FOUR TRADITIONAL University Awards were conferred during the Special Academic Convocation held on September 22 at the Henry Lee Irwin Theatre.

Honorary doctorate degrees in Public Administration and in Science, respectively, were awarded to Gabriel Singson and Ma. Lourdes Carandang, PhD. The Parangal Lingkod Sambayanan was given to Edmundo Garcia and the Gawad Tanglaw ng Lahi award to Rodolfo Vera.

Honorary doctorate degrees can be awarded to individuals who have made significant contributions in their respective fields and have been distinguished for their efforts.

The Parangal Lingkod Sambayanan is a recognition given to individuals or organizations with exemplary performance in public service.

Moreover, the Gawad Tanglaw ng Lahi is intended to acknowledge individuals who have been promoting Filipinism and the Filipino identity through any cultural channel.

“The four people being awarded today show this wonderful interweave between love and service in their lives. Through them, we discover the fullness of love,” said University President Jose Ramon Villarin, SJ.

Life of service

Singson was recognized as a Doctor of Public Administration, honoris causa, for leading the establishment of the central bank after the martial law, steering the country’s financial system toward stability, and devoting more than forty years to public service.

Singson helmed the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas as its first governor when it was created in June 1993 amid a problematic economic climate.

According to the Special Academic Convocation primer, Singson revamped the agency and instituted regulatory reforms to build a strong central monetary authority.

Carissa Mabasa, Singson’s daughter, received the award on behalf of her father who was unable to make it to the ceremony.

Mabasa said that, for her father, two principles define public service: That service is a daily effort and that service means being mindful.

She mentioned how Singson valued integrity and took no shortcuts—views which he extended even to his family.

To listen is to love

According to Carandang, “to listen is to love” because it shows the person that they matter and they are important.

She applies this in her work as clinical therapist, devoting her expertise to ensure the well-being of Filipino children and families.

In the primer, Carandang’s former colleague Patricia Licuanan, PhD describes her as “an unusual combination of teacher, practitioner, scientist and advocate.”

Carandang is also the pioneer of play and family therapy in the country. She emphasized the power of play as a natural medium of expression and as a coping mechanism for both children and adults.

Aside from her practice, Carandang has produced a vast body of research on Filipino children and their families, and has served as a mentor to many Filipino psychologists, social workers and counselors.

Marathon mentality

In his speech, Garcia mentioned that peacebuilding cannot be done by a single generation only, which means it requires a “marathon mentality.”

He considers peacebuilding as a race which needs to be continued; he urges the next generations “to strive, to seek, to find and not to yield.”

The primer mentions that for two decades, Garcia has been working as a peace envoy and senior advisor with the peacebuilding organization International Alert, where he led the drafting of the first Code of Conduct for Conflict in Transformation Work.

The said code of conduct emphasizes people as a priority and human rights and social justice as links to peacebuilding, which support Garcia’s idea that peace can only be known once human rights is respected.

Moreover, Garcia is a co-founder Lakasdiwa, the first nonviolent movement geared towards social change in the Philippines.

Arts and awareness

According to Philippine Educational Theater Association President CB Garrucho, “What shaped Rody Vera was that he became an artist at the height of martial law.”

Garrucho said that the oppressive environment had steeped Vera in social reality and that this social consciousness continues to mark all of his works.

During his speech, Vera said, “One of the most important roles [of an artist], especially now in this country, is to offer another way of thinking not just the literalist way of thinking.”

He mentioned how people nowadays tend to elect actors because they think that what the actors do onscreen is what they do would do in the government.

Vera extended his expertise in the craft by teaching several workshops on playwriting, music performance, and theater in different parts of the globe.