Distinguished guest, the president of Little Angels of St. Therese School, Mr.

Erwin W. Malay, to the school directress, members of the teaching force, parents, my
dear graduates, other guests, ladies and gentlemen, a blessful day to everyone.

Proverbs 16:16 says that having wisdom and understanding is better than having
silver or gold. Nice and expensive items can be enjoyable, but there are very few things
in life that can never be taken away, will never go out of style, and that truly make you a
better person. And education is one of those things. Educating our children is an
investment. It is true that education is expensive… Sabi nga ng marami, pag nagpapa-
aral ng anak hindi ka na makakabili ng kahit ano sa bahay except food. And we cannot
save money in the bank, only receipts of tuition fees and other educational expenses
were kept in our wallets. But the difficulties, we, parents encountered in sending our
children in an institution like this were vanished if we saw the success of our children.
Like today, I am so proud of seeing my child receiving his diploma on the first ladder of
his educational milestone.

Mrs. Stuassi said that, “Money is very important, but success is not defined by
pursuing money but pursuing meaning.” At this point in time I would like to
congratulate all of you my fellow Parents for celebrating your children’s success. Thank
you parents for the sacrifices, time, money, and efforts you invested in your children.
Our investment is now starting to earn. The true meaning of success, the diploma you
are going to receive signifies the meaning of success. Let us continue to educate them,
support them despite of financial difficulties, hardship in assisting our children due to
pandemic. We became instant teachers of our children. We have overcome this struggle
and I hope we will extend our courage, our patience, and perseverance in guiding our
children because we are still fighting for COVID-19.

No amount of words could be extended to our express our gratitude to the

teachers who have been patient enough to answer our queries and guiding our children
online and even onsite visit. They even take the risk of getting the virus in their face to
face visit just to ensure the effectiveness of the teaching-learning process. Salute you
dear teachers. You are great heroes.

Graduation Day. Just uttering those two simple words makes me emotional. As
parents, we want our kids to realize their full potential and make a difference,
regardless of their career or chosen field of study. Dear sons and daughters, we want
you to make a good decisions; right decisions of prioritizing your study over your heart’s
desire. We know too that you will feel sometimes especially we are facing challenges
because of pandemic but that you should always remember that you must be strong
enough, face the challenge and learn from your mistake.

Pray always, be determines to reach the stars. You dream of having a better
future, finishing a career and live successfully, but if not, we hope that you’ll possess the
courage and integrity to do the right thing in the face of adversity, peer pressure, and
inevitable – easy way out. We, your parents, your brother and sisters, your Nana, your
uncles, aunts, and cousins and your whole extended family here – could not possibly be
any prouder of you than we are today!

We’ve been blessed by having the opportunity to watch you grow from an
incredibly cute small child, with nothing in your mind. Only yesterday it feels like it was
your first day at nursery school where we send and fetch you and sat at the gate with
the guard, waiting patiently through the whole school day for your ‘sundo’ to collect
you. You couldn’t go into the class because your ‘sundo’ were coming to get you and
you are not going to miss that.

Now we are celebrating your last day in elementary grade and after a short
vacation you will start another journey; the next level of education. As you take your
part of achieving your dreams, I encourage all of you my dear children to remember that
life is made up of a lot of small journeys and you want to strive to make them as
enjoyable, interesting, and rewarding as possible. When you embark on a journey, you
never know what will happen along the way and where it will end up, which, at least to
me, is incredibly fascinating. Regardless of the path you choose I know you’ll be fine. But
try to pursue something you really want to do although it is not always easy to know
what it is. One piece of advice: never let money be the primary motivation for what you
decide to do. Success is not measured by your job, your education, how much money
you have, or what kind of car you drive. But having a lot of money does not
automatically make you a successful person. So, what is success? What you want is
money and meaning. You want your work to be meaningful, because meaning is what
brings the real richness to your life. What you really want is to be surrounded by people
you trust and treasure and by people who cherish you.

Now as we stand here with you on the verge of another milestone, we know this
one involves big change. The milestone isn’t about just growing up, it’s about being
grown-up. As a parent, this moment causes us the most pride and the most pain. Our
brains are full of excitement and wonderful for you, but our hearts feel something
causes us the most pride and the most pain. Our brains are full of excitement and
wonder for you, but our hearts feel something different. We know the magnitude of the
milestone and we know what follows.

Remember that you always have a choice. NO matter what the situation. Show
gratitude to all of those people who have gotten you to where you are today.
Confidence, combined with a passion to make the world a better place. Surround
yourself with people who remind you of how amazing you are, and avoid the ones that
don’t. Life doesn’t always follow the plans you have made on for yourself. Be prepared
for ups and downs. Remember you parents and teachers advice. The values inculcated
in your heart. Pray and be determined.

Lastly, treasure the worthiness of education in your life. Knowledge and wisdom
are more precious than silver and gold.

With that, I thank you and congratulations to everyone. Let us celebrate for your
success. Mabuhay po tayong lahat.