We have passed a milestone – an important landmark in the life of a high school student. For us, graduates, a great struggle has just been overcome. It was like embarking on a voyage into the uncharted seas beset with innumerable risks and perils. There were times when we wished the tempest to subside but then it would burst again, consuming us in its fury. Yet disappointments and frustrations mattered not for we hoped to reach the port of success.

Allow me to thank the “great” people to whom we are indebted. What we are today is the fruit of their able help and assistance. They served as our guiding light as we journeyed along life’s dim pathways, our inspiration when we stumbled in dark abysses.

My dear teachers, you must be crowned with golden laurels for you were the oases that quenched our thirst for knowledge. Receive our deep-felt gratitude for bestowing on us the most precious jewel in the world, EDUCATION. This serves as the stimulus which spurs us to pursue higher education, and satisfy our urge to know more. Years come and go. We will encounter insurmountable difficulties and meet frustrations, but there will be gains to match, our disappointments and self-fulfillment to balance our failures.

Nothing can be more touching than to behold our overjoyed parents brimming with happiness at this momentous occasion. Their sacrifices are now rewarded and their utmost desire to five us secondary education is nor fulfilled. But their dreams for their cherished sons and daughters do not stop there. They know that there are more rivers to cross and more mountains to scale. We still need their unfailing support and unfaltering encouragement to reach our foals. Mere words will not suffice to express the gratitude we have for you, dear parents.

Fellow graduates, this is the time when we leave the highway which we had traveled together for four long years. Oftentimes the way was rough and rocky. Sometimes we got stuck on thick and thorny bushes but we had emerged triumphant.

At this juncture, let us ask ourselves what our prospects in the future are. How will we act and carry on as the world rapidly changes before our eyes? Let me remind all of you that it is we who create our opportunities and shape our destinies. It is we who have the responsibility of choosing the right career and vocation in order to meet the demands of the 21^st century.

Graduation is not the end of it all. We must press forward for a new world is waiting for us. Our present world is marked with different shades and labels. It has its super-culture and counter culture, its consumer and throw-away society. With the heralded advancements in science and technology, men have attempted to probe the secrects of life and the universe with their computers, robots and spaceships. In this age of new dimensions what is needed is a new breed of youths, youths with bright ideas and strong determination.

From the matrix of our past achievements, our elders expect us to be this new breed of Filipinos – capable, potent, enterprising, progressive, dynamic but humane. We must develop our full potentials to be able to contribute to the advancement of our society and strengthen our fatherland. Soon we will take our places in our communities. We may be at the helm of giant enterprises or just minor cogs in the wheel of progress. Who can tell? But whatever we may be – let us work for the benefit of our country and our people. For to me, this is the crowning glory of our hopes and aspirations.

Besides the development of our innate talents and skills, there exists a more urgent call to build a strong moral foundation as an effective antidote against the pervading atmosphere of moral indifference which is definitely eating its way into Philippine society. It is up to us to generate fresh ideas and ideals for social renovation. Let us not be afraid of going against the tide of erroneous popular opinion. For as Madame Imelda Romualdez Marcos puts it: “We should all be activists. There is a need today for creative activism, an activism that builds rather than destroys, an activism of hope rather than of despair.”

Fellow graduates, our goals seem so far-distant, yet it can be bridged by determination. We must have strength of will and firmness of purpose in the mist of challenges and conflicts. As a poet once said, “We live in deeds, not years, in thoughts, not breaths; in feelings, not in figures. We should count time by heart-throbs. He most lives who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best.”

My beloved Alma Mater, you have always been the fountain of knowledge. Let others satisfy their insatiable thirst for understanding. We, however, are like plant. We will be transplanted to another place until we reach our full blossoming. But we will always remember you for having given us the foundation of education. We will always live up to your ideals and expectations.

Ladies and gentlemen, goodbye is a word which I hate to say but which must be said for we are to leave to follow our rainbows. Therefore, let this parting be sealed not with tears but with cheers. Someday we will meet again.