Acceptance Speech

Remarks on receiving Distinguished La Sallian Award

De La Salle University, May 15 2006

Let me begin by echoing my co-honorees in acknowledging the efforts of President Jay Gervacio and Alumni Association, and its awards committee, led by hardworking Manny Blanco and his staff, in putting together this evening's ceremony, and for including me among the honorees tonight. Recognitions come in many forms, and there is none more genuine and treasured than recognition by one's own peers. For that, I express my sincere and heartfelt thanks. I also want to thank Father Pat Lim, for reminding us at a Mass today that recognition is not just an award, but a responsibility, a duty, to be the tip of the arrow he referred to, moving toward the desired target - a better, a more just and equitable Philippines.

There are two groups of people who deserver to share this award with me and to whom I dedicate it:

The first includes all the teachers at La Salle who have taught and formed me over my years here., from Miss Alburo in Grade One to Brother Paul Herbert in the Graduate School . MY classmates here tonight will remember these and other names, Mr. Paras (who became the father-in-law of one of my classmates), Mr. Martine, Mr. Fabella, Mr. Lara, Brother Frederick, Bro. Francis, and my favorite, Grade seven teacher, Brother Fidelis. They will also have their favorites, not only from Grade School and High School but also from our college professors; the now legendary Ariston Estrada, Waldo Perfecto, Mars Foronda, Brother Andrew Gonzalez, and so many others.

As you know, education is the main area of competence, and because of that I have had the chance to study, teach, or consult at the best universities around the world - Oxford , Tokyo University , Cambridge , Stanford, Hong Kong Univ. , Harvard, Univ. of Beijing , Sorbonne, UC-LA, and Berkeley , and many others. But at no time did I feel that the basic education I received at La Salle was in any way inferior to theirs. I have worked with the best of their graduates. And on the foundation of what my La Salle teachers gave me, I was able stand shoulder to shoulder with them and succeed.

The second group I share this award with and dedicate it to include all those who have been my professional colleagues through the years. A shortcoming of many educational institutions, because of an over qualified grading and evaluation system, is an overemphasis on individual effort over team success, as if for example a 3.56 average is better than a 3.24 average, whereas those GPA's are merely averages of approximations and not statistically different from each other. (Of course, in my case, GPA's served me well, but I know many more brilliant people than I with lower GPA's whom it did not serve well.) But in the real world, there is no true individual success, except perhaps in a few areas in sports and the arts. No one succeed without a team. That is certainly true in my case.

First of all, I was lucky to have great bosses. I had Brother Gabriel and Brother Andrew here in La Salle , Sixto Roxas in Bancom, Lourdes Quisumbing in Department of Education, Federico Mayor in UNESCO. All of them encouraged my growth by their confidence in me and their high expectations, which I had to live u to and do my best in everything I undertook.

Then of course, in every case, I ended up with a team of colleagues whom in turn I did my best to motivate and develop. I remember for example the Educational Management Center I started in this graduate school included in Lita Quebenco, now here on stage to hand out our awards. She succeeded me at EMC and then rose in stages to become Executive Vice President, now a real pillar of this university. I remember working in Bancom, with reputedly the country's best and brightest at the time, many of who went on to greater things. I remember, while managing the 1986 Cory government reorganization, putting together task forces from the private sector; about seven or eight individuals from my task forces eventually ended up as cabinet secretaries in different departments. I remember working as Director in UNESCO Paris and Bangkok with diverse individuals from over 35 very different countries and getting them to articulate coherent strategies and focus on specific goals in our campaign on Education for All. The aim was to lessen the 900 million illiterates around the world and try to put the world's 110 million out-so-school children into classrooms or non-formal programs. They achieved a significant reduction in those numbers, until population growth erased some of their gains. In summary, the simple fact is that if my teams had not been successful, I would not have been successful.

I cannot end without acknowledging my God, who enabled my being here, who enabled my very being - and, by the way, who enabled each of yours too- and acknowledging the nest from which I first took wing; my immediate family- my father, my 96-year-od mother, who is with us tonight, my sister Gina, and my brother Ernie, also an alumnus. Even before I set foot on this campus at age five to enter prep, they had prepared me for school, like a sponge, ready to absorb everything La Salle had to offer. And I have a second family - the La Salle brothers, man of them here tonight. With them, for ten years as Brother myself, I lived, worked, prayed, ate and laughed and by them I was shaped. To both families, I publicly declare my thanks and love.