Entrepreneurial Farmer

Ambrosio R. Villorente

Instilling Love and Loyalty To Country *

* A message delivered on the occasion of the induction of officers and presentation ball of the nvc rotc unit on Tuesday evening, September 1, held at CSQ Gym, nvc, Estancia, Kalibo, Aklan.

Thank you very much Lt. Rafael Escabarte, Jr. for that kind introduction. Lt. Escabarte, Jr. is the assistant commandant of the nvc rotc unit.

Thank you very much Ms. Fatima D. Arboleda for the invitation to be the guest of honor and speaker in your induction of officers and presentation ball. Ms. Arboleda is the dean of sponsors.

The sponsors adviser, Ms. Virgie R. Macario. the commandant, Col. Edgar I. Yerro, his tactical officer – Lt. Eldie N. Cairan, Sgt. Felix N. Macavinta and Sgt. Henry S. Bogoy, please accept my sincere congratulations for the outstanding performance in the presentation of sponsors in honor of Ms. Melrose Quimpo Martelino, chairperson of the NVC board of directors with Col. Daniel Dela Cruz regional commander of 6th rcdg, arescom, officers, sponsors, parents, NVC officials, faculty, students and visitors.

I am very grateful for your kind invitation for me as your guest of honor and speaker in your induction of officers and presentation ball tonight. This is a very rare occasion which you do only once a year. Of the many honorable and distinguished persons in Aklan, you picked on me. I will remember this night, not only the induction of officers of the Corps of Cadets and Cadettes officers and presentation ball, but a night when you bestow upon me the privilege to share with you my thoughts.

Reserved Officers Training Corps (ROTC), a course offered by your college, the Northwestern Visayan Colleges, an educational institution which is producing and supplying professionals such as the teachers requirement of the Province of Aklan, other provinces and cities of the Philippines. The criminology course is picking up and becoming the premier course offering.

But the latest addition, the AB MassCom is doing good. The first graduates, batch 2009 are now all employed, while a number of the 2010 graduates are now employed too.

My dear officers and sponsors, ROTC is not merely learning how to march, learning how to carry and fire guns. ROTC is much more of character building such as honesty and integrity. It is the formation of skills and protocol to follow for individuals who will usher in a community the maintenance of peace and happiness. it is the development and leader-ship training to produce graduates loyal and faithful to the Philippines.

As a German philosopher, Emmanuel Kant said, "the greatest good of the things a person does is happiness. The end of the greatest good is happiness." ROTC aims to mould you as leaders, loyal, and patriotic to the country.

Therefore, you do not study ROTC at NVC, the college which offers ROTC course in Aklan to earn money, but you are here because you are happy doing it. You are not here enrolled to get a certificate of graduation but you are here to form in yourselves desirable virtues, character and skills that will bring you all to success and happiness.
My dear friends, the humiliation that the Filipinos are now experiencing after the August 23 hostage taking was brought about by the amateur character of the "Manila’s Finest". They pretended to be professional policemen, but acted like amateurs, like high school boys.

The Philippines has been spending billions of pesos for the education and training not only local, but abroad. Scholarships are given them by foreign donors. But the latest proof of negligence was the tragic hostage drama that took place in front of the Quirino Grandstand on Monday, August 23.

The chief hostage negotiator was deemed expert along that line because he was trained in Australia in hostage negotiation. But he was a great disappointment, a great embarrassment.

Watching the hostage drama portrayed to the public the immaturity of our police and hostage negotiator. The police also exhibited its lack of preparation and skills in the rescue process. They lacked appropriate tools and the ability to use those tools.

That August 23 incident revealed the carefree attitude of our officials vis-à-vis the police and civilian officials. I can say that most often, our government men sent to attend schooling to specialize on a specific field like hostage negotiation training spent more time seeing places and giving lesser importance to the purpose for which they are sent abroad. There is that Euro general for instance who went to attend convention, spent public fund and pocketed some funds which led to his arrest in Russia.

But that is not the case of the NVC ROTC unit. You are here expected to build strong positive character, to form the virtue of hard work, of dedication, of honesty, of integrity and of love of country back up with necessary skills like shooting, rescue operation and promotion of peace, contentment, and happiness. You have the ROTC unit which produces respectful and respected men and women.

In the words of Henry W. Longfellow, he said: "As unto the bow the cord is; so as unto the man is woman. Useless each without the other."

The thought of Longfellow is clearly illustrated in the bible. God in the Garden of Eden created Adam. He was all alone and felt so lonely and blue. So God thought and therefore created a companion, Eve. With Eve, Adam felt so happy which led them to the multiplication of man.

Tonight, we are here for the induction of officers and presentation ball. This is the assumption of duties as well as for the sharing of happiness between and among us men and women.

Let us fulfill our obligations, feel good and enjoy to the fullest the happiness that goes with our fulfillment as a modern psychologist said: the greatest motivators of men are great accomplishment and satisfaction leading to happiness."

Congratulations to the rotc officers and members, sponsors, parents, students and guests, the management, faculty and staff of nvc. I pray NVC will always continue the best practices for the molding of citizen worthy of emulation and respect.

Good evening!