At the 2025 Recognition Rites of the UP College of Engineering, two trailblazing mayors delivered back-to-back wake-up calls. The message? Technical brilliance is not enough. What the country demands is moral courage.
Public servant ๐๐ฒ๐ป๐ท๐ฎ๐บ๐ถ๐ป ๐ ๐ฎ๐ด๐ฎ๐น๐ผ๐ป๐ด: ๐ ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ป๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฐ๐๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฟ๐๐ฝ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป
In a piercing and no-holds-barred keynote, Baguio City Mayor (who doesn't want himself to be attached with Honorifics like Mayor or Honorable but rather just a Public Servant) Benjamin Magalong electrified the audience:
“The Philippines is replete with smart people. What is hard to find are Filipinos with integrity and honesty.”
He exposed the scale and cruelty of corruption through numbers:
“Cat’s eyes for roads were bought at ₱11,720 each. Their actual cost? ₱1,800. That’s ₱9,900 stolen per piece.”
“237 billion pesos gone. That could’ve built 4,740 schools or given 1.58 million full scholarships.”
Then he dropped the hammer:
“This is not just inefficiency. This is injustice. This is theft of the people’s future.”
In a moment that stunned the crowd:
“Silence is not neutrality. It is complicity and tolerance.”
“Hindi kayo powerless. Hindi kayo voiceless. You are exactly what this country needs.”
“Do not ever think your silence is safe. It only protects the guilty.”
“The world is a dangerous place—not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.”
๐ ๐ฎ๐๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ผ ๐ฆ๐ผ๐๐๐ผ: ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ณ๐ถ๐ป๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฆ๐๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐๐ ๐๐ถ๐๐ต ๐๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ด๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐
In a calm yet powerful message, Pasig Mayor Vico Sotto urged graduates to resist the rot of blind ambition:
“Mayaman ka nga—galing naman sa nakaw. Nakapwesto ka nga—ang dami mo namang tinapakan.”
“Success must not come at the cost of conscience.”
He warned how easy it is to lose one’s values:
“Madaling makain ng sistema. Mabilis macha-challenge ang idealismo niyo. Pero sana hindi ito mawala.”
He exposed how corruption is normalized in both public and private sectors:
“Bakit ba ‘yun ang pangarap natin? Pera? Posisyon? Kasikatan?”
“Sabihin mo nang SOP, standard operating procedure—but it’s theft, plain and simple.”
Yet his message ultimately pointed to hope:
“You will have the opportunity to be a catalyst for change—more drastic and faster than in any time in history.”
His moral challenge was clear:
“Hindi sapat na magaling ka. Dapat mabuting tao ka.”
“Pray that you live with faith and integrity, and use your privilege to serve, protect, and help those who are not as fortunate in life.”
“Hindi ko man nabago ang lahat, naging mabuti akong tao sa kapwa ko. Nakatulong ako sa ikagaganda ng bayan natin.”
Two public servants for good governance, two speeches, one message: Intellect alone won’t save the Philippines. But principled engineers, citizens and professionals—those who choose courage and goodness over comfort and self-interest—just might.
#MayorMagalong #MayorVicoSotto #UPDCOE2025
#InhenyeroParaSaBayan #MabutingTao #Panindigan #SpeakUp #UPPride #RedefineSuccess
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