DWU Jubilee Foundation Launching Day
Conference Room, Main Building
Divine Word University, Tacloban City
1 July 2000

At the outset, I would like to thank you for inviting me to this meeting and in making me a part of this DWU Jubilee Foundation activity. This is an important moment for me, being an alumnus of DWU.

I share with you the nostalgia that you feel today, coming together as one family, after years of getting in and out of the DWU portals that are, for the time being, closed. I'm sure that foremost in our minds is the desire to take a trip down memory lane and reminisce our fun-filled days here. But I'm also sure that behind this celebration, we can't help but feel sad that our Alma Mater is still closed up to this time. We all long for the lost glory, the lost opportunity for it to mold more individuals into becoming productive citizens.

Every time I pass the long stretch of the university campus, I remember the crowd of students clad in their crisp blue uniform. And I feel sad. I earned my law degree here in 1985. It was even here in the summer of 1970 where I first met the woman who is now my wife, City Mayor Malou Go-Soco. I certainly wrench seeing the campus slowly turning into a deserted place, almost like a graveyard where we find buried the dream that our Alma Mater would mold the youth of this region into leaders of the coming generations.

Like many concerned individuals, I have also groped for ways to save DWU. As the NEDA Regional Director and Vice-Chair of the RDC, I tried my best in 1994 to help prevent its closure. But it seemed impossible, even if the president of the DWU Employees Union was a member of the RDC. Last year, my colleagues in the RDC created an ad hoc committee to look into the legal aspects of reopening the school. However, after some thorough study and deliberations, we came to realize that there were impediments beyond our control that seemed to make reopening the school quite a far-fetched dream, unless, of course, some people with the necessary resources would make it happen and the contending parties come to an agreement. As we came to terms with this bitter reality, we in NEDA and the RDC had decided to let the issue rest for a while and see how things turn out.

However, from 1994 to 1998, we in government have not taken the matter simply sitting down and looking the other way. To fill the huge void created by DWU, we have encouraged the opening of new schools. Thus, the closer has resulting in the birth of new schools and new courses in the 13 state universities/colleges in this region. The unprecedented growth of the St. Paul's Business School is a good example. It has spawned business in the otherwise sleepy and cogon-filled environs of Campetic and Kauswagan in neighboring Palo. It has helped decongest the city center as it has spurred the growth of public transportation - the multi-cabs plying the Tacloban-St. Paul's Campetic route. St. Paul's is just one. We have others like the Asian Development Foundation which has also boosted economic activities right in the center of the city of Tacloban. And then, of course, the recently opened St. Scholastica school inside DWU campus. It is expected to contribute further to the economic growth of the region. These 3 schools have a combined enrolment of around 10,000 - almost as big as the enrolment that DWU had in its heydays.

Without DWU, the students in a sense, have found a widening choice of schools in which to study from among those mentioned. However, I cannot as yet label these schools as impressive. But there is certainly healthy competition among them. We all know that when there is competition, quality of services is likely to improve. This is of course what we want for our society, quality, especially quality education. Our vision of development is epitomized in the "Angat Pinoy 2004" by the word progress. And in this, education spells the difference between poverty and prosperity, misery and happiness, failure and success.

Speaking of quality education, I hope that if DWU reopens, it will make itself relevant to the needs of the region, and take the skills and employment potential of its graduates as important yardsticks of success. While thousands of students in this region graduate annually, many of them are, in fact, poorly trained by schools which have a poor quality of instructors and equipment. Human resource development is being jeopardized by schools which are concerned mainly with profit and not quality resources.

So, my message to the Board today is this. While many relevant changes in this city have taken place in the last 6 years, we at NEDA and the RDC still cherish the hope that someday soon, the Divine Word University of Tacloban will re-assert itself with more vigor and tenacity to occupy once more that pedestal reserved only for the best institutions. DWU of Tacloban was the best hereabouts for decades. It can still be the best if we all try our best.