Where truth meets innovation: DOST-8 Leader urges VSU Isabel graduates to champion science for the people

The University President, Dr. Prose Ivy Yepes; the Chancellor of VSU Isabel, Dr. Catherine Chan; the Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dr. Rotacio Gravoso; the Honorable Mayor of the Municipality of Isabel, Atty. Benjamin Pongos, Jr.; the Honorable members of the Board of Regents; the faculty deans, faculty members, and administrative staff of this university; reverend clergy; distinguished guests; proud parents and families; and most especially, the members of the Graduating Class of 2026, maayong hapon sa atong tanan! A very good afternoon to all of you.

Thank you, Dr. Chan, for that generous introduction, and thank you, President Yepes, for the honor of serving as your commencement speaker before the #ProudViscans of Isabel on this momentous graduation day. It is always a joy to come home to an academic community that shares the very heart of our work at the Department of Science and Technology: the belief that knowledge must serve people.

To the Class of 2026: this day belongs to you. Congratulations!

The Search for Truth

Your university carries a founding creed that has guided generations of Viscans: “Let search for truth prevail as a dominant activity of university life. For truth is the guiding light in our paramount mission: the pursuit of excellence.”

Today, I ask you to carry that creed beyond these gates. Because the search for truth does not end at graduation. It simply changes its address. It moves from the laboratory to the workplace, from the classroom to the community, from the thesis manuscript to the daily choices you will make as engineers, teachers, IT professionals, and agripreneurs.

And in a world where information travels faster than understanding—where artificial intelligence can write, compute, and even converse—the search for truth has never been more important, and never more human. Machines can process data. But only people can pursue truth with conscience, with compassion, and with courage.

Science That Is Felt

At the Department of Science and Technology, we live by a simple phrase: Agham na Ramdam, that is, science that is felt. Science is not truly science until it reaches the fisherfolk in Bilwang, the farmer in Matlang, the teacher in Tolingon, the mother in Sto. Niño.

And I am proud to say: this graduating class already understands that.

I scanned your capstone and research projects, and I saw Agham na Ramdam in each of them. An automated flood early warning system designed for the people of Isabel. A solar biomass-hybrid copra dryer for our coconut farmers. An automated amphibious feeding boat for aquaculture. A production facility layout for a goat milk ice cream plant right here in this town. These are not academic exercises. These are acts of service disguised as requirements.

You did not wait for graduation to make a difference. You made your education felt even before you finished it. That is the Viscan way, and that is the DOST way.

Allow me also to congratulate the recipients of the DOST Academic Excellence Award—Althia Laguna, James Kyle Romero, and R Jay Tabon of the Mechanical Engineering program—and to all our Latin honors awardees. Your discipline honors your families and your university.

Facing the Uncertainty Ahead

Now, graduates, allow me to speak to you as someone who once sat where you are sitting now, facing the same questions you may be asking today: What happens next? Will I find work? Will I pass the licensure examination? And simba ko lang: What if my plans do not succeed?

These are reasonable questions, and I want to offer you a practical perspective on them: uncertainty is a normal part of every beginning. It is not a weakness to be feared, but a condition to be managed, with preparation, patience, and sound judgment.

No one begins a career with a complete map. When I graduated with my degree in Industrial Engineering at then Leyte Institute of Technology now EVSU, I did not foresee a career of more than three decades in the Department of Science and Technology, nor the opportunities to serve in the provinces, study abroad, and earn a doctorate. None of that was planned in advance. Each stage of that journey came from simply doing the work in front of me and taking the next step when it appeared.

That is my first point of advice: you do not need to see the entire path. You only need to take the next well-considered step.

The future does not arrive all at once. It arrives one decision at a time — one application, one interview, one review class, one small enterprise, one classroom, one honest day's work at a time. Focus on what is within your control today, and over time those steady steps will accumulate into a career and a life you can be proud of.

Second: treat setbacks as part of the process, not as final verdicts. Some of you may not pass an examination on the first attempt. An application may be declined. A venture may not succeed. When that happens, respond the way a scientist responds to a failed experiment: examine what happened, extract the lesson, adjust the approach, and try again. In our laboratories, a negative result is not wasted effort. It is data. The professionals we recognize as successful are, in most cases, simply those who continued to improve after each setback.

Third: remember that you are not starting from zero. You are starting from VSU Isabel, with four or five years of rigorous training behind you — problem sets, lesson plans, laboratory work, research, and internships, completed through no small number of challenges. That preparation is real capital. Trust your training, apply it diligently, and continue to build on it.

Fourth: you do not work alone. Your families remain behind you. Your classmates will become your professional network and future collaborators. Institutions, including your DOST, stand ready with scholarships, research grants, technology assistance, and startup support. And for those of you who draw strength from faith, Scripture offers this assurance: “Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

And finally: measure your progress against your own goals, not against the pace of others. Some of your batchmates will find employment immediately; others will take longer. Some will work abroad; others will build careers here in Leyte. These are all legitimate paths. What matters is not how quickly you advance relative to your peers, but whether you are moving steadily toward objectives you have set for yourself.

The world you are entering is uncertain, but it is worth remembering that uncertainty is also where opportunity is found. The startups we support at DOST, the innovations coming out of our regional laboratories, the technologies now changing Eastern Visayas—all of them began with people who acted on well-prepared plans without any guarantee of the outcome. Courage, in practical terms, is preparation combined with the willingness to proceed.

So when uncertainty comes, and it will, meet it with preparation, sound judgment, and the confidence of a Viscan formed by truth and excellence.

Three Things to Carry With You

As you leave this gymnasium today, allow me to leave you with three things.

First, stay curious. Your diploma is not a certificate of completion; it is a license to keep learning. Technology will change. Industries will transform. The tools you mastered here may be obsolete in ten years, but the habit of learning never will be. The graduate who keeps asking questions will never be left behind.

Second, stay rooted. Eastern Visayas needs you. Our region is rising in innovation, in enterprise, in science and technology. At DOST, we are building startup ecosystems, smart communities, food innovation facilities, and AI-ready industries right here in our region. We are proving that world-class ideas can grow from Waray soil. Wherever life takes you—Manila, abroad, or right here in Isabel—carry your region in your heart, and when the opportunity comes, help us build it.

Third, stay grateful. Look around you. Your parents who sacrificed quietly. Your teachers who stayed long after class hours. Your classmates who carried you through sleepless nights. Your education was made possible by the Filipino people, through a state university sustained by public trust. The best way to repay that debt is not with words, but with a life of integrity and service.

To the Parents and Teachers

To the parents and guardians: this achievement is yours as well. Behind every name called this afternoon are years of your steady support and sacrifice. On behalf of the Department of Science and Technology, I commend and thank you.

To the faculty and staff of VSU Isabel, under the leadership of Dr. Yepes and Dr. Chan: thank you for forming not just competent graduates, but good people. The nation is better because of teachers like you.

Closing

Class of 2026, this is your moment, and you have earned it!

Do not hesitate before the road ahead simply because you cannot see its end. Proceed anyway, guided by truth, committed to science that is felt, and grounded in the values VSU has given you.

Go forth as seekers of truth. Go forth as bearers of science that is felt. Go forth as proud Viscans, proud Warays and Visayans, proud Filipinos.

Let us work well, think boldly, and build together.

Mabuhay ang Class of 2026! Mabuhay ang Visayas State University Isabel! Mabuhay ang Eastern Visayas! Mabuhay tayong lahat!

Thank you.

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