𝐐𝐔𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐛𝐲 𝐈𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐭

𝐐𝐔𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐛𝐲 𝐈𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐭

In a powerful homecoming address during the 80th Commencement Exercises of Tarlac Agricultural University (TAU) on 5 June, Dr. Christine N. Ferrer, Director IV of the Commission on Higher Education's (CHED) International Affairs Service (IAS), delivers undeniable truths to the College of Agriculture and Forestry (CAF) Class of 2026.

Returning to the very campus that shaped her own foundation for 23 years, Dr. Ferrer urges the graduates to see their struggles not as liabilities but as essential training grounds. She declares that these difficulties are never meant to break them, but rather serve as a crucible that builds TAU’s core values directly into their identity.

Drawing from deeply personal stories, Dr. Ferrer reinforces that no setback is permanent. She stresses that no “point-five deficit” cancels a person's destiny and no emotional valley buries potential, referencing her own painful memory. Furthermore, she challenges the graduates to carry TAU's legacy as lifelong ambassadors, reminding them that their diploma is not merely a piece of paper but a physical monument to survival. To ensure this achievement remains untainted, she warns that resilience without gratitude eventually turns into bitterness, thereby urging the graduates to acknowledge the immense sacrifices of their parents, faculty, and non-teaching staff.

Quoting the poem "The Farmer," Dr. Ferrer elevates the agriculture and forestry professions as the ultimate frontier of high technology and sovereign wealth. She explains that the graduates are not leaving the University merely to hold a plow, but to pilot a multi-billion-dollar global industry. Because of this grand responsibility, she gives them a final challenge to create better farming systems and better environmental policies, and be better Filipinos.