Ateneo valedictorian: ‘I am here as a reminder that the unseen poor are real’

After her qualifying essay for valedictorian selection went viral, now Ateneo class valedictorian Reycel Hyacenth "Hya"Bendaña again moved the spotlight towards the unseen poor in her speech on Saturday.

Bendaña underscored in her valedictory speech during their graduation rites that the struggles of the poor have been ignored, saying that she was a reminder that the unseen poor is real.

“'Yung Hya na barker ng jeep at nagbebenta ng basahan sa kalsada, 'yung batang hindi napapansin ng lipunan, ay kagaya rin ng marami pang bata na hindi niyo nakikita ngayon. I am here as a reminder that the unseen poor are real,” she said in front of the graduating batch.

Bendaña reminisced about her younger days as a jeepney barker and rags peddler in the streets just to make both ends meet.

Her father was a construction worker when she was born. Later, he became a jeepney driver. Her mother, meanwhile, is a saleslady at a supermarket, but she has not been regularized in her job. As early as when she was seven years old, Hya joined a transport strike. In her qualifying essay, she wrote about how her “father is jobless because the government phased out our jeepney in the name of hollow modernization, and even before the very policy for it was passed.”

Bendaña said her success is a product of generosity. She clarified however that her story is a "lucky exception and not the rule," considering that there are still many people affected by poverty.

“Hindi makatarungan ang hindi pagkapantay-pantay. Sino bang makapagsasabi na dapat tayo lang ang nandito ngayon? Marami tayong kasabay na nagsisikap, pero hindi natin kasama dito ngayon,” she said.

In her speech, Bendaña shared a story about a Grade 1 student whom she met when she volunteered in a public school.

“Grade 1 si Noynoy noon, pero siya’y 12 years old. Apat na beses na siyang umulit ng Grade 1 noon kasi lagi siyang absent. Kailangan niya kasing kumita ng pambili ng pagkain para sa kanyang pamilya,” she said.

“What reason could there be for someone to persist, and repeat Grade 1 four times, if not for a better life?” she added.

Bendaña said that as long as long as society has not overcome the social discrimination, economic inequality, and the concentrated political power in the hands of the few, this struggle will continue.

“Every graduation, Atenean seniors are told to go 'down from the hill.' This year, perhaps it is time to ask why there is even a hill at all,” Bendaña said. —Joviland Rita/KG, GMA News