Bautista, Rizzaline L.

CAS 01-101P
Before I start this, I want you guys to imagine I am Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago.
Well, I’m not forcing you but in some way it will make you understand more this speech.

This was her piece when she was the Commencement speaker of the West Visayas State
University in Iloilo city, on 28 of March 2014.

In my approaching old age, I am now supposed to share with you what life has taught
me, and in the end to encapsulate for you what is the meaning of life. From where I am
now, I find theses conundrums are easily answered. First, life teaches us that, whether
we perceive it as predestined or as random, it is beyond any person’s control. Second,
there is no template for the meaning of life. Instead, the meaning of life is what you
choose to make it mean. In making your choice, when you reach my age, your journey
becomes an affirmation of the warning that life is a consequence of our moral choices.

As professionals in a small developing state, you will be living in an environment of

poverty and corruption. For me, these two features constitute the problem of evil. We
can see that human evil can be defined as “the suffering which results from from morally
wrong human choices, especially when the moral wrong is of an extreme kind.” It is not
difficult to identify the sources of evil in our society.

The first source of evil in Philippine society is self-interest. Everyday, many people
pursue their self-interest at the expense of others. However, self-interest becomes a
moral evil when selfish politicians make our people suffer in hunger and poverty.

Another major source of evil lies in “a failure moral imagination”. There are psychopaths
in Congress, but they are unable to imagine the sufferings that they cause on millions of
Filipinos who are poor. The most guilty are not only senators and representatives, but
also the executive officers of the so-called implementing agencies, which could be a
department, an agency, or a local government unit.

With the problem of the poverty, I use the U.N definition that poverty is present when
the person lives below $1 a day. During our time it now appears that globalization is a
key factor in increasing poverty levels in developing countries. If we do not give ourselves
a reality check, industrialization will leave the Philippines out of the global economy.
Therefore, each Filipino with a conscience, particularly young graduates, with your entire
lives with you, you must resolve to help reduce poverty in the Philippines. I emphasize to
you, as an intelligent audience, that the likelihood of poverty is increased in our country
by poor governance, ethnic conflict, corruption, degradation, and the absence of effective
social services.
You and I as individuals share with our government the responsibility for alleviating
poverty. In the exercise of your profession, try hard to participate in poverty alleviation
programs.

As a graduate of political science, of law, of theology, I am passionate in fighting

corruption, because corruption is the great evil of Philippine society today. May you fulfill
your distinctively human potential, by using both practical and theoretical reason
throughout your entire life. Thank you very much and have a good day.