RIVERMAN’S VISTA | Gabii, Kadlawon, The Best Is Yet To Come

(Address delivered during the Commencement Exercises of the College of Law and Graduate School of the Ateneo de Davao University on Saturday, 27 June 2026)

Sit down po. Medyo 20 minutes ito. Kung may ad-lib, baka 25.

Maayong Good Morning. Let’s exchange this greeting to each other. Look at the person on your side. Ingon mo, maayong good morning. 

Chada kayo ni na-greeting, no? This is a greeting I borrowed from Bishop Bienvenido S. Tudtud of Marawi, known as the Lamplighter, a champion of peace and inter-religious dialogue. 

My friend, Carol Arguillas of MindaNews, quotes the good bishop’s explanation of this greeting.

Sabi ni Bishop Tudtud: 

“This is my usual greeting to everyone at any time of the day. 
Why? 
It is a good way to start a conversation. It makes people aware that you are really greeting them.
Makes people smile. Smile kamo ah. It makes people smile, especially if you say it even in the evening or the afternoon.
It makes you really mean your greeting. 
Doesn’t it make you feel good when you realize that you have opened a door for deeper communion? That you have made people know that they are worth greeting? That you have made people happy? That you have spoken a greeting not only because you were expected to? 
I am not really wrong when I say the greeting even in the evening,” ingon si Bishop Tudtud. “After all, the world is my home. And somewhere in it, at every moment, the sun is rising.”

I want to specially greet those of you whose parents, relatives, spouses, children are OFWs abroad. Maayong Good Morning.

Repeat after me. Maayong Good Morning. 

Bishop Tudtud died 39 years ago in a plane crash in Baguio on June 26, 1987.

Yesterday was the 39th anniversary of his death. But his greeting is still good. 

I hope this speech will have the same long shelf life. And you will remember it on your 25th or maybe your 50th anniversary of your graduation. 

Acknowledgments

Rev. Father Karel San Juan of the Society of Jesus, University President;  Rev. Father Antonio Basilio of the Society of Jesus, Rector of the Davao Jesuit Community and Vice President for Higher Education; Mr. Benjamin Lizada, Chair of the Board of Trustees; my student, Atty. Edgar Pascua, University Registrar.

The School Deans, Dr. Renante Pilapil, the Graduate School. Dr. Nelly Limbadan of the School of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Margie Clavano, School of Business and Governance, Dr. Liza Floresca, School of Nursing. Dr. Renyl Barroca, School of Engineering and Architecture, Dr. Melanie Galvez, School of Education.

And last of all, my friend and fellow human rights lawyer, peace advocate, and fighter against disinformation, Atty. Manuel Quibod, Dean of the Law School. 

Professors, academic and non-academic staff, my own guests who I will recognize later, parents, brothers, sisters, children of the graduates, and of course, all graduates.

I want to specially recognize my niece, Anne Ross Lactao Fernandez, who is graduating with an MS Psychology degree, and her parents, Dr. Mar and Angie, who is my favorite cousin from Camiguin. Sorry, sa adlib. 

Congratulations, everyone. This is a day of gratitude and joy, but it’s also a day of reflection. 

Introduction 

The title of my speech is, Gabii,  Kadlawon, The Best Is Yet To Come. 

And let me go straight to the point and tell you what I’m going to say in the next 15 minutes or so (excluding the introduction ha). 

We are challenged by the state of the world, by the state of our city, the state of Mindanao, our island, and of course, what happened to our community because of what happened to Bobet (Baterbonia). 

And of course, I want to acknowledge your own state, yes it’s a day of joy and gratitude but the law graduates ugma magtuon na for the bar exams and the professionals here, the academics, local government officials, religious, whatever background you come from, in the graduate school, now you have newly earned graduate degrees at the peak of your academic or other professional careers. This is a point also of inflection as the economy is changing fast with artificial intelligence and other challenges.

The bar examinees, of course, there’s always the fear of failing the bar exam. 

But I promise you, the best is yet to come. For the world, for the country, for the city, for Mindanao, for all the Ateneos — Ateneo de Davao, Ateneo de Manila, Xavier University, Ateneo de Zamboanga, Ateneo de Naga. 

And yes, even for the Baterbonias, as difficult as it is to imagine that. And that best will be possible because of you. 

But let’s start with where we are.

Night 

We are in the night, in darkness, in a way, certainly a lot of uncertainty. And yes, sorrow because of what happened to Bobet and Divine. 

Knowing that Ateneo de Davao responded with love and empathy to what happened is consoling.Knowing that you as a community responded as a community well, is good. Still, there is a lingering sadness. 

Certainly, many of us are asking questions.

Flying to Davao last Thursday, I wanted to come here the day before because I wanted to write the speech. Not assisted by AI, not any sentence or word comes from any AI tool. I did it myself yesterday in the campus.

But I came (Thursday) night, burdened with the challenge of writing a speech, trying to think of something to make you smile. And then, in the plane, when we were taking off, I saw a post by a friend, a brilliant Filipino diplomat, quite senior already, about to become an ambassador, who grew up in Davao City, so bagay na bagay, an alumna of Ateneo de Manila for college and of Ateneo de Davao University for high school.

She posted something and it said, “Let’s call it a year, guys. It’s enough now. Merry Christmas.”

Let’s call it a year, guys. Or dili pa, naa pa moy bar exam sa September, di ba? And the graduate school people, daghan kaayo changes sa inyong life, naa na moy degree. 

But most of all, quota na ta sa corruption. Quota na ta sa gyera, sa kalibutan, at sa nasod, labi na sa Mindanao. Quota na ta sa human rights violations, sa red tagging. Quota na ta sa politika na dili maayo.Quota na ta sa disinformation. Quota na ta sa heartbreaks. 

But wait, naa pay moabot.

On July 6, mag-start ang impeachment trial ni VP Sara. The prosecution has requested 62 trial days, while the defense has asked for 30. I suspect we will have 100 days of trial, lasting maybe five months, lasting possibly up to Christmas.

Imagine that? Simbako, every day, naay trial sa Senate, taman Christmas.

Mga bar examinees. I-off na ninyo inyong mga TV, radio, social media, kay ma distract gyud mo. Bawal ra ba, dili ra ba lakip sa … bar ninyo na syllabus, ang mahitabo sa trial, di ba? Even if the Supreme Court intervenes, let’s say, sa conviction majority.

Naa pa gyud. On September 7, we will see former President Duterte for the first time since March 2025 when he was first brought to the Hague. This will be for a status conference in the International Criminal Court, specifically on his medical condition and on whether he’s fit for trial.

And if the trial chamber concludes he’s fit for trial, on November 30, PRRD’s trial for crimes against humanity will begin. Simbako, that’s also three times a week, for six months to a year, even two years. Ingon ana ka dugay ang trial in the International Criminal Court.

I’m sure that both trials will generate passionate emotions in this city, in Mindanao and our country. 

Naa pa gyud, there is a flood corruption scandal. Ayaw nato kalimtan, di ba? The investigation of it is yet to be done.

Kanus-a man na mahuman uy!  

Sus gubot kaayo ang atong politika. Samok. Pero still, we are going to be glued to our screens, breathlessly waiting for the next development, the latest revelation.

I can imagine my wife, Titay, who is here today, because she’s fond of doing this, interrupting my classes or meetings or even sleep. “Mata sa, I want to know what you think of the latest ruling or argument or development in these trials.” 

By the way, I told Dean Manny, be prepared for a surge in enrollment in the law school after this year of many legal things that will be happening in the country.

And the world is also in darkness. 

It’s good that the Iran War has ended, with the humiliation, frankly, of the United States. 

It’s good that a small country like Ukraine is fighting a powerful country, Russia, to a draw.

But the negative consequences of both wars to the world have been immense, including for us, especially on energy and food prices. 

And what’s next in the world? The U.S. invading Cuba? China moving against Taiwan and God forbid, attacking us? Unsa na man ang international law? 

Gubot kayo ang kalibutan. Samok. 

Pero wala tay choice except to suffer the consequences of the decisions of small-minded men. My wife was saying, people kaha, (I said) no, men, mga lalaki ang naghimo aning mga decisions all over the world that are bad for all of us. 

And then we come to our island, Mindanao.

We are faced with a multitude of challenges. 

Let me mention four. 

First, climate injustice, and related to that, a disaster response that is always inadequate and ineffective, and therefore unjust (be it the Marawi siege or the latest earthquake in Soccsksargen). 

Number two, development aggression and destructive infrastructure projects that (are) threatening our forests and coastal and marine resources like mining in Tampakan and Samal Island Bridge. 

Third, an anti-insurgency campaign that has affected Lumad communities disproportionately; and 

Fourth, an endangered peace process in the Bangsamoro because of either the lack of leadership at the national level, or worse, the malicious acts of national officials who stand to benefit in dividing the leaders of the Bangsamoro.

Those of you who are graduating with natural or social science degrees or from technical and management programs, know this challenge. I know enough of your faculty and your programs, especially the anthropology department, the philosophy department, the public administration program, the Tropics program, to know how good these programs are and how good you are in understanding what is happening in our island. Then, of course, near to home in these past two weeks, we have been heartbroken by what happened to our beloved MVP, Bobet. 

The legacy of Bobet 

Many of you have read my trilogy of articles on the deaths of Bobet and Devine. You know that was very difficult to write. Each article took at least 12 hours of thinking, drafting, and revising, even with the aid of artificial intelligence.

I had to shift from one perspective to another as an alumnus, professor, and former dean of Ateneo de Manila. As someone educated by the Jesuits and a friend to many of them, including Father Bob Yap, President of Ateneo de Manila, who was my classmate and fellow Bisdak in Cervini Dorm, as  a human rights lawyer that is committed to always take a preferential option for the poor,  as a leader in the fight against disinformation, which has become a very big thing in this issue, and as a strong advocate against inequality and injustice, and above all, as a Mindanawon.

To anyone that might have been offended, hurt, or upset with what I have written, I apologize. 

“Words fail,” as poet Rayvi Sunico once wrote, “but they need to be spoken.”

And I did try to do it in a loving way.

In writing all these pieces, I came to a very clear conclusion as I wrote in the last article: Bobet is not an exception. He is the rule.

There are thousands of boys across Mindanao, across the Visayas, across every province that still exports its talent to the capital because there is nowhere else for it to go, thousands of boys riding the same narrow bridge between gift and poverty, between a family’s hope and a system that does not truly see them as more than assets. 

What happened to Bobet is what happens when inequality meets a failure of institutional duty. The inequality is the context. The failure is the precipitating event, and together they produce injustice. 

But here is what we need to do. We must fight that inequality and injustice together.

Wala ka nag-inusara, Bobet. You are not alone. You are not alone now, even in death.

I do not know if the anti-hazing charges against the coaching staff, unfortunately including student managers and ordinary ball boys, will prosper. That will depend on the evidence. But I’m sure some people will be held accountable and reforms will be implemented.

And specifically on the Baterbonias, I think that justice will be done and the dream of Bobet for his siblings will be achieved. 

Ateneo de Manila, for all its failures here, will do the right thing. I know Father Bobby well enough to know he will deliver for Bobet’s family.

That’s the darkness part of the speech, the night part of the speech. Let’s go to the dawn. Sa kadlawon.

Dawn

The best is yet to come. And that is because the best is yet to come from you and for you. I truly believe you are the best, that you’re better than us in my generation. And because of that, the best is yet to come for your city, for our island, country, and world.

Kayo ang dahilan kung bakit may Pagasa ang Mindanao at Pilipinas. 

I can predict scientifically to the law graduates that all of you will be lawyers as ADDU almost always has 100% passing rate, especially in the digital time.

I can predict that those of you with graduate degrees will radiate your competence, your competence, your goodness, your character, and lead your academic institutions, local governments, non-government organizations, and communities to a better place. 

The best is yet to come for this island because most of you will stay here, and I know that, and change it for the better. And it’s okay for those of you who will leave because you’ll always give back in so many ways now. And you can join others who are already doing that.

On climate change, I want to mention three groups that are doing innovative work in Mindanao. The Samdhana Institute, of which I’m a board member, and whose executive director, its new co-executive director, actually is from Davao City, Neth Daño. She couldn’t come because she’s out of town, but she’s from Davao, the Mindanao Climate Justice Resource Facility, of which I was founding chair, and the Climate Conflict Action that works in the Bangsamoro. These are world-class groups working in our island on the very important issue of climate justice.

On peace in Mindanao, there are men and women of goodwill who are out there — among others, our very own Datu Mussolini Sinsuat Lidasan, my old friend Irene Santiago, who at some point, was the chair of the government panel implementing the Bangsamoro Accords, and Bangsamoro Minister Raissa Jajurie, who was my student and a contemporary of Fr. Karel in Ateneo de Manila. 

I want to give special mention to MindaNews. Carol Arguillas was supposed to be here, but she had come from Talagogon and is still recovering from that trip.

But MindaNews celebrates its 25 year anniversary this year. If there’s any media platform that has contributed the most to a Mindanaowon consciousness, it is MindaNews. 

By the way, our very own Paring Bert, Albert Alejo, Father Albert Alejo, when he was in Davao and Carol Arguillas are recognized by Dr. Jojo Abinales as the first to use the term Mindanawon, which is now what I use and many of us use.

Dili lang mo Dabawenyo, Mindanawon mo. 

On human rights, for the soon-to-be lawyers here, you do not have to go far. Join your dean, Manny Quibod, at the Union of Peoples’ Lawyers of Mindanao.

Ga-recruit mi. I’m glad that my law partner, former Bayan Muna representative Kaloi Zarate is here with his wife, Prosecutor Rogie Verallo. I am their ninong, proudly. And Atty. Tony Azarcon, UPLM Chair; Atty. Joel Mahinay, UPLM Vice Chair, and Atty. Kay Paquera, UPLM Secretary-General. 

Duola ninyo. Ask them, how do I join UPLM? 

The struggle of the Lumad continues in our island, with the next generation represented here by people very close to me: Teacher Rose Hayahay, Miss Lala Empong, and Rius Valle.

I also want to honor the memory of Lumad teachers Chad Booc and Jurain Ngujo, both killed by the military in February 2022, and teachers Mao and Rosh, who both died of natural causes and a health system that does not work for the poor.

I call for the reversal of the convictions of the Talaingod 13, especially Satur Ocampo, France Castro, Meggie Nolasco, and the teachers of Salugpungan. Finally, I want to recognize the incredible work being done by Masipag Mindanao on agriculture, empowering farmers and especially the youth to do sustainable agroecology.

And of course the work of academic institutions, Ateneo de Davao, the other Ateneos in Mindanao, and other institutions. 

So there’s a lot of hope for Mindanao. I truly believe that the world and the future belongs to Mindanao, belongs to us.

How about the country and the world? The impeachment trials, the ICC case, the flood corruption scandals, the wars. 

You know, I’m old enough now, nearing 70, more than 65, to say that all these are passing. 

They are mirrors of ourselves and if you are good and do the right thing, change will happen. 

But now let me address the elephant in the room, and that is us. Me, you, all of us.

I said the best is yet to come, but that is only if we look at ourselves in the mirror, see the goodness in us, our purity of heart, our skills, becoming aware of our strengths and skills, our potential. But also see what is wrong with us and our society.

A good Mindanawon, a good citizen of Davao City, must also be a good Filipino. Not tolerant of any political dynasty, not resigned to accepting corruption, committed to no more desaparecidos — people who are abducted forcibly — like William Lariosa who is from Davao and was abducted in Bukidnon; not disposed to fake news that promotes false divisions between Luzon and Mindanao, and yes, Ateneo de Davao and Ateneo Manila, fake news that enables red-tagging, like that which NTF-ELCAC’s former spokesman, Lorraine Badoy, did with Naty Castro and other Mindanawon health workers, for which she has now been suspended from medical practice by the Professional Regional Regulation Commission, a decision that came out yesterday. 

When I communicated that, because I was the lead lawyer for that, I said 3-0 na kami against Lorraine Badoy. We had her censured by the Supreme Court for red-tagging a judge, we won an RTC case for damages for red-tagging Atom Araullo, and now we’ve won an important case, she’s now suspended from the practice of medicine, for red-tagging Dr. Naty Castro and other health workers.

And finally, a good Filipino and Mindanawon rejects all forms of human rights violations, even when committed by leaders that we like. 

Can I challenge us to sincerely ask, how much have we contributed to the divisions of our society? 

Conclusion 

The best is yet to come for the world. Because the best version of ourselves, of yourselves as new graduates, is still to come, and that will change the world.

But to arrive at that best version, we must, as Jayeel Cornelio, commencement speaker for the undergraduates last week (said), we must be prepared to be heartbroken, to be isolated, and yet in spite of this, to still care.

So that the best of you will come to be, you have to know your mission, what you are called to do, and what you are called to be. 

Let me end with a personal story about Ateneo de Davao.

In 1981, I was a Jesuit volunteer teaching philosophy in Xavier University in Cagayan de Oro. Midway through that school year, I found myself discerning whether I should move to Davao the next year. Kasi I was from Cagayan de Oro and was living in my house, and I felt like it was time to leave the hometown to teach philosophy here in ADDU and the regional seminary.

I actually went up to the seminary to see the classes there. 

It was a very confusing time for me. It was a very confusing time for the country and for the island.

I visited the city in January 1982 and had long conversations with Fr. Mike Moga, Fr. Rene A. Ocampo, and Prof. Francis Castro, teaching then in the philosophy department here, whom I knew in Ateneo de Manila earlier when I was in college.

That was almost 45 years ago. 

Yesterday afternoon, taking a break from writing this speech, I went down to the Quadrangle, which is… I don’t know if you call it the Quadrangle, but that used to be Ateneo de Davao. Wala pa yung Finster, wala pa… siyempre wala pa ito. That used to be Ateneo de Davao. 

Of course, I went to the University Church. Wala pa sad ang University Church.  It was a very small chapel then.

I went down to the church to pray and recalled that moment in time, in 1982, when I was thinking of moving here. 

It was a very different Davao City, quite violent, as captured in the song, Bankerohan, by Joey Ayala. Gusto unta ko mukanta pero wala man tay karaoke, Cong Kaloi, so, i-recite na lang nako. This is about the bombing, Divine Bankerohan. Pastilan! Pastilan! Pastilan! Sasabihin ng buong bayan. Ang syudad ng Davao ay wala nang tao. Ang Davao ay sementeryo. 

But frankly, in that darkness, there was actually a sense of hope, you could smell it. Maamoy mo talaga. Change was coming to the country. The Marcos dictatorship was coming to an end.

This was just shortly before Ninoy was assassinated in Manila. And naively then, I thought that maybe the national democratic revolution could be won through armed struggle and through urban uprising. 

In the end, I decided to stay another year in Cagayan de Oro.

I told (Titay)  last night that if I made that move, we might not have gotten married. Three years later, I married Titay. Three years after that, after I returned to Manila, maybe I might have gotten married to a Dabawenyo, di ba? Maybe I might have joined the Jesuits. More likely, I would have joined the New People’s Army and die as a Red Warrior. 

And if all of that happened, I would not have taught Father Karel San Juan Pilosopiya ng Tao in 1984, a Bisdak teaching Philosophy of Man in Visayan when he was a third-year college student in Ateneo de Manila. And I suppose I would not be here delivering this speech because I have this 40-plus year relationship with my star student who I think also liked me as a teacher.

But I looked at myself in the mirror then. And saw that the answer to my questions was not in Davao City nor even in Cagayan de Oro. 

It was in my heart. 

As we heard in the Gospel today, I saw how unworthy I was and how my heart needed conversion. But nevertheless, I asked the Lord to come into my roof and say the word and His servant will be healed, to call me to be a humble worker in His vineyard. 

That made all the difference for me.

And that is also what the Lord is telling you today: you may be unworthy, although you’re not because you’re so good, I know that, but God calls you.

Be the best that you can be. 

To the graduates and also your professors and administrators, I echo Pope Leo’s speech to the Jesuits in Rome just yesterday, I think, or the other day: “Those who conduct research, those who pursue studies, and those who seek the truth are ultimately seeking God whether they realize it or not.”

Together, let us make the city, island, country, and world the best that can be, walking towards the kingdom of God. 

Naa ta sa gabii. Pero hapit na ang kadlawon. The best is yet to come. 

Fortes in Fide. Be strong in faith.

And so let us end as we began. Repeat after me. Maayong Good Morning sa inyong tanan. 

Thank you.