1st Session of the "Nation in Crisis" Colloquia II

Keynote Speech of President Edgardo J. Angara
at the Opening Ceremony and First Session of the "Nation in Crisis", Colloquia II
on 6 September 1985
Malcolm Theatre, UP College of Law

In February and March last year, the University initiated a round of discussions under the theme "Nation in Crisis". Then, as you will recall, the object of investigation was to identify and explain vital aspects of the national crisis. The venue was deliberately intended for University intellectuals to provide an analysis and understanding of the critical issues. UP scholars look into the succession issue, the process of political polarization, the future of civilian rule, the state of justice, human rights and the information process, the balance of payments situation, and our country's external debt.

Today, we begin a second round of discussions, a sequel to last year first round of colloquia. The inquiry, this time , is more than diagnostic. It looks to the future. This second time around, University scholars coming from UP's four main campus - Diliman, Los Baños, Manila and the Visayas and representing major disciplines, will contribute their academic expertise. That is the first point worth noting about the present series.

The second point is - that the main inquiry this time is focused on alternatives. This seems to me an important shift in the traditional role of UP academics. Whereas before, UP academics generally would tend to look at society's problems from the detachment provided by the ivory tower, our University colleagues in proposing new options and alternative policies on vital aspects of our national life, are expanding their traditional role of social criticism to include social building. That expanded role, I believe, will enrich the University and the society it serves.

The third important point worth remarking on is that this whole series of discussions from ecology to ideology serve more than an informative purpose. The tone and treatment that the colloquia suggest is more hopeful rather than despairing. To follow through the medical metaphor, the Philippine situation is not terminal and one must not give up on it. This is the message of the colloquia.

In the final analysis, a university will lose its relevance if it abandons its belief in the idea of human progress. As Norman Cousins wrote: "The crisis today in human affairs is represented not by the absence of human capacity, but by the failure to recognize that the capacity exists." And while we agree that humans are prone to error, we must not, however, in the words of Cousins, "underestimate our ability through an act of will, to create a wide and exciting range of new possibilities. The only ultimate prison we need fear is our inertia and indecision."