Francisco Tiu Laurel, Jr., the President of Frabelle Fishing Corporation will address the 2019 graduates during the 40th Commencement Exercises to be held on June 27, 2019 at 1:30 pm at the UP Visayas Miagao campus. Candidates for bachelors, masters and PhDs will be jointly conferred their degrees during the ceremony.

“For me, nationalism is an advocacy, an advocacy that promotes the interests of the different sectors of our society, especially the oppressed. How can we promote the idea of a just and equitable nation when majority of our people are poor?”

Amethyl Mardin Pernito, a BS Fisheries graduate of the College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences earned the distinction of graduating as the Class 2019 Valedictorian of UP Visayas. She earned the highest GWA of 1.277, magna cum laude, from among 800 plus graduates.

Her friends call her ‘Deb,’ a laid back version of her name that matches her disposition - friendly, amiable, with an easy smile. But Deborah B. Gay is far from laid back when it comes to her faith, her studies, and her kind of nationalism.

Paduhilao has always thought that his UP education did not just taught him academic excellence but it also gave him a weapon to face reality. His UP education is so important to him that it instilled endurance, strength, and integrity to survive life. “It taught me to be aware of my surroundings and eventually, strive for a life in service for the Filipino people as one of my core principles. UP education is not just a mere education to me. It became a fragment of my life that taught me honor before excellence, always.”

A BS Chemical Engineering student is the School of Technology’s topmost graduate. Jeraldine D. Calangi ended her college years in UP as magna cum laude with a GWA of 1.376.