University President Emmanuel Leyco opened the 54th Commencement Exercises of the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM) with a call for new graduates to dedicate their skills to the betterment of the country and of fellow Filipinos.
“Today’s commencement is a special occasion to celebrate education as more than a right. It is a social mandate that universities must uphold, just as it is a collective responsibility that learners must fulfill,” he said in his welcoming remarks on Friday, August 5, 2022.
PLM unceasingly pursued its covenant to provide quality tertiary education to the Filipino youth amid the COVID-19 pandemic by pivoting to distance learning platforms as quickly as possible.
President Leyco commended the 2,239 graduates as they “persevered under the most challenging times,” with the lockdown struggles adding on to the typical rigor of college education.
The graduation rites centered around this year’s theme of “Sustaining Quality Education, Promoting Excellence in Public Service.”
Dr. Francisco Roman, Jr., chairperson of the PLM Board of Regents, also called upon the graduates to use their learnings and skills for the greater good.
“As recipients of this good fortune, graduates more than anyone else should be able to understand and respect the PLM education and experience with all the academic, social, emotional and psychological tools that PLM has offered to you,” Dr. Roman said.
“Use these tools to not only better yourself but also to improve the society that surrounds all of us outside these University walls. Education is the most effective means of creating social improvement, and it should be a lifelong task,” he added.
For President Leyco, working towards public interest also meant pushing back against rampant disinformation.
“As fake news, distortions of truth proliferate and threaten current historical facts, we at PLM must rise again to fight these distortions no matter where they come from, no matter how they are packaged –– as art made somewhere across the river,” he told graduates.
“We at PLM must rise to defend in the legacy of our martyred Liliosa Hilao, to promote and defend social history.”
Congratulations to the PLM Class of 2022!
(L-R) Manila Health Department Chief and PLM Class of 2022 member Dr. Arnold Pangan, PhD. and Manila Vice Mayor Yul Servo Nieto join Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila's 54th Commencement Exercises at PICC.
