Valedictory Speech of Raymond Nhil P. Shappit, Master in Public Management, Gold Honor Medalist

 
          Every postgraduate student’s journey starts out differently. Unlike a bachelor’s degree which is usually a logical choice right after high school, deciding to get a master’s degree is not an automatic step. For most of us, returning to school after a few or a lot of years working requires making a careful and balanced assessment.

          Two years ago, my journey started when I was deciding how to make better use of my weekends. I thought maybe I should learn a new language. Maybe spend time volunteering for charitable organizations. Or better yet live a frustrated childhood dream and learn how to play a musical instrument. Going back to school for a master’s degree wasn’t really an immediate option for me. What I knew was that I have always wanted to be of service to my country. But I had my doubts that graduate school was the way to go. And I’m sure most of us sitting here today had the same questions before we enrolled. So I for one asked myself,

          Can I still pay full attention in a 2 to 3, sometimes even 4-hour lecture? Can I manage the rigor of weekly quizzes, papers, and reports? Will I still have reserved energy for a full-day school on Saturday after a long week at work? And of course we all asked ourselves, where will I get the money to pay for this?

          So when we finally decided to say yes to an ASOG education, we were confronted with difficult choices week after week.

          Will I spend my Friday night partying with friends or reserve my energy for Saturday’s lecture? Will I spend time with my loved ones eating out or going to the mall or will I finish this concept map before my submission is marked late in the Moodle page? Will I attend a weekend workshop or out-of-the-country trip for work or risk maximizing my absences in a class? And well, the question on paying for tuition wasn’t really much of a choice for most of us, or else we won’t be here today.

          How I wish we could all say that in the past two years, school was always our number one priority. But life for a working graduate student is different. I’m sure that somehow, some time, and in some ways, we all had our shortcomings. We stumbled more than a few times. But I’m also sure that we all made significant sacrifices. From, declining Friday night invites from our friends or officemates so that we can study for our exam the next day, to carving out a number of our vacation leaves in office to start gathering data for our GIR. All of these difficult choices culminate to this moment. Of finally earning our stripe as ASOG Graduates.

          In deciding which Master’s degree to take, we could have chosen other programs, but instead we trusted the Ateneo School of Government for our education. And we probably had different reasons for choosing ASOG. When I was looking for graduate schools, I will admit that what really attracted me most to ASOG was the fact that it only held Saturday classes. After all, if you’re from Metro Manila, you know that travelling through EDSA or C5 on weekdays is like opening your Facebook in the morning for news about Duterte, every day you hope it gets better, but for some reason it never does.

          On a more serious note, after doing due diligence, I also realized that ASOG was the right choice because of the most decorated public officials and practitioners in its faculty. After learning from them inside the classroom, they are now more than just familiar names to me; they have become aspirational life idols. Or in our millennial speak #lifegoals. Personally, I would like to thank my professor in Strategic HR Management for Public Service, Atty. Tonette Allones. Her fierce passion for public service, specifically towards a civil service that is professional, merit-based and has the highest standard of integrity, inspired me to join the bureaucracy one day. She, along with Dean Tony, my professor in Conflict Management, inspired me to take up further studies, this time around as a lawyer. Although now, from that school at the other end of Katipunan. I also could not forget to mention my professor in my first ever class in ASOG, Prof. Nene Guevara who stressed to us that even if public finance may seem like strange jargon to most of us, all we must remember is that Public Finance is rooted in good governance to reflect the dreams of our people.

          But what really validated for me the quality of ASOG education was after all encapsulated in its new tagline: Forming Leaders, Leading Reforms. I am proud to belong to an academic institution which reaches out and supports leaders no matter their backgrounds or personal circumstances. As a young professional working in a private multi-national corporation, I am unlike most of my peers. I thought that my lack of public sector experience and my youth will be barriers to getting the most of my education in ASOG. That could not be farther from the truth. In all my classes I was always welcomed by my classmates, even those that were not my original blocks. Thank you to 17A, 17B and of course to my new lifelong friends in 16B.

           My private sector experience also surprisingly did me well. I completely enjoyed our Social Innovation elective with Prof. Tina Llamzon. That class made me realize that even people like me whose experience is in manufacturing, branding, and selling products can actually be agents of social change and poverty alleviation by lending our expertise to social enterprises.

           I would also like to highlight the tremendous efforts of the Academic Team and Faculty of ASOG to literally bring the Atenean education outside of the four corners of Loyola. We have the pioneer batch ASOG Graduates from Vigan graduating today. They are a group of public managers from Vigan whose education was funded by the local government. Each Saturday, ASOG would bring professors in Vigan to hold lectures for this cohort. I am proud to share this day with this group who I heard from the luncheon have already secured funding for the implementation of their final academic requirement. They are truly an embodiment of the commitment of ASOG to Forming Leaders all over the country.

           In the past 2 years, I am also grateful for the chance to be exposed to best practices in reforms in public service. One of the highlights of my ASOG experience was listening to two previous Customs Commissioners as part of our Anti-Corruption elective class. I remember them telling us that only institutional reforms such as automation of information systems and amending the charter of the BOC, can rid the Bureau of corruption. I don’t remember though if I heard them recommend a military takeover in the Bureau (such as what this admin is doing). But aside from the Academic Program, ASOG, with the leadership of Dean Ron through the Ateneo Policy Center, has also spearheaded conversations of national importance such as the proposed shift to Federalism and the War on Drugs.

          Today, fellow graduates, we are part of the legacy of the Ateneo School of Government. Of forming leaders and leading reforms. What a privilege it is to be part of such an institution so admired by many but within reach of only a few brave enough to endure.

ON DISSENT

           But what I really want to tell you today is my deepest belief that our education in Ateneo, this diploma we are receiving today is not just a sign of our privilege, but rather this is a sign of our duty. We, as present and future public managers, have a duty to the public to make use of our education for the best interest of Filipinos. More than a privileged education, we come out today with a duty.

           Exactly a week from now is the 2nd anniversary of the burial of former president, dictator, plunderer, mass murderer Ferdinand Marcos in the Libingan ng mga Bayani. I still remember that day clearly. At around 11:30am, I was sitting outside a meeting room in our office in BGC Taguig, waiting for my lunch meeting when an officemate approached me and said, “Ililibing na daw si Marcos sa Libingan ng mga Bayani. Tara. Punta tayo.”

           At first, I couldn’t believe the news. That this day will come that a sitting President would actually honor Marcos as a Hero for the excuse of “national healing”. All preparations made behind our backs, in the words of our vice-president, like a thief in the night.

           I told myself I was going to finish the meeting and immediately join the growing protest a few kilometers away from my office. But after a few hours, it was done. Marcos was six feet under on land reserved only for heroes. There lies a “hero” who caused the human rights violations against the lives of at least 9000 people. There lies a “hero” who plundered at least five billion dollars from this country.

          But the protests were not ending soon. I decided to join the demonstrations in EDSA. That was a Friday night and the rain must have been crying with the victims of martial law. On the way to the People Power Monument, the driver of the taxi I was in had a simple question,

          “Sir sa rally ba kayo pupunta?”

          “Opo” I answered

          “Bakit? Ano bang gusto niyong mangyari? Ano bang mapapala niyo sa rally?” he asked.

           From this seemingly simple question of a taxi driver, today I want to unpack two duties that we have as public managers.

           The first is our duty to dissent. To dissent is to openly disagree with someone else’s opinion, decision or set of beliefs. Just by hearing that definition, all of us can easily dismiss that dissenting is not a very “Filipino” thing to do. We like keeping harmony within our family, our friends and our workmates. There are just so many taboo topics in Philippine culture. Chances are when someone starts talking politics or women’s sexuality for example, eyes will start rolling. By nature, Filipinos are just non-confrontational.

           But in fact being able to raise our voices in disagreement, this is the very cornerstone of our democratic and republican political system. To simply dismiss opposition as futile or wasted attempts would be to dishonor the legacy of our forefathers. They earned us what freedom we have today not by sitting down and being silent. But rather by taking arms against centuries of Spanish/American colonial rule, protesting in the streets against decades of a dictatorial Marcos regime, and exerting public pressure against three years of a corrupt Estrada presidency.

          And yet you may ask, what is the worst thing that could happen if we do not air our dissent? If people do not show up in the streets? If justices in the Court or Senators refuse to belong to minorities? Or if all of us as public managers do not meticulously question each and every detail of our policies? The worst thing is not that we will fail to move this country forward. But rather, that we even set it backward. That our silence will allow for the abuses against our human dignity most especially those of the powerless, the oppressed and the marginalized. Our dissenting voices mean so much more for the workers who endure hours of traffic every day, for those literally playing with fire while working in unsafe factories and buildings, for the children forced out of school to help in their families’ farms, and for farmers who are killed by landowners. 

          As public managers, we are in the best position to make our voices heard. We, have a seat at the table where decisions of public policy are officially made. And as public managers now equipped with the privilege of an Atenean public management education, what is expected of us is not just upholding the bare minimum but instead hold ourselves and the entire bureaucracy to the highest standards. Not just of following reforms, but leading them. Because the true spirit of dissenting is not only in airing our grievances and frustrations, but in making sure that we transform it into something productive. Real and meaningful reforms cannot start if we do not ask the difficult questions. Nothing gets better unless we talk about it.

           Leadership is not just about intellect or charisma but rather about courage. And in these times when our democracy is under attack on several fronts, our courage is being tried and tested.

            Will we allow the return to power of the Marcoses as they operate a full-blown machinery to revise history once more? Will we allow the war on drugs to continue killing the poor when what we really need to end is poverty? Will we allow the continuation of political dynasties in the Philippines even if it is clearly against the mandate of our 1987 Constitution?

            Remember that just last month, Ateneo was one of the 18 universities alleged by the military as a recruitment ground for forces aiming to destabilize our democratic institutions. May we be reminded of Ateneo’s continuing commitment, as in our University President Fr. Jet’s statement in answer to these allegations, “to speak truth to power to contribute to a more vibrant democracy.”

             Fellow graduates, let us all be courageous leaders. Let us not be afraid to dissent, especially in these days where our voices of reason are most needed.

ON LISTENING

            Coupled with our duty to dissent is another skill we often overlook, and that is to listen. The Internet, specifically social media, has been taken over by people who are so willing to defame other people and to make baseless accusations all because they know they can hide behind anonymous and sometimes fake accounts. But while it might be easy to believe that hate speech in the Internet is already public opinion, we need to recognize whose voice really matters. We need to listen to people whose voices are being drowned. We need to listen to the people whose experiences might seem unrelated to us but whose welfare we are bound to protect.

            We listen to Lumad communities in Mindanao whose lives and lands are threatened by the increasing militarization. For them it’s not “Never Again” to Martial Law. It has never really left.

            We listen to the urban poor trying their best to cope with rising prices of oil and rice without feeling TRAIN law’s promise of improved basic services.
We listen to the workers in factories, in fast food, in construction, and yes, in government. They try to survive their lives without security of tenure and without the benefits that most of us here enjoy.

            We listen to the youth bursting with idealism. I trust that my generation will not lose our hope for ours is the future of this country. Today, we have the curse and the gift of technology that previous generations did not have. We have to learn how to make best use of this because as we now realize, online hate and misinformation have offline consequences.

            We listen to women who are victims of sexual abuses and misconduct in the streets, in their homes or even in the workplace. With a President enabling these abuses with his public sexist remarks, the fight for gender equality has taken steps backwards.

            Listen to us, in the LGBT community, who continue to fight for equal protection and against discrimination. The most alarming issue in my community is the rising number of HIV cases in the country. In 2008, an average of 2 cases of HIV were reported per day. In 2013, that number increased to 13. This year, that number is now at 32. And all the President could say when asked was “Wag yang condom kasi hindi masarap yang condom”. To people who still think that HIV is a curse to gay men, I hope you listen more and educate yourselves to understand that HIV is a public health issue. A new and strengthened HIV Policy has just been passed in the bicameral conference. This, together with the SOGIE equality bill, will move our fight forward. I hope the President does what is right this time, listen to us in the LGBT community and sign those bills into law.

            Lastly, we listen to taxi drivers asking us what do we want out of rallies and why our dissent matters. Because truth be told, we have more to learn from them than they have to learn from us. And in doing so, we raise our voices not just for them, but with them.

            It is natural to fear what is unfamiliar to us. Even more so to feel ignorant of the plight of people we do not know. But as public managers, we cannot be left deciding only based on our personal experiences. We need to understand our shared history, listen to people, and start creating reforms.

            Let me end this by quoting a line from Justice Leonen’s dissenting opinion in the case of Ocampo v. Enriquez which decided the burial of Marcos in the Libingan ng mga Bayani:

            “We forget the lessons of the past when we allow abuse to hold sway over the lives of those who seem to be unrelated to us. Silence, in the face of abuse, is complicity.”

             Present and future public managers of the Philippines, let us not be complicit to the abuses. Let’s uphold our duty to dissent with the people and to listen to the people.

             Good afternoon everyone