I AM THE YOUTH OF TODAY – ORATION PIECE

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By: Lovella Chris L. Palma

I am the youth of today. I am a descendant of the brave Katipuneros and the strong-willed
leaders of the revolution. I wear the red banner and carry the torch of my guerrilla forefathers.
The blood of my ancestors runs through my veins. I was not delivered into this world in defeat.
The resilience of the past centuries nourishes my will but I am still fighting for my freedom,
justice, and peace.

To our distinguished members of the board of judges, to my fellow contenders, friends, visitors,
ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon.

I stand before you to speak for democracy, that our heroes died for, the unfortunate and unjust
strived for, and the present and even the future generation’s endeavour. Honor and dignity flow
in my blood and my heart beats for freedom.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Filipino heroism is our legacy. It is found in the determination that
made it possible for our Banganhon brothers to fight for freedom. It is in the courage that
sustained them to seek justice for the brutal Banga massacre many years ago. Let the blood of the
courageous Katipuneros run through the veins of our children. Let their cries be echoed to our
youth. Let us revel in the victory and peace that our forefathers gave their life for.
But where is our freedom? Through the agony of the three hundreds of years under the Spanish
colonization, several years under the Japanese and American occupation, I should think we are
liberated from foreign forces… but a fellow Filipino dictator once again threatened our peace.
When victory became ours, the seed of democracy in our country began to take root and sprouted
to grow. I should rejoice, and shout. However, ladies and gentlemen, I can see pictures of our
Mother Land in reality at the present and she is chained. Her shackles are those of poverty and
inequality. Her chains are those of injustices, human rights violations, corruption, and treason.
Her eyes are blinded by media, and social networking. But her heart breaks as she sees her sons
point their guns at each other. She sees her daughters slaving their way in foreign lands to earn
money to buy food for their families. Is this what freedom has cost her?

I am the youth of today, I am free to do what I want without prejudice. I am free to say what I
want without fear of incrimination. I have grown fond of TV shows, love teams and teleserye,
and fight over them in social media. If only my fellow youths can defend our land from
domestic terrorist groups, like how we defend AlDub or Pastillas girl. If only we can protect our
West Philippine Sea from foreign invaders like how we protect our love teams from rumors.
Then I can say that our forefathers’ heroism is not in vain.

Fellow Banganhons, I am the Filipino Youth of today. I enjoy social networking like facebook
and instagram. I like taking selfies and posting it online. But what I do online does not define
me. It is my thoughts – thoughts that will always contain memories of the meaningful virtues our
ancestors passed down to us. It is my words – in the stories that I will tell my future children and
grandchildren of how Aeaw-aeawcame to be. It is in my actions that embody the true nature
of Saguibin – helping one another.
As Dr. Jose Rizal once quoted, “He, who doesn’t know how to look back where he came from,
will never reach his destiny.” The only way to reach our dreams for the future is to have a clear
understanding of the past. What has already happened can never be changed but they can be
lessons we can learn from.
I am the YOUTH of today. I am a descendant of the brave Katipuneros and the strong-willed
leaders of the revolution. I wear the red banner and carry the torch of my guerrilla forefathers.
The blood of my ancestors runs through my veins. I was not delivered into this world in defeat.
The resilience of the past century nourishes my will but I am still fighting for my freedom,
justice, and peace. Ladies and gentlemen, where is YOUR freedom? Once again, good afternoon.
EDUCATION SPEECH MRCIBUBUR

Good morning, distinguished guests, respected teachers and dear friends.

Ladies and Gentlemen, my name is ……………………………….. and I am a Grade

(five) student at the …………………….. Elementary/Primary/Junior School.

The topic of my speech is education.

Today is Education Day.

I would like to tell you about the value of education and its contribution to our
lives.

Education is the tool which helps us to face and deal with challenges.

It gives us knowledge, confidence, shapes our personality and our future.

Education is not only about gaining knowledge but learning how to use it
wisely in everyday life to help others.

Our wonderful teachers guide and help us to realize our potential,

academically, socially and physically so that we are prepared and strong to
face those many difficult challenges ahead of us.

Our teachers show us how to be more independent and creative while pointing
us in the right direction for a rewarding life in the big world.
We know and understand that we should seek to remove bad habits, poverty,
inequality, gender discrimination and other anti-social issues from our
lifestyle in order to be a positive and valued member of society.

My dear friends. I ask you to think of education as a healthy food which

nourishes us and makes us strong. When we are strong, then we are happy
and at peace with the world .

In conclusion, I would say this. Draw inspiration from people around us who
lead by example and who provide us with good quality education, who
encourage us to learn what we need to know to go forward with our lives.

Let’s embrace modern technology and know-how but still keep tradition and
culture in perfect harmony so that we can achieve excellence in everything we
do for future generations.

That’s all. Thank you very much for your attention. Thank you for giving me
this opportunity to address you all today.

I am most honoured.
 There’s no winning in life
LLOYDLUNA

For the longest time, I believed in winning. I believed that in any competition, someone
has to lose so that one can win. I believed in winning since my early exposures in
competitions and quiz bees way back in the 90s. Oh, God. When we compete, the goal
is always to win.
And why not? The winners always take it all—the trophy, the medals, the honor. And if
you go home losing, it’s depressing, it’s painful, it’s just one of those things we can’t
really be proud of. Of course, people would pacify your sadness by telling you, it’s OK.
You can try again next time.
We believe them. So we would join the competition again. This time, we believed we
are better and therefore would have a greater chance of winning. Regardless of the
result, people would always have something to say whether we win or lose.
All our lives, we are made to believe in winning. That, should we want to really be
happy, we have to win. They didn’t really require us to win big. Winning is sometimes
enough. Just win because losing isn’t good. Losing means you are weak, unprepared,
disorganised. You are less when you lose, they say.
So every now wants to win. Whatever happens, the goal is to win. Yes, sometimes
whatever it takes.
Today, allow me to say what I discovered. In life, there’s no winning. There’s only
learning. We can’t win in life. But we can only learn.
When we were still in pre-school, we were told to pass to enter the primary school. We
did. And then we were told to go through another six years so we can go to high school.
We did. And then we were told to study for another four years or more so we can either
get a job or start our own business. For some, they were asked to take a Master’s or
Doctor’s degree and they did.
In all those years, have we won? Oh, yes. We certainly did. We won in different levels.
But we won. We got our diplomas and marched during the graduation rites. We made it.
But have you also noticed that this is a never-ending game? That whatever you do, how
much you believe you are winning, you are always on to another game? That however
good and worthy you have become, you will end up starting a brand new level again.
That every now and then, something new is about to begin and that this life is a never-
ending game?
I saw it.
It may appear that we are winning but in truth, we are not. We are just learning. And
even losers get the same chance to learn. That explains why some losers now become
winners of tomorrow and some winners now become losers in the future.
I’m writing this not because I don’t want people to win and that I encourage people to
lose. I simply want to emphasise that in this life, in this game, don’t focus on winning.
Focus on learning because that’s all there is in this life. Whatever we do, we will have to
take another game and that will happen until our last day.
We can’t win in life. And we can’t finish the game alive. But every day in every game,
big or small, we have the opportunity to learn. You don’t have to win to be happy. You
just have to learn. Maybe that’s enough reason to move on—knowing that you’ve
learned and you can face another game with the lessons in your heart.