NSTP CULMINATION. The 2017 National Service Training Program graduation of Xavier University - Ateneo de Cagayan was held on March 18 at the XU Covered Courts.
Text by Stephen Pedroza | Photos by Rico Magallona
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY — “Empowering communities in the peripheries” served as the overarching theme of the 2017 National Service Training Program (NSTP) graduation of Xavier University - Ateneo de Cagayan on March 18 at the XU Covered Courts.
In her keynote address, guest of honor Dinagat Islands Representative Kaka Bag-ao told the NSTP completers to make engaging with communities “a paramount element in the learning process.”
“We share the same values in realizing and actualizing nationalism and service. We learn from and for the people as we struggle for and with them,” she said.
As one of the lawmakers in the country, Bag-ao added: “Empowerment means helping the marginalized understand and be experts of the law so that they are able to not only protect their rights but more so to advance their interests and welfare. … When we introduce reforms in our political system, we have to likewise effect changes in our political culture.”
Xavier Ateneo NSTP invited Bag-ao, who voted against the reimposition of capital punishment during its final reading in the Lower House, to talk about her experiences as a human rights advocate. To this end, she shared four points to NSTP graduates:
1. Traditional politics is maintained not only by the elite, but also by the marginalized;
2. People are stakeholders, not mere beneficiaries;
3. People do not need your pity. They need your empathy and solidarity; and
4. The struggle for empowerment is a marathon, not a sprint.
ROLE MODEL. In her keynote address, guest of honor Dinagat Islands Representative Kaka Bag-ao told the NSTP completers to make engaging with communities as “a paramount element in the learning process.”
NSTP at Xavier Ateneo is a one-year formative process which adopts a two-pronged approach: classroom sessions with reflection sessions, and area work experience. NSTP has three components, namely, the Reserve Officers Training Corps, the Civic Welfare Training Service, and the Literacy Training Service.
The declaration of students as official NSTP graduates was followed by the distribution of certificates to the team leaders, contact persons and special awards to outstanding NSTP students. Partners from public and private institutions in Northern Mindanao also attended the NSTP culmination.
Joining Bag-ao in the stage party were Xavier’s VP for mission and ministry Irene Guitarte, VP for academic affairs Fr Rene Tacastacas SJ, university registrar Verna Lago, and Commission on Higher Education - Regional 10 NSTP supervisor John Banaynal.
“May your experience in the NSTP be the seed that allows you to flourish as leaders at the forefront of our struggles as a people; leaders who value the participation and empowerment of the people,” Bag-ao shared as her parting message for the crowd. “This program seeks top train you as volunteers in the future — volunteers who will go out of their way to serve communities and lead others towards doing the work worth doing.”∎
STAGE PARTY. (Left to right) Eighth Air Reserve Center commanding officer and XU ROTC commandant LTC Ferdinand G Encomienda PAF (GSC), Xavier's VP for mission and ministry Irene Guitarte, guest of honor Dinagat Islands Representative Kaka Bag-ao, Commission on Higher Education - Regional 10 NSTP supervisor John Banaynal, and XU NSTP director Edwina Dennise Gonzales.