KapSilver

CELEBRATING 25 YEARS OF

SCHOLARSHIP, LEADERSHIP AND SERVICE

Twenty-five years ago, on June 9, Kapuluan Study Center opened its portal to university students who were eager for formation and excellence.

Today, the building barely changed. The upholstery, furniture, marble floor, ceilings, and even some of the air conditioners remain the same. It is almost impossible to tell that the building has been around for two and a half decades old, thanks to careful use and maintenance.

However, the care employed on the building pales in comparison to the care and attention Kapuluan strives to exert toward students who are willing to undergo formation.

Thus, last June 13, 2009, alumni and current fellows alike came together to celebrate the Silver Anniversary of Kapuluan, dubbed as KapSilver.

A film-showing on St. Josemarià Escrivá, founder of Opus Dei, to whom the spiritual formation of Kapuluan is entrusted, started the celebration. It was through St. Josemarià’s hard work and great faith that the Derecho Y Architectura (Law and Architecture) Academy, Kapuluan’s prototype, was opened in 1934.

This was followed by a Mass of the Holy Spirit, which was celebrated by Msgr. Joseph Duran, Vicar-General of Opus Dei in the Philippines. The Mass of the Holy Spirit is traditionally celebrated in universities at the beginning of a new school year. At the same time, it was a thanksgiving mass for Kapuluan’s Silver Jubilee. Chris Tiu played the organ for the choir which added solemnity to the occasion.

“In Kapuluan, one finds a school of friendship, a venue to foster the spirit of service and live Christian fraternity down to its last consequences,” said Msgr. Duran in his homily.
Afterward, Carlo, a medical student, rendered a soulful performance of his own version of Gary Granada’s “Mabuti pa Sila,” which drew applause from the crowd. He then introduced the Director of the Center, Mr. Oliver M Tuazon.

Oliver outlined all the planned activities of the Center for the rest of the year, encouraging everyone to join and invite new friends. He also presented a slideshow of Kapuluan’s memoirs and the K25 Leadership Forum, Kapuluan’s Silver Anniversary Project.

After the sumptuous lunch provided by Albergus Catering, the fellows had a get together with four former staff who were present during Kapuluan’s early years. They were Messrs. Oscar Olmos, Rey Taganas, David Caloza, and former Kapuluan Director, Jason De Villa.

They shared old stories about Kapuluan, especially on how they used to invite other students to come to the Center.

Jason recalled that ROTC was a blessing. Every after training, they would bring many of their fellow cadets to the Center and orient them to the formation it offers. All four of them fondly recalled how attendances in the meditations would stretch as far as the lanai area.

On a more serious tone, Oscar advised the fellows to just keep asking people to come, even if many decline. “Many things seem insignificant but it becomes a point of reference. It needs daring,” he said.

He also highlighted the importance of formation saying, “It is beyond imagination what the fruits of formation would bring.” Rey, who would be going to Indonesia to help start another Center there, and David affirmed the importance of formation and the importance of convincing one’s friends to avail of the formation offered in the Center.

Jason challenged everyone to ask themselves: “What can we do for the next 25 years…to serve longer?”

“Hopefully, some of you would sit here with your grey hair and talk about what you did in 2009 to inspire others to continue for another 25 years,” he added.

After the lively get together, Michael Hoffman’s “The Emperor’s Club” was shown. The movie sent a strong message on the need for formation early on in life which runs parallel to what Kapuluan aims to do.

The quarter of a century existence of Kapuluan could be defined in Msgr. Duran’s words: “Kapuluan proved to be a crucial stage in [the students’] human and personal development. What they could not get from the university, they found it in # 17 Maginhawa Street.”

UNIVERSITAS: Seven years of values-based leadership

In 2000, international research firm McCann Erickson reported that there was a growing change on the youth’s views on morality. The study spelled out how technology and the new media bring about a “widening gray area between perceived right and wrong among today’s youth.”

Many of the youth surveyed, for instance, accept abortion as a replacement to early marriage, because they considered having “another mouth to feed” during times of financial difficulty not a good idea. Only about half of them, meanwhile, would personally consider premarital sex and frequent gambling as outright wrong.

Hence, the need for values education—to form minds while they are young in the hope that they can lead better lives and build a better society. While it is true that wisdom comes with age, the eagerness and the ability to learn are highest early on in life.

Universitas was formed in 2003 to address these needs. The group believes that good governance can be traced to good upbringing of leaders, with the right values planted in their hearts and minds while they are young. It envisions a society of leaders with strong foundations in the right values related to scholarship, leadership, and service.

Latin for universality, Universitas is a group of university scholars and student leaders that aims to foster among its members a spirit of excellence and service to society and promote values education among the youth. It also promotes unity of life and a universal regard to unchanging truths.

For six years now, Kapuluan’s key project has been able to reach thousands of students, youth leaders, and scholars all over the Philippines through talks, conferences, publications, and social outreach programs that focus on themes like values, virtues, leadership, youth solidarity, the need for culture and having a social conscience.

At the same time, its activities encourage life outside the workspace recognizing that one also has family and friends to spend time with, seeing the importance of rest from work. Universitas underlines the importance of a holistic and well-balanced formation.

Universitas has achieved these through the help of several sponsors, like the Cultural and Educational Foundation of Angeles (CEFA), Philamlife, National Bookstore, Penshoppe, MG Reprographics and several parents of Kapuluan fellows, our patrons like Mrs. Amelia Castillo- la Ó, Mr. and Mrs. Ding Quintos, and Mrs. Juliet Buenaventura, who provided the seed money to start the organization.

Since a life of virtue is a tall endeavor—a life-long process—and one that needs a very deep foundation, Universitas aims to train the youth to commit themselves to good and sound ideals—going deep into them, up to such a point that they make it their own. And there is no better time to start than when one is still young.

THINK. SPEAK. LEAD: USC 2009

Every year, for seven years now, Universitas gathers university students and prominent individuals to participate in the Universitas Student Conference (USC). Held in Kapuluan, the three-day USC offers an arena where talks and lectures on diverse issues could be made.

Previous USC themes

• 2003: “Living a Balanced Life: How to be a Well-Rounded Student”
• 2004: “Are Values Still in Vogue?”
• 2005: “Media and the Youth for Rebuilding the Nation”
• 2006: “The Art of Work: Secrets of Highly Effective Professionals”
• 2007: “Gear Up: Excellence in the University and Beyond”
• 2008: “Transcend: The Science and Art of Success”

This year, the USC’s theme was “Think. Speak. Lead.” Being a component of the K25 Leadership Forum, all the speakers are K25 Professional Mentors.

On the first day, there were two speakers: Mr. Isidro Sobrecarey and Dr. Lito Sandejas.

Mr. Sobrecarey spoke about corporate life and personal values. He stressed that "there is no pretension in leadership. You are a leader, day-in, day-out, wherever you are." He has a curious way of knowing the character of a leader. "You can judge a leader by the way he treats his house help," he said, "If he treats them badly, you're sure he also treats his employees the same way."

Dr. Sandejas, on the other hand, gave a lecture on the seven basic habits of a successful professional. The first of the seven habits is jumping out of bed the moment the alarm clock rings."This is the first battle of the day," Dr. Sandejas said, "Winning carries over into rest of the day; losing also."

The second habit is faithfulness to responsibilities, family and fellowmen, because adherence to this trait is "reflective of a person's attitude to others." The third habit is maintaining a good emotional bank account, which he said facilitates “one's ability to lead, persuade, and guide."

The fourth habit, meanwhile, is to be a lifelong learner. "Although you are acknowledged to be high performers, there is always room for improvement." The fifth habit, moreover, is being more proactive than reactive. Dr. Sandejas said it is more important for a leader to take the initiative to plan, but not to be overly aggressive.

Dr. Sandejas' sixth habit of effective leadership is to gain the act of self-examination. "It is harder to get lost if we examine ourselves regularly," he said, "An unexamined life is not worth living." The seventh habit, lastly, is to train oneself to be physically and spiritually fit. "The need to be physically fit is more obvious than the need to be spiritually fit," Dr. Sandejas said, "but the need to be spiritually fit is more important, for peace and joy."

On the second day, Dr. Bernardo Villegas, a renowned economist, TOYM Awardee and among the 1987 Constitution framers, gave forecasts on the financial crisis gripping the world economy. He cited two events in the history of economics that shook the world: the Black Thursday of the 1930 Great Depression and the very fresh Black Monday of 2008 when Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy. Contrasting the two events and generally concluding that the present financial crisis is more manageable than the latter, Dr. Villegas hinted that the present world economy is now more progressive and has learned from past crises.

In synthesis, Dr. Villegas said that the tasks he proposed to help solve the economic crisis cannot be done overnight, rather, they are tasks that must be shared and pursued by many inspired young men, a generation that would see the problem, make a solution, and foremost, produce results. This is the task of young student leaders.

Two speakers took the podium on the last day of the USC: Mr. Vicente Villegas, a retired executive of Procter and Gamble, and Mr. Manny Palomo, Marketing Manager of Nokia-Siemens Networks Philippines.

Mr. Villegas focused on encouraging the students to practice virtues all the time. “Practice! Practice! Practice!,” he said. He shared Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000-hour practice rule. He was quick to respond to the cynical approach to such a tedious task by saying that, "the tendency is that the time of practice may get boring and a person may let up on his work. Sometimes a person may need motivators or extraordinary opportunities for progressing."

Mr. Palomo ended the USC with a fun and informative lecture about the upcoming trends in telecommunications. This session was more scientific in nature. Nevertheless, the information given proved that the advancement of man never ceases, and that progress should always take into account human development.

Certainly, we need people who think, speak, and lead to guide society through various crises with their virtues.

The Pen and the Power of Truth

THE INQUIES SUMMER COURSE

The power of the pen is mightier than the sword, as a saying goes, because well-written pieces have the capacity to influence generations to bring a lasting change to society.

Harriet Beecher Stowe’s “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”, for instance, was one of the books that helped abolish slavery in the United States. Jose Rizal’s “Noli Me Tangere”, on the other hand, helped achieve Philippine liberation. Paul Ehrlich’s “The Population Bomb”, continues to fuel the overpopulation myth.

It can be deduced, therefore, that writing can either bring harm or benefit to society. With the influx of influential but misleading writers in today’s Internet age, there is a pressing need to develop a stronger counterbalance.

In line with this, the Center holds each year the Inquies Summer Course, a lecture and writing seminar that aims to educate the young participants on the truth behind several pertinent issues facing them. Latin for “restlessness”, Inquies suitably fits Universitas’ unrelenting search for truth convinced that the answers to the country’s predicaments have to be well thought-out, and firmly grounded on high regard for virtue and the natural law.

The Inquies Summer Course began in 2006, and since then had focused on four central themes ranging from philosophy to mass media. The central theme for this year’s course, meanwhile, was the “Culture of Life”, covering several bioethical issues in society today. Some of the speakers were Dr. Bernardo Villegas, who talked about the overpopulation hoax, and cartoonist Jess Abrera, who related several anecdotes on his career as a cartoonist and the power of media.

“Malaki talaga ang factor ng media dahil ito ang nagpapakita ng mga bagay-bagay sa mundo,” said Abrera, “Binubuo ng media ang mga ito para magkaron ang reader ng opinion… kapag may opinion ka, makakakilos ka.”

Activities such as educational tours like the one in GMA-7 provided by Mr. Mike Enriquez when he served as ISC faculty, give the students firsthand experience on the theme for the year, while sporting events, time for prayer and games provide opportunities for a healthy balance of activities. The students eventually develop a good background on the topic, helping them achieve the output of the activity to hopefully publish an article in a major daily.

To continue the discussion during the semester, Universitas also formed Inquies Biweekly. The group is a writing and critique group that trains students to write well, not only in syntax but also in forming sound arguments on paper. Each of the participants writes one article every two weeks, which is critiqued by the whole group, to help develop a knack for writing and expressing ideas well. Senator Francisco Tatad, who is renowned for his writing skills, showed his support recently through by conducting a writing workshop for the ISC participants—giving tips on good writing skills, commenting on the participants’ articles, and mentoring them on the validity of their arguments.

Inquies was inspired by the group of JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis at Oxford called Inklings. It was a literary discussion group which has changed the world of literature. It is hoped that this endeavor will do the same, not necessarily by raising Tolkiens and Lewises, but rather by forming ideas that will help change the country.

Rest & Leisure

Sunday being the Day of the Lord is a good time to rest. However, to rest is not to do nothing but to relax in activities which demand less effort, as taught by St. Josemaria.

Sunday afternoons in the Center are usually spent playing sports, mainly basketball. Some prefer to jog or bike around the UP campus, go for a swim or play other sports like soccer and badminton. The fellows also participate in Inter-Center sporting events usually held once a year.

Everyone is also encouraged to go to an excursion once a month. Most of the excursions are mountain hikes, although some also go to the beach or have cultural tours.

Leadership Ways and Means

A competent leader with a clean conscience is not an oxymoron. It is what the Center aims to contribute to nation-building. Most, if not all, of the activities of the Center aim to achieve this goal. Some of the activities that focus directly on this are the following:

HUMAN VIRTUES TALKS
Whatever course a student is in—whether in the sciences, mass communications, engineering, the social sciences or the arts—he remains to be human. The Human Virtues Talks (HVT) make the students aware that they can perfect their human nature the more they live out and practice the virtues—stable habits that predispose them to do the good. The HVT focuses on the four cardinal virtues, namely prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance.


LEADING LEADERS
The Leading Leaders seminar aims to extend the leadership ideals espoused by Universitas to students and youth leaders around the country. The program provides talks on virtues, leadership, and planning using the VOICES analysis, a tool designed to aid in planning projects. The seminar has been given at the Philippine Science High School in Bicol and Davao, Holy Angel University in Pampanga, and the University of the Philippines in Diliman, among others. It has also reached young leaders in Cebu, Davao, Baguio, Surigao, and Calbayog City. The reference material used for LL is the book “Back to the Basics: Fundamental Principles and Values for Nation-Building”, edited by the Kapuluan Director, Mr. Oliver Tuazon. The module was co-authored by Angelo Porciuncula, a doctoral student at the University of the Navarre in Spain.


ESSENTIALS OF LEADERSHIP
The ability to lead others effectively has a prerequisite. One has to be well formed. As such, the first part of this series of talks deals with character and competence, the nature of what man really is (Philosophical Anthropology), and the four Cardinal Virtues. When one has learned to master and lead oneself, the next step is how to lead others. Hence the next three parts of the program deal with the nature of freedom and love. The last three parts deal with the supernatural dimension of leadership and friendship, the interplay between nature and grace. The Essentials of Leadership are usually given only to a few, but well-selected students who want to understand the meaning of leadership at its very roots.

Campus Reach Out

Since its inception, Universitas has been visiting schools all over the country to give talks on leadership, values, virtues, volunteerism, citizenship, social responsibility and the like through Campus Reach Out (CRO)

This activity usually take place for a couple of hours. The student leaders of a campus are gathered together for a talk on “Youth in Nation Building” followed by an open forum. Usually, CRO is a prelude to Leading Leaders (see previous page).

Among the places visited by Universitas include Isabela (Luzon) Cebu (Visayas) and Davao (Mindanao).