Text by Jericho Paolo L. Mabansag
Photos by Sarah Hazel Moces Pulumbarit
Standing before an audience of families, faculty, and fellow graduates at the Philippine International Conference Center on Aug. 2, 2026, Angeleica Faith N. Chu, in her valedictory address, stripped away the illusion of individual achievement.
“No diploma is ever earned by one person alone,” said Chu. “Every degree carries the love, sacrifices, and support of countless people behind it.”
Her words anchored the Recognition Ceremony for the University of the Philippines’ newest cohort of dentists. Themed “MANAWARI: Dentista ng Bayan, Maglilingkod nang may Dangal at Husay” (Dentists of the Nation, Serving with Honor and Excellence), the gathering was less a celebration of personal prestige than a tribute to the community network that carried the graduates through years of grueling clinical training.
For Chu, the journey to the stage was defined by shared burdens among friends and spiritual dependence on the Lord.
“Above all, I give thanks to God, whose faithfulness carried me throughout every season of this journey,” Chu said. “There were countless moments when my own strength wasn’t enough, yet His grace always was.”
That perspective shaped how Chu and her classmates viewed their clinical rotations in underserved communities, where technical skill met human vulnerability.
“Somewhere between lectures, clinics, and community rotations, we realized that dentistry was never simply about restoring teeth,” Chu told her peers. “It’s about giving people back their dignity, their comfort, and sometimes just the courage to smile again… the greatest privilege of being called doctor is not the title itself. It is that somewhere, someone will place their trust in our hands.”
Echoing this ethos of interdependence, this year’s recognition ceremony guest speaker, Lanelle G. De Castro, offered four practical tenets for navigating life beyond the clinic: Start small in service: Meaningful national impact does not require grand gestures right away; purpose often begins in small, quiet acts.
Master through repetition: Real expertise comes from relentless practice, persistence, and putting in the work consistently. Honor your personal story: Define your own trajectory without comparing yourself to others, taking inspiration from others while remaining authentic to yourself. Ask for help: No one thrives in isolation, and reaching out for support is a strength, not a failure.
“Sana mahanap niyo ang daan na tapat at para sa inyo,” De Castro said, recounting her own early hesitation between studying history or medicine. “Maraming paraan upang magsilbi sa bayan. At kung alinman dun ang piliin ninyo—be your best self.”
Reinforcing this mandate, Dr. Michelle Sunico-Segarra, Dean of the college, noted that preventive advocacy in private clinics is just as crucial to national health as rural dental outreach. She also challenged the Class of 2026 to make a difference by helping “improve the oral health status of Filipinos one patient at a time by focusing on prevention first and foremost,” she added.
Yet as the ceremony closed, Chu returned to what really makes for a life of impact and the central truth of their collective victory.
“May the greatest impression we leave never be in Alginate, but in the lives of the people we serve,” Chu said. “To everyone who helped us carry our dreams, thank you. And to my fellow graduates, congratulations. We made it.”
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