Atom Araullo’s advice to UP Baguio’s newest batch of graduates reiterates what we all should already know. But in unique ways it reflects a more pressing need that is defining the landscape of our times. 

The advice was to simply, and painfully, be difficult, in the right way. What the multi-awarded journalist meant was to resist all temptations to achieve the coveted modest life at the expense of compromised conscience and tarnished integrity. 

Here are some key points from the Kapuso journalist’s astute message:

Primarily, Atom reminded the graduates to maintain a level of difficulty, stubbornness if you will, when it comes to these four aspects: being fooled, being bought, being discouraged, and being swayed into indifference. 

On being difficult to be fooled: 

Atom started on this concept by putting it in the context of what UP – the country’s premiere state university– espouses and teaches its students: critical questioning. 

“Pero hindi tayo nagtatanong para lang kumontra. The point of critical thinking is not to become the most annoying person in the room. The point is to become harder to manipulate.”

He proceeded to contextualize this against a painful but timely backdrop of rampant misinformation and disinformation. 

“That matters because we live in a time when truth has begun to feel optional. If something gets enough likes, it starts to feel true. If it goes viral, it becomes validated. If it is repeated often enough, it begins to sound like history.”

According to Atom, it is therefore paramount to borrow key tenets from the journalistic practice, not as the profession that it is, but as a useful habit of questioning for the benefit of seeking truth.

“Is this true? Who said it? Who benefits? Who is missing from the story? And what happens if we look away?” are questions Atom said are not reserved for professional journos alone.

On being difficult to be bought:

Atom’s caveat was to suggest that making money is not inherently wrong, because “wanting a good life is not a betrayal of the country.”

But he posited a meaningful question: what are we willing to trade off for money?

“The problem is not ambition. The problem is ambition without memory. Ambition that forgets who helped you get here. Ambition that forgets who is left behind. Ambition that becomes so polished it can no longer recognize suffering.”

He maintained that allowing money to alter decisions often does not come in obvious forms. They are subtly imposed, bit by bit, until small favors become invisible manipulation. 

“Mas madalas, maliit lang ang hihingin. Konting pananahimik. Konting kompromiso. Konting pakikisama. Konting “huwag na nating palakihin. Pero doon nagsisimula yun.”

And so his prompt was for the graduates to have some self-talk, while they’re at the age of malleability, as to “what is not for sale.”

Atom suggested the following as not for sale: “Your name. Your integrity. Your compassion. The Filipino people.”

“You don’t have to kill your dreams in the name of service. Just make sure your dreams don’t require you to kill your conscience.”

On being difficult to be discouraged:

Atom introduced the idea of not being easily discouraged by painting a picture of the current social milieu: family expectations, on top of endless comparisons fueled, and fed to a fault by mechanisms inherent to the social media world, all in the face of a job market facing uncertainty. 

“Sabi nga nila, comparison is the thief of joy. Pero paano iiwasan kung araw-araw mong nakikita ang ibang tao na nagbabakasyon, bumibili ng bahay, umaakyat sa corporate ladder, sumisikat, nagiging influencer, at kung anu-ano pa.”
Atom made sure to include a quintessential reality check: “...let me say this first: papalpak kayo. Maraming beses.”

But the State of the Nation anchor reminded them to take on an active voice when assessing these mistakes.

“Be at peace with your failures, but do not be passive about them. Ask what went wrong, then ask what you can do better next time. Be difficult to discourage, but easy to correct. That combination will save you.”

He finalized this part of his speech with a poignant recommendation, that is, for these young minds to be easy on their personal pace and career timelines, because starting points and detours are relative from one individual to another.

This is precisely the reason why we must not conveniently attribute success to utter superiority, nor must we instantly devalue ourselves based on failure.

“Kaya kung papalarin kayo, huwag isipin na patunay lang ito ng inyong superior virtue. At kung hindi kayo agad papalarin, huwag isipin na wala kayong halaga.”

On being difficult to be turned indifferent:

There probably is a good reason why Atom said this last. To put emphasis. To conclude comprehensively. To make sure the graduates absorb this final point in consideration of the first three.

Atom’s discussion revolved around an individual vis a vis his or her society. 

Because, according to Atom, personal wins and disadvantages – “through ambition, through disappointment, through comfort, through fear, through success” – slowly numbs a person’s ability to care and sympathize. 

“Little by little, the world will try to make you numb. You will see injustice repeated so often it begins to look normal. At some point, you may be tempted to say: pagod na ako. Ayoko na. Wala rin namang nagbabago.”

The disclaimer was to say that exhaustion is a human trait, and cannot be used to fault anyone especially with malpractices so rampant and crises so massively relatable.

But he suggests the situation becomes particularly troubling when people as a society start to lose any capacity to relate, sometimes eventually leading to forgetting we co-exist with one another.

This is where Atom put the spotlight on who he described as his “personal hero” – Cordillera son and assassinated tribal leader Macli-ing Dulag. 

“Macli-ing was a respected leader of the Butbut people of Bugnay, Kalinga. In the 1970s, he opposed the Chico River Dam Project of the Marcos dictatorship. The project threatened indigenous communities, rice fields, homes, forests, and burial grounds.”

Macli-ing’s tragic assassination was made even more devastating by the fact that it was “government forces” who murdered him “in his own home” because they couldn’t buy Macli-ing.

No amount of militarized pressure and bribes could move Macli-ing and his fellow Cordillera leaders into caving in and selling their ancestral lands. 

When even death threats were proven ineffective, when his dissent on behalf of his community was stronger than any price, when he could not be fooled, bought, nor discouraged, Macli-ing was silenced. 

Atom’s advice wasn’t to be an imitation of Macli-ing. That would be unfair, he believes, and “quite a lot to ask.”

“But we should still admire, honor, and learn from their courage and sacrifice. They are not supernatural beings sent down to earth to save us. They are people who have looked at the world and saw more meaning in it than serving themselves.” 

On June 30, 2026 at the Baguio Convention and Cultural Center, Atom reminded UP Baguio’s newest graduates of what the country is bleeding for, and why the difficult task of being difficult is a must.

Atom Araullo is an award-winning Filipino broadcast journalist, documentary host, and television presenter known for his in-depth reporting on social, environmental, and humanitarian issues. 

He currently hosts I-Witness and The Atom Araullo Specials and serves as an anchor of GMA Network's State of the Nation. 

A graduate of Applied Physics from the University of the Philippines Diliman, Araullo is recognized for his immersive storytelling and field reporting. He is also a Goodwill Ambassador of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), advocating for displaced communities and environmental conservation. 

Read Atom Araullo’s full UP Baguio 2026 Graduation Rites speech transcript through this link.