Loyola Schools Faculty Day Remarks, 19 February 2021

Thank you for graciously welcoming me once again to your Faculty Day gathering. By this time, I guess we’re all now used to logging on to our Zoom accounts, so I hope there will be no “cat filters” accidentally turned on today, in your various activities for Faculty Day.

When our Vice President for the Loyola Schools, Dr Marlu Vilches, invited me to speak with you today, I was asked to share with you a talk about “holding on” - “holding one another up; acknowledgement of challenges we've hurdled; holding on to hope.” For this, I would like to share with you a story from a previous mission.

I was just starting my term as President of Xavier University-Ateneo de Cagayan in 2011, when heartbreak and loss came to our community.

On December 15 and 16 that year, Cagayan de Oro and its surrounding areas experienced record-breaking rainfall. Fifteen (15) days’ worth of rain fell within 24 hours, causing massive flooding across the city and in the surrounding areas.

Tropical Storm Sendong hit Cagayan de Oro like a punch in the gut.

You’ve seen the images on the news back then: overnight, large parts of the city were buried in mud and murky floodwaters. Thousands were left homeless. Billions of pesos worth of property and infrastructure were damaged. Hundreds of people were injured, or worse, dead.

At the time the disaster struck, I was here at the Jesuit Residence Infirmary, recuperating from surgery due to a fractured right knee. For a few weeks, I was involved in the efforts of the Xavier Ateneo community only remotely, online. It was only weeks later that I was able to physically return to Cagayan de Oro and participate in-person with the relief efforts. From my infirmary room at the Jesuit Residence, it was through calls, emails, and Skype - back then one of the few video conferencing apps available - that we coordinated a swift, university-wide response.

On the morning of December 16, the relief drive began with a few students holding cans and boxes outside the XU gates; cans for passers-by to donate coins and bills and boxes for donations of food and water. Very quickly Xavier with its gym and covered courts became a major collection and distribution center for relief goods. Many members of the XU community were also affected by the disaster, but we all saw the need to help those who were the most affected.

We first responded to help fill the survivors’ basic needs. Through the Tabang Sendong drive, we collected food, water, medicine, blankets, mats, and cooking utensils for the affected families, helping them cope with the immediate effects of the storm.

The disaster, however, left very deep scars in the community: many lost homes, their livelihoods, and even their loved ones. Thus, we set out to help our fellow Kagay-anons by going beyond immediate relief, as a way to help them rise from the ruins left by Sendong. We wanted to give the survivors a fresh start, guiding them in their first tentative steps post-storm, by helping build a new community.

It started out first by XU making available 5 hectares of land at the university’s Lumbia property for temporary shelter for the survivors. We then made a more permanent move: the university donated 5 hectares of land to be used as a resettlement area. With the help of Habitat for Humanity and generous benefactors, the site became home to more than 2,800 people living in 568 permanent homes, and community facilities such as a multipurpose hall, a chapel, a cooperative, livelihood center, a basketball court, and a wet market.

The entire university community came to help, with each college and school taking the lead in specific tasks/projects. For example, the College of Engineering helped in the design and construction of the homes, while the nursing and medicine students and faculty provided health services and seminars. Education students conducted tutorials for the children at the resettlement site. Our Psychology teachers and students provided psychological first aid and trauma counseling. Aside from this, for the next three years - 2012 to 2015 - the university deployed a team of full-time community organizers.

At present, the community of Xavier Ecoville, as the resettlement project came to be known, is thriving. It is the first university-led resettlement project in the country, and has been recognized by the Cagayan de Oro local government as a model resettlement project.

The Second Mountain

I am recounting to you this story, because I feel that it fits right into the theme of this gathering: The story of Xavier Ecoville is not just about building a resettlement site for typhoon and flood survivors. Our guiding motto was “we are not just building houses, we are building community.”

It is a story of a community coming together to respond to neighbors in distress, helping them recover and get their lives back on track after a traumatic, life-altering event. We did not just build and leave. We built a community, and helped lead them towards healing, recovery, and rebuilding.

It is an example of what David Brooks, the New York Times columnist and author, writes in his book “The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life.”

The book argues that people are climbing one of two kinds of “mountains” - one is the mountain of hyper-individualism, and the other is the mountain of relationalism.

People who climb the first mountain are focused mainly on bettering themselves: richer, more powerful, high up in the social ladder. These aren’t inherently “bad” - people can and should strive to build better lives for themselves and their families - but focusing on these “desire of the ego,” Brooks contends, reflects a thin view of human nature, and makes for a society where the bonds between people and their institutions are thin.

The other mountain, meanwhile, reflects a more substantial view of humanity. On this mountain, Brooks says, the main driving force is a desire to live with other people, to serve fellow human beings, a “loving interdependence with others.” This is Relationalism, the Second Mountain, which he says leads toward a “thick” society, one where bonds are strong and meaningful, and leaves a lasting impression and influence on its members.

Being a relationist, he says, balances the world view of meritocracy with a “countervailing ethos that supplements, corrects, and ennobles.”

She is communal when the world is too individual

She is more emotional when the world is too cognitive

She is moral when the world is too utilitarian

To live a more consequential life, Brooks thus argues, it is necessary to go beyond ourselves and reach out to others and help build a truly connected community rooted in unconditional love, service, and shared values.

Holding On to Hope

I believe that Ateneo de Manila has actually been embracing Brooks’ Second Mountain idea way before he even outlined it in his book.

The concept of creating a loving, caring, and compassionate community is part and parcel of the Ateneo DNA. Building community - and keeping it intact, living, and thriving - is second nature to us, and this shines through particularly bright during times of crisis. We have all seen it time and time again: our students, employees, and academic personnel going above and beyond during times of need, whether it be storms, earthquakes, or times of social and political upheaval. However, this time, we are trying to respond to a new and unfamiliar kind of calamity - and I’m not just talking about COVID-19.

By mid-March, we will mark a year since our country went into lockdown as the pandemic went into full swing: a year marked by crisis, confusion, and uncertainty. Living through this global health crisis has been taking a huge toll on everyone. Admit it or not, all of us are struggling to deal with the lockdowns, the complex protocols, and all these restrictions that have completely altered how we go about our daily lives. Many of us, however, are struggling to cope more compared to others.

Our medical and essential workers are trying to handle the unimaginable stress of battling the pandemic at the front lines: often tired, sleepless, and are risking their lives for us every single day.

Many parents are struggling to attend to work, their children’s education, and household responsibilities, all at the same time.

Students and educators are still trying to navigate through the complexities and issues of remote learning and teaching.

Workers are finding themselves earning less, or worse, out of a job, and businesses are fighting to stay afloat.

Even those who seem to be okay on the outside might not be really okay on the inside. They may be battling loneliness, depression, anxiety, or loss of faith.

Everyone is hurting and barely surviving, and many people are in need of assurance, support, and care.

As much as many of us would like to help, the circumstances can be a hindrance. We cannot simply go and visit a friend or a family member. We’ve been deprived of the opportunity to be physically close to one another for intimate counsel or a warm, comforting hug. Now more than ever, we need to strengthen our community, and buttress each other up, despite not being present in the same place.

Now, how do we respond to invisible trauma and pain?

How can we help ease the toll of the pandemic on others?

How do we hold each other up?

How do we hold on to hope?

It has become a cliche now, but the fact remains: The times we live in now are extraordinary. This pandemic, therefore, calls for our response to be imaginative, creative, caring, empathetic, and with heart.

So far, I feel we are in the right direction, as a University and as a community. It's in the big things, from our development of Adaptive Design for Learning, our move to online learning, and the adjustment of our academic and non-academic processes. But it's also in the little things. I’ve heard a lot of anecdotes from students who tell of teachers going the extra mile to check up on them despite the lockdown; the compassion and consideration extended to those affected by calamities or financial difficulties, or even those simply having bad internet connectivity; of employees and staff supporting each others’ side hustles and home-based businesses; and of our extended family - alumni, partners, and neighbors - going the extra mile to aid the poor, the forgotten, and the abandoned.

People are being tested by this crisis like never before, and for many, it mirrors being lost in the wilderness, with the temptation of giving up knocking on their door every single day. We, as individuals and as members of the Ateneo community, are being asked to be more sensitive, be more caring, be more compassionate, be more loving. We must keep supporting each other during this time, more so than before. We must be able to envision differently how we respond, because these times call for creative responses.

Let our shared values and ideals direct our actions, as we reach out to those who need a helping hand or a listening ear. We’ve always been directed to be persons-for-and-with-others, and there is no better time to live out this mission. Let us become living proof of the words emblazoned on our seal, Lux-in-Domino, and continue to strive and bring God’s light of hope, community, empathy, and love to this world.

Finally, the season of Lent is an opportunity for us to also pray and reflect on finding new ways of moving forward with our lives - as individuals, and as members of a wider society. Let us use this as a staging ground to make all things new - renewed outlook, renewed vigor, renewed spirit, and renewed faith - as we begin rebuilding a better, more humane society past this global crisis.

I strongly feel that we are already on our way up Brooks’ Second Mountain. The pandemic, however, has made it harder for a lot of our brethren to make their way up. It falls on each one of us, therefore, to ensure that no one is left behind on this journey. It is an opportunity for us to forge stronger bonds with our families, friends, and neighbors, by showing genuine care and concern in this time of great need. We must continue on this path, and I do hope that we all hold on to community, unconditional love, faith, and compassion.

Thank you, and may God bless us all.