Bright lights

Filipinos have always treasured a good education, considering it as essential to success and the most concrete manifestation of their desire to better their lot.

Amid the general toxicity and fakery of the moment, the education front provides the few bright spots attesting to what honest grit, determination and smarts can still do for those who stake their lives on such values.

In Isabela, perseverance found good company in the case of triplets Ace, King and Jack Pagaran, who graduated cum laude all together from Isabela State University’s Cabagan campus.

Their parents, Sonny and Leliza, both farmers, went to extraordinary lengths to pay for the tuition of their three kids.

The Pagarans sold their farm, worked on it as tenants and fell into debt. The triplets put in their share as well, working as farmhands to earn extra money for food and allowances.

Now, the three boys have earned their bachelor’s degree in agriculture, and are seeking to overcome the real-world obstacle of employment. Don’t bet against this determined family.

Or this family, either: At the University of the Philippines Diliman, 44-year-old homemaker Lorelei Aquino made a dream come true when she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business management.

“I have always dreamed of returning to school to get my very elusive diploma,” she said.

Aquino was a business management major at the UP Diliman Extension Program in Clark, Pampanga, when she had to drop out after failing calculus and becoming pregnant.

After two decades, she went back to school and, after her third try, passed calculus.

Even more remarkably, she also graduated with two of her three children, Mark Romeo and Lorielle Ann, both cum laudes.

“My classmates were younger than my youngest child, and my teacher was just a little bit older than my eldest son,” said Aquino. “It was so challenging as well that the students’ culture now is so different compared to when I was in college.”

But, obviously, those challenges were no match for this steadfast woman.

Being in a wheelchair didn’t stop Alexander Michael “Miggy” Bautista, either.

Bautista, who graduated from UP Diliman with a business administration degree, was diagnosed with the rare neuromuscular disorder spinal muscular atrophy, which leads to loss of muscle control.

Still, he never allowed his wheelchair confinement to define him, and his parents Gabriel and Soledad provided unfailing support.

In fact, according to the family, it took a village to bring Bautista to this point, as security guards, maintenance workers, teachers and even random strangers helped him get around.

Bautista’s time at UP has led officials to ponder how the school can better help persons with disabilities like him.

“I believe service is not a question of capability but of will, mind and heart,” said Bautista. “Even if my disability sometimes barred me from doing some things, it did not stop me from being the UP student that I want to be.”

Who you are is who you stand up to be.

Memeg Umaming, who comes from the Kankana-ey minority in Sagada, demonstrated this when he attended his graduation wearing not only the UP sablay, but the traditional “bahag” of his indigenous community. Umaming received a BS mathematics degree.

His meaningful gesture spoke volumes about his pride in his identity and his background.

These inspiring stories of ordinary Filipinos overcoming adverse circumstances to pursue their education stand as shining reminders of the value of hard work and commitment toward the attainment of learning and, hopefully, enlightenment for one’s self and the greater good.

As UP summa cum laude China Marie Giuliani Gabriel said in her graduation speech: “We can overcome any battle and escape the darkness of our past through a shared vision and collective action. The call of the times is for us to become truth seekers. Let our enthusiasm to learn transform into enthusiasm to serve and to remember. So that together, we can create new memories for our liberated Pilipinas. Stand for truth and actualize our loving vision for the Filipino society.”