09/07/2025
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LOOK: Mayor Vico Sotto to UP Engineering Class of 2025 — “Hindi sapat na magaling ka. Dapat mabuting tao ka.” 🎓🔥
In a calm yet powerful keynote at the UP Diliman College of Engineering Recognition Rites, Pasig Mayor Vico Sotto challenged graduates to reject blind ambition and rethink what success really means in a system plagued by corruption and inequality.
“Mayaman ka nga—galing naman sa nakaw. Nakapwesto ka nga—ang dami mo namang tinapakan.”
“Success must not come at the cost of conscience.”
He pulled no punches in revealing how easy it is for young professionals to lose their idealism:
“Madaling makain ng sistema. Mabilis macha-challenge ang idealismo niyo. Pero sana hindi ito mawala.”
Sotto exposed how corruption is normalized in both public and private sectors—warning that even well-intentioned people are often “consumed by the ambition they once questioned.”
“Bakit ba ‘yun ang pangarap natin? Pera? Posisyon? Kasikatan?”
“Sabihin mo nang SOP, standard operating procedure—but it’s theft, plain and simple.”
Despite the bleak realities, he offered hope rooted in this generation's power to catalyze meaningful change:
“You will have the opportunity to be a catalyst for change—more drastic and faster than in any time in history.”
His message crescendoed into a moral challenge:
“Hindi sapat na magaling ka. Dapat mabuting tao ka.”
“Pray that you live with faith and integrity, and use your privilege to serve, protect, and help those who are not as fortunate in life.”
And in the end, a quiet aspiration more powerful than any accolade:
“Hindi ko man nabago ang lahat, naging mabuti akong tao sa kapwa ko. Nakatulong ako sa ikagaganda ng bayan natin.”