatest among us, who taught us to serve with love and compassion, because however cliché it may be, it is only in loving our fellowmen, that we will be able to truly serve them and fight for their welfare.
We entered the Ateneo School of Government to learn and understand how to become better leaders. Let us depart her physical and virtual walls with a renewed and stronger desire to serve with compassion, as leaders leading reforms.
Maraming salamat at mabuhay tayong lahat!