It is indeed a very generous, very kind introduction. Thank you very much.

In the past, whenever in an occasion like this I was introduced, they would only read something in the paper and that was it. Today the power of technology has added vigor and power to the introduction of the president. Thank you, the Department of Information and Communication Technology.

I was so impressed a moment ago on how we did the first part of this President’s Convocation. It is so different from the way we did it a year ago. Thank you so much to the man behind it, the youngest dean of student affairs of the university – Cocoy – thank you so much.

My dear college students and friends, last July 11th - it was a Sunday - your president spoke before more than three thousand young university students from fifteen countries of the world, as I was invited by the International Youth Fellowship in their 2010 World Camp held in the southern city of Korea – Busan City – which is the place where the biggest assembly plant for Hyundai Corporation is located. Speaking to the young generation of the world that day, I was so excited, I was so inspired, that in the end of my visit the founding father of that international youth organization invited your president to speak to their future world camps all over the world. Yes, I was so excited and inspired before more than three thousand university students, but there is nothing that will compare to the feeling that now I have, speaking to my own family, the Wesleyan University family.

And so today, it is my great honor to stand before you after thirteen months of being president of this university. It was an experience thirteen months ago that I would never forget. For all of you students, faculty, deans, department heads, community leaders and friends and sympathizers of this university gathered together in that unusual day not only to proclaim and reclaim their faith in Wesleyan University but rather to declare to the world that this university, though non-sectarian, is truly owned by the United Methodist Church of the Philippines.

Since that time, men and women of Wesleyan University, you students included, have achieved wonderful things through our teamwork at every level. By working together, we have demonstrated unsurpassed creativity, unheard-of innovation and almost unlimited passion and energy for our university. And in that process, we, together, redefine and reshape how Wesleyan University should be managed consistent with the original vision of our founding fathers and better-prepared to meet the challenges of the present.

There are too many of these people who cooperated and joined me in this initial effort. But I want to publicly say that it has been their dedication to scholarship, service and character that has made our continued growth and development possible. So today, as we all gather and recommit our dedication to these familiar Wesleyan guiding lights, what we really are talking about are these men and women, our faculty and staff, our deans and department heads, the workhorses and engine to growth and development. I may therefore request the entire faculty of this university, and staff, please rise to be recognized by your family members, all faculty and staff.

Kayo ang naging katulong ko sa lahat ng mga pagbabago na aking sinisikap na ipatupad sa nakaraang labingtatlong buwan. Salamat sa inyo. Palakpakan natin silang muli.

And of course, the people who vigorously supported the vision-keeper of the university, the deans and department heads, without them I can do nothing. At this time, please rise, deans and department heads.

Kayo ang aking gabay, kayo ang pundasyon ng lahat ng aking ginagawa. Utang na loob ko sa inyo ang mga pagbabagong ipinatutupad nating lahat. Mga minamahal kong kamag-aral, palakpakan natin silang lahat. Salamat po.

And of course, as the chief executive officer of this institution, I am only here to execute the proud vision crafted by our honorable Board of Trustees... Palakpakan po natin ang members ng ating Board of Trustees.

The Wesleyan family’s commitment to strengthen this noble institution has not only made the past less than two years meaningful for me. It has made them generally enjoyable. I enjoy every minute of serving you my dear family.

As we continuously embark to a world of work ahead, let us now review that commitment and rededicate our efforts to meeting the challenges that lie ahead.

Now, think about this, my dear young students, think about this: why would thousands of bright, rich and sophisticated students who are readily admissible to the best public universities choose instead to pay perhaps five times more to attend Wesleyan University-Philippines? Why? Well, why do people choose to pay five million pesos for a Mercedez Benz when they can pay a million pesos for a Toyota?

The answer is simple; they are convinced they are getting higher quality and greater value for their money. And why do so many good students choose to come to Wesleyan University, quality as evidenced by us being the only autonomous university in Nueva Ecija. And I would like to say with pride and confidence that Wesleyan University is now the biggest and the best private university northeast of Manila.

At dahil sa inyong desisyon na piliin ang Wesleyan University bilang inyong pangalawang tahanan, at ipailalim ang inyong sarili sa pangangalaga ng mga pinili ninyong pangalawang magulang — dahil sa desisyong iyan pinasasalamatan ko kayong lahat at ipinangangako ko sa inyong lahat na hindi namin kayo kailanman bibiguin. Sa inyong lahat na mga mag-aaral na naririto, hinihiling ko na magsitayo kayong lahat. Maraming maraming salamat sa inyo.

Above all, I believe our students and their parents are attracted to the values on which Wesleyan University is predicated. And of course, extend to your parents, to your immediate family the gratitude and thanks of the whole Wesleyan community for helping you decide where to pursue your collegiate education, including secondary and elementary education. Iparating ninyo sa kanila ang lubos na pasasalamat ng buong adminitrasyon ng Wesleyan University sa pangunguna ng kanyang Board of Trustees, sa kanilang pagtulong sa inyong mahalagang desisyon na dito simulan ang paghahanda ng inyong kinabukasan sa hinaharap na panahon.
What are those ideals of the university that serve as our guiding lights?

First, we are committed to the development of our students as a whole through the cultivation and enrichment of human mind and spirit. Wesleyan is non-stock, non-profit, co-curricular, non-sectarian and an autonomous university. As such we pursue with vigor and determination that which we are committed to care, and to my care as the vision-keeper, to accomplish our vision which states, “We envision God’s reign through a Christian institution of learning inspired by Methodist tradition for the transformation of society.”

Second, we are committed to striving for scholarship, service and character, and excellence in teaching, research, patient care, and public service. In those areas we may not be the only one, but we shall strive each and everyday to be the number one. Modesty aside, Wesleyan is now the premier educational outpost in the province of Nueva Ecija, and one of the only three campuses in the entire Central Luzon. Thanks to the many invaluable assistance we get from our community, the indomitable spirit of our faculty and staff who are all obsessed “...in tearing students’ minds to pieces and putting them back together again in new shapes of the students’ own choosing.”

Third, we are committed to helping our students acquire, in addition to knowledge and skills, such things as wisdom and insight, love of truth, moral discernment, understanding of self, and respect and appreciation for others. The strength of Wesleyan education lies on our avowed spiritual obligations to our faculty, staff and students. After our students graduate and leave the portals of the University, we are assured that their spiritual upliftment shall be the winning hallmark in getting and maintaining a job for a living and shall be the cutting-edge of your own personal distinction.

Fourth, we are committed to maintaining an institution which is open to all men and women of exceptional merit, which is highly entrepreneurial, and which is unfettered by political control. Then and now, Wesleyan University shall continue to be apolitical, while we cooperate with political institutions, while the provincial government is very supportive to us, while the city government of Cabanatuan is very supportive to us, while most of our big political leaders are personal friends of your president, but Wesleyan University shall remain a non-political institution to preserve its dignity as center of excellence in the field of education.

Finally, we are committed to building quality and excellence for the long term, not just for years ahead, not just for the decades ahead, but for the centuries ahead. And this is, my friends, this is the one that I, together with your Board of Trustees, would like to leave to you and the future Wesleyan students as a legacy, a legacy that will be long-remembered after we are all gone. We shall protect this legacy we will give to you and please pass it over to the next who will come after you at this institution.

Our students, friends and colleagues, these values are the pillars of Wesleyan education; these are the values which give meaning to your work and mine; and these are the values which must be kept in the forefront as we continue to build a university which will help lead this nation in the future.

Indeed, these are our efforts that transform society, our calling in being “a light unto the others.”
On the physical facility front – before I say anything, I must publicly apologize to all of you. Last year you remember, with all the excitement I announced to you that by next presidential convocation, this gymnasium will already be a taller, a bigger, a wider, modern, air-conditioned gymnasium. I promised you that last year. Now it is not yet, that’s why I want to publicly apologize. But I want to assure you in the presence of our chairman that the groundworks had been built, the initial investment had been reserved and right after the delivery and completion of the modern food court, the only one of its kind in the province, the work to accomplish and be true to that promise will begin. Nagkulang ako sa isang pangako, pero mayroon akong isang ginawa na hindi ko ipinangako pero naipatupad natin sa pamamagitan ng suporta ng ating Board of Trustees. Have you now enjoyed passing undisturbed through the North Gate of Wesleyan University? I did not promise you that last year, but you can now freely and conveniently enter the university without suffering the traffic at the Mabini Extension street. Kung nagkulang ang inyong Pangulo ng isa, pinalitan naman niya ng isa, subalit and kanyang pangako ay magpapatuloy at matutupad.

Our University’s physical development never stops. We have just completed our Food Court and more are coming like a modern gymnasium that I have mentioned, the rehabilitation of our hospital, an Olympic-sized swimming pool, a shooting range, air-conditioned classrooms, and I think, partially from pre-school, to high school, to all the classes in our College of Criminology [to be] fully air-conditioned and in good time, hopefully within this semester, all your classrooms will be fully airconditioned.

I’d like to announce to you also, that Wesleyan University this year has beaten the odds. While many schools, universities and colleges are experiencing drastic decrease in their enrolment, Wesleyan University increased its enrolment this year. And of all the honor graduates from several high schools in the province of Nueva Ecija and neighboring provinces, Wesleyan University got the biggest share of honor students who enroled in the different colleges that you have already witnessed during our orientation program. More than three hundred of the honor students enroled in different courses in the university – valedictorian, salutatorian and others.
And looking beyond the perimeter of the university, your president got involved on a very meditated attempt to establish linkage with equally good universities abroad. During my last trip in Korea, I have reached an understanding that will be reduced in writing very soon with three big universities including my own Alma Mater, Yonsei University which is one-hundred twenty-five years old - the first and best university in Korea at the moment - to establish students and faculty exchange program. Kaya kayo na masisipag at alam kong marurunong at may lakas ng loob, na buo ang paniniwala sa inyong kinabukasan, inihahanda natin ang programa para kayo ay makapag-aral sa ibang bansa at ang mga nasa ibang bansa naman na counterpart ninyo ay makapag-aral dito sa Wesleyan University. And that applies to our qualified and very good faculty members. You will be missing some of them because some of them will be teaching in Korean universities and in exchange, some foreign professors will be teaching in your university.

Before I close, let me congratulate the College of Nursing for having brought back the old uniform, the old familiar uniform that made the College of Nursing famous in the province and beyond. Please stand for you to be recognized. Tumayo lamang po ang mga nakasuot ng dilaw ng ating College of Nursing. Salamat po. Ang kulay na iyan, hindi lamang iyan nagpasikat sa College of Nursing ng ating university, kung hindi iyan ay reflective ng kulay ng ating pamantasan. Kaya ngayon kung kayo’y naglilibot sa mga ospital, you can distinctively see the difference between the other nursing students from the other schools and our own nursing students from your university. Thank you so much for that decision, College of Nursing.

And I would like to thank also, and hope the others will follow, the College of Business and Acountancy, na minsan isang umaga, pumasok ako araw ng Lunes - alam ninyo namang ang inyong presidente ay laging pumapasok na naka-executive attire - akala ko’y dinalaw na ‘ko ng mga executive na galing sa Makati. Sa dami nila na naka-kurbata at nakaayos ng bihis ng isang business executive, napag-alaman ko yun palang Lunes ay business attire day ng College ng Business and Accountancy. Salamat sa magandang palakad na ginagawa ninyo. Now of course the other colleges are equally doing their best to put together the efforts to make the university great again.

As I finally close, I want to think about these:

God Loves You! The Holy Bible says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.” But the problem is: all of us have done, said or thought things that are wrong in the eyes of God. This is called sin, and our sins have separated us temporarily from God.

The Bible also says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” God is perfect and holy, and our sins separate us from God forever. And the Bible says “The wages of sin is death.” But the good news is, about two-thousand years ago God sent His only Son Jesus Christ to die for our sins. Jesus is the Son of God. He lived a sinless life and then died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins. “God demonstrates His own love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.”

Jesus rose from the dead, and now He lives in heaven with God His Father. He offers us the gift of eternal life – of living forever with Him in heaven if we accept Him as our Lord and Savior. Jesus said “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by Me.”
God reaches out in love to you and wants you to be His child. “As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe on His name.” You can choose to ask Jesus Christ to forgive your sins and come in to your life as your Lord and Savior.
At this time, if you want to accept Christ as Savior and turn from your sins, you can ask Him to be your Savior and Lord if you will just choose to say the following words with me. Please rise. And you can say it silently as you may prefer:

“Lord Jesus, I believe you are the Son of God. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins. Please forgive my sins and give me the gift of eternal life. I ask you into my life and heart, to be my Lord and Savior. I want to follow you always. Amen”

Thank you so much, at magandang araw sa inyong lahat.###