It was the first time in its 111 years of celebrating the academic achievements of its graduates that UP Manila conferred an honorary degree and this became the highlight of its first virtual graduation held on September 6, 2020.
Former UP President Alfredo E. Pascual was conferred the degree of Doctor of Laws Honoris Causa during the commencement exercises of UP Manila that was streamed via Facebook and YouTube. Pascual was honored for “his visionary leadership that has steered the University of the Philippines into a course as the premier state university for the 21st century, committed to nation-building and public service.”
Under his leadership as UP president from 2011 to 2017, Pascual unified UP and its constituent universities with harmonized policies, integrated information systems, and collaborative research and teaching programs. He is recognized for enhancing the University’s financial sustainability and resource management, enabling it to strengthen the faculty and modernize physical and cyber infrastructure for advanced scientific research, creative work, and cultural preservation.
With the billions of funds he generated from local and international bodies, he strengthened the research infrastructure through the construction of the Philippine Genome Center, new National Institutes of Health and new laboratories, renovation of existing laboratories, and modernization of the laboratory machines and instruments of the Philippine General Hospital.
He implemented pioneering initiatives, innovative projects, and bold reforms that benefitted the university, its constituents, and the country in the face of formidable issues and adversity.
Pascual was also recognized for his accomplishments and contributions in the fields of international development banking, management education, and corporate governance leadership.
In his speech, Pascual used the sablay — the green, maroon, and gold-colored indigenous fabric worn by UP graduates with Baybayin letters denoting the UP initials— as a symbol of honor and excellence, love of country, and service to the nation expected of UP graduates. “The sablay is a symbol of the people’s hope in the graduates as future leaders,” he stated.
The former UP president shared tenets of leadership that the graduates must live by such as humility, courage, solidarity with others, integrity, and agility and resilience as they start to contribute to efforts to rebuild the country post COVID and remake it into a nation that is inclusive, self-reliant, and socially just.
“UP is producing graduates not to become the country’s privileged intellectual elite but to be the nation’s hope. UP must succeed not because we have a reputation to protect but because we have a country to serve,” he declared.
Acknowledging UP Manila’s swift response and contributions to addressing the COVID-19 pandemic, he cited the development of the RT PCR local testing kit Gen Amplify, training of laboratory personnel and serving as a laboratory for COVID-19 tests through the National Institutes of Health, PGH serving as a COVID-19 referral hospital, and the setting up of the UPPGH Bayanihan Center.
CYNTHIA VILLAMOR | Published in Healthscape Special COVID-19 Issue No. 16
