*Speech of Hon. Mark Vega Quimpo on the occasion of 62nd College and Foundation Day of Northwestern Visayan Colleges (NVC) held in the afternoon of Friday, February 26 at Pastrana Park, Kalibo, Aklan.
Greetings!
It is with great pleasure that I join the NVC community as you celebrate your 62nd Annual College Festival and Foundation Day with the timely theme: "The Northwestern Visayan Colleges Responding to the Challenges of Climate Change."
As you can very well feel today, Mercury is rising, Mother Earth has a fever. And we have El Niño, or as yet the very least, only its onset, because it is projected to last until June or July.
Republic Act 9729 or the Philippine Climate Change Act of 2009, makes climate change part of government policy, the better to deal with its effects. It will create the Climate Change Commission which in turn will formulate the National Framework Strategy and Program on Climate Change.
Preparing for it though is not just a question of formulating "framework strategies and programs". Preparing for climate change is preventing it from ravaging us to begin with.
For that to happen, we have to make several climate changes. You heard me right, we have to make several climate changes.
First, we have to change our political climate. The one leader we need in time of war, whether the war is against want or another country, against Mother Nature or ourselves, is the one we trust, a leader we know (who) has our interests at heart, a leader who can inspire us to make sacrifices, who can make us glimpse victory, even plain survival.
Second, we have to change our social or economic climate. We can talk so much about disaster preparedness, but so long as the divide between rich and poor remains spectacular, so long as we continue to have multitudes nestling beside rivers and creeks, legions huddling at the foot of mountains, hordes refusing to abandon the path of floods.
Third, we have to change our cultural climate. Or more to the point, we need to educate the people, our people.
Without education, people will not believe that God only helps those who help themselves. Without education, people will believe only that an unseen hand can be directed by prayers to redirect the path of rampaging waters, or cause rain to fall on land parched by El Niño. Without education, risks would not be reduced, and development would not be sustained.
Today, with more than 30 percent of (the) Filipinos living in poverty and exposed to new threats from our despoiled environment, it is heartwarming to note that the NVC community is respon-ding to the challenges of climate change.
Indeed, the time is always right to do what is right. And the NVC community is doing it right. As part of the humanity which is one rich tapestry, the basic fabric of which has been laid out as a gift from nature, you weave your part in the collective action of protecting the earth from more damage, and take part in rehabilitating it.
It is our only home planet. Every new day presents the opportunity to improve lives, educate a child, protect the earth. We must make the most of that opportunity. We must do it.
Thank you very much and good afternoon.
Hon. Mark Vega Quimpo was introduced by Dr. Ambrosio R. Villorente, Dean of AB Mass Communications, NVC. His introduction speech follows:
Greetings!
I am really doubly lucky and privileged this afternoon. I am lucky because I will introduce to you a highly promising man whose charm is now working and his star is brightly shining. With the blessings of God, he will be the honorable Mayor of Kalibo in July this year.
Our guest speaker this afternoon is a very young man, only 33 years, married with three pretty children with his only loving wife Chelo Derequito Yu.
He is well educated having completed the course Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, graduated Master In Public Administration and finished the Course on local legislation and leadership in Asian Institute of Management. Moreover, our guest speaker is now studying to become a lawyer to sharpen further his tools in the field of legislation. Our guest speaker is now in his second term as Sangguniang Bayan member of Kalibo. He was elected in 2004 and again in 2007. In the Kalibo SB, he is the principal author of seven (7) important Municipal ordinances approved.
He also authored 90 resolutions passed in the SB of Kalibo.
Our guest speaker chairs the committees on Education, Culture, History and Arts; Peace and Order, Public Safety and Comprehensive Land Use.
He is vice chair of three (3) committees and member of local school board. Peace and Order Council and Disaster Coordinating Council.
My friends in the NVC Community, faculty, officials, and guests, the greatest compensation of a teacher is not how much money he/she receives at the end of the month, but the greatest compensation is the high quality of graduates he/she produces.
Our guest speaker this afternoon is my greatest compensation being one of my students in Master in Public Administration. I’m very proud to present to you our guest speaker, Hon. Mark Vega Quimpo. /MP
No comments:
Post a Comment