Dr. Chito Salazar's inaugural speech

CAGAYAN DE ORO INAUGURATION SPEECH
Cagayan de Oro College

Honorable Governor Moreno, Congressman and friend Neric Acosta,  members of the Board of Trustees, alumni, guests, faculty and friends, my family --

Good evening to one and all. 

I’ve always enjoyed the idea of delivering a speech in front of an audience of such eminent personalities – thus for some time I even considered becoming a Jesuit priest in order to get a chance to deliver homilies.  However, many are called, few are chosen and I was neither called nor chosen. Neither did I graduate valedictorian from college so there was no valedictory, nor have I ever been invited by my alma mater Ateneo de Manila to be a graduation speaker.  Since it seemed like the opportunity was never forthcoming, I did the next best thing, I joined Phinma, and we bought Araullo University. And I can now deliver speeches there whenever I want, whether invited or not, and whether the people there want me to or not. 

I took this fantasy a step further as Phinma bought another school – Cagayan de Oro College.  And thus I have another captive audience.

For those present during the installation at Araullo University a bit more than a year ago, that was, more or less, how I began my speech.   You see, one of the best things about having a network of schools is being able to use the same speech more than once.  I must confess, for example, that recently, I got to use the same opening speech for graduation three times, and the same remarks during the academic convocations in the two schools.  This is what is called economies of scale, more bang for the same buck.  When we eventually have five schools, think of the possibilities, one speech in five different schools, in five different provinces.  A few more schools and Mr. del Rosario, the chairman and I, having to give speeches in so many provinces, might as well run for senate.

The same speech, different schools – we all know that cannot exactly be true.  Much as I would have wanted to deliver the exact same speech, messages must be crafted to suit the listeners, otherwise, nothing will be heard.  The same speeches simply cannot be delivered, because we are talking about different institutions of different cultures.  The differences between Araullo and COC, between CDO and Cabanatuan are among the things I have had to learn after simultaneously managing the two institutions for almost a year now. 

Let me share with you some of these differences I’ve discovered.

For one, sticking to the theme of speech giving, for some reason, I’m simply not as funny here in Cagayan de Oro as I am in Cabanatuan.  This is one tough audience.  My first few talks to the faculty and staff of the College fell flat – I felt I was not funny, totally unconvincing, and worst of all boring.  Here I was often faced with frowns and such serious faces.  It took me sometime, but I eventually learned – nahuli ko rin yung kiliti ng mga tao dito sa CDO.  Actually, I just accepted that those are really their faces and that people are just more serious here.

The nights are also longer in CDO.  I use to make a big joke about how early the nights ended in Cabanatuan – speaking from experience, one can party, dance, drink and be drunk, and be in bed all before 8:30 pm in Cabanatuan.  Here in Cagayan de Oro, people work later, party later, and sleep later.  And I eventually discovered the secret why -- because they also come to work and meetings late.   Furthermore, because CDO is a more developed city than Cabanatuan, here one can actually use the most successful big city excuse for being late – “haay ang trapik guid kaayo.”

One last observation – people here in Cagayan de Oro College, love to sing and dance, wait stop for a minute, people in COC love to perform.  When a show is put on here at COC, it is really a show, with all the flashing lights, loud music, dancing men and women, extravagant costumes, and flamboyant emcees –  all I can say is one thing, BODABIL IS ALIVE AND KICKING HERE AT COC. 

Such talent and drama extends beyond the stage.  While Phinma was welcomed by both AU and COC into the communities, here at Cagayan de Oro, we were welcomed in song.  The opening song of tonight’s celebration entitled “It’s a NewCOC” was written by one of the faculty members of the College of Arts and Sciences in response to Phinma’s entry into COC.  Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine hearing the phrase Phinma Education Network in a song – part of the chorus actually goes “It’s a newCOC, Phinma Education Network, life can be better for you and for me.”  It’s a good thing the board did not name us Phinma Education Management Systems and Processes Network Incorporated otherwise the composer would have never finished the song.     

Looking to the opposite of the warm welcome we received, there were also in both communities, negative reactions to our entry.  And this is something we expected, for change always creates tension and anxiety.  In Cabanatuan, there were text rumors, anonymous poison letters and email, and yes death threats even.  Here, we had our fair share of complaints and rumors, but, in Cagayan de Oro, I actually received an anonymous email complaint in verse – protest via poetry.  Short of an entire interpretative dance or a four act play, could there have been a more dramatic way of getting our attention and making a point?

Hence, the active nightlife of CDO vs. the early to bed culture of Cabanatuan, the wide variety of restaurants here vs. the never ending crispy pata and sisig restaurants over there, cheaper food, more expensive hotels and housing here vs. more expensive food but cheaper board there -- two different schools, two different communities, for us, different experiences, different things to learn. 

However, despite these differences, there is much, much more that ties our two institutions together than sets them apart. All one needs to do is spend a few hours in both schools during a normal school week in either school and look the faces of our students to know that we are serving the same market.  Though they may dress differently, though the accents may be different, though they may like different types of music and listen to different radio stations, the students of Araullo and COC, are essentially the same students.

Ours are the children of our country’s farmers, policemen, public school teachers and other government workers, of our tricycle, pedicab, and jeepney drivers, of our vendors and carpenters.  Our students’ ability to go to school or not changes from semester to semester depending on their families’ finances.  Our kids drop out of school when one parent gets too sick to work, when the remittance of a relative arrives a bit late, when el nino or la nina affects the year’s harvests, when rains reduce the region’s mango production, or when huge storms rip through their barangays as they did in Nueva Ecija in December of 2005.        

Recently conducted income surveys in both schools confirms this, the students of COC and Araullo both come from the lower C-income and D markets – these are classes with some means but are classes that basically survive on a hand-to-mouth existence.  The COC survey found that the average family income of a student here is roughly Php 13,000 a month – the family expenses, food, housing, health expenses, and tuition, are all drawn from this income.  It is no wonder then why a student drops out if there is but a slight drop in one parent’s income or a slight increase in the cost of living.

Our kids, the students of COC and Araullo, the market the Phinma Education Network is committed to serving, are among those Filipinos surviving on a hand-to-mouth existence, are among those most vulnerable in our society, and are among those who have never felt the growth of which our government continues to boast.  On the other hand these are the students that need quality education the most -- that need the best and greatest opportunities to improve their lot in life.  It is in the education and training of the most vulnerable segments of society, of the marginalized in the country, that we cannot compromise quality nor take short cuts in granting them their degrees.

But therein lies our dilemma, if we want to continue serving this segment of the market, one that is extremely sensitive to prices increases and income decreases, then we cannot rely on merely increasing our tuition fees for revenues.  Tuition fees of private tertiary institutions have been increasing annually at around 10 to 12 percent, salaries of the lower C and D markets have not in any way grown as fast or even grown at all.  If we cannot rely on increasing tuition fees, how then do we provide high quality education to these students, to our kids?  How do we attract and keep the best faculty, provide the appropriate facilities, all at a tuition fee of 12 to 14 thousand a semester (COC’s present tuition fees)?

This is our dilemma, this is also our opportunity, this is our challenge. 

For all of us, especially because of our educational backgrounds, when we envision high quality education, we imagine tree lined college campuses, with state of the art laboratories, distinguished professors with PhDs from some ivy league school, airconditioned libraries with the latest books and journals, nationally recognized sports programs, a world class choir and theater group, our list goes on and on and on.

Unfortunately, this vision, does not match our reality, nor does it match our market’s needs.  Paramount to the families of our students is their ability to get a good paying job in order to augment the family income as quickly as possible, probably to help the next sibling finish his or her studies.  More important to their world is to communicate well, know and use information technology, and be equipped with the technical skills of their profession.  Employability is key to the market we serve. 

In this world, airconditioned classrooms are great to have, but not necessary, a championship basketball team raises school spirits but does not raise the passing percentage of our nursing graduates, a world touring choir, brings fame and prestige, but does not help our education or criminology graduates land jobs with the appropriate government agencies.  All of these mainly increase the cost of education – they are nice to have but are not necessarily necessary. 

Our education, for this market, must be a bare bones, brass knuckles, no frills education.  We provide what is necessary for our kids to learn the most that they can in order to achieve the goals most relevant to their situation, nothing more, nothing less. 

This is our strategy -- to reduce education down to its most important, essential elements, the right facilities and learning material, a proper classroom, and a great teacher – nothing less, nothing more.   We are not taking short cuts, nor are we diluting learning -- as you can see we have invested in our facilities.  We are spending heavily on faculty development, running our own in house training program to improve teaching skills & offering them full graduate education scholarships to other institutions.  We are experimenting with content, reviewing curricula, setting teaching standards, and a host of other initiatives. 

We are not, on the other hand, spending heavily on administration – choosing instead to use the same people, systems, and processes across the network.   We have only one full time VP on campus.  Our ratio of nonteaching staff to faculty is 1 is to 2.5, there being 2.5 faculty members for every nonteaching employee of this institution.  Nor are we spending heavily on academic research, choosing instead to focus on teaching skills and classroom relevant research.  Finally, our expenses for nonacademic student activities, such as sport and extra-curricular activities, are extremely focused and highly selective.   

Nothing more, nothing less – bare bones, brass knuckles, no frills

Our kids cannot afford all the bells and whistles, they come to us from the public schools, with barely elementary level skills in math, science, and English, so old standards and methods do not work, standard requirements do not apply.  With all due respect to those here who graduated from top notch Philippine Universities, with all due respect to our government agencies, and accrediting bodies, to all of us who eventually dream of setting up Philippine versions of Harvard or Oxford – we must be willing to re-imagine education in this country, we must literally throw out the book, and re-write how we do education.
 
For if we do not, then tuition fees will continue to increase, and less and less of the market we serve will ever finish their undergraduate studies.  The marginalized will only be further marginalized.     

This is what the Phinma Education Network is offering to the community of Cagayan de Oro, a bare bones, brass knuckles, no frills quality education, nothing less, nothing more.
One management guru Michael Porter said that strategy is only strategy if it seeks to transform an industry.  We seek nothing less than to transform through the Phinma education network our country’s education system.  For nothing less, will make a difference in the lives of thousands upon thousands of our youth.  And nothing less will make a better life for our land.
 
Sometime when Phinma just took over COC, when I had just shared our philosophy of education with the institution, a member of the COC community scoffed at our ideas – our dream of producing globally competitive professionals, given our market, and given our tuition fees was he said impossible.  Indeed it does seem impossible, our challenge – high quality, affordable tuition fees, and a profitable business venture – seems almost insurmountable.   

Allow me to end the same way I ended in Araullo, by quoting from, of all things, the Adidas advertising campaign:

“Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they’ve been given than to explore the power they have to change it.  Impossible is not a fact; it’s an opinion.  Impossible is not a declaration.  It’s a dare.  Impossible is potential.  Impossible is temporary.

Impossible is nothing.”

Thank you and goodnight, mabuhay ang newCOC, mabuhay tayong lahat.