(0:00:03) Ask and you will receive. Seek and you will find. Knock and the doors will be opened. Sabi po sa Matthew 7:7 hanggang verse 8. Pag nagtanong o naghanap, mahanap mo. Pag kumatok, may bubukas na pinto.
(0:00:32) So before we talk about your future, our future, and while today we thank God for the amazing blessing of passing the bar exam and your whole journey sa law school and undergrad, balik muna tayo sa nakalipas. Diba sabi nung ating mga ninuno, ang taong hindi marunong lumingon sa kanyang pinanggalingan ay may stiff neck.
(0:01:00) Kaya hindi makalingon sa kanyang pinanggalingan. Sabi po ni Dean kanina, I really like the speech of Dean, kumpletong kumpleto. Sabi niya, ‘di ba, behind every student, bar passer, I’ll amend it ng konti or interpret it. When the statement is clear, dapat hindi interpret, pero nagustuhan ko talaga. Sabi niya, na behind every success, is a story. My journey, ‘di ba? Sabi naman po ni PUP President Muhi is that yung impact ninyo.
(0:01:41) So sa akin kasi confirmation yun. Because when I saw the invitation, medyo late na. But I really felt in my spirit that God or the Lord Holy Spirit wants us to be together and to talk about certain things tonight. And yun nga, permission to share that. I wonder…
(0:02:05) When you started to ask God na sana maging abogado kayo? Was it a television show that you watched? Nasama ba kayo ng parents niyo sa sa korte? May kamag-anak ba kayo na naka naka ano nang injustice, ‘di ba?
(0:02:30) When did you first ask your parent[s] na dad, mom, matagal to, kasi after four years ng college, may four years pa [then] may bar exam. I wonder how many hurdles na parang anak, hindi ko alam kung matatapos mo college, pero may law school pa, tapos may bar pa. And I wonder how many times you had to tell your boss, kasi marami sa inyo ay working student na, Sir, kailangan ko mag-aral.
(0:03:01) Or pwede ba umabsent kasi may klase kami? Or pwede bang maaga ako pumasok or malate? What’s my point? My point is that your cumulative actions led to where you were today.
(0:03:20) Of course, tama yung sinabi ni Dean, kasama dun yung prayer at saka yung faith, di ba? Or kumbaga, nagsasagwan kayo, meron kayong sail, pero yung wind dun, yung faith at yung grace ng ating Panginoon. So you are here today as lawyers facing a great future because you asked, maging junior partner ka agad, senior associate, matanggap bilang clerk ng isang CA Justice, like Justice Patuan, or kay akin pong isang idol, ang ating pong Sandiganbayan Justice na I’ve watched throughout his career. Sayang, sayang, kasi nasa JBC ako nung na-nominate sa Supreme Court, pero the Supreme Court was not ready for him.
(0:04:18) I’ll go to that later, but I meant that. Maganda yung seed. So, what are you asking for? Napaka-unique ng inyong batch. Bakit? Unang-una, kayo ang batch nung kayo’y nasa college ay tinamaan ng pandemic, ‘di ba? So, kayo lang ang grumaduate na hindi nagkikita-kita, naka-mask.
(0:04:45) at lahat na ng klaseng pagsubok na pinagdaanan ng ating bansa. Yes, you’re not martial law babies like us. You’re not commonwealth babies or Japanese occupation babies like Senator Enrile.
(0:05:02) But for example po, yung Duterte administration. If you are for Duterte, then you are a witness of a campaign against drugs and preventing us from becoming a narco state. If you are against Duterte, I respect that. And if you think it was a time of EJK, either way, very unique. And then, kayo din ang witness ng pinaka-malaking nakawan sa history ng ating bansa. Yung flood control, etc. scandal. Kayo yun, batch niyo yun. Habang nagba-bar-exam kayo, ‘di ba? And then, ngayon, nangyayari yung Iran-US-Israel war.
(0:05:49) I really pray and hope it finishes right away. But pag tumagal to ng linggo at buwan, hindi talaga natin alam ang epekto sa ekonomiya at sa bawat isa. And then, AI. So, you know, pinapagalitan ako ng asawa ko pag binabanggit ko si Senator Enrile, but I grew up with him. Yung office niya, seeing him, etc.
(0:06:15) And I’m fascinated by that tayo minsan nakakalimot tayo sa history, samantalang siya, pinanganak siya, wala pang TV, radio pa lang. Tayo, umaangal tayo, nung ang parents natin hindi marunong mag-cellphone, e si Enrile, nung matuto mag-TV, lumabas na bigla yung internet. Eh ngayon, AI na, ‘di ba? So can you imagine, lahat po tayo dumaan sa isang pandemic. Si Senator Enrile, dalawang pandemic ang pinagdaanan. Yung Spanish flu at saka yung COVID. Tayo pinagdaanan namin, kami, EDSA 1, EDSA 2.
(0:06:51) Siya pinagdaanan niya, panahon ng Hapon, Commonwealth, Martial law, EDSA 1, EDSA 2. What an amazing life and perspective, ‘di ba? So if he was your speaker today, not me, he would be assuring you,wag matakot masyado sa future.
(0:07:12) But I’m not that sure whether he would be optimistic or pessimistic about your future. And I think that’s why I’m here. I want to encourage you that in the same manner that your individual decisions, the sum total made you lawyers, I wonder if your batch bind together. What is your impact on the legal community and our justice system?
(0:07:43) Kung yung batch nyo ang magsasabing, alam nyo, ‘di bale na kung hindi ma-promote, pero hindi kami maglalagay sa judge. Alam nyo, yung e-sabong at yung online gambling, maraming masasamang buhay talaga. So kahit na deserve a lawyer, iba na lang. Pero hindi kami sa PUP ang hahawak niyan. Alam mo, ang Hong Kong at saka ang Singapore, binan ang vape. Pero ang Pilipinas, tinanggap pa yung factory.
(0:08:19) So all of what’s happening from us today, including the flood, control scandal is because of my generation’s actions in the 90s and early 2000s. Kasi 92 pa lang konsehal na ako eh. 98 congressman na ako, 2007. So nung naging konsehal ako, I can blame the generation ni Enrile. Pero yung nangyayari today, I cannot blame anyone. Because I was there and I was a public official already in 30 years.
(0:08:53) So whatever your success we have now, part kami niyan nii Senator Zubiri, ni Senator Escudero, mga ka-batch ko yung mga yan eh. President Pnoy, President Marcos nakasama ko sa Senado, ‘di ba? Our cumulative actions is what’s happening today.
(0:09:16) So 20, 30, 40 years from now, pag-reunion niyo, what the Philippineswill look like will depend on what you do individually, but also what you do as a community. I don’t know why. Alam mo si CJ, professor namin. Marami kaming professors na sumikat.
(0:09:40) Maraming pumasok sa Judiciary, etc. Maraming kaming mga ka-batch. Ka-batch ko po si Ace Durano na naging secretary din. Marami po kaming ano. I don’t know why hindi kami nag-reunion. Hindi kami nag-reunion, 10th year namin, 15th year, 25th year. Yung usual lang sa school and then yung per class.
(0:10:00) Pero kami hindi nag-reunion. So when I was coming here today, I said, I wonder kung kahit one-third lang sa amin kept in touch and promised to be the vanguard of our batch and promised na, sige, hindi tayo agree sa health. Yung iba gusto smoking, yung iba hindi. Yung sin taxes, pero what if we had fundamental, halimbawa nakawan. O pagdating ng nakawan, we’ll draw the line. Okay.
(0:10:29) I wonder what kind of society we will have today. I know this is a law school. So let’s talk about laws. Sabi sa Bible, kung anong itatanim mo, yan ang iyong aanihin. Yung batas na yan, nasa physics din. Sabi sa Newton’s third law, ‘di ba? For every action, there is an equal reaction or action, and it is opposite. So if I push for good governance, may tumutulak pabalik na magnakaw. So when we were pushing against flood control money, may nagpu-push for flood control money. So what is my point? You cannot just wake up in the morning and wish for a better country. If you don’t change our country, someone will.
(0:11:28) And that ‘someone will’ is someone who wants corruption, who wants immorality, who wants to destroy our nation. Bakit? That’s the way of the world. I skip to the third law of Newton. Go to the first law of Newton. The first law of Newton is inertia. Na something that is going will not stop until there is an opposite force.
(0:11:57) So, may corruption ba sa ating bansa? Meron. Sinong titigil nun? Tumigil ba ngayon? Nagbababanatan lang yung magkalaban eh. I’m not saying walang nangyayari at walang ginagawa. I mean, we’re so much better than generations before but we’re also so much worse. But what is the second law of Newton? Sabi niya, force equals mass times acceleration.
(0:12:27) So the bigger the force, mas mabilis yung acceleration ng mass. Ang problema, the bigger the mass, the more force you… So sa Taguig po, 30 years ago, pag sinabi mong nasaan ang Taguig, sasabihin saan yun? Kilala kami for two things, balot and baha.
(0:12:50) Because pagdating ng October at umulan ng malakas, sure yun hanggang November, minsan hanggang January, baha pa. If you remember the impeachment of President Erap, hanggang January, hanggang bewang, hanggang tuhod ang baha in one-third, one-fourth of Taguig. Now when you say Taguig, BGC. Naging konsehal po ako, 20 million ang budget ng Taguig.
(0:13:13) The next year, full implementation ng local government code, 300 million. Naging mayor po ang wife ko, ang budget po ng Taguig was 2 billion. Ang utang was 1.9 billion. Scholarship fund was 5 million. Basura fund was 500 million. One-fourth of our budget was basura.
(0:13:39) Five terms later, ang budget ng Taguig ngayon is 24 or 26 billion pesos. Alam na ng tao ang BGC, ARCA, etc. We’re not perfect, but there were conscious-decisions. May gustong magtayo ng casino sa Taguig, hindi kami pumayag. Sabi namin sa magtatayo ng casino, ‘Sir, sa mga parlor lang, grabe na yung prostitution. Yung mga high school, inaalok, magtatayo ka pa ng casino.’
(0:14:08) May kinausap ako sabi ko ‘Sir, huwag na kayong magtayo ng casino. Pasensya na kayo. Kasi pinagdadasal namin ang Fort Bonifacio. Tapos para kaming naglagay ng streamer, Welcome Casino habang wala pa yung blessing ni Lord’. Akala niya, I was talking about yung mayor na kalaban ko. Sabi niya “hindi hindi, kaibigan ko rin yung mayor, kalabang-kaibigan din kita’. Sabi ko ‘hindi sir. Hindi yun ang ibig ko sabihin. Ang ibig ko sabihin, sir, dine-dedicate namin kay Lord ‘to. Tapos magtatayo kaming casino’.
(0:14:37) Para kaming nag-imbita, inimbita niyo ang guest speaker. Tapos kung sino pinaka-kalaban ko, yun yung nasa streamer niyo. Alam niyo, sabi sa akin nung kausap ko, and he was sincere. He was sincere. Congressman, huwag kayong mag-alala. Kung yun lang pala ang problema, ang balak kasi namin slot machine lang at ilan lang one cards.
(0:15:01) And one story lang. But since yun ang concern mo, gagawin kong two story, lalagyan na lang natin ng chapel yung second floor. But he wasn’t being sarcastic. He was not, what you call, mocking our faith. Sa kanyang paniniwala, walang conflict yun. And to be honest with you, nung first term ko sa Congress, I was for gambling, basta’t legal.
(0:15:26) Saka ko lang nakita na may mga nasisirang buhay at kahit kaya mo, nate- temp yung iba. Nakita natin sa e-sabong yun. Ang globe at smart ay ang kita nila yearly is 50 billion, 5-0. Smart at globe, individually. Ang e-sabong gross income for one month is 60 billion.
(0:15:47) 60 billion. Walang infrastructure, walang manufacturing, walang intellectual property, ‘di ba? But 60 billion. Tinanggal natin yun. Napunta sa POGO. Tinanggal natin yung POGO. Abang-abangan nyo po in the next few weeks mukhang papayag na sa i-regulate na lang imbis na ipagbawal ang ating online gaming. That’s the kind of country we have now.
(0:16:14) And I’m not going to point fingers and blame any other person. It is my generation who made us what it was today. So today I lay that on your feet. Opportunity.
(0:16:26) You have the opportunity to change our nation but also the responsibility. Sabi niyo, Alan, binanggit mo yung Bible. Binanggit mo Newton’s Law of Motion. Wala naman sa Constitution yan. Nasa Constitution po yan. Basahin niyo, between the preamble and the national territory. Oh bar passers kayo. Oh what’s between preamble and national territory? Nag-google kayo ngayon. Common sense.
(0:16:56) Hindi na kailangan isulat sa Constitution yun, ‘di ba? Common sense kung anong itatanim natin, yun ang aanihin natin. So to the 2025 bar passers, may I share this? One, leadership matters. Leadership, dami-daming sinasabi about all the problems—leadership.
(0:17:21) Bakit kayo pumasa ng bar? Because first, you led yourself. True purpose, marami kayong tiniis para pumasa. If you did not lead yourself at nag-party-party ka muna or nag-drugs or whatever, hindi ka pumasa ng bar. Baka may isa sa inyo nag-party-party pumasa pa rin but you’re the exception.
(0:17:42) Most of you are, meron minsan eh, meron minsan. But you’re the exception, ‘di ba? So number one, leadership matters. Yourself muna i-lead mo. Then your family. What did Grosho said? Sabi po niya, you cannot lead a nation unless you lead a city. And you cannot lead a city unless you can lead a tribe.
(0:18:04) And you cannot lead a tribe unless you can lead your family. And you cannot lead your family unless you can take hold of your basic instincts. Nung mga what makes you human, diabetic ka, kakainin mo, panay matamis. Mataas kolesterol mo, ino-order mo, panay letchon . Alam mo nang sugarol yung probinsya mo, governor ka, tayo ka pa ng sugalan bawat kanto. Then what do you expect?
(0:18:34) So, it is a time for action, but it’s a time for leadership. And where does leadership start? Sa basic mong paniniwala. In my office, I’ve been in office since 1992, but itong 2022, tinamaan ako dun sa mission, vision na kailangan talaga may mission vision. So, we made it very simple. Honor God. So, sabi ko sa staff ko, anything that does not honor God, huwag na tayo mag debate.
(0:19:00) Anything that does not honor God, against tayo doon. Ganun lang kasimple. Okay, number two, build communities. If you leave me alone, kung wala yung asawa ko si Lani, wala yung ate ko, wala yung mommy ko, wala yung friends ko like Jeremiah, wala yung mga kasama ko sa state Us, etc. Just like anyone else, I’ll make more mistakes. Sabi sa Bible, guard your heart.
(0:19:23) Diba? So, importante yung community, whether that’s a PTA, whether that’s a church, importante, you stick together—kayong graduates. Mamaya, hahanap kayo ng mga padrino, ang tutulong sa’yo, kaklase mo lang pala. Hahanap kayo ng trabaho, hahanap kayo ng kung ano-ano, may uutangan kayo. Kung saan-saan kayo naghanap, ayan, katabi mo lang pala. Naghanap ka kung sino may kasalanan, katabi mo pala.
(0:19:51) So wag nang iba hanapin natin. Lastly, and I’ll end here, transform the nation. Anything we do, that does not transform, doesn’t really matter. Lumaki po kami na yung bases [ng] Clark at Subic ay nasa Amerikano pa. You know, lahat ng kalokohan sa pagda-drive gagawin. Lahat ng, lalo kung malakas ka sa gobyerno during that time, hindi ka talaga susunod sa traffic rules. Pagpasok na pagpasok ng Clark at Subic, walang traffic light, walang CCTV, walang traffic enforcer, pero pag nakita mo yung linya or nakita mo yung sign stop, tigil lahat. Pati yung naka-convoy, hindi sila magkaonvoy ng grupo. Isang kotse muna, tapos pagtawid, hintayin mo yung backup mo o yung advance mo. Kasi nga, sumusunod lahat. So there is change. But there’s no transformation.
(0:20:56) Bakit? As soon as they get out, of Subic and Clark, dating gawin. ‘Pagka green, go. ‘Pag yellow, go very fast. ‘Pagka red, look left and right. Kung wala naman nakatingin, go faster, ‘di ba? So, I do believe that your generation has so much opportunities. And hindi ako pessimistic sa AI.
(0:21:23) You know, binabasa ko yung statement ng lahat ng leaders natin, lahat ng leaders natin ‘baka mawala ng 100,000 jobs, baka 200,000’. Tapos tinignan ko yung statements ng taga Singapore, taga India, yung ibang taga US, ang statement nila. This might create billions in revenue. It might create 50,000 new jobs. How come they see the possibilities and how come we see the problems? Diba?
(0:21:51) Because nga, Filipinos have very good seed, but we have very bad soil. So, I said I’ll stop there, but allow me to stop here. Yung parable sa Bible, ‘di ba? May farmer, yung una niyang hinulugan ng seed was a pathway. What does the pathway represent? Masyadong matigas.
(0:22:11) So sa inyo dito, there are four kinds of people listening to me now. Yung first one, yung masyado matigas puso ‘Hindi, pumasa ako ng bar para yumaman. Wala akong pakialam kung sino masagasaan ko’. Matigas na puso niyo eh. So kahit anong sabihin ng kahit sino dito, wala na kayong pakialam. Yun yung pathway. The second one is the hard soil. Nakinig siya, na-interesado. ‘Tama sinabi. Dapat i-organize ko yung grupo. Dapat doon tayo sa mabuti.’ Anong problema?
(0:22:40) Matigas yung soil, hindi nagkaroon ng ugat. So nagkaroon ng konting temptation. May hindi ako na-kwento sa inyo dun sa kasino. When I went to see that guy, may kinausap akong pastor. Sabi ko sa pastor, ‘Pastor, samahan mo ko. Kakausapin ko kasi yung magtatayo ng kasino’. Sabi niya, ‘Ba’t kita sasamahan?’ Sabi ko ‘kasi pag inofferan na ko ng pera nung hayop na yun, baka masampal ko eh. So gusto ko ng witness’.
(0:23:09) So sabi niya, ‘So ang trabaho ko, mag-witness na hindi ka offeran ng pera’. Sabi ko, ‘actually hindi, Pastor. Ang trabaho mo, ako sampalin mo pag tinanggap ko yung pera’. Kasi it’s so easy to say, eh. Baka offeran ako ng pera. So, imagine ko, offeran ako isang milyon, hindi ko tatanggap, sampalin ko. Eh, pagdating doon, 25 milyon yung ino-offer.
(0:23:32) Ang daling sabihin, sir, problema mo, prostitute, baba. Ito, pang-scholar mo na. It’s so easy to justify ‘di iba? So that’s the problem pag hindi umugat. What’s the third one? Weeds. Yun yung masamang barkada or yung masamang environment, ‘di ba? So, na-plant yung seed, nagkaroon ng ugat, pero sinakal ng weeds. Ang ganda ng pinangasawa mo, mahal na mahal ka ng asawa mo, gusto mo na maging faithful, pero araw-araw ang barkada mo, ang gusto, nightclub, et cetera, et cetera. So, hinihintay mo lang na bumigay ka eh, ‘di ba? Yun yung weeds. But the fourth one is the good soil.
(0:24:21) I feel bad that we stand before you today not leaving you with the good soil. I mean, hindi pa naman ako alis. Tingin ko pa naman baka may one term pa ako or whatever or baka mag-local muna. So hindi pa naman tapos trabaho ko. Baka may five years [or] ten years. But if I was to leave tomorrow, I did not leave you good soil. We did not provide the kind of leadership like Lee Kuan Yew left sa Singapore.
(0:24:49) Kaya pag alis niya, kahit hindi anak niya muna pumalit sa kanya, maayos. Kasi may core value of integrity. And yung susunod na generation ngayon, nagko-complain yung Singaporeans. I’m very close to the Singaporeans, especially to their foreign minister and to their other businessmen, no?
(0:25:12) Yung generation ngayon hindi na alam yung hirap nung dating generation. But since yung core values, yung soil, yung environment ayos na, it prevents them from going back and recurring. Eh tayo binat nang binat nang binat. We wake up finding ourselves worse off than we were before.
(0:25:34) So, I told you, I want to encourage you. Part of the encourage is giving you the reality. But the reality is kaya natin ito. And the reality is when the dean and the president of PUP spoke here, saying, nandun po ako nung ano.
(0:25:52) Nung nag-umpisa, I mean, I know the history of PUP. Kalaban namin yung una niyong Dean eh. Kaya alam ko rin yung history, etc. Grabe yung pinagdaanan niyo. Kaya nung tinanong ko sa staff ko, speaker ako, ilan ang pastors nila, isang daan, nagulat ako. Lumaki ako sa isang bahay na UP lang ang law school.
(0:26:21) Nung tumawag ako sa dad ko dahil wala ako dun sa pumasa sa UP, ‘Dad, hindi ako pumasa’, binaksakan ako ng telepono. Sabi, it’s a disaster. And nung tinanong ako, saan ka maglo-law school? Nung sinabi ko maga-apply ako sa Ateneo, hindi, mag-apply ka sa lahat. Hindi, pag hindi ako pumasa sa Ateneo, hindi na ako papasa. First sem namin, nag-guest yung dad ko. Ang katabi niya, yung tatay ni Jopet, si ipaglaban mo.
(0:26:49) Alternative school, alternative classroom program. Sabi ba naman niya kay attorney Sison, pare, magaling na pala Ateneo ngayon kasi nandun ako eh. So magaling na daw. Tapos, okay lang yun eh. Biglang ang kasunod na hirit, hindi katulad dati, ‘di ba, na UP lang ang magaling.
(0:27:10) Kasi yung generation ng dad ko, Justice, di ba? Yun ang paniniwala nila eh. Nung nag-groundbreaking ang UP sa BGC, tinanong ako ni Senator Drilon, Senate President siya nun, Alan, ba’t hindi ka pumunta sa groundbreaking? Sabi ko, Tito, nandun naman po si Lani. Kahit na UP yun, dapat nandun ka. Sabi ko, Tito, I don’t want to witness.
(0:27:31) The groundbreaking of the second best law school in the land. Tinalikuran ako, hindi natawa. Nagjo-joke lang naman ako, ‘di ba? So, nung araw po, ganun. ‘Diba nung araw, ganun. Then, nag-rise up ang Ateneo. Then, nag-rise up ang San Beda, San Sebastian. I remember si Usec ng DBM. Siya po yung taga-Baguio.
(0:27:54) In-interview siya, ang sabi sa kanya nung ABS or GMA7, I forgot na. In-interview siya, but tuwang-tuwa ako si Usec Abuel. Tuwang-tuwa ako sa, in-interview siya, sabi sa kanya, Ma’am, ngayon na ang top-notcher ay taga-probinsya, anong masasabi niyo? Kinuha niya yung mic, sabi niya sa reporter, excuse me, Baguio is a city, not a probinsya.
(0:28:18) Because yun ang mentality sa Manila eh. Yun ang mentality ng mayayaman. Yun ang mentality ng mga taga-UP dati, ‘di ba? So, PUP, ilang beses kayo nagpalakpakan today nung nagsalita Dean niyo, nagsalita Presidente niyo, nagsalita yung emcee niyo. Diba? Turn that pride into actual impact and change in our nation. God bless you and thank you for this opportunity.
