 I grew up in a very small city. It's a very old city in northern Mindanao called Butuan City. Growing up in Butuan, you are, I remember very distinctly close to family, close to our friends, close to our relatives. It can be a bit suffocating but in a very positive way. It was a very supporting environment. A nurturing one and there is much trust. My family's roots has been there for over a hundred years. And of course I grew up as a Christian, a lowlander Christian in the city. But early on, I have been made aware by my mother that I have manobo blood. I am a manobo. Yeah, my mother was an educator. She was a high school principal at the time when I was in high school. And my grandmother was a principal as well in elementary. So I grew up with principals all around me watching me and watching my performance. My mother was a church leader as well. And naturally, since I was six years old, I was always with church activities. There are many adjectives that I could use to describe my brother Jigil. He is disciplined. Every time we arrived home from school, the first thing he did was to open his notes and study. In my first years in grade school, I think for two years, aside from the honors, I would get this best announcement. It's most helpful medal. And I remember one of those medals I received in high school was best in religion. And it's incredible because I didn't expect they would give me that kind of medal. I don't know if my mother kept it because she keeps setting aside all those medals and ribbons I got since I was a little boy. He's a wonderful father. And I'm just not saying that in a very shallow way. Being a father transformed him a bit. Nagbago siya. My husband is the kind of father each one needed because our children are very individual. Hindi siya parang he had rules for everyone. He treated each one individually what is needed. So he was the best, most compassionate and tender to our eldest son. And then to Alexandra who had her own special experience as a child. She had a unique life story. So he was that to her. A mentor, a teacher. And he made her very strong. A large part because my husband is so supportive. I managed to fulfill the role of a parent even when I'm so far away. Because he made sure my children know what my role was in their lives. And I love him for it. My husband is incredibly supportive. Not in the way most husbands would be if we were always together. Like someone na magma-dit sayo somewhere. Someone who will compliment you on things that you do. But more in the things that are kind of life changing. And his conviction was so strong about keeping us together. Keeping our marriage together. We survived and we're best friends. And we're still together. And we're each other strong. And I'm totally love him for it. For being that kind of person. It probably would not have worked with any other man. We grew up together. Especially during high school days. Where we lived in the same compound. But in high school, this is a very determined person. What he want, he really have to work for it and go for it. Like boy scout chance. In everything, lahat ng mga organization, lahat ng mga activities, extracurricular activities at school. He always leads. In high school, aside from mingling, aside from talking with people, mahirik sa magbasa. He really leads a lot. That's one thing that I can really say about Gigi. So that's everybody. I can converse with them. For most of the time, I was reading and early on I was writing. Reading was where I withdrew to. Although I was normal. I played like every other kid. I have always grew up knowing of my, aware of my ability to express myself. Both verbally and in writing. And writing was a passion. I wanted to make a career out of it. As a matter of fact, but of course I wanted to be a lawyer. But, yeah, I simply loved to write. I first met President Gigi in my methods class as a reflective, passionate and angst-filled student leader. When I moved to Diliman, the first thing I did was apply for Philippine Kulijad when I was sophomore. And in the summer of that year I became OIC Features Editor and I have been fit. I was a pedant teacher editor for almost five years and that's half of the kulijan. So every press work, every week I would rather spend it in press work writing with those underwood type writers. Editing my colleagues, making their pieces better, I hope, laying it out and then seeing it through a blueprint. That's the old style. So I love to write picture stories. And of course I contributed some poems as well in the Philippine Kulijad. So it was a medium for expression which I found very satisfactory. He finished his undergrad at UP. He finished a low degree at the UP College of Law and nagkarundin siya ng Masters at National University of Singapore plus a special master coursework at the Kennedy School of Government. Now what is unusual, I think, about his leadership and as a person ay yung experience niya underground. Kasi ang tingin ko kay President Jigil ang medyo unique feature ng kanyang pagkataw at leadership is he is a veteran of various crisis. He served as a labor attaché in what we might consider in some of the most critical areas where our overseas Filipino workers encountered all kinds of problems. I was appointed as a labor attaché and that means that basically protecting Filipino migrant workers which was a very defining looking back at a very defining moment in my career because up to now I consider myself still a advocate for migrant workers protection. It's very hard working at saka very strong sa networking matapang but also very compassionate. When isang kababayan natin si Angelou de La Cruz na kidnapped sa Iraq he was working for the U.S. Army at that time as a driver. Understand that Baghdad was at that time there are a lot of bombings. There was a it was really a war. Jigil was then over that in that kind of environment and I was very fearful but I was also very trusting of him they managed research for him and managed to find him and get him out. So I think that kind of experience as a young public servant molded Jigil that in a way that changed the way he looked at everything at situations, at problems so marami bang levels of analysis and I was watching him at that time and I was you know I was in awe of his bravery of his competence of the way he dealt with so many people. So meron akong napaka po po po po kaya na ano sa kanya ng desert stormy at that time ang anak ko kasi ayaw mo way so he wanted to stay with me 11 years old da sabi ni Jigil sa akin parang nakakatats kasi he was trying to tell me na parang kumbaga kupin ko si Edly and the wife pa-stehing ko sa akin place I don't know if he remembers that but certainly na ano ako doon nagano na kami nag-seal kami na mga windows because of the threat ang mga poison, poison gas and then he said sige, don't worry don't worry Luz sabi niya ang pinakalast na plain load ng US Embassy going out of Kuwait kasama si Paolo mga king si Young Gaston I will make sure sabi niya nakakayak lang slide actually it was very touching well Jigil he managed to me is the son of my favorite teacher in Butuan City of course he became Jigil in many more dimensions later but that's how he started to me parang distinct for leadership na siya ko hindi man dito sa UP somewhere else but hindi po hindi siya maging leader because people see him as somebody who's sincere and passionate and he really exerts his best to deliver the best results he could his passion for giving equal opportunity and in the Philippines when you talk of equal opportunity you'd always think of the marginalized sila ang nasa labase you wanted a wider inclusivity para yung mga marginalized, makasama naman sa blessings of opportunity that other people are enjoying his administration is now trying to flesh out how teaching research can in fact enhance the long time traditional commitment of the university for public service meaning how the expertise and new knowledge created by the university can impact on our most urgent social and economic problems na it wasn't surprising to me that during a conversation in my office shortly after his election as UP president he shared his dream of contextualizing serve the people a mantra that has resonated with his cause and his cause since the 1970s within the 21st century realities of global higher education and persistent issues like poverty and inequity which have plagued our nation for much of the 20th century President Jimenez is also committed to strengthening and expanding UP's collaborative partnership with state universities and colleges so na pakahalagayon na dahil if we succeed in doing that it means that we will be able to create the foundations for a truly inclusive and more democratic system of higher education I realize that every society has to develop a certain working level of trust and every society must build strong institutions that can help it run and for institutions to survive it must develop trust and there must be trust in it by the people and there must be enough trust among people in order to survive a society that has become very, very important and without developing a working trust we can never have a movement in the same direction of course the diversity is meant to accommodate all differences but we more or less trust that our institution is strong enough to accommodate any difference and that we are bigger than any things that divide us to be able to unite because this university was not created for us this was created for the Filipino people and we have a mission and that mission is not for ourselves there are many programs in other schools that are even better than us and there are so many things we can learn from them as there are so many things that they can learn from us we should really collaborate and approach everyone in the spirit of equality and respect