[Valedictory speech delivered during graduation ceremonies for the Class of 2026 of the University of the Philippines Mindanao on July 7, 2026 by Allizah Keziah Manulat (BA Communication and Media Arts), Summa Cum Laude, Class Valedictorian. Manulat is recipient of the Chancellor’s Award for Academic Excellence, Dean’s Special Award for Academic Excellence, and award for Best Thesis in Production Research.]

Sa mga administrador at opisyal ng UP Mindanao, sa mga propesor, lektor, at kawani ng unibersidad, sa ating mga alumni, mga bisita, mga magulang, at sa aking mga kapwa iskolar ng bayan, isang mapagpalayang umaga sa ating lahat.

Bilang kinatawan ng graduating class of 2026, nais kong pasalamatan muna ang mga taong tunay na bumubuo sa araw na ito: ang sentral na administrasyon, ang komite sa pagtatapos, ang bawat guro at kawani ng bawat kolehiyo, at ang mga taong tahimik na nagpapanatili ng kaayusan, kalinisan, at seguridad sa kampus na ito.

Sa ating mga kaibigan at mahal sa buhay na nagmula pa sa iba’t ibang lugar, maraming salamat sa inyong pagdalo.

Sa nakalipas na ilang araw, aaminin ko, para akong nasa cloud nine. Walang hihigit na kaligayahan kaysa sa pagkakataong makita ang aking mga kaibigan, kapamilya, at mga taong naging bahagi ng paglalakbay na ito, at masaya sila sa kung ano ang naabot namin.

But as much as I want to stay and just feel this warmth, I know that graduation is also a threshold. Hindi lang ito pagtatapos. Isa rin itong simula—at ang simula na iyon, for many of us, has a name: adulthood. O yung mas madalas nating marinig bilang the “real world.”

Takot naman ako sa maraming bagay. Takot ako sa mga butiki, takot ako sa mga multo, among many others; but there is perhaps nothing more terrifying than the two words that I keep hearing from other people these days:

“What’s next?”

What’s next after UP?

What’s next after graduation?

What’s next after this chapter?

When asked, I answer differently each time. I told a few that I might be taking a job offer; I told a friend that I might study law in a few semesters later; I told another that I might take my master’s; and I told yet another that I might pursue the academe or become a researcher.

But somewhere between all those plans, I wonder if we’ve been asking the wrong question.

Because maybe the question was never simply about what’s next.

Maybe it’s a matter of who you will become next.

We live in a time when chaos has, in many ways, become the new normal.

Every day, we wake up to headlines of corruption scandals that erode public trust, communities displaced by destructive “development” projects, farmers fighting for the land they have cultivated for generations, Indigenous Peoples defending their ancestral domains from mining and other extractive industries, workers struggling to survive on wages that can barely keep pace with the rising cost of living, and families made increasingly vulnerable by stronger typhoons, floods, and the worsening climate crisis.

When confronted with so much, it becomes tempting to believe that these are simply the realities of the world we inherited. That they are too vast, too complicated, or too deeply rooted for any one person to change meaningfully.

But in UP, you learn things differently.

Hindi dahil may monopolyo tayo sa katotohanan. Hindi dahil mas matalino tayo kaysa sa iilan. Kundi dahil sa iilang taong pananatili natin dito, paulit-ulit tayong tinuruan na huwag tanggapin ang mundo bilang isang bagay na hindi na natin kayang baguhin.

We were taught to ask difficult questions instead of settling for convenient answers. To interrogate systems rather than merely adapt to them. To look beyond statistics and policies and recognize the people whose lives are reflected in every number, every headline, every issue we discuss in our classrooms.

But make no mistake. We, as UP students, are not the Messiahs of our time. As much as we would want to, we cannot magically cure every issue in the fabric of Philippine society.

Yet that does not mean we should stop trying.

Because when we stop trying, they inevitably win. When we stop trying, those people at the top of the pyramid—those who remain consumed by a greed so visceral that it makes you wonder how much money, power, and ambition can change a person—continue to win. And when we stop trying, we let down the hopes of every Filipino out there who still dreams of a better future.

Alam kong sa dami pa naman ng mga problema at krisis na kinakaharap natin ngayon, naiintindihan ko rin namang pagod na kayo. Pagod na tayo. You’re perhaps watching the same news as I am, reading the same articles as I am, and witnessing the same absurdity, incompetence, and political circus that our nation has, at times, become.

But do not make the mistake of keeping these issues just within arm’s reach. Of noticing them, talking about them, then letting them stay at the edge of your concern.

I know this because I once made that very mistake. For years, I believed these were realities that had little to do with me. I thought that because I never had to endure extreme poverty, because I never had to toil just to earn the chance to study, because I had the privilege of having many things come easier than they did for others, I could afford not to concern myself with what I dismissed as someone else’s burden.

But I’m asking you, my fellow graduates, do not indulge yourself with such blissful forms of ignorance.

Because if you can’t find it in you to do it for yourself—if nothing else propels you to act in response to these issues—then find the courage to do it for others.

Do it for the tricycle driver and the street vendor who spend most of their days under the scorched sun. Do it for the jeepney driver who bears the daily burden of making ends meet.

Do it for the farmer whose harvest is vulnerable to climate shocks and injustice. Do it for the factory worker, the delivery rider, the teacher with too many students and too few resources, the public health worker stretched thin, the indigenous community defending land and memory, the urban poor trying to survive another day, and the countless Filipinos whose labor keeps this country moving while their lives remain precarious.

Do it for the people who rarely appear in our ceremonies but are always present in the consequences of our decisions. Do it for them.

And perhaps that’s the answer to the question that has been haunting so many of us these past few days. “What’s next?” Well, the truth is, I don’t know.

I don’t know where all of us will be five years from now. Some of us will become lawyers. Others will become doctors, scientists, artists, journalists, entrepreneurs, educators, public servants, or parents. Some will stay here in Mindanao. Some will leave. Some will pursue dreams they’ve carried since childhood. Others will discover entirely new ones along the way.

But perhaps that was never the question that mattered most. The better question is this: Who will you become when the world gives you every reason not to care?

Because sooner or later, each one of us will find ourselves standing at a crossroads where our UP education will no longer be measured by our transcript, our Latin honors, or the diploma we receive today.

It will be measured by the choices we make when no one is watching. By whether we use our education to climb only for ourselves, or whether we extend a hand for others to climb with us. By whether we become professionals who merely make a living, or citizens who help build a nation worth living in.

So if, after this ceremony, someone asks you, “What’s next?” … Tell them you don’t have every answer yet. Tell them that the future is still uncertain. But also tell them this: That wherever life takes you, you will strive to become the kind of person who chooses integrity over convenience, courage over comfort, and service over self-interest. The kind of person who never forgets that being an Iskolar ng Bayan was never simply about studying in the country’s top prestigious university. It was, and always will be, about remaining worthy of the people who made that education possible.

Class of 2026, congratulations. The world is waiting.

Dangal at husay palagi, bilang mga iskolar ng bayan. Maraming salamat.