Sunflowers still bloomed in the first June graduation of UP Diliman

Note: This photo-essay appeared in the 03-09 July 2015 issue of the FilAm Star, the weekly 'newspaper for Filipinos in mainstream America' published in San Francisco, CA, where this writer/blogger is the Manila-based special news/photo correspondent.

Applause & cheers upon presentation for graduation.

For the first time, the University of the Philippines Diliman (UPD) held its graduation rites in June, following the shift of the university academic calendar from June to August last year. The University Avenue still blazed with the golden yellow blooms of the iconic sunflower, this time of the species that can tolerate rain.

Class 2015 comprising 4,439 graduates from the 27 degree-granting units in the Diliman campus received their degrees under the burning morning sun during the 104^th  General Commencement Exercises on 28 June. 3,499 received undergraduate degrees while 940 received graduate degrees, of which 84 were conferred their doctoral degrees.  They were alerted that if it rains, they would be confirmed graduates by text.

The four summa cum laude graduates of engineering with theirDean Aura Matias, 

Vice Chacellor Benito Pacheco, Chancellor Michael Tan and UP President Alfredo Pascual

Summa cum laudes. Twenty nine undergraduates who earned a weighted average grade (WAG) of 1.20 or better were bestowed with the highest academic distinction: summa cum laude (“with the greatest honors. They were led by Tiffany Grace C. Uy, BS Biology with a WAG of 1.004. She surpassed that of John Gabriel P. Pelias, BS Mathematics, graduated with a WAG of 1.016 in 2011.

Chancellor Tan congratulates Tiffany Uy
and her proud parents.

In the Diliman Files, a Facebook community group, Uy is listed second, and Pelias third, among the top five summa cum laude graduates in UP history. Number one is Exequiel Sevilla, who had a flat 1.0 WAG in 1927. The fourth and fifth are Emerenciana Yuvienco-Arcellana, 1.020 WAG in 1948, and Gertrude Gwendale Baron-Reinoso, 1.030 WAG in 1982. Among the post-war Diliman campus summa graduates though, Uy would be on top.

Mikaela Irene D. Fudolig was barely noticed during graduation rites. She was one of the 84 who received doctoral degrees. If her name rings a bell, she was this physics prodigy, who at 16 in 2007, graduated summa cum laude, with 1.099 WAG.  She was the girl of 11 who entered the university without a high school diploma and without taking the UP College Admission Test or UPCAT.  After her BS and MS in 2007 and 2013, respectively, she is now PhD, all in physics.

High school buddies Junji &
Mike graduate as engineers.

Based on the university records, there were only one or two summa cum laude graduates or none at all, from 1919 to 1959, although there were five in 1929, and three in 1952. In the 1960s, there were only two. During the years of student ferment, from 1964 to 1972, there was none at all. The double-digit number of summas started in 2005 although there were only eight in 2007.

Many alumni wonder why it was so difficult to earn the highest Latin honor in their time although they had magna cum laudes in their classes.

Chancellor Michael Tan attributed the seeming phenomenon to change, citing factors such as easier access to information from various sources, improvement in the teaching methodologies (the ‘terrors’ are disappearing, he quipped), among others. 

Tiffany Uy was more down-to-earth with regard to her grade. To her, it just a number, only a circumstantial evidence of what [she] has learned.  “A true measure of what you’ve learned,” she averred, “is (its) application toward serving the country.”

Muslim Filipinos are integral part of
the academic community & the nation.

Pag-uugat, Pag-uugnay, Pagyabong.  “This theme,” said UP President Alfredo Pascual in his message to Class 2015, “mirrors your transformation from idealistic young freshmen to accomplished graduates.” He reminded that they were nurtured in integrity so they can proudly stand as “the best and the brightest in the country.” 

He emphasized on “pag-uugnay” in the process of growth as true iskolar ng bayan, in the practice of excellence to achieve honorable ends.

 “Many of our graduates like you,” he said, “have seen how each individual is connected to the whole—that the nation’s issues are your issues. You have been witness to how one can, under the banner of truth, improve the world through strength of mind and will. And this is done through building networks, cooperation, and interconnections.”

The iconic clenched fist in UP rites.

Secretary Armin A. Luistro of the Department of Education, the ceremony’s guest speaker, urged the members of Class 2015 to become living heroes, “mga buhay na Oblation.”

In good humor, Luistro said that he was told he would become a rock star if rallyistas appear while he is speaking.  Placards were flashed while he spoke, and the mass action, which was quite expected, came before the formal closing of the program. The protest principally focused on the K-12 program.

Luistro hurled challenges to the graduates focusing on his turf: the state of public schools in the country. He asked for who can help install solar or micro-hydro power in schools that still do not have electricity. There are also more than 6,000 schools that have no access to clean water, and thus, rain catchment facilities are needed to be constructed.

He cited the Brigada Eskwela program, and he challenged the engineering graduates to volunteer in constructing around 40,000 new classrooms in far-flung areas and islands. He assured that the locations are the most beautiful in the country.

The Colleg of Law contingent singing the UP Naming Mahal with passion.

Luistro would also like the graduates to look at the out-of-school youth.  According to him, there were 2.9 million of them in 2008, and this reduced to 1.2 million in 2013.  “If you see a child who is not in school,” he said, “text or email us at DepEd and we will take care.”

He called attention to other challenges that graduates cannot evade: the turmoil at the West Philippine Sea, the issues on the Bangsamoro Law, which is deemed to achieve lasting peace in Mindanao, and the election of right government officials in 2016.

Response on behalf of Class '15.

Summa cum laude graduate Ma. Patricia Riego De Dios (BS Psychology, 1.139 WAG) spoke on behalf of the graduating class with “Mga Katanungan ng Payabong na Iskolar ng Bayan” vis-a-vis the graduation theme.

She recalled that their growth as iskolar ng bayan was nurtured in the university by information, friendships, experience, failures and interconnections.

“Mga kasama kong nagsipagtapos, tayo ay magiging ganap lamang na mga iskolar ng bayan sa ating pag-angat sa lupa,” she implored. “Magiging ganap tayo na mga isko at iska kapag yumabong na ang ating mga tangkay, mga sanga, at mga dahon sa kanya-kanyang propesyon at karera sa buhay: paghanap ng trabaho, ng boyfriend, girlfriend, asawa, pagpasok sa med school, law school o graduate school, at pagpapalawak ng ating kaalaman.

“At dahil nga tayo ay naka-ugat sa UP, sisikapin nating maging pinakamataas na sanga, pinakaluntiang dahon, at higit sa lahat, pinakamatibay at pinakamayabong na puno na nakapagbibigay ng silong sa nakararami.”

Strung across the front of the stage for all Class 2015 is a giant streamer, a reminder that they should go and serve the people: 'Paglingkuran ang sambayanan.' 

The lightning protest demonstration toward the end of the graduation rites.

Sablay, sunflowers, and reminders to serve the people for the bright lights from UP Diliman

Note: * This photo-essay appeared in a slightly different version in the 02-08 May 2014 issue of the FilAm Star, 'the newspaper for Filipinos in mainstream America' published weekly in San Francisco, CA. This blogger/author is the Philippines Special News/Photo Correspondent of the said paper.  

Two long vertical maroon streamers from the top of Quezon Hall provided the historical framework of the 2014 General Commencement Exercises of the University of the Philippines Diliman on 27 April.   The streamers were in honor of Apolinario Mabini, the revolutionary ‘sublime paralytic’.  It is in celebration of his sesquicentennial birth anniversary this coming July that the commencement program carried the theme “Pagbabalik Tanaw Tungo sa Tapat na Pamamahala.”

On the University Avenue, streamers vertically hang on posts along the traffic island of blooming sunflowers told that this year’s graduation class is the 103rd batch in the history of the university, alongside that of the Mabini commemorative
.

UP Diliman Chancellor Michael L. Tan said he could have similarly honored Isabelo de los Reyes, had he known earlier that the 150th birth anniversary of the pioneer in the country’s labor movement is also in July. The dean of the School of Labor and Industrial Relations (SOLAIR) gave due recognition to de los Reyes when he presented his unit’s candidates for graduation.

Directly facing the graduates, their families and friends seated at the amphitheater, was the banner stretched across the front of the stage bearing in big bold red letters the slogan of the 1970s: Paglingkuran ang Sambayan (Serve the People).  It was a reminder of the great responsibility expected by the country of the graduating class, the Iskolar ng Bayan, since their university education was subsidized by the people’s tax. 

Wherever you go, UP President Alfredo Pascual said in his message in Pilipino to Class 2014, whether in government, in business and industry, in the academe, in NGOs, or in other fields, you are expected to push for reforms that would contribute to the well-being of the country and society.

Commencement speaker Maria Lourdes P. A. Sereno, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, expressed similar sentiments urging Class 2014 to pay back the people who spent for their education.  She exhorted them to be productive: “Huwag ninyong sayangin ang inyong kabataan, ang inyong lakas, ang kaningningan ng inyong mga mata, ang inyong idealismo at pagkamalikhain, sa mga pangarap na walang saysay.” 

She urged them to help in building a just and free country, clean of corruption. You have the voice, she said in her speech, to shout “‘tama na, tama na ang katiwalian, tama na ang lamangan, tama na ang kasuwapangan.’ Panahon na para ang katarungan ang manaig.”  

Sereno asked for patience and vigilance in the prosecution of graft and corruption cases. “Anuman ang magiging kararatnan ng mga judicial process na pagdaraanan, kailangan po ng walang humpay na pagbabantay ng taong bayan, di lamang sa pag bantay sa kaban ng bayan, kundi sa pag ganap ng tungkulin na iniatas ng ating konstitusyon sa mga opisyales ng ating pamahalaan,” she emphasized.

The Chief Justice was speaking to what Chancellor Tan described as the brightest and most privileged graduating class, many of them part of almost 4,000 high school graduates who gained admission to the Diliman campus after passing the UP College Admission Test (UPCAT) of 2010.

“Almost 60 percent of our students come from private high schools,” Tan said, “and another 30 from public science high schools, whose composition is still largely middle and upper income.”  He acknowledged, and thanked “the students from low income families, whose parents, or an Ate or Kuya, scrounged and saved, sought ways to get [them] into, and keep [them] in UP.”

Comprising Class 2014 were 3,367 with undergraduate degrees, 710 with master’s, and 62 with doctoral, degrees.  Tan made special mention of the seven students from Eastern Visayas who made it despite the adversity caused by typhoon Yolanda.  

On the lead were twenty summa cum laude graduates, and at the top was Ralph John O. Ugalino, BS Chemistry, from the College of Science with a weighted average grade (WAG) of 1.067. 

The College of Engineering had the most graduates at 789, eight of them summa cum laude.  The College of Social Sciences and Philosophy (CSSP), College of Science, and the School of Economics each had three graduates with top honors. 

Through a selection process that involved submission and oral presentation of a speech before a panel of judges, Jose Maria L. Marella, BS Economics(1.164 WAG) was chosen from among the qualified summas to deliver the response in behalf of the graduating class.

In his speech "Para sa Bayan: Dangal at Husay," he stressed two important values -- Honor and Excellence. "Dangal. Honor. Integrity. Ito ngayon ang hamon sa ating mga bagong graduates ng UP. Ipalaganap natin ang pagsisilbi ng may karangalan sa bayan. Huwag nating kalimutan ang mahahalagang aral na natutunan natin sa loob at labas ng classrooms sa UP. At higit sa lahat, isaalang-alang natin sa bawat gawain natin ang kabutihan ng lahat, ang kabutihan ng bawat Pilipino at hindi and pansariling interes lamang. Saan man tayo mapapunta, balik-tanawin natin ang mga aral na ito, tungo sa tapat at mahusay na pamamahala!"

The historical and current reference frames of this year's commencemnet program were enriched by the cultural nuances of the sablay. This is the official academic costume that graduating classes have been wearing since 2000, replacing the traditional cap and gown (toga).

The sablay is a loose garment or wide sash using the UP colors of maroon and green. It is a nationalistic expression conveying the importance of our indigenous culture, a value that the University teaches. The sablay is adorned with ukkil , representing the growth of knowledge, and geometric patterns like triangles and chevrons, which are common design elements of indigenous cultures in the Philippines. UP, the University’s acronym, is based on the baybayin for U and P, and is etched in yellow on the sablay.

It is worn over barong tagalog for the men, and ecru- or eggshell-colored dress for the women. The graduating class wears the garment on their right shoulder at the start of the program. The highlight comes when UP President confirms them as graduates, and that is when they move the sablay to their left shoulder using the proper technique so that they do not have to take it off. 

There’s another frame for the UP Diliman graduation day, very environmental or botanical.  It is not an official practice but it simply became traditional: the planting of sunflowers (Helianthus annuus L.) usually in late February so that they come into full bloom along the University Avenue and around the Quezon Hall amphitheatre during commencement week.

We have seen people in cars stopping by for selfies with the blooming sunflowers, and graduates sneaking out of the amphitheatre for picture taking at the University Avenue with the UP colors of their sablay as counterpoints to the bright yellow of the sunflowers.

It is almost a given: an unofficial part of the commencement program, a brief time allocation for student activists to express their advocacy statements. 

This year, before everyone rose for the singing of UP Naming Mahal, the activist graduates moved to the front with their banners, and with clenched fists, recited their protest slogans. 

From the balcony of Quezon Hall rolled two black tarpaulins printed with “US Troops Out Now!!!” and “Obama Out of Asia Now!!!”  This was on the eve of the arrival of US President Barrack Obama in Manila for his state visit to the country.