Dr Paz Verdades Santos

Bulawan na Bikolnon
Service to Bikol

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Dios marhay na aga po sa gabos. Sakuya pong dakulang pagpamabalos ki Father President Aristotle Dy SJ, sa Ateneo de Naga University Board of Trustees, garo igwa akong dating estudyante duman, sa Ateneo de Naga community, pati na sa haluyon ko nang amiga na si Dr. Becky Torres, para sa Bulawan Award na ini.

Kan sinabihan ako ni Becky kaidto na gusto nya akong i-nomineyt, sabi ko saiya “Dai na tabi ta igwa man na mas deserving, arog ki Becky mismo, kaiba si Ops Gareza sa trabaho ninda sa Fazenda, o sa iba pang mga Bikolista.” Dai po akong hilig sa award; mas gusto ko talaga an silensyong pag-trabaho.

Kundi inaako ko po ini ngunyan para sa kawsa kan literaturang Bikol na mas dakula sa sakuya, asin para sa mga nagtrabaho para sa mas halangkaw na kawsa, joven man o gurang, an iba yaraon pa, an iba yaraon na sa kamurawayan. Sa puntong ini, paggirumdom ko sa dati kong estudyante na nagin co-author saka editor, an matibayon asin mabuoton na paratukdo digdi sa Ateneo de Naga, si Ma. Epifania “Paning” Borja-Prado. Sya itong tawong binubuhay an ariwaga na “Su kulang hipnuan, su dai tatao tukduan, su dai nakasabot pagtiosan” Paning, dapat kuta yaon ka digdi ngunyan, garo yaon ka ngani, para sa saimong maigot na suporta asin pagtukdo sa literaturang Bikol.

Before I proceed, may I also offer my warm congratulations to you graduates and your supportive and proud parents; to your teachers and their other students. All of you are fortunate that your university enjoys constitutional academic freedom, unlike its suppression during my time, the dark years of martial law, unlike the current suppression of academic freedom in no less than Harvard University and other prestigious universities in the U.S. by the new Trump administration. We cannot take for granted academic freedom, which of the essence of any university worth its name like Ateneo de Naga. And the essence of academic freedom are the “four essential freedoms of a university — to determine for itself on academic grounds who may teach, what may be taught, how it shall be taught, and who may be admitted to study.” Uyugon ta ‘yan, mas angat pa an kamugtakan kan mga estudyante kan Ateneo de Naga kaysa sa Ivy league sa Amerika?

The award being given to me today is for my contribution to Bikol literature, through my teaching, research and publication, and organizing work. In connection with that, I would like to make three points.

First is about the government’s intent to push GE subjects down to senior high school and the removal of MTB-MLE. On the contrary, I believe we need even more GE subjects in college, especially in Ateneo schools, with their long & great humanities tradition that gives Ateneo graduates the comparative advantage over other college or university graduates. Take your fellow Ateneo alumnus, Ateneo de Manila graduate Jose Rizal whose biggest contribution was not in his professional field of ophthalmology, but rather in his writing the two greatest Filipino novels Noli and Fili that were instrumental in forming the Filipino nation & national consciousness. More so in the Age of AI where AI training, especially in its proper and ethical use, is becoming the cutting edge. It is only the human spirit and wisdom, steeped in the humanities, that can master AI for the better of humanity and the world, thus the importance of the GE subjects in several senses: being adept in the use of A.I., and most importantly being in control of A.I. instead of the other way around.

Second is the role of culture and the arts in nation and city building. Fortunately, the incoming Naga City leadership gives us hope that more attention will be paid to culture and heritage, as well as the environment, as opposed to only infrastructure and economic development of malls, high rises, car-centric widened roads, perhaps a bullet train, which can be unsustainable, marked by greed, as well as vicious apathy. An bagong sighis marhay ipaglinig. Artists and writers, as the conscience of society, should continue to be alert to social ills such as the resurgent traditional politics of wealth and power that threatens to destroy what a former mayor has already achieved for good governance in our city. Marhay ngani nabawasan kita nin dawa saro man lamang na myembro kan dinastiyang trapo ngunyan, and this I attribute to you, especially the young voters here today.

Speaking of coming new leaderships out of the last elections, especially the pleasant surprises of at least Mamamayang Liberal Party-List Representative-elect Leila de Lima, whom Ateneo de Naga is honoring with an honorary degree today, I would like to praise the emergent role of Gen Z & similar youth generations, the new voters come the crucial 2028 elections. Last elections, I was so outraged by the attempt to buy my vote that we filed a complaint to the COMELEC. Sabi kan barangay official na matao kuta nin pabuya daa sako, “ngaya gabos naman naggigibo.” I felt if they could bribe a teacher and a lawyer, ay, uda na talagang paglaom an Pilipinas. And I believe it is you young people who can do something to change this insidious culture of patronage.

I’d like to end with my inter-generational hope as a boomer and a septuagenarian, as well as a challenge to you, the hope of the motherland: An matakot sa panahon daing anihon. An magabat minagian kun pinagtuturuwangan. Kaya ta ini, sa paagi nin padagos na pag-adal, pag-surat, asin paghiro para sa Kabikolan asin para sa banwaan.

Dios po an magbalos.