Speech of Vice President Jejomar C.

Binay

Delivered by Cong. Mar-len Abigail Binay-Campos during the Philippine Women’s University
88th Commencement Exercises, Philippine International Convention Center, Pasay, April 2,
2011, 8:00 a.m.

It is my distinct honor to represent the honorable Vice President Jejomar C. Binay on

this joyous milestone. The Vice President extends his sincere apologies for not being
with us today because he is in the Middle East, ensuring the welfare of our fellow
Filipinos in the region. Nevertheless, he sends his message which I will now read to you.

I am so happy to be here and to be able to share with you – graduates, parents and
teachers – your boundless joy on this occasion.

No one has to tell you how lucky you all are. The right to education is as basic as the
right to air, food and water, and yet not everyone is able to enjoy that right everywhere.
Studies have shown that the poorest families in the world are those whose fathers, if
they have not gone missing, do not even have a high school education; the poverty
becomes irreversible when none of the children have had any schooling at all.

Some studies show that worldwide, there are 900 million illiterate adults, 130 million
children out of school, and 100 million children who drop out as soon as they begin. The
Mexican novelist Carlos Fuentes records that 60 percent of the world’s student
population is found in the Southern Hemisphere, but receives only 12 percent of the
world’s budget for education. Every year the world spends $800 billion on armaments
but cannot set aside a mere $6 billion to put all the world’s children in school.

How lucky therefore are those who, even without government support, are able to
continue their schooling. Most of us – including your poor Vice President – were born in
some small obscure town, with nothing more than the mud of the earth under their feet.
By dint of hard work and faith in God, we struggled to rise above the humble
circumstances of our birth and make something of our poor ordinary lives.

No less than the former secretary-general of the United Nations Kofi Annan once said,
“Education is the premise of progress in every society, in every
family.” This statement puts forward the view that education brings with it great
power. Not only does it enable one to improve the quality of his or her life; it also
presents one with a multitude of opportunities to contribute to the transformation of his
or her community.

You are thus fortunate to possess such power to develop yourself further so you would
achieve greater things in life. Many Filipinos can only dream of the education that you
attained and the opportunities that will open up for you.
But bear in mind that life is not easy or simple. As M. Scott Peck says in his book The
Road Less Traveled, “This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths. It is a
great truth because once we truly know that life is difficult---once we truly
understand and accept it---then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is
accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters.”

So even from our humblest station in life, we should have the courage and the will to
aim for the stars. And if we do, chances are better than winning the lotto, we could
surprise ourselves. Your Vice President did it, you can all do it, too.

Still, although we may not have to confront any spectacular challenge and achieve
anything spectacular, all of us will have to confront the countless small travails of
everyday living. And this is where your education and training will be put to a constant
test.

The challenge begins today, as soon as we have said goodbye and you start thinking of
work. For man is born to work as birds are made to fly, and each one of us needs to work
for all the best of reasons in the world.

What are these reasons? To earn a living, for one. To help support the education of our
younger siblings, for another. To pay our parents’ doctors’ bills, to prepare for their
eventual passing, and to prepare for our own families as well. Or simply to contribute to
the common good, or to society’s resource pool. And so forth and so on.

But what are the chances of finding work? Are there jobs looking for workers with
particular qualifications? Or are people looking for any kind of work at all, without
regard to any particular qualifications? Can one create one’s own employment if no jobs
are available? Or does one have to become an OFW---a global Filipino---in order to find
an honest income?

Whatever job you finally land, if you have absorbed everything the Philippine Women’s
University has tried to inculcate in your mind and character, then you could turn your
job into an opportunity to fulfill your own vision of life while serving others. And you
will respond to every challenge with the self-knowledge, self-control and self-giving,
which are the inherent characteristics and signs of the truly mature Christian. Whatever
you do, you will have to share with others not only what you have but above all what you
are.

Indeed, education should not just for your personal benefit but also for all those whom
you can help. This belief is beautifully articulated in the following words by Pushkar
Sharma, a former student at Washington University in St. Louis:

"Education is meant to serve more than just yourself. An institution of

higher learning is meant to provide students with the skills and the
knowledge to go out into the world to help others. Education is about
opening your eyes to how you can help others and giving you the tools to
do it."
I am sure the Philippine Women’s University has given you a long list of holy men and
women, rather than mere celebrities, to imitate as models – saints who have gone to
heaven serving the poor. My own favorite pick after our Blessed Mother is Mother
Teresa of Calcutta. She went to any length to save one unwanted child from abortion and
one tormented adult from the torment of sin. Unable to stop people from calling her a
living saint, she wrote:

“If ever I become a saint --- I will surely be one of ‘darkness.’ I will
continually be absent from heaven---to light the light of those in darkness
on earth.”

We may not have what it takes to become another Mother Teresa, but in our homes, in
our schools, in our parishes, in our places of work, wherever we may be, each of us can
perhaps spread a little more love and a little more light for others. We could each
probably light a candle to scatter the darkness that threatens to engulf our world.

Thank you and good morning.