Maria Ressa to Benilde Class of 2024: You’re firefighters, ‘architects of a new world’

'We are handing you a world on fire. Remember that you're not victims of that fire.'

MANILA, Philippines – Noting that they are the “warriors in a battle for the soul of our nation,” Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Rappler CEO Maria Ressa on Saturday, July 27, challenged Class 2024 of the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde to turn the many crises facing the Philippines into opportunities “for innovation, for leadership, for change.”

In her commencement address held at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) in Pasay City, Ressa thanked the De La Salle University (DLSU) for standing by Rappler at the height of the attacks against it by the previous Duterte administration, “when saying the right thing gets you punished.” What DLSU, College of Saint Benilde (CSB), and Rappler learned during those years, she added, is that “doing the right thing is the right thing.” Ressa also served for six years as member of the Board of Trustees at DLS-CSB.

“You are not just the graduates of Class of 2024, you are warriors in a battle for the soul of our nation,” Ressa told the thousands of graduates gathered at the PICC. “And we need you – what Benilde brings together, right brain, left brain — your idealism, your passion and creativity, your unwavering commitment to what’s right. The qualities that Benilde has helped inspire in you.”

Ressa noted the challenges facing the Philippines today — corruption, inequality, climate change, disinformation. She said Class of 2024 can, and should, turn these challenges into opportunities.

In a fast-changing, anxious world, Ressa asked the graduates to heed the golden rule: “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” This “pushes us away from fear, anger and hate, from tribalism, from US against THEM.”

“The more contentious the issue, the more we need to lower the temperature,” Ressa said.

What needs to be done is to rebuild. “You are a generation with more access to information, more tools for connection, and more potential for impact than any before you,” she said. “But we are handing you a world on fire. Remember that you’re not victims of that fire. You are the firefighters, the architects of a new world rising from the ashes.” – Rappler.com