7th State of the University Address: Southern Leyte State U and the feather in its cap in 2021
[PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE]
To the honorable President of the Republic of the Philippines, Hon. President Rodrigo R. Duterte, the education champions in the Congress, our respected leaders in the province of Southern Leyte, Governor Damian G. Mercado, the former Congressman Roger G. Mercado, now the Secretary of the Department of Public Works and Highways; the executive officers of the 19 municipalities of Southern Leyte, the very proactive and supportive CHED Chairperson Dr. J. Prospero E. De Vera III, Southern Leyte State U’s governing board Chairperson, the visionary and passionate CHED Commissioner, Dr. Aldrin A. Darilag; the very supportive members of the governing board, our most valued clients, the 12,219 students across all levels, across 10 Colleges and 6 Campuses of Southern Leyte State U; our competent, trailblazers and innovative faculty members; to the equally competent, dedicated and hardworking administrative personnel; to the members of the University Management Committee—the very hardworking, dynamic and proactive Vice Presidents and Campus Directors and the Support to Operations Directors; the august members of the University Academic and Administrative Councils; the officers and members of the Association of Faculty Organizations, Federation of Supreme Student Councils and the Alumni Associations ; to the rest of the University’s stakeholders and partners here and beyond, and to the whole Southern Leyte State U academic community, my cordial greetings to all.
What an overwhelming year it has been, with a lot to cover! Two formidable factors shaped us in 2021: the widespread transmission of COVID-19 with various variants which we dealt with, and the wrath of typhoon Rai, locally known as Super typhoon Odette, that caused so much distress and destructions not just to the university and lives of our students and employees but to the lives of so many people across several provinces in the country.
For almost two years, COVID-19 has taken an enormous toll on all of us. However, it also has shined a light on the best of our humanity and on our potential to do more, to think about others, to serve people and improve society. We’ve been connecting and partnering with each other like never before. Our efforts and diligence to step up our game and build a much better Southern Leyte State University amidst COVID-19 scare have reached across the world.
Our diverse, adventurous community continues to push boundaries, to overcome challenges, to innovate, expand and explore. These are big reasons to celebrate. How we seize this moment, to improve ourselves, to advance the quality of education and life for all, all these will define us ahead.
That’s a great reminder of our University vision–to become a leading higher education institution that advances knowledge and will be known for innovation and compassion for humanity, creating an inclusive society and a sustainable world.
On the other hand, Typhoon Odette is considered to be the strongest Typhoon on earth in 2021. To estimate the damage, people have to rely on word-of-mouth sources. With no signal, electricity, and internet, we did not have access to quick and reliable information. The storm displaced a huge number of people, and sadly lost their lives as a result of the powerful storm. For a time, the true scale of destruction remained somewhat unknown, because reaching the hardest-hit areas was tough for rescue workers. Seemingly nothing remained untouched until not so long ago. Three months after the tragic and traumatizing storm, it is still very apparent that there are some people who are desperately trying to cope up, rebuild their houses and continue to hustle to bring back what was lost and damaged.
As the old saying goes, there is always a rainbow after the rain. On that note, my sincere gratitude to all our SUC partners and partner agencies who made donations, both in-kind and monetary, to help us rise from the ashes of despair. Allow me to mention all of you one by one: Eastern Visayas State University, Leyte Normal University, Samar State University, University of Eastern Philippines, Department of Budget Management (DBM) Otso, Region Eight Administrators League Inc., the Eastern Visayas and the Davao Region chapters of the Philippine Association of State Universities and Colleges, Visayas State University, WJRC Mindshaper , Northwest Samar State University, Biliran State University, Palampon Institute of Technology, our Internationalization mentor Ms. Jennifer Montero, Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Officers League of Northern Samar Inc., Department of Science and Technology (DOST), Eastern Samar State University (ESSU), and students from Silliman University. The whole system of Southern Leyte State University is very grateful for your unthinkable generosity. Your donations surely supported our relief drive in giving assistance to our students, employees, the communities we serve most especially those who were greatly affected by the wrath of super typhoon Odette.
I am well aware that we are all missing the joy and energy of being with each other—with our classmates, friends, seeing our students and teachers. Had Typhoon Odette did not happen, we could have been seeing each other now as our limited face-to face-classes would have started on the onset of the second semester of the academic year 2021-2022. But I know that you fully understood the situation why we had to delay it. But I promise, with the concerted efforts of everyone in Southern Leyte State U, with CHED and local IATFs, we are going to see each other very, very soon. We are looking forward to it, and I am personally hopeful of that.
In this regard, I am pleased and honored to engage with you today, sharing with you the state of our university, more particularly on what we have significantly accomplished during the most challenging year 2021. As I think about the last year, our call for action were answered. Now, I believe we have every reason to see the silver lining of the situation and continue to be optimistic and resilient amidst adversities.
Here are a few of the highlights of the year that was:
In line with the internationalization initiatives of the University, the Southern Leyte State U Graduate School embarked in conducting a monthly colloquium which were participated by our very own graduate students and graduate school faculty members, faculty members and students from partner Philippines higher education institutions, as well as students and faculty members abroad—in China, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Indonesia, South Korea, Thailand, Sri Lanka, and among others. Our aspiration to become global opens greater opportunities for growth and market diversification. We are able to build our international cooperation and capacity building, enhance the profile of our institution, improve the quality of teaching and learning that would surely result to a more or high graduate employability, and strengthen institutional research and knowledge production and innovative capacity. Likewise, this is a great opportunity to enhance learning and deepen our understanding of the complexity of the world today especially in this time of pandemic, climate change and others. This undertaking is considered to be a chance for acquiring perspectives and insights about the world beyond our borders. Also, Southern Leyte State U’s internationalization team has successfully formed the university student ambassadors with the FSSC President, Ms Noreen el Mundo as the Lead. I’m so looking forward that series of internationalization-related student activities will be spearheaded by the student ambassadors within this year and beyond.
We would like to recognize the exemplary performance of our very own graduates in the 2021 licensure examinations in all the six campuses of the University. My equal felicitations to all the first-time takers of the various board examinations last year who made it to the long list of passers for the whole University system—16 from Bachelor of Elementary Education, 65 from Bachelor of Secondary Education, 2 from Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, 7 from Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering, 61 from Bachelor of Science in Criminology, 2 from Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering, 4 from Bachelor of Agricultural Technology, 1 from Bachelor of Science in Fisheries and 60 from Bachelor of Science in Social Works including the 7 first-time takers who passed the recently released February 2022 Licensure Exam for Social Workers. We managed to produce a total of 218 board exam passers amidst the restrictions and challenges brought about by the pandemic and super typhoon. That is already an additional feather to our cap.
In terms of the University research and development utilization, more than 100% of the targets set for the Research and Innovation and technologies extended or utilized in the community were accomplished. Our target was to develop 8 technologies, but we surpassed it and was able to develop 10, in which three of these utilized outputs are related to COVID 19 mitigations developed by the Information and Technology innovators from the College of Computer Studies and Information Technology namely: Automated Contact Tracing System, Offense Monitoring System, and Centralized Border Access Control and Monitoring System. In fact, the Automated Contact Tracing System is third Place winner in the Visayas Regional Scientific Meeting of DOST-NAST held in April.
More than 100% of the targets set for the publication of Research and Innovation papers in reputable journals were also achieved. In fact, our target is to publish only 22 but we reached 26 published papers in CHED-accredited and internationally refereed journals last year. Moreover, we exceeded the expected target of 46 for research and innovation papers. However, we completed 7 more than the number of our expected target. We were able to produce 53, majority of which are geared towards Transformative Learning and Good Governance. Southern Leyte State U also garnered a total of 79 publication citations. These are all considered to be a huge accomplishment as we gear towards developing leaders and professionals, producing high-impact technologies to contribute for sustainable development.
Last year, our very own researchers in the university received a number of recognitions and awards from various award-giving bodies. Dr. Ian Navarette received Best RDE Paper award for his research paper alongside two other researchers from Ateneo de Manila University, and was selected by the 2021 Members of the Jury as one of the Outstanding ASIAN Science Diplomats; Dr. Gladys Pascual received the Best Presenter Award during the International Research Congress in Science, Technology, Engineering, Agri-Fisheries and Mathematics; Ms. Jannie Fleur Oraño, Mr. Francis Rey Padao, and Dr. Rhoderick Malangsa received the Best Paper award during the International Conference on Methodological Advances in Research.
We had completed last year the research and development of food and other products from our various research centers in the University, such as the Canned Sardines in Canola and Ginger Oil, Calachuchi Anti-Bacterial Soap, Drop Biscuit enriched with fish bone and turmeric, Breadfruit-based bioplastic, cocoyam flour, coconut meat cake powder, fish and sticks made from a local fish called "lupoy" and taro, Ginger-Mango chews, and the Wellness Blend Products. Finally, Southern Leyte State U was able to transfer one research-based technology to an MSME in Hinunangan, Southern Leyte. This is the Paku Pickles produced by Dr Jilly Ramirez.
We also launched the Southern Leyte State U Integrated Alumni Portal, an effort to provide an avenue for alumni involvement to the university. They are considered to be one of the biggest sources of brilliant and innovative ideas when it comes to upgrading and enhancing our academic programs and even future donations in support to the attainment of the university’s goals and objectives. Likewise, it allows the university to benefit from the skills and experience of its graduates by offering their support to the students, to the institution and with each other.
I’m equally proud to report to you that the university’s extension services unit has been performing great as well. Our accomplishment rates for the 4 performance indicators have exceeded the targets. For the MFO on extension and technical advisory program, our average accomplishment rate is 128%. We also received an amount of 7.6 million pesos in September 2021 to kick-off the implementation of the initiatives under the SLSU Unified, Proactive, and Progressive Response Extension Support Services (SUPPRESS) COVID-19 funded by CHED Higher Education Development Fund. The amount was utilized for the fabrication of 160,000 pcs of face masks, 64,680 pcs of face shieds, and 18,250 liters of liquid hand soap which were distributed to all Southern Leyte State U employees and students and their families and for the faculty and students of Leyte Normal University and Visayas State University. To CHED-HEDF, thank you very much for this much needed grant.
Amidst all the restrictions, the university student engagements have been remarkable. Our students participated in some of the activities organized by other organizations and institutions which resulted to an exceptional achievement for the university.
Two students of Southern Leyte State U, in the name of Evan Catalogo and Rocella Parmo, from San Juan Campus received their acceptance notice to become part of the University Mobility in Asia and the Pacific-Collaborative Online International Learning or UMAP-COIL Honours Program 2021. It was a 7-week online program in partnership with the Institute for Innovative Global Education of Kansai University in Japan. This was participated by over 100 students around the world and personally, I am proud that two of our students were able to make it.
The CHED Regional Office VIII in partnership with the Council of Deans and Educators in Business and the Council of Economics Educators in Business - Region 8 (CECON-8) joined the Philippine Higher Education Sector in celebrating the 54th Founding Anniversary of ASEAN. A poster-making contest was included in view of the activity which was participated by our very own Michael M. Tejara and Niel John O. Ventura from the Main campus who won second-place in the regional virtual poster making competition. Lynmae Gonzales of San Juan campus, made it to the top 10 essay writers in the FEB UNPAD Summer Program 2021. It is a summer program that offered various activities ranging from seminars, group interactions, and other learning experiences designed to provide a platform for international students to learn, share ideas, build confidence and encourage friendship across nations. This was organized by Universitas Padjadjaran in Indonesia where it received more than 800 applicants which was then shortlisted to 440 participants coming from 56 universities and 10 countries namely Philippines, Malaysia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Brunei Darussalam, Russia, Myanmar, Thailand and Indonesia.
It is very important that we recognize these achievements because it increases students’ satisfaction, enhances students’ motivation to learn, reduces the sense of isolation, and improves students’ performance in online courses especially now that we adapt the flexible learning system.
Like what I’ve earlier mentioned, we were ready to open the university premises and welcome you all for the limited face-to face classes not until super typhoon Odette happened.
Our colleagues from the Office of the Students and Auxillary Services, together with the staff of the Student Programs and Services conducted an Orientation on the Face-to-Face Regulations to the Boarding Houses Owners/Operators. The former Office of the VPARI had an ocular inspection on laboratories conducted together with the Municipal IATF, LGU, RHU, and PNP representatives. We also had a face-to-face dialogue with the local government units of Sogod, San Juan, Bontoc, Tomas Oppus, and Hinunanangan to discuss their roles in ensuring the health and safety of our students while engaging in the limited face-to-face classes. You see, these are just three of the major preparations we did for the limited face-to-face classes which will soon happen. Although not everything and everyone was able to completely cope up from the typhoon, but we have made sure to fulfill our promise to give quality education amidst adversities that have happened.
Last year, we were able to acquire and upgrade university resources. We are able to acquire an additional university service vehicle, acquire and install equipment, fixtures and furniture for the Science Laboratory that cost 25.8 million pesos. Moreover, a total of 18M was granted to the University for the acquisition of engineering equipment needed to develop the competencies and skills of engineering and technology students.
Before typhoon Odette happened, our Human Kinetics Building in Tomas Oppus Campus was 100% completed in 2021 and was formally turned-over on July 7. We also obtained the 100% Completion of Livelihood Training and Development Center Building (Phase 3) in the main campus, close to 100% completion of the Multi-Purpose Court and construction of grandstand, close to 100% completion of the university library in the main campus, 56.7% progress for the construction of female dormitory, 23.22% progress for the construction of Research and Innovation Center, 30% progress for the Rehabilitation of OSAS Building into Two-Storey Academic Building at Hinunangan Campus, 10% Progress for the Completion of Students Welfare and Development Center at Hinunangan Campus, 34.45% progress for the Construction of U-Shape Building (Phase 1) at San Juan Campus. After the super typhoon Odette devastation, it left a trail of debris and garbage when it made a landfall in Southern Leyte—impassable roads, uprooted trees, cut electrical and telecommunication cables, devastated infrastructure facilities and laboratory equipment, to name a few. Repairs of the buildings, reconstruction and re-purchase of the damaged equipment after typhoon Odette will cost Southern Leyte State U more or less 350 million pesos.
We also completely finished the installation of accessories and paintings of twenty-nine (29) units of Touchless Handwashing Facility as part of our initiatives in combating against COVID-19.
Moreover, Southern Leyte State U has been recognized by CHED as one of the delivering higher education institutions in the country, and one of the two SUCs in Region 8 for its Scholarships for Instructors' Knowledge Advancement Program (SIKAP) project. Graduate School programs that were included in the project are Doctor of Education, Doctor of Philosophy in Technology Management, Master of Arts in Education, and Masters in Management. This recognition was strengthened through a signing of a Memorandum of Agreement between Southern Leyte State U and CHEDRO 8 represented by the then CHEDRO8 Director Dr. George M. Colorado.
Southern Leyte State U has by far the most number of external campuses in the region with a total of 6 including the Main Campus here in Sogod. With Maasin City Campus added to the family, all the six campuses managed to get Quality Management System (QMS) 9001:2015 ISO certification in March 2021. Yes, we are all ISO-certified! The Main Campus however was already certified in December 2018 but was recertified last year. Southern Leyte State U is one of the first state universities and colleges in the region to be certified with ISO QMS 9001:2008 in 2016. That is already a feat for the university considering that ISO recognizes the fundamental contribution that educational institutions and universities can give to standardization. Consistently working for our program accreditation and certification, three programs of Southern Leyte State U-Main Campus are now AACCUP Level IV accredited. These programs are Bachelor of Elementary Education Major in General Education, Bachelor of Secondary Education, major in Technology and Livelihood Education, and Bachelor of Science in Industrial Technology. This is the first time that the university has been awarded with a Level IV AACCUP accreditation, the highest level the entire university system has attained. It is worth note-taking that only two SUCs in the region got such accomplishment.
Likewise, it is noteworthy to mention that an additional 6 academic programs have been awarded by AACCUP with a Level 3 accreditation. These include the BS in Criminology, BS in Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management and Master in Technology Education of the Main Campus; Bachelor in Agricultural Technology and BS in Information Technology major in programming of Hinunangan campus, and; BS in Business Administration of Tomas Oppus campus. Wow! This is again another beautiful feather on Southern Leyte State U‘s cap. Among the higher education institutions in Region 8, Southern Leyte State U has by far the most number of academic programs that are compliant with CHED standards. As of December 2021, 70% or 29 out of 41 has received their respective Certificate of Program Compliance from CHED. For the rest of the programs, mostly the laboratory-intensive programs like engineering, food technology programs and others – the concerned college officials and faculty together with the Quality Assurance office of the university are exerting their best efforts to finally get the COPCs within this year, Lord willing.
To continue, in November 25 last year, Southern Leyte State University was awarded as FOI (Freedom of Information) Champion 1st runner-up in the 2021 FOI Awards under the FOI Champion for the State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) category during the celebration of the fifth year implementation of the FOI program in the Philippines. Out of 114 SUCs in the country, Southern Leyte State U was the lone university in the region to make it and eventually won 1st runner-up. The award recognizes significant strides of state universities and colleges in upholding the right to information of the public. Being the lone university in the province, we continue to support FOI initiatives to further champion transparency and accountability, promote good governance, and empower Filipino citizens, most particularly the young people, through access to information.
On the other hand, we closely coordinated with the Department of Interior and Local Government to capacitate the Local Government Units in the province for the preparation of the Mandanas Ruling implementation. This provides opportunities for improving service delivery through enhanced decentralization. We look at its implementation not just as a transfer of resources but an opportunity to strengthen decentralization and improve social service delivery. It will lead us to better coordination in planning and implementation across levels of government, taking into account the capacity and needs of LGUs as partners of the university, it could improve the lives of people and communities, especially the students.
We were so happy that in the middle of our distress few days after the wrath of Typhoon Rai when a great news was received from DBM Otso and AO25 secretariat—that Southern Leyte State U is again eligible for top-up incentive through PBB or Performance-Based Bonus. We are one of the state colleges and universities (SUCs) in the country which qualified for the 2020 Performance-Based Bonus (PBB) of which the result and incentive was released in December 2021. Such achievement is a product of the university’s being compliant to the requirements indicated in the Management Accountability Report Card from the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Harmonization of National Government Performance Monitoring, Information and Report Systems. We have been consistently PBB-eligible since 2012 except in 2018 and 2019. PBB has significantly contributed to the university's organizational and employee performance, leading to concrete and visible improvements in the delivery of services to our clients and stakeholders.
Before I move to our plans for this year and beyond, I would like to touch on our finances. For the year 2021, even with all the challenges and restrictions encountered, the university managed to foster an obligation rate of 97% and disbursement per obligation fostered a rate of 87% out of the total authorized allocations received by Southern Leyte State U from the government in the amount of 504.5M pesos. This is relatively a very satisfactory performance. As to income performance, the year 2021 was also a positive year for Southern Leyte State U as we have surpassed what we have targeted. We had an income performance rate of 107%. FY 2021’s income performance was a lot better than in FY 2020. Our income performance rates particularly for tuition fees, income collected from students, revolving fund and others and income from grants and donations were110%, 120% and 121%, respectively. What about that?
With careful management, we’ve increased our savings from the authorized Maintenance and other operating expense items so that all regular employees of Southern Leyte State U were able to receive a maximum amount of 25,000 pesos as their CNA incentive. Also, the university’s Job Order, contract of services personnel received a maximum of 5,000 pesos as their gratuity incentive for the year 2021. These savings were collected without compromising the conduct of all programs, projects and activities set for the year 2021 so that all the past year’s targets would be accomplished.
In this very chaotic world, the entire academic community of Southern Leyte State U needs to sustain its relevance, vigor, creativity, resilience and agility. Henceforth, we held a scenario-based strategic planning last year to re-imagine and re-define our direction and strategies in achieving our desired goals and objectives in this complex and critical times most especially that we are now in a DVUCAD (disruptive, volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous, diverse) world. Our updated strategic plan is centered on developing a smart university anchored on digital transformation in the critical business processes of the university while adhering to a resilient, clean and green environment. Guided with the Five-Year Strategic Plan-Execution Continuum, we commit to be a smart and green university that advances education, technological and professional instruction, research and innovation, community engagement services and progressive leadership in arts, sciences, and technology that are relevant to the needs of the glocal (global + local) communities.
Our aspirations to become a smart university will soon be realized as CHED granted the university with a 24.5 million funds from Smart Campus Development program for the Establishment of Southern Leyte State U's Enterprise Network Infrastructure and Multimedia Centers for an Improved Flexible Learning Management System Implementation. This shall help connect all 6 campuses to work as one network and improve its connectivity and interconnectivity. It will not only improve our instructional strategies or the mode of teaching and learning delivery but also the provision of a powerful, dynamic, new channel of access to the world of information, and with some enhanced communication mechanisms on campus ensuring a healthy and happy learning and working environment for students and employees.
Moving forward, Few of the milestones that Southern Leyte State U will embark this year include but not limited to the digital transformation covering the university’s critical business processes; establishment of an Intelligent System Laboratory for Strengthening Teaching Effectiveness and Research Capacity in Precision Agriculture with CHED funds amounting to 4.070M pesos; upgrading of Southern Leyte State U ‘s Flexible Learning System with Two Components such as Open Learning Hub and Virtual Lecture Training Room Multimedia Studio with a project cost amounting to 14.9M pesos; Establishment of the agri-fishery intellectual property and technology business management operations in Southern Leyte State U with a grant of 2.4M pesos from DOST-PCAARD; Fostering a World Class University through the QS star rating system with CHED fund in the amount of 2.5M pesos. Moreover, we couldn’t allow to end the year 2022 without trying our fate by applying for Philippine Quality Award, a standard of excellence to help Filipino organizations achieve world-class performance and serves as a template for competitiveness on the principles of Total Quality Management and to apply for Institutional accreditation as well as with AACCUP, Inc. Curriculum, being the heart of every academic institution, Southern Leyte State U shall initiate in upgrading and/or expanding its academic programs by embedding data science, data analytics, machine learning and other emerging technologies with Soulware 4.0. These expanded curricular programs would surely prepare students to become global citizens who are not only equipped with the essential cognitive skills but also imbued with the necessary values and 21st century skills.
As to our Recovery and Rehabilitation Program, those which require smaller amounts shall be implemented using the income of the university campuses but those which require larger sums have been submitted to appropriate government agencies for funding support beginning FY 2023. We really hope to complete the rehabilitation program within 3 years. On this note, Southern Leyte State U shall be more proactive this time and make sure that an expanded Business Resiliency Program must be in place within this year. This would make the university and its people become more resilient, adaptive and agile.
I couldn’t be prouder to share to all our stakeholders and partners that on top of all these accomplishments are the talents that Southern Leyte State U has, and those who rally behind us in pursuing our plans for this year onwards, thus far. As of 2021, the entire university is already composed of a much stronger teaching force, 48% of them are having academic ranks of assistant professors, associate professor and full-fledged professors, 57% are Masteral degree holders and 28% are Doctorate degree holders. On the other hand, a number of non-teaching staff has finished their masteral and doctorate degrees and some are now on their master’s studies. Talent management in the digital world is indeed a key factor to further succeed in all the university’s endeavors and milestones this year and beyond. With the new set of core values to be integrated in our personal and professional dealings such as Excellence, Service, Leadership and Good Governance, Innovation, Social Responsibility, Integrity, Professionalism and Spirituality, I’m sure enough, our beloved Southern Leyte State U will be among the higher education institutions that would help attain the United Nation’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) most particularly SDG 4 on Quality Education that cuts across other SDGs.
I want to end my remarks by giving salutations to all the people of Southern Leyte State U, who skillfully navigated us through rough seas over the past year and by saying that progress always comes down to people – to our common and shared vision of a better world, and to our commitment of creating a better world. And this has been particularly true this year 2022.
At this point, I will not allow to end my SOUA without offering a special thanks:
To our faculty who have been incredibly overwhelmed with the tasks they have to perform almost 24/7 as they have no choice to remotely accommodate queries and concerns of our students. In this pandemic period plus the destruction of Typhoon Odette, you have been serving not only as facilitators of learning, researchers and extension workers but acted as guidance counsellors to the students under your care. These are on top of the time you have invested in preparing your learning modules and other materials to be used by the students. Your passion and perseverance in helping the university will surely come to fruition.
To our administrative staff, drivers, PPDMO and GENSO staff, office clerks, security guards, IT staff who are working behind the curtains and run our services from transportation to hospitality. You have been a significant part of our research and innovation, extension services programs, student services and our teaching teams, you take care of our finances and our campuses; you keep us safe and our IT secure, among others. You also take care for our well-being, manage our operations, and organize our events. And you help us communicate and work with our stakeholders.
To our faculty and administrative staff, who retired last year and are retiring this year, for your distinguished service;
To the Public Affairs and Strategic Communication, University Information System and Analytics, and the OP staff for the unwavering commitment in providing the public, the university’s employees and student’s timely and relevant information and present advisories using the emerging technologies. You have been our window to see and connect to our stakeholders and partners. To the Quality Assurance, Internationalization, Planning and Human Resource Management and Development teams for your unwavering commitment to put excellence next to none.
To our four Vice Presidents, five Campus Directors, College deans, directors, division heads, department and office heads, who have been investing so much just to help all of us to transition to a better normal while accomplishing all the deliverables expected of us; for your work days that have been stretched too often into work nights;
To Chair Aldrin Darilag and University Board of Regents, who serve our university with passion and for the inspiration and support all of you have afforded to Southern Leyte State U.
To all our agency and industry partners here and beyond, and those I missed to mention, please accept my heartfelt gratitude.
Above all, to our Almighty God, for all the wonderful blessings afforded to the entire Southern Leyte State U family and to our respective households; for the good health and safety amidst the fears and anxieties while we perform our tasks.
Thank you all not just for what you achieved, but for the greater things to come – for our university, for our community, and for the world. You’ve all kept us focused on caring for our university, by advancing our mission and our vision as a force for the common good and for hope.
Before I end my speech, allow me to leave a quote for us to ponder on. Vesta M. Kelly said ““Snowflakes are one of nature’s most fragile things, but just look what they can do when they stick together.”
Dear colleagues in the public service, let us continue to work hand-in-hand as we welcome another chapter in and for the university. By sticking together as one big family, the confidence we have established through the years will help us get through tough times, make us feel accepted, and makes us more powerful together.
Happy 18th Charter Anniversary, Southern Leyte State University! Let us make 2022 our greatest year. God bless everyone!