“Education is the great equalizer”.
This was the message of Gov. Gwen Garcia to the 795 graduates of Talisay City College (TCC) during their graduation ceremony at the Sky Hall of SM Seaside on July 14.
The governor related to the graduates the inspiring story of her father, former governor Pablo Garcia, who came from poverty and worked his way towards becoming a bar topnotcher, framer of the Constitution, and later a government official who had stints at the Capitol and Congress — all because of hard work and dedication in his studies.
“Indeed, education is the great equalizer,” Gov. Garcia said. “Kung ang usa ka tawo, bisan pa sa iyang kalisod, maningkamot gayod nga molampos sa iyang pagtuon, mahatagan niya ang iyang kaugalingon, ang iyang pamilya ug kadtong mga mosunod kaniya og hayag nga kaugmaon,” she added.
Mayor Gerald Anthony Gullas Jr., who also sits as chairman of the Board of Trustees of TCC, said he invited the governor to be the commencement speaker as a way of gratitude for the Capitol’s help extended to the college recently.
In May this year, Mayor Gullas and other mayors whose LGUs are running public colleges, sought the help of the governor upon learning that the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) delisted them from the agency’s tertiary scholarship grants as mandated by Unified Financial Assistance System for Tertiary Education Act (UniFAST) and Tertiary Education Subsidy (TES).
Mayor Gullas said that upon Gov. Garcia’s intervention, who summoned CHED officials and sought their explanation, delisting TCC from the scholarship grants was averted.
As a parting message, the governor exhorted the graduates to always act honorably as they join the work force, and to give more value to honor than wealth.
Vice Mayor Richard Francis Aznar and members of the City Council, as well as TCC faculty members, led by college president Dr. Richel Bacaltos, were also present during the ceremony. | Nina Tricia Caritan, CNU Broadcast Journalism Intern