Diosdado Banatao

The Beacon Academy was honored to have innovator Diosdado “Dado” Banatao accept our invitation to be the Academy’s commencement speaker for 2017. Here is his full speech:

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BEACON ACADEMY COMMENCEMENT SPEECH 2017
by DIOSDADO "DADO" BANATAO

When I sat down to write this speech, I realized how hard it is to compose a meaningful message to a much younger generation like you, the graduates. I have given speeches to industry, academe, engineering and scientific conferences and that was relatively seamless.

I had to reach back to my younger days in elementary, high school, and early college years, to put together some collection of ideas that may possibly mean something to you as you move on to define your future lives. Added to that difficult task is the difference in family status between yours and mine. You see, I grew up in a poor family, my father was a rice farmer, did not finish high school and my mother only finished 6th grade.
Let me then tell you a bit of my life experience and lessons learned along the way.

My grandmother on the father side was the principal of the small elementary school in our barrio and one morning took me to school to start first grade at five years old. I took it for granted, that was the norm. It seems strange now but at first grade we learned arithmetic using 20 bamboo sticks. No memorizing of charts and numbers.

I have to admit, we had fun moving sticks. At that early age, I thought mathematics is fun. Apparently, that method is now called Singapore math. Amazing! In this little poor barrio we were far ahead of everyone. Of course, I had no idea about these things then.

Unfortunately, I was the only member of the graduating sixth grade class from that barrio school that went to high school and college. The rest of my classmates went back to the farms to help their families.

On my 3rd grade, my father left for Guam to become an overseas worker, a handy man in a grocery store. Initially, that was tough but we all got used to him not being with us. He did visit us once a year during his 7 years abroad.
This event taught me my first lesson in life:
At seven years old, I learned that doing household chores is not only learning how to do things, but more importantly helping the family. At that very young age, there was no help at home in studying or doing homework. Reading at night is an adventure due to lack of adequate light.

Lesson 1: “Work is part of life regardless of age and the more one gets involved, the more productive one can be”.

For example, my older brother and I cooked our own breakfast of rice and the cream of heated carabao milk before we go to school. I used to go to school early so I could help one other classmate clean and polish the wooden floor of our classroom before our teacher arrived. At such an early time in the morning, I felt I already accomplished a lot. Learning new things from the teacher the rest of the day were just a reward.

Going to school sometimes was an adventure when weather was hot or stormy, with just rubber slippers or most of the time, barefoot. My father’s leaving home to work in another country was something I did not understand and thought it was a normal event. Years later, after, having saved enough money to buy a larger piece of land that he can farm, he returned permanently to live with us. He wanted for us to go to school and have better careers more rewarding than farming. He had a strong desire for us, the children, to have much better lives than he and my mother had. This was another lesson for me:

Lesson 2: “If one desires to have a much better life, then commit and do what it takes regardless of difficulty and sacrifices one has to go through”

My early life’s path is very similar to my father’s life. Another lesson I learned from both my father and mother was how they conducted their lives and conversations with us, their children.
My mother, who also went through those sacrifices during the time my father was away, instilled in us an inner strength and strong discipline in going about chores. She never lost her composure, always quietly telling us our misbehaviors. My father always told us to study hard and that he will do the hard work as a farmer. On our part, the children, we never complained doing our work first with very little time to play.

Lesson 3: “Never measure a person by outward evidences but always by his or her heart”

During my years in high school, my mother put me in a small boarding house run by two sisters. I had a very small room with a proportionally small desk and bed. That Jesuit high school, Ateneo de Tuguegarao, was typical of Jesuits where we had plenty of homework every day. I was there all alone, freshman at eleven years old, doing homework without anyone to talk to and get some advice.

I have to admit, there were many evenings doing homework, feeling lonely, and missing my family, with tears. But I had no option but to bear it, not complaining because of our family situation. I believe my excellent grades in high school were mostly due to those kinds of circumstances.

Lesson 4: “Life is not fair and it is not a reason to make excuses or quit. Keep on doing what is required and rise above everyone else”

Our high school academic advisor, having observed my proficiency in physics and mathematics, suggested I should study engineering. With no questions asked I agreed and told my mother and father, who returned home permanently in my third year in high school. He then accompanied me to register in electrical engineering at the Mapua institute of technology.
It is important to note that my parents agreed with the advice of my school’s academic advisor.

We have seen too many parents ignoring their sons or daughters aptitudes and desires, substituting their forceful opinions, which usually lead to student failures in achieving their goals in life.

Lesson 5: “Learn your passion and intellect and apply it to a long term approach to career building and planning your life”

A result to this lesson is this lesson:

Lesson 6: “Whatever you do good or bad, those actions will affect you for the rest of your life”

You, the graduates, are graduating from an excellent school, equipped with deep knowledge in all expertise necessary to move on to the next phase of your lives.

Continue to focus on learning, acquiring more knowledge, but more importantly, use critical thinking.

Congratulations!

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About Diosdado "Dado" Banatao:

“Dado is the son of a farmer from a small barrio in Iguig in Cagayan Valley. He grew up with no access to electricity, and walked the dirt road to his school every day barefoot.

After earning a degree at Mapua Institute of Technology, Dado worked in the United States and enrolled in a graduate study program at the University of Washington. A licensed pilot, he was among the design engineers for the Boeing 747. He left the company to pursue a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering and Computing Science at Stanford University.

Upon graduating, Dado spent time at the Homebrew Computer Club alongside engineers and professors, including Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.

Dado invented two of the foundation technologies in every PC today: the PC chip set, and the graphics acceleration architecture. He has founded three technology startups: Mostron; the S3 which became the third most profitable company in the world in 1993; and Chips & Technologies, which he sold to Intel in 1996.

Today, he is the managing partner of Tallwood Venture Capital, a venture firm focused on semiconductor technology solutions for computing, communication, and consumer platforms.”

 - Writeup of Mr. Banatao from the site www.phildev.org where he sits as chairman.