Ideas Stack: Letter from Fr. Tito Caluag re MVP withdrawal of support to Ademu

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To: ateneo_college1972@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, September 26, 2012 12:23 PM
Subject: Re: [ateneo_college1972] Re: Fwd: Letter from Fr. Tito Caluag

Hi Frankie,

You have the gift of capturing the very heart of my thoughts, and I guess of a lot of people. Animo!

Maning

To: AteneoHS68@yahoogroups.com; Ateneo_college1972 <ateneo_college1972@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tue, September 25, 2012 8:26:06 AM
Subject: [ateneo_college1972] Re: Fwd: Letter from Fr. Tito Caluag

Folks,

I have read the many comments and, frankly, I think you all are being too kind to MVP:

1. Yes, MVP, "it is time to call it a day". Here I agree with him 110 %. Sorry to say, but MVP has not imbibed the true "Ateneo Way". By his actions, he has proven to himself and to others that he is not an Atenean at heart. A Bedan friend texted me this morning to ask "Is it true that MVP is now 100% Bedan"? My answer was " He was, is, and will forever be. He just had a short fling with the Ateneo".

2. I agree with Fr. Caluag that MVP has not properly ingested and digested the Saint Ignatius' Prayer for Generosity "To give and not to count the cost..." The priest last Sunday mass, in his sermon (yes, I listen sometimes), said that " service without humility is arrogance. CORRECT. MVP has become supremely arrogant and his hubris is getting in the way.

3. If I were to talk to MVP - I would ask him - Is your gift giving quid pro quo? Your money as quid for Ateneo's agreeement to your policies as quo?

4. Yes, MVP has, in the past, been kind to the Ateneo in terms of donations for Buildings and, no doubt, for its sports development. But, do not tell me that his ego did not receive anything in return....The Ateneo has always stood with the Catholic Church on the RH Bill. Their stand on Mining has been longstanding. Why is MVP only "parting ways" now because of irreconcileable differences ? The differences have been irreconcileable for a long time . Is it because the Ateneo is no longer useful to him because it is generally seen that next year will be a tough year for the basketball team? I hate to be petty - but it certainly could be true, knowing the ego of this guy.

5. As I have written before, I do not agree with Ateneo's stand on the RH Bill. In fact, my sentiments are more in line with the 199 professors who expressed support for the RH Bill. I have read the Jesuit "Talking Points" on Mining . I find nothing wrong with it. For me, if this will be the Jesuit stand, then it is fine. It fact , it states that it would question some of the provisions of the Pnoy Mining Executive Order. Nothing wrong with that. The reasoning is sound.

The point I am trying to make is that we may agree or disagree with the Jesuits on their stand on various issues. But, hey, this is a free country. They can give their opinion and I will respect them as I am sure they will respect mine - and just as they have respected the opinion of the 199 professors. I will not anchor my support for the school on the contingency of parallel belief of various causes. But I guess there is a big difference between my situation and MVP. He has given many millions of Pesos to the school and I guess he feels that the school ought to stand with him even if the stand of the Jesuits or the school are diametrically opposed to his.

6. But, he also brought up the issue of "plagiarism" himself . That was a no-no, MVP, especially since it was done in a commencement exercise. The Jesuits were right in not wanting you to be President of the Board of Trustees. What message would it have brought to the students if you had stayed? I was not shy at that time in telling the Alumni Association that, in fact, MVP was wrong. Whatever can be said about his past generosity, that he had underlings who wrote the plagiarized speech etc etc, at the end, the buck stops at your desk. MVP is rich enough to hire a trusted speechwriter or at least a quality control guy. NO EXCUSES. Get out of our way. You are not a true Atenean.

7. Fr. Caluag is correct. What happened was for the good, especially for the Ateneo. Time to fend for ourselves. Time, really, to call it a day. MVP could have been more classy in the "separation". But as they say " you can take the guy out of the barrio, but you cannot take the barrio out of the guy."

So, goodbye, good riddance, back to work and back to the routine..

Cheers.

--- On Tue, 9/25/12, Paulino Reyes <paulinoreyes@gmail.com> wrote:

From: Paulino Reyes <paulinoreyes@gmail.com>
Subject: Fwd: Letter from Fr. Tito Caluag
To: "AteneoHS68 Messageboard" <AteneoHS68@yahoogroups.com>
Date: Tuesday, September 25, 2012, 8:24 PM

FYI

A CALL TO ATENEANS TO BE STAKEHOLDERS – Walang Iwanan

September 23, 2012

To Our Beloved Ateneo de Manila Community,

We read, heard and watched with genuine concern the events that transpired since the announcement of Mr. Manuel V. Pangilinan's parting of ways with the Ateneo de Manila. We are saddened by the turn of events, but respect Mr. Pangilinan's stand and decision.

As members of the same community, we thank Mr. Pangilinan for his many years of support and care for our beloved alma mater. His benefaction started and strengthened many programs of the university. This will always remain in the hearts and memories of a grateful community that benefited from this.

While Mr. Pangilinan's withdrawal of support may have set back some programs of the university, we look at it positively. We see it as a blessing in disguise. We see it as a wake-up call.

Individually and collectively – through emails, text messages and conversations – we realized we need to come together to support and be more active stakeholders of our alma mater.

The Ateneo nurtured us in our younger years, honed our skills and shaped our values. Who we are now, barring successes in careers and status in life, are the core values we chose with the guidance and nurturance of the Ateneo when we were students.

We, at some point or another may have strayed, but these core values always helped us find our way back. We believe these core values always remain, even if at times we need to rediscover and renew them.

It did not escape a number of us that the news of this parting of ways came on the day we commemorated the 40^th anniversary of the declaration of Martial Law. While the common line is "never again" to Martial Law, it is must go beyond this "no."

As the President, PNoy, aptly put it in his speech that day, it was not the assassination of his father that won for our country and people freedom from the dictatorship, but the hundreds, the thousands, the millions who came together and laid their stakes. Then we saw the miracle that was EDSA 1.

Coincidence, perhaps, but we choose to see this moment as a call to be counted among the hundreds, thousands and tens of thousands who will support and nurture our alma mater. We may not have the millions to give, but whether it is our "widow's mite" or "treasure" we call on you to give.

Martial Law and EDSA 1 teach us an important lesson: never let one man rule, be it benevolently or otherwise. It does not work for the good of a country or any community.

Over the years, not a few have expressed their misgivings over Ateneo knowing only one benefactor. We raise this now not to criticize Mr. Pangilinan, but to ask the Ateneo community – us included – to reflect and choose.

Choose not so much to say "no" to "one man rule," but "yes" to be counted among the thousands who will support and give to the Ateneo; to be stakeholders of our alma mater, the home of our core values, which gave shape to our ideals and dreams.

One of us said, "Yes, let us give back and ask others to give too, and to do it regularly, each according to his or her means. Pero sana huwag nang may kapalit pang ticket sa UAAP." It sounds like a joke, but he was serious. It does drive home a point.

It reminds us of a core value dear to all of us Ateneans. Now is the time not just to be reminded, but more so to renew this core value: "To give and not to count the cost, to toil and not to seek for rest, to labor and ask not for reward. . ." – the Prayer for Generosity, a core value Ateneo taught us.

In the same way that Mr. Pangilinan felt relieved to part ways with the Ateneo, we also feel relieved to make this call not just to you, but also to ourselves to be active stakeholders in the Ateneo.

Please join us. May panahon na hindi magkakaunawaan at may mga pagkakataon na hindi magkakasundo, pero walang iwanan. This is another core value. "Win or lose it's the school we choose." And, yes, "this is the Ateneo way."

Ad Maijorem Dei Gloriam, the core value that binds them all.

One Big Fight! AMDG!

PLEASE GATHER SIGNATORIES FROM ALUMNI WHO WOULD LIKE TO SUPPORT

Ateneans for Ateneo will coordinate with the university for the channelling of all the help/support to the respective programs and for the accounting of all the help/support received.

If you wish to be an active stakeholder, please email ateneans.for.ateneo@gmail.com and ateneans.for.ateneo@yahoo.com and provide us your full name, contact information and years in the Ateneo.

--
Paulino B. Reyes
Gravitas Prime, Inc.

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