Itchy Toes Adventures: Sunflowers, Smiles, and Sablays: The 2015 UP Diliman Commencement Exercises

- June 28, 2015, Sunday.

- The graduation rites of the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman is not an ordinary ceremony. Compared to other universities, more media people flock the university during this season because of many reasons. One, the road towards the main ampitheater are lined by fully-bloomed sunflowers that tower any average East/Southeast-Asian person; the sunflowers in UP only bloom once a year - during graduation season. Two, there are VIPs who may attend the event as speakers, or serve as special graduates (i.e. Ms. Tiffany Uy, the amazing summa cum laude from BS Biology with the highest GWA after World War II.) Three, the presence of surprising events, knowing of course that UP is the land of unpredictability. As for me, I attended the event because it was my own graduation.

They're as big as my face.

Hello Caroline!!

With the oblation.

Moaaaar sunflowers.

With my friend Bianca.

- This year, UP had its first June graduation. The university just finished its first school year with the academic shift (i.e. school started in August instead of June,) and so the graduation moved from the usual April to June. The ceremony was done in the university ampitheater, open air as before. However, it was done in the morning instead of late afternoon due to the possibility of rainfall in the afternoon, as with most days in June are. The sun was bright, competing its yellowness with the equally radiating sunflower petals. The sun grew from warm, to hot, and later, burning.

"Asian Center."

"Serve the public."

With my former ASEAN-India co-delegate, Rachel.

Dean of the Asian Center, and my adviser, Dr. Joefe Santarita

- The opening remarks was done by the current chancellor, Dr. Michael Tan. He welcomed everyone and told us the differences in preparations this year due to the academic calendar shift, and joked about the burning morning heat. (His funny jokes made the heat more tolerable, even for just a second.) Later on Philippine national anthem was sung by none other than Gerphil Flores, second runner up of Asia's Got Talent. This soprano singer's voice was indeed more jaw-dropping when heard live, than in videos or the television. I would have loved to hear her sing more.

Dr. Michal Tan, the current chancellor.

Gerphil Flores and the stupid mic blocking my view.

Quezon Hall in front of the ampitheater.

- Secretary Armin A. Luistro, FSC, from the Department of Education was the guest of honor of the morning. His speech on rootedness, connectedness, and growth was made alive through his anecdotes of being a freshman in UP, and his fond memories of his grandmother. I wasn't able to take a photo of Secretary Armin because my camera was nearly overheating from the sun's heat, and because I, along with my other fellow graduates, were on the verge of melting or being roasted. The deans had to suffer more since they were seated directly facing the sun. I was also too tired to listen the the speeches at some point, because I spent some time wondering if I would be roasted alive, or if I would make it until noon. (I even had to buy cold bottled water just to place it on my face, my neck, my cheeks, since I have an unforgivingly low tolerance for heat.)

- The university graduation held thousands of graduates from the undergraduate to the graduate levels, so much so that only the summa cum laudes and the PhD graduates were the only ones to march, while all the rest were simply presented by the college deans to the chancellor. Despite my camera almost melting, I was able to take photos of Ms. Tiffany Uy, the "summa" among the summa cum laudes.

Ms. Tiffany Uy, the celebrated summa of summas.

- The highlight of the morning, of course, was the shifting of the sablay. The sablay is a sash that serves as a unique academic garb. (For non-Filipino speakers, "sablay" can also be a verb that means to fail in or miss something, so much so that many puns are made about these 2 meanings of "sablay"during the UP graduation season.) Although some schools have also took on the use of the sablay as an academic garb, the UP system is the largest network of schools (i.e. UP has plenty of campuses around the country) that uses the same sablay design. The UP sablay has the school colors (maroon, green, gold/yellow,) and has baybayin (ancient Filipino letters) that spell out "U" and "P." The UP sablay is properly worn on a white, beige, or ecru barong for men, and Filipiniana dresses for women. The sablay is first placed on the right shoulder, and is changed to the left, like how one would change the tassel of a graduation cap.

Shifted my sablay. :D:D:D:D

- After the sablay shifting and the oath-taking, we supposed to sing the university hymn when a group of students came out of nowhere to rally against the implementation K to 12 education system. I was too shocked to take a photograph of it, and needless to say the media people flocked to the rallyists to interview and document them. I was later told that rallying during the graduation is part of the UP university graduation tradition. I didn't know if I should be happy about it, but it was definitely an unusually interesting experience.

- I later had some more photos taken at the UP oblation behind the ampitheater. The oblation is the most iconic statue/symbol of the university. Afterwards, I had lunch with my family before attending my thankfully-indoor college graduation.

With my shifted sablay.

- In UP, there are two graduations held. First, the university graduation is held, which was the one for all graduates where I burned myself crisp. Second, is the college graduations, which are mini-graduation ceremonies held by each college/institution/center of the university; they may or may not be be held on the same day as the university graduation (but definitely not conflicting with the schedule of the university graduation.) All the graduates are able to march in the college graduation, and proper awards and recognition are done to those who need to be awarded or specially recognized. The UP Asian Center, where I'm from, acts as an independent "college" or center, so our college graduation was one of the smallest and coziest among all college graduations. We held the college graduation at the GT Toyota Auditorium, and is part of the Asian Center compound.

With co-graduates Melanie and Kat, and friends Ivy and Wayne.

If selfie sticks don't work....

....do it Gibby's selfie's way. :)) :)) :)) :))

TADA!!!! Perfect shot. :)) :)) :)) :))

Finally got to march.

Sitting like a good little boy.

Dr. Santarita's welcoming remarks.

- Our guest speaker was Dr. Elena Mirano, former dean of the College of Arts and Letters. Her message was to root our future researches in Philippine Studies, as more about the Philippines are to be discovered and unearthed, apart from the current growing significance of the Philippines in the world and the many issues that envelope the country.

Dr. Mirano.

- We got our diplomas and medals after Dr. Mirano's speech; all graduates were given medals, especially since we were only 11 graduates total: 6 from the master's level (2 from the thesis track - me included, and 4 from the non-thesis track,) and 5 from the PhD level (all of them, of course, had dissertations.)

A few proud moments.

Shaking hands with my adviser and the current dean.

I forced my mom to wear the churidar kameez I bought from India for her. Haha.

- After a short intermission, 2 valedictory addresses/responses were to be delivered by the representative from the MA graduates, and the representative from the PhD graduates. I was told the last minute (with less than a week's notice,) that I was given the privilege to deliver the valedictory address for the MA level, together with Dr. Perseville Mendoza for the PhD level; the speeches of all valedictorians should be in line with this year's graduation theme of "rootedness, connectedness, and growth" ("pag-uugat, pag-uugnay, pagyabong.") Never in my life did I think that I'd get to deliver one, and I felt that me graduating was already more than enough. I hid this from my family with a plan of surprising them, so much so that I had to warn the people from the Asian Center not to spill the beans to my family. Thankfully, my family also forgot to get programs from the registration table, so they had no idea until my name was called. They were so surprised that the whole thing did not sink into my parents until we were having dinner after the ceremony 2 hours later.

Pardon this series of photos, as this probably is a once in a lifetime thing.

Watch my speech if you wish:

- We had a special number just before the oath-taking. My friends from the Asian Center who were in the recent Bahasa Malaysia/Indonesia class sang familiar songs translated into Bahasa Malaysia/Indonesia. We called them our very own "One Direction."

Wayn's red microphone suits him.

Of course I enjoyed my friends' performance so much my double chin got excited too.

Oathtaking.

Final march.

One of the rare recent family photos.

Yay.

With my great adviser, Dr. Joefe Santarita.

With my family and my adviser.

- We spent some time with the oblation and the sunflowers before having dinner. The day flew by in an instant, and in that instant my life changed. My four long years in UP Diliman was a bittersweet epic journey, but definitely a journey of opportunities, inquiries, resolutions, and enlightenments. This chapter might have ended, but the epic is far from over. Until the next adventure!!