[This is the full transcript of the keynote message delivered by Atty. Alain Charles J. Veloso, Private Sector Representative of the VSU Board of Regents for the 2nd Cluster of the 71st Commencement Exercises of the Visayas State University-Main Campus.]

President Prose Ivy Guas Yepes, honorable members of the Board of Regents, esteemed guests, members of the faculty and staff, proud parents, and the graduating class of VSU for 2024, good morning.

When I received an invitation from no less than President Yepes herself to share my "experiences and insights to inspire and motivate our graduates as they embark on their professional journeys," I said yes right away in spite of my busy schedule, in the hope that my story and my message will resonate with you, and equip you for the journey that lies ahead.

I'm sure many of you are still on cloud nine, celebrating Carlos Yulo's two gold medals in the Paris Olympics. His achievement is a testament to the power of resilience, resourcefulness, and perseverance. Not only was he able to overcome his personal circumstances, but he used it to fuel his drive to succeed.

Yulo's journey reminded me of my own personal struggles to be where I am today. 

Like many of you, I also come from a family of modest means. I was the eldest of four children, and both of my parents were very young when I was born. At that time, my dad was a working student, and my mom was a rank-and-file pharmacist. When I was in high school and my younger siblings were in grade school, my mom lost her job and my dad, at that time, was a low-level clerk in a government agency.  

We had to rely on scholarships to be able to study. I had to be at the 1% of my class to be able to get a full scholarship. In college, I studied at UP Tacloban, as a full academic scholar, because my parents could not afford to pay full tuition and send us to private schools in Manila and Cebu. At some point, to make ends meet, my mom had to work in Papua New Guinea while my dad was reassigned to other districts in the region. I served as the single parent to my 3 younger siblings. To augment our income, I opened a small store. I was exposed to the realities of social inequality and how poverty can profoundly affect one’s sense of dignity and self-worth. 

After graduating from UP Tacloban (cum laude and batch salutatorian) and passing the CPA Board Exams, I pursued law because I knew that becoming a lawyer would allow me to help my family and contribute more to society. 

At the UP College of Law, where I was also an academic scholar, I was consistently at the top of my batch, every semester, and I eventually graduated as the batch valedictorian. In my third year of law school, I became an editor of the Philippine Law Journal. And, for two years, I was a member of the Jessup moot court team, which represented the Philippines in the international rounds in Washington DC. I was also active in the student council and was able to run a full marathon just before I graduated. I also went on to rank in the top 10 of the 2006 bar exams.

I decided to join an international law firm because I wanted to contribute to nation-building. As an associate I would spend long hours in the office, often sleeping in my room so that I would finish my work and still be able to come to the office on time the next day. I taught law at the Centro Escolar University on weekends. In 2017, I was admitted to the EU Competition Law course at the London School of Economics, while working remotely full-time as a partner. Even as a partner in the Firm, I continue to grow and learn. In 2020, I was able to co-author and publish a textbook on the Philippine Competition Act, which is now being used as a reference material for law students and professionals. I continue to contribute as an officer and commissioner on the bar discipline of the IBP.

Throughout my journey, I never allowed my circumstances and lack of resources to hinder me. Looking back, when I would compare myself to my classmates and peers who are graduates of the best universities in the country. While they may be more confident and articulate in English, we can equal them in terms of hard work and resourcefulness. We have something that many of those who come from a more comfortable background don't have: grit, stamina, and resilience. I personally believe that the drive and hunger to succeed, and personal integrity, are more important than any other skill, talent, or resource.

So, my first message for all of you is that you should allow your personal circumstances to define who you are and limit your ambition. Unlike animals, we do not simply "react", we can decide how we respond to our circumstances. We can decide who and what to love. We are not a product of our genes, of our past, or of how people treat us. We have the ability to reinvent our lives and elevate ourselves. We should all be excited about the possibility and potential that each and every one of us has. Do not complain about it, and be a victim of your circumstances. Rise above it.

Remember that what truly defines you are your personal and core principles. These principles transcend time, culture, and place. Like physical laws, principles such as hard work, justice, fairness, kindness, respect, honesty, integrity, service, and faith are enduring and self-evident. They control the consequences of our choices and actions. For example, you will not be entrusted with bigger responsibilities if you do not prove yourself to be trustworthy and reliable. 

Your core principles are different from your values, such as wealth, fame, status, and worldly success. These values can be subjective, emotional, personal, and ephemeral. Their consequences are also unpredictable. Anchor yourself on what is meaningful and bigger than yourself, like your love for your family, your country, and your relationship with God. We all have values, but the question is, are our values rooted in our principles? Our values may dictate our behavior, but the consequences of our behavior are governed by our principles.

My second message is for you to change and renew your perspective on life and the difficulties you may encounter. If there is one thing that I can say with certainty, it's the fact that life is never meant to be fair or easy, and today we all face individual and societal issues like injustice, inequality, and economic uncertainty. And this is where grace through faith, and a profound understanding of our reality comes in: if our perspective about life is anchored on fundamental truths coupled with an intimacy with God, not only can we persevere and overcome any ordeal that comes our way, but we can also face it with joy and peace.

When Jesus was tempted in the desert, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me." You would have expected Jesus to refute the devil's claim but instead, Jesus simply rebuked him to say worship the Lord your God and serve him only. This is because, before His victory on the cross when humanity fell in the Garden of Eden and in the Tower of Babel, the world did belong to the enemy. But when Jesus was crucified on the cross, He fulfilled the law, and redeemed humanity from sin, so that we no longer have to be bound by the consequences of our sin, as long as we repent and accept Him as our personal Lord and savior. 

When Jesus told his disciples that “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me." But what exactly did he mean? When Jesus carried his cross, he was also crucified on that cross, died, and rose again, and is now seated at the right hand of the Father. This is why when Jesus ascended to heaven, his last words to his disciples were "all authority has been given unto me in heaven and on earth, and that I am with you always, even unto the end of the world."

When we carry our cross, we must also be crucified on that same cross, die to our old selves, and be born again. When we receive that free and unconditional gift of salvation, we can be washed, sanctified, and justified of our sins, be born again, and receive the Holy Spirit, and have direct intimacy with God. We can claim victory in all aspects of our lives: in overcoming our struggles, in our relationships, and in reaching our dreams. 

This profound truth permeates every aspect of our lives: (i) we allow God who is all-powerful and all-knowing to have sovereignty over our lives, so we can trust that everything that happens to us is for our own good, (ii) we will receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and our spirit of fear will be replaced with power, love, and self-control, and (iii) we become members of God's kingdom and delivered from the domain of darkness while we are on this earth. We are therefore given the mission to conduct ourselves honorably so that we can glorify God while we are sojourners on this earth. We become salt and light to the world, a shining city on a hill.

If things become overwhelming, we learn to trust in God with all of our hearts and lean not on our own understanding. We can be assured of the promise that "all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." We learn not to be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, we present our requests to God. Most importantly, we learn to not store our treasures on earth where moth, rust, and vermin destroy, and where thieves break and steal, but we store our treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.

This leads me to my final message and call to action for all of you: use your freedom and intelligence to find your voice and create your place in the world.

We all have mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual intelligence, to varying degrees. With our freedom, principles, and renewed mindset, we can use our mental intelligence to create our vision. We can use our physical intelligence to achieve self-discipline. We can use our emotional intelligence to fuel our passion. And we can use our spiritual intelligence as our conscience.

Vision is seeing with the mind's eye what is possible in our lives, in other people, in our projects, in causes, and in our communities. Most of us don't envision or realize our own potential. All things are created twice: first, a mental creation; second, a physical creation. Einstein said that "imagination is more important than knowledge." Memory is past, and finite, while our vision is future and infinite. 

Discipline is paying the price to bring our vision into reality.  You can achieve discipline if you are committed to your vision. It is the part that deals with the hard and brutal reality. Joy is sometimes defined as the ability to subordinate what you want now to what you want eventually. We must learn how to subordinate today's pleasure for a greater longer-term good. We often hear people saying that we need to live in the moment, and not be a slave to our duty. However, the reality is, that only the disciplined are truly free. The opposite of discipline is indulgence. The undisciplined are slaves to their moods, appetites, and passions.

Passion is the fire, desire, and strength of conviction, and the drive that sustains the discipline to achieve our vision. Passion is rooted in the power of our choice rather than circumstance. We can choose to be passionate. However, the key to creating passion is to find your unique talents, your special role, and purpose in the world.  As Steve Jobs said, “Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.” Find your passion, pursue it relentlessly, and let it guide your path. When you love what you do, your enthusiasm becomes contagious, and your work becomes a source of joy and fulfillment.

Conscience is the inward moral sense of what is right and what is wrong. It is the drive towards meaning and contribution. It tells us why we do things. The opposite of conscience is ego, which focuses only on one's own survival, pleasure, and enhancement, and is selfishly ambitious. Conscience elevates a larger sense of the community and the greater good. It sees life in terms of service and contribution. When you use your principles and conscience to guide how you live your life, you will learn the value of sacrifice, and the ability to subordinate oneself to a higher purpose, cause, or principle. 

Consider the 7 things that Gandhi said will destroy us: “Wealth without work; pleasure without conscience; knowledge without character; commerce without morality; science without humanity; worship without sacrifice; and politics without principle.”

In conclusion, I implore you to put to heart Paul's message to the Romans: do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. You do not have to follow society's definition of success in terms of worldly and material achievements. Instead, measure your success in terms of how you have helped others and improved this world, how you helped build God's kingdom on this earth, and how you glorified God in everything that you do because, at the end of the day, that is how all of us will be measured in the context of eternity. 

Consider the words of Mother Teresa: “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.” Whether you become doctors, engineers, teachers, or entrepreneurs, your work can have a positive impact on the lives of others. Approach your tasks with dedication and compassion. Strive to improve the world in ways that align with your passions and talents. In the words of Mahatma Gandhi: “Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” Fight the good fight, finish the race, and keep the faith, because the crown of righteousness awaits you in the end.

May the Lord bless you and expand your territory, and may His hand be with you and protect you from all harm. Congratulations on this extraordinary achievement, and may your future be filled with purpose, fulfillment, and boundless success!

[This article aligns with Sustainable Development Goals: 1 (No Poverty), 2 (Zero Hunger), 4 (Quality Education), and 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth).]

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