Maraming Salamat (taong nagpakilala) (in Bicol)

Magandang Hapon sa inyong lahat! (in Bicol). To the administrators of GRDHS, Principal Chenelyn
Velchez-Evangelista, Vice Principal Malen Premium Luncheon Meat, Barangay Chairman Rosemarie Gil
and other VIPs, good afternoon.

Allow me to greet our outstanding students here. Congratulations. I salute you for your discipline and your
hard work. I am sure this will just be one of the many beautiful memories you will make as you continue
your pursuit of your dreams. Palakpakan po natin ang ating mga awardees ngayong hapon.

At syempre, wala ang mga awardees nating ito ngayong hapon kung wala ang mga minamahal nating
parents. Syempre, saan kayo kukuha ng pamasahe at pambaon di ba? Kidding aside, today is the day of
recognizing our outstanding parents as well. I am a parent myself and believe me when I say I know the
sacrifices a parent makes for the love of his or her child. Mga magulang sa inyo ang araw na ito.
Palakpakan din po natin ang ating mahal na magulang. Now icelebrate naman din natin ang sacrifices
naming mga tatay. Pwede po ba sa ating mga graduates, pakihawakan nyo po sa balikat ang inyong mga
tatay at pakisabi, “Tay, Salamat. Salamat dahil nagmana ako kay Nanay”. Biro lang po.

At hinding hindi din po mawawala ang ating pagkilala sa ating mga dakilang guro. Our dear teachers who
have tirelessly and patiently made sure that we will learn- that we will be better versions of our selves.
Our guide, our mentors, our teachers. Palakpakan din po natin ang ating mga guro. Because today is a
celebration of all our hard work. Today is also our success.

At dahil napalakpakan na po natin ang isa’t isa, isama nyo naman din ako. Ako naman ang palakpakan
nyo. Ako nga pala si Alden na narito sa inyong harapan. Alden Talan ha, hindi Alden Richards. Mas
gwapo naman ako dun. Natutuwa ako na matapos ang ___ taon, muli akong nakabalik sa aking mahal na
GRDHS kung saan katulad nyo noon, bilang isang estudyante ng GRDHS, natuto akong mangarap at
maisakatuparan ang aking mga pangarap.

It is my honor, it is really, honestly, truly my honor to be your speaker today for your recognition exercises.

I stand before you guys today not as a very successful man. First and foremost, I am a proud father of
two beautiful children- Isha and Emman, both of whom are honor students like you. So believe me when I
say I know what you are going through. I know that before you got to be where you are now, there were
many many countless nights you had to lose sleep over projects, reaction papers, cramming for exams,
among others. And do not forget those moments. Those beautiful moments when you kept going in spite
of the difficulties made you who you are -right now. Those moments when you wanted to give up- always
remember, they made you stronger.

Secondly, let me stand before you as your Kuya Alden. So let me give you a list of the things I have
discovered in my journey so far. I pray, in my own little way, these will help you navigate your life as well.

1)Celebrate each little victories. You don’t have to wait for momentous events to have a cause for
celebration. You have already proven to your self, to the world, your capacity. Even if there may be
times when you felt like a failure, you know deep inside you that you are not a failure. Today, your
presence proves that. You are a creation of God. You are loved. You are perfect. You are beautiful.

2)Trust God. We all have a mission in this world. At this point, what yours is, we may not know yet. But
let me tell you one reality. I do not want to sound harsh to you but there may be times when your
fondest dreams may not happen. Some of you here might be dreaming of becoming a lawyer, a doctor,
a teacher, a celebrity. There may be times that, no matter how hard your efforts were, your dreams
might still be too far to reach. When that happens, let go and trust God. I used to dream of being a
priest before. I even entered the seminary. But I guess I was never meant to be a priest. I had a different
mission and that was to give life and bring up my children as upright citizens. My mission was to be a
good father, a devoted husband, a productive IT engineer, a friend to all. I may not have a pulpit where I
can preach my sermons every mass but today, I would like to believe that God has brought me to share
with you my journey and hopefully, you might learn something from me today. I believe we all have a
mission. As teachers, it was no coincidence that you are here molding our youth. Let me share to you
some quotes from ST. John Baptist de La Salle, patron saint of the teachers: “Young people need good
teachers, like visible angels.”, “To be entrusted with the teaching of the young is a great gift and grace of
God.” “God has called you to your ministry.” “God entrusts to you his care of the young.” It was not the
school that appointed you as teachers. It was not DepEd who told you to teach. It was God and this is
your mission. To the parents, this is your mission, to bring up these children to be upright citizens, to
help them develop their fullest potential, to help them find happiness in life. This is your mission and
you have done it excellently.

3. Pursue excellence always. No matter where your mission takes you, even if it be far from your
dreams, be excellent versions of yourselves. Challenge yourself that. You are in no competition with
anyone but yourself. Some people think that life is too boring. It is easy to be lax, to be contented. To
say to yourself, “ok na tong buhay ko. Hanggang dito na lang ako”. Never say that. The moment you say
“ok na to” is the moment you have actually stopped living. You have stopped being a productive
member of society. Why? You have stopped challenging yourself. You have stopped being your own
version 2.0s. I may not have realized my dream of being a priest but I am constantly striving to be an
excellent IT engineer. Whenever there are opportunities, trainings and certifications, I always make a go
for it. Because when I am old and unable, I would like to say to myself, Good job Alden, you have lived a
full life. But you might say, “Pwede ba yun Kuya Alden, di ba nobody’s perfect?” Well, I am not asking
you to be perfect. Mahirap yun. Wala pang taong perfect, tama kayo. What I am saying is be excellent
versions of yourself – the way you are right now. Kaya nyo naman eh. Kaya nyo basta gustuhin nyo. So,
say this with me please, I WILL ALWAYS BE AN EXCELLENT VERSION OF MYSELF. I WILL ALWAYS BE AN
EXCELLENT VERSION OF MYSELF. Keep it up and make it your mantra.

4. Never give up!! Sabi nga, ang mundo ay bilog. Minsan nasa taas, minsan nasa baba. If you find
yourself in the darkest moment of your life, never give up. Life will always be full of challenges and of
course, with the guidance of your teachers, the love of your parents, the help of your friends, you can
surpass that. When I was in college, my teachers in Humanities gave us this exercise. Think of a problem
that has no solution – you may be surprised that there is none. Whenever you have a problem, try this
exercise. There is no problem that cannot be solved. So again, repeat after me, I WILL NEVER GIVE UP. I
WILL NEVER GIVE UP. As the famous saying goes, it doesn’t matter how many times you fall down. What
matters is how many times you get back up. Even the most successful people fall 9 times, before
succeeding at that one crucial thing.

And now that you have found academic success, now that you know things that you are actually good at
don’t ever forget what it is for. Nabubuhay tayo not only for ourselves, not only for our families. Always
remember that we are part of one community, one region, one society and one country. The real measure
of success is how you use your life, your abilities to uplift the lives of others. That is the bigger challenge.
They may say, O matalino ka nga, now what? What is your knowledge for?

In closing, let me ask this batch of outstanding students. Go find your mission and live your lives with a
passion. At sa muli, Congratulations sa inyo!