A Man and His Passion....

Last April I met this famous man… of course I knew and heard of him before, who in the Philippines haven’t, anyway? He is one of the founders of this biggest accounting/auditing firm not only of the country but of Asia… He is considered, too, as one of the most successful business man in Asia by Cambridge University and the Harvard Business School! Well knowing this for a fact, coupled with a preconceived cold, boring picture of how a man like this would be, I was left awed when I met and heard him talk during the General Assembly of our Network of Foundations. Surprisingly, I saw a man who in his late seventies and, if I may add, despite of being an accountant, was oozing with PASSION! His short but meaningful speech is jaw dropping and so compelling that we wouldn’t have noticed if he talked for 30 minutes or two hours… to say we were dumbstruck is an understatement! From the start through the end of his speech, you can see, hear and feel nothing less than Passionate love for country and dedication to public school education that you can never imagine a man of his stature posses. I told some friends about him and this speech and they too looked surprised… lol… I’ve been meaning to write a blog about him but I always find what I have to say so inadequate to describe his passion… then I heard he was the one invited by the school I went to in college, University of the Philippines, as one of the speakers during the 100th Year Anniversary Celebration of its foundation. And as I got hold of a copy of his speech, I thought it would be a great way to introduce him and his passion to you, guys… friends, meet the distinguished, Mr. Washington Sycip!



I hope you can see a glimpsed of his passion as I did then by reading an excerpt of his piece below….

QUESTIONS for the University of the Philippines (UP)
September 3, 2008
By Washington Sycip


President Emerlinda Roman, members of the faculty and friends of UP, not being a graduate of the leading educational institution of the country, I am deeply honored that you have invited me to be one of the speakers in your celebration of a hundred years of service to the nation.

In today's talk I intend to raise a number of very frank questions. Since you receive government funds than any other educational institution in the country, I, as a taxpayer, may claim the right to do so…

1. Going over the book *the university of the Philippines - a university for Filipinos* which was published as UP. celebrated its diamond jubilee twenty five years ago, one cannot miss the introduction that says "...a UP degree holder is generally believed to be more capable than most college graduates, as well as imbued with a sense of purpose...with minds capable of new ideas and perceptions and passionate commitment to the social good". If UP has accurately claimed that during the past 62 years, after we left the u.s. umbrella, UP graduates have occupied the presidential chair for 46 years, then I may ask you "why are we in such a mess?"

2. We as a nation are proud to have a university older than Harvard. Proud that UP celebrates the success of a hundred years. We are proud of Ateneo, La Salle and many other catholic universities where men and women of upper income groups are educated… As the recipient of the largest of government education funds, shouldn't UP endeavor to enlist its many successful and wealthy alumni in a campaign to return to their alma mater the benefits they have received from the school and thus enable more funds to be diverted from UP and allocated to basic education?

Should the students from upper income groups not be asked to pay for the full cost of education? When upper income families send their children abroad, they do pay "full tuition". Should they not be asked to do the same in their own country?

Has UP studied how neighboring countries have dropped poverty levels? The Asian development bank just released a report pointing out that the Philippines and India, who claim to be democracies, lag behind East Asian countries in reducing poverty. China and Vietnam, both authoritarian states, are the two countries that have rapidly reduced poverty. Are there lessons to be learned here?

Why have Singapore and Thailand developed hospitals for "medical tourism" while we send our excellent doctors and nurses to developed countries? Should we not advocate some system where destination countries compensate us for training these professionals? Are inward remittances of poor overseas workers with divided families offsetting outward remittances of upper income Filipinos, educated in subsidized schools like UP, and setting up households abroad?

Is UP doing its part to help government adopt long term educational measures to ensure this?

3. We all agree on the need of national unity. Can we point to the politics of fraternities as the root of the excessive time spent on national politics? Or is the lack of unity a basic disadvantage of an island nation?

Is the sluggish pace of economic development the result of blind acceptance of western thinking that political freedom or democracy comes ahead of economic freedom? Doesn't democracy assume that there must be the "rule of law" which implies an independent judiciary with well trained and well paid honest lawyers? Where judges may be poorly paid and subject to political pressures is it possible to have an independent judiciary let alone a working democracy?

UP has produced excellent lawyers and many of the bar topnotchers that are managing the large law firms - but are they leaders in reforming the judicial system?

4. UP and Asia… how close is UP to recognizing that the Philippines is part of Asia and that China, India and Japan will be exerting more influence on our future than the u.s. and Europe? Is the faculty of UP's school of Asian studies deeply knowledgeable about the culture and the political thinking of our neighbors and are they proficient in other Asian languages?
…
Does our being the only catholic country in Asia, with an extremely conservative church leadership, seen only in Poland and Malta, hamper our capacity to understand our Asian neighbors? What is the role of UP as the only well known Philippine university that is not catholic? With a 6% Moslem minority and our dependence on imported energy, does UP have a faculty that is knowledgeable in the history and culture of the middle east and fluent in Arabic languages? To follow US policy, which will have to favor Israel, can only spell disaster for the Philippines. Has UP studied what measures should be taken to narrow the education gap between christians and moslems?

5. UP. Campus… Does UP have a development plan for its large campus?

6. UP and tourism… The hospitality industry will be the growth area of the country. Will your different schools play a major role in assisting secretary durano achieve his targets?

7. UP and agriculture… Since agriculture is still the most important part of our economy, shouldn't u.p. then, in cooperation with successful farmers, put particular focus on the study and implementation of efficient food production to bring food costs down?

8. Alumni relations … UP has the advantage of celebrating a centennial with very distinguished and wealthy graduates in practically every field of activity. But has your dependence on government funds resulted in a neglect of your alumni? How many buildings, laboratories, auditoriums, professorial chairs have been donated by your many prosperous alumni? … Are your alumni aware that they can legally reduce taxes by donating to u.p.? Maybe yearly seminars to update your graduates on the latest developments in their profession can encourage them to give an annual amount to u.p.

9. Faculty… I read the report of your national college of public administration and governance and was very impressed with the qualifications of the faculty and lecturers. Aside from seminars, publications and workshops, won't it be wonderful if they can implement the many changes they are advocating, in basic education, in the civil service, in local government and in the fight against corruption? … Is this standard of excellence i see also found in the other departments? Can UP encourage its bright faculty to publish objective position papers on national issues that will stop the endless and confusing debates that are in full page ads in the daily newspapers?

Considering the contribution UP can make in our nation's future, should this university not have a "think tank" with experts from its different schools, possibly also working with non UP graduates, to study where the nation is today, its negatives and positives, and how it could move forward in the next 25 and 50 years?
…

Maybe some of the questions i have raised may be expecting too much from an educational institution, with limited funds, to solve all of our national problems. But it is the price of leadership. The brightest young men and women come to your campus and for these young minds, you must endeavor to attract and retain the best faculty in every school.

It is my profound hope that against all challenges, this great university, with an inspired administration, a strong faculty and an alumni conscious of its responsibility to the nation, can, together with the secretary of education, take the lead in the implementation of major reforms in our public schools, without which poverty reduction will be difficult. And without which, equal opportunity for all its citizens to benefit from economic growth will not be attainable.
…

UP alumni closely identify the oblation with their alma mater. But how many of them really know that when the sculptor Tolentino created this figure of a young man whose arms are outstretched in a gesture of sacrifice to his country and humanity, the artist also placed at its feet a cluster of *katakalanta* leaves, a plant that rapidly multiplies to symbolize, as Tolentino tells us the "undying stream of heroism in the Filipino race." .

As this university celebrates its hundredth anniversary I ask a final question:
Can we expect from UP's leadership this heroism the country begs for?

For the full text of this speech click Questions for UP