Need and New Faces

Speech of Welcome

Ladies and Gentlemen, Good Afternoon and welcome to the Universidad de Zamboanga, School of Criminal Justice. It is both an honor and a privilege to stand before you, specially the new comers, today and welcome you to this amazing institution. I would like to raise a toast to all the new faces in here. New faces that we don’t know till now but would wish to know. The same new faces that once belonged to us an year ago. The same new faces that, over a short period of time, will no more be, ‘NEW’ faces.

Well, I speak on behalf of all the second year students here. Just a few lines of how we all feel at this juncture. Here I go. Newness or novelty has been intriguing and fascinating to man since the Neanderthal times. Novelty for us is excitement and exuberance, surprise and science, cheerfulness and joy, hope and happiness, boldness and buoyancy, positive ness and passion. But men as we all are, novelty to us also means risk, unfamiliarity, uncertainty, fear, doubt and disturbance.

In the same token, the old and the established stands for ‘the familiar and comfortable’, ‘knowledgeable and therefore able’, ‘mature and therefore trustworthy’,‘rugged and therefore reliable. ’ But all this goes with accusations of ‘stagnation and staleness’,‘out-of-date and outmoded ness’ and ‘the slow and the stumped’. What I wish to express using all the ‘adjectives’ that I used is that these new faces in here, our juniors for the coming year, represent to us the same hope and challenge as new players in a cricket team or new twists in a good story.

And we, as seniors,should ideally be the matured bunch, a bunch of guys and gals they could trust and depend upon. Together, we can make a terrific team. So, I, on behalf of all the ‘old’ faces here, welcome the new faces with open hands, open minds and above all, OPEN HEARTS. Thank You.

Commencement Speech

Good morning faculty, families and class of Two Thousand Twelve. I am honored to be here speaking to all of you today. I want to begin with a quote from Winston Churchill from a commencement speech he gave to his prep school in 1941, “Never give in.

Never give in. Never, never, never, never–in nothing, great or small, large or petty–never give in, except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy” (Churchill, 1941) I know that quote is timeless because here I am repeating it in two thousand twelve, and why you may ask…because it is very relevant to my story. Many years ago when I began this journey I had a friend, told me that I would never be able to accomplish a college degree.

Although my journey has taken longer than anticipated I proved that friend wrong, and maybe many other’s that were not as candid. I also proved something to myself with hard work, determination, and grit anything can be accomplished. Because life throws so many obstacles and distractions in our paths on a daily basis, it is essential to have supportive and knowledgeable people to go to when needed. The advisers helped guide and encourage me to finish what I started, and fulfill the dreams I had for myself.

I cannot begin to properly thank not only my school family that cheered me on when I passed math class, my church family who always had kind words to say to me to help keep me strong when the storm rose up and made me weary, and my family-family who accepted the long hours in front of the computer when I had to complete research, write a paper, or read the endless text books that helped me get here today. I want to be a testament to what can be accomplished when one person believes they can achieve what others do not think is possible.

Class of two thousand twelve, do not let people tell you who you are and what you can do, do not let people decide what you are capable of. In 2005 during a commencement speech, Steve Jobs said, “figure out what you love and do it, do not settle” (Jobs, 2005). I encourage my fellow class mates to take that challenge, do what you love and do not settle. The education that we received during our years at Universidad de Zamboanga have prepared each of us to be diligent, creative, innovative, and successful.

I want to leave you with a quote from former ESPN sportscaster, Brian Kenny, “There is no there. That is elusive, “there” with the job, the beach house, the dream, it’s not out there. There is here. It’s in you…right now” (Kenny, 2007) Don’t waste the life that God gave you, we are his masterpiece, and we can be anything we aspire to be. Thank you.

Acceptance Speech

Thank you everybody. Thank you dad, my brothers, family, friends and to those who are home watching, thank you so much, and to everyone who voted for me.

There really is nothing more important to me than striving to be a good human being. So, to be here tonight and be acknowledged as the first to receive this honor is beyond expression in words for me. This award of being a Filipino from the Within is the recognition of my achievements and you can only imagine how important it is to me. My life, as you all know begun from nothing. I grew up at a far farm in Leyte. My parents held hands in cultivating every inch of soil we have just to earn a little amount of money.

When I reached six years old, we moved to the city and it was the beginning of my education. It was once difficult, not knowing where to go and at an early age being independent, no one to baby sit me or be my chaperon at school. Time went so fast and as I grew older, there was this little feeling of pity for my co-citizens. The guy on the street, the woman in the classroom, the Muslim, the Protestant, the Catholic, the Visaya, the tausug, the gay, the straight, you, me—we all just want to know that we matter. We want validation. We want the same things.

We want safety and we want to live a long life. We want to find somebody to love. Filipinos, thank you. We want to find somebody to laugh with and have the power and the place to cry with when necessary. The greatest pain in life is to be invisible. What I’ve learned is that we all just want to be heard. And I thank all the people who continue to let me hear your stories, and by sharing your stories, you let other people see themselves and for a moment, glimpse the power to change and the power to triumph. Maya Angelou said, ‘When you learn, teach.

When you get, give. ‘ I want you to know that this award to me means that I will continue to strive to give back to the world what it has given to me, so that I might even be more worthy of tonight’s honor. Thank you. CAMPAIGN SPEECH Ladies and gentleman. Our country has come to a crossroad, and now you have the power to change the political landscape of the Philippines. As I have said time and time again, if you elect me to be your face in congress, there are several things I will do to ensure that your needs are met day in and day out across this land.

First of all, I plan on proposing new legislation that will invest more tax peso in our public schools, not only to meet the needs of today, but to encourage developing minds for the future. Such new funding would be used to hire and retain good teachers, build and renovate new schools, and give great tax breaks to classroom teachers. To accomplish this, I am proposing no new taxes increases, but rather arechanneling of our existing tax revenue to meet these demands. Now, theincumbent and his staff have been talking about this for years with little progress.

I plan to change all of this now. Second, economic development is on the minds of most of you, particularly with regard to our downtown area. For many years, economic prosperity has beenneglected by current government leaders, and I plan to change all of that. I am proposing a city center revitalization project that would promote new businesses, new residential areas, and new open green areas to bring people back to the heart of our city. Current leaders have allowed the new city to die, preferring to invest in sport arenas in the outlying areas.

And third, I am proposing the construction of a light rail train system, to be built over the next decade, to meet the growing demands of better and more efficient transportation for years to come. My opponent and his administration have lacked the vision of long-term solutions, preferring to take a look and see approach. Such a short sighted stance fails to consider the needs of future generations . . . our children and our grandchildren. My generation doesn’t want to be remembered for a road we build today, but for a more visionary transportation system for our future.

And finally, my opponent has cited my inexperience as a reason why you shouldn’t vote for me. However, I am not a career politician who has lost touch with the everyday needs and concerns of day-to-day people. My work as an educator and business owner has given me a unique perspective on the pains and challenges you face. If elected, I promise to give my all to my elected position and make sure your issues and concerns are fully addressed at the local and national level. Thank you