Officers and
Board Members

 Message From
The Chairman of the Board

I will not be where I am today if not for the education I received from the university. Because of UP, I was fortunate to not have to pay tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars to obtain a world class education. This is one of the many reasons why I will be forever grateful to the University of the Philippines and why I want to give back.

We all know that even with the free tuition in UP, there are still bright and promising students who are still unable to finish college because of poverty. Even with the free tuition, some students are forced to stop school as they cannot afford to pay for their cost of living expenses. Stories of students having to decide between buying food for lunch and photocopying of books and other school materials are heartbreaking. I am, however, thankful for UP for showing me these realities when I was still studying in the university, as it taught me empathy. It helped me understand the financial sacrifices the families of these students make to keep them in school. That any financial support given to these students do not only help them but also help a father who is forced to take multiple jobs, a mother who would take labada (laundry) to help in the family’s finances, or a brother or sister who are forced to skip school to allow the other sibling to finish school first as their finances would only allow. All these sacrifices are made with the hopes of getting the UP education – a key to alleviate them from poverty.

The struggle of these students and their families inspires the Board Members and Officers of the foundation to work harder to help more deserving scholars. I am also grateful to our donors, mostly UP alumni working abroad, for the continuous support and for helping us give chances and change lives.

Lastly, as UP alumni working abroad, we are sometimes criticized for not being in the Philippines and for contributing to the brain drain. There are a lot of reasons why we are forced to seek better opportunities outside the country. Whatever those reasons may be, I do not believe in the premise that we are not helping in nation building. The work we currently do for the foundation and our scholars proves this. We are actually the living proof that long distance relationships work - that we do not need to be in the Philippines to show our love for the country and the university - that actions are more important than physical presence. As I quote my favorite line in UP Naming Mahal: “Malayong lupain, amin man marating, di rin magbabago ang damdamin. (We may reach faraway lands, but our feelings shall never change).”

Michael Belonio
Chairman of the Board
ONE UPV Foundation