MIRIAM DEFENSOR SANTIAGO

UP CEBU COMMENCEMENT SPEECH

APRIL 30, 2014

Today, as a fresh graduate, you will find yourself in the prime of your life. Young, beautiful and a full-
fledged member of the intellectual elite of Philippine society. You will never feel as young, as beautiful
and as intellectually simulated as you are today. Therefore, grab life. Grab it with both hands! Change
the world! But first, change yourself!

To help you in your lifes journey, although suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, I drove nearly two
hours to share with you, as my fellow UP alumni, the lesson I learned from life. Today, you feel
immortal, para bang kaya mong lahat. Dahil masagana ang buhay sa edad ninyo. You cannot admit the
possibility of any accident or calamity or tragedy that might mar your life. You cannot possibly
contemplate an end to your life or the life of those whom you love. But I assure you, the devil never
sleeps, that evil lurks all the way. And I promise you, middle age will come and then old age will beckon.
By that time, I will no longer be with you so let me tell you the lessons Ive learned that life has taught
me. For the sake of brevity, I will focus on two points: political life in a developing society and the moral
life in an extremely limited lifetime.
The political sphere
No doubt, the Philippines suffer from an endemic culture of corruption. The problem is that the crooks
have made a mockery of our constitution. May Saligang Batas nga, wala namang sumusunod. Tapos
ang una pang lumabag sa batas ay mismo pang leaders natin. Sa Congress, sa Senado, sa House of
Representatives at kahit minsan sa Cabinet. Yun ang problema ng ating bansa. At kayong mga UP
graduation, you know very well that you have a moral obligation to this society that has been so good to
you to make sure that you leave your footprints in the sands of our time. But the problem is that the
crooks have made a mockery of our constitution. As a basic law, the constitution is supreme in the sense
that every law or behavior that contradicts a constitutional provision should be declared not only void
but also punishable as a crime. And yet, just an example, look at the constitutional provisions on
accountability of public officers. Hanggang ngayon, walang napakulong na mga nagnakaw ng pork
barrel. Daang milyon. Sige pa rin sila. Look at the constitutional provision prohibiting political dynasty.
Maliwanag yan sa Constitution na political dynasties are prohibited, as may be provided by law. Andyan
pa rin sila. Lahat sila. Mga kapatid, kamaganak, na magiging senador and congressmen. Anong
demokrasya pinagusapan natin? We are ruled not just by an oligarchy but we are ruled by a kleptocracy.
These two provisions are blatantly disobeyed and the perpetrators are no less than our elected leader.
How did this come about?
Lets start with our definition of terms. Corruption is the abuse of public roles and resources for a
private benefit. Masyado bang komplikado yan? Siguro kung di taga-UP di makaintinde. Yan siguro
problema ko sa senado. Corruption is the abuse of their roles as senator and their resources at their
command. Kaya ganoon na lang pagnakaw ng pera sa gobyerno. Mga walang hiya.
Corruption is the great evil of our time because it threatens the core democratic values of
representation and of deliberation. I have taken an approach on corruption which can be summarized
by principal, agent, and client. Thus, corruption is a result of wrong interaction among top official,
functionaries and members of the public. As I speak, our countrys wrath on the pork barrel scam,
punctuated by the ombudsmans announcement that just resulted to file in court criminal complaint of
plunder of three senators and other players in the scandal. Biruin mo yun. Senador ka at tapos pinag-
aralan na ng grupo ng mga abugado sa Ombudsam. Sabi nila na ikaw may kasalanan ka at dapat ka
humarap sa Sandiganbayan. Pero ang tinutukoy nila ang kakapal nga mga mukha! Pinapagtanggol pa
nila sarili nila, pinupuri pa nila kagwapohan nila! The respondents are neither surprised nor ashamed of
themselves. Theyre fighting back this time with a propaganda effort to distract the attention of the
public from their heinous crime and have instead developed a competing scandal involving other public
officials and possibly involving even the President of the Philippines himself. Ganyan katapang ang mga
apog ng mga ito. I have described that my enemies, the crooks of the government, possess the
epidermis of pachyderms! You really need intestinal fortitude to work in this kind of atmosphere. Sana
barilan na lang kami, suntukan na lang kami. Dahil kung hamonin ko ng debate, ayaw na man, eh. I trust
that UP graduates after 4 years of the most rigorous education discipline in this country, you will be able
to exercise the famous UP students power of analysis to see through the machinations of the crooks in
government. Dahil talagang abnormal kayo, mas mataas kayo sa normal. Mga kalaban ko mga
subnormal yun.
Bear in mind that the main issue is the plunder of the public treasury by high officials using pork and
cooperation of private citizens hiding under the cognomen of Non-Government Organizations. It all
sounds very complicated. To a UP graduate, it can sound very simple. If there is a crime, there needs to
be a punishment. If its a Non Government Organization, then it has no business asking for and spending
government money. Yun ang pinakaproblema sa lahat, eh. NGO sila pero gumagasto sila ng mga pera
ng gobyerno. Bakit pa sila tawagin na NGO? Dapat tawagin na lang silang official thieves.
Do not close your eyes on corruption on the grounds that no country will ever be free of corruption. It is
true that corruption is as old as the concept of government itself. But today we take a different focus.
We demand that government has to be accountable and political processes should be honest. Ano kaya
ang hinahangad ng mga taong ito? Nasa kanila na lang lahat, eh. Gusto nila nga more and more and
more. Basically, this is a problem of greed and pride.
Corruption is an analytical concept and a public concern. I went to Oxford to study corruption, when I
went back to the country everyone is exercising corruption and they didnt even go to Oxford! As
intellectual warriors of our time, while we are building our life, we are morally obliged to confront the
following sources of corruption:
1) A weak civil society
2) Impaired participation, competition and institution in politics and economics
3) Ethnic fragmentation
4) Poor tax collection
5) Underpaid civil service
6) Dependence of outside investment and extractive industries
7) The influence of arms dealers, drug dealers and other organized crime
Maniwala kayo, sa Senado merong mga criminal. Out and out. Dealing with drug dealers. Kaya sila
kunwari hindi kumukuha ng pork, saan sila kumukuha?
In the Senate, I was a sponsor of a treaty called International Convention against Corruption. The
Philippines is now a party to the treaty. And among other measures, we can travel this treaty as a
roadmap to a less corrupt government. Please put your youthful brains to work on how we can design a
national integrity system in our country.
Now let me go to the political sphere. After performing a moral obligation to take a direct hand in
combating corruption, your next focus is to look for the meaning of life.
Pag graduate ninyo, pasalamatin ninyo ang magulang at kamag-anak ninyo. Nag-sakripisyo sila eh.
Tapos pasalamatin ninyo ang professors ninyo. Some of these professors you might even hate or dislike.
Tapos concentrate ka, hanap ka ng trabaho, pakita ka ng galing, talino at sipag. Tapos, ma-promote ka
ng ma-promote. Tapos makakabili ka ng bahay mo, tapos ng unang kotse mo. Tapos, magkakaroon ka
na ng unang asawa mo. Uso na kasi maraming asawa ngayon eh. But after you reach my age, youll ask
yourself, what is all this for? Since I came from UP, I have been granted the presumption that I have an
analytical mind. I have to sit in my house surrounded by all the things money can buy and ask myself
what is all this for? I read until midnight, I read until I was cross-eyed when I was in UP. Ito lang pala
aabutin ko? I have children, I lost one. Remember, I told you, you can never predict what life has in store
for you. I only have one husband. And as far as I can tell, hes pretty disciplined. At least when Im
around. It is easy for a UP student especially a freshman to claim that life is meaningless.
I remember when I was in Oxford, they played on me a trick. They would tell me to prove to me that
God exists. Of course, there was no proof. They will tell me then: I will show to you that your God is
powerless. Then they will stand in this square and lift their hands in the sky: God, if you exist, strike
me down dead right now! Then, theyd count to ten and tell me: See? Your God is powerless. That is
the temptation of scoffing at everything that you find. But I strongly oblige you against this arrogance.
If life has no meaning, then every person should commit suicide which constitutes surrender to
disillusionment. I am of course, talking to the superficial UP student. After graduation, you might find
various world religions. All religions share that the final human purpose is to reach a stage of wisdom
and bliss. In other words, heaven or whatever you might call it. Assuming for the sake of argument, still
youre bound to dare to become what you are. Look into your heart and youll find who you are. Even if
you believe no God and there are no other worlds outside Earth, I propose to you that we are the
creators of our own values. You ask me, what is the meaning of life, Miriam? I tell you, you make the
meaning of your own lie. There is no set formula, no set calculus to answer this question. I say that the
supreme value is assertion of. Always assert life, not death. And the next supreme value is the will to
triumph over evil. Look around. Ang daming masama at di tama, ayusin mo. Kesa reklamo ka ng
reklamo. Kaya ka binigyan ng gabay na makagraduate ng UP ay para makatulog ka sa lipunan at hindi
para makapagmalaki ka. Walang kwenta yon. Linagay ka dito kung ano man yon ang layunin na hanap
mo. Ikaw gumawa ng layunin mo.
There is no proof that God exist. That the existence of God cannot be proved, means that Gods
existence cannot be rationally demonstrated. You cannot know god. Kasi akala ng mga senador God sila.
You cannot know God but we need God hence God is the necessary unknown. We are led to believe that
we dont have intended options for the meaning of life. One option is to believe that life is predestined.
Another option is that life is random. Neither option sounds intelligent. If we look at it this way, the
possibility of a designer of a universe is highly probable. As a graduate of not only law but also of
theology, I think it is my best legacy to emphasize that God is neither up above or out there. Instead God
is found in here. In the human mind, in the human conscience. That is why, you are not only graduating
with a bachelors degree today, you are graduating to a place nearer where God is. Because God is in
here. God is in you.
We are all Gods children which means, everyone has a spark of the divine. Look into yourselves and you
will find that spark. The best life project is a loving relationship to God that is based on forgiveness on
others. So I forgive my enemies, huwag lang silan magapakita sa akin. If you are able to resist pride, we
will realize that, unlike the crooks, we should treat persons not as means but ends in themselves.
Conclusion
Nothing that any persons do, no matter how rich or famous, matters. Sa edad kong ito, yun ang
narealize ko. What matters is the faith to believe that something is better than nothing. If life contains
evil, then the value of life is the constant and conscious revolt against evil, particularly when it wears the
face of corruption and poverty. For evil to thrive, its sufficient that good men do nothing. Go out of the
campus and no matter what career, go to activist politics and strike corruption! If this complex but
orderly universe could emerge from the Big Bang then the universe could have been created from a
mind of indescribable magnitude. The greater cannot come from the lesser. There is a super mind
behind this universe. Good luck and may your super mind God bless you.
Im going to recite you this familiar poem, its called Invictus which means Undefeated. I would love to
read this with my usual gestures but the wind is against me.
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
Thank you!