A Message to UPCAT Takers

by Benedict Ballaran and Justine Wagan

The UPCAT pressure is in the air. More than 100,000 takers feel it too.

You flocked to one of the UPCAT testing centers across the Philippines, with high hopes to take a spot in the country’s premier university.

Despite being one of the toughest and most competitive tests in the country, you, along with so many students, still wrestle to get into the University of the Philippines. Some study for months, while others take loans and travel hours just to have a shot at a state university. You will shed blood, sweat, and tears in studying — only to shed them again until the exams are over.

With hope and determination, you cling to the chance that you will be part of the drop in the bucket of the 10% passers this year.

When all has been said and done, the green “Congratulations!” in your portal will feel like a fever dream come true. It will be a feeling of elation — the beginning of the glory and responsibility of an iskolar ng bayan.

After the gruesome UPCAT, it is normal to soak in the glory. It will be your delight to walk inside the campus again. This time, not as UPCAT takers, but as UP students about to brave college life.

You will experience a moment of realization — the privilege of free tuition, the campus, the honor, the professors, and the people you interact with will make you realize why so many students dreamed of this. It will feel at first, as if UP is a big ocean, and you are but a small fish. But sooner or later, UP will feel like home, as if you have belonged here ever since.

However, it is not all sunflowers and rainbows. Truth be told, beyond the rose-tinted façade of being a UP student lies the reality that being an iskolar ng bayan means accepting the greater call of serving the people no matter the cost.

Serving the people does not end with a “Lagi’t lagi, para sa bayan” bio on social media. It does not stop with sharing world rankings, cheering to UP chants, and wearing the UP lanyard wherever you go. Ultimately, the desire to take the UPCAT and enter the University should not stem from wanting to participate in its aesthetics, but from the spirit of truly embodying the militancy that lingers on the grounds of UP.

Studying in UP means a thousand of eye-opening experiences from going out of your echo chamber and going down from your ivory towers to actually witnessing the realities beyond your vision of comfort.

There will be a time when you will realize that it is the reality that you are studying — hence, the learning beyond the walls of the University. Learning from the masses becomes in practice when the stories of families who are affected by the reclamations of giant corporations and the narratives of jeepney drivers who lost their jobs because of the anti-poor modernization program become not just mere topics to study but struggles of the people to live with.

However, with the persistence of the state in dismantling critics and oppositions through terror-tagging, holding on to the duty of serving the people becomes a dare for the brave. The two sides of the same coin can be: “Wow, UP! Matalino ka!” and “Ah, UP. Namumundok ka ‘no?” Being branded as the “enemy” of the state, there are times when the chilling effect really comes in.

But while this can be disheartening, the true spirit of an iskolar ng bayan always dares to struggle — even if it means offering the self for the sake of the country.

After all, an iskolar ng bayan fights despite all despites — a lesson from the UP martyrs who came before us and sacrificed their lives in the name of service. The Iskolars of Diliman Commune who wrecked the walls of tyranny even at the cost of fighting the forces back with Molotov cocktails and kwitis; the revolutionaries Kal, Jhuna, and thousands of others who left the comfort of their lives to join the struggle and further their fight for the people; and every single student who marches on the streets to protest and resist.

Indeed, UP education transcends beyond the 15 to 21 units you fight for in a faulty enlistment system. What makes one equipped with genuine honor and excellence is the act of extending it in service. To be able to step foot in historical UP buildings is one, but to be on the ground with people in dire need of voice and visibility is another.

These are not threats that are meant to scare you into entering UP, but a mere reminder of its pillars and foundations. To earn the glory and prestige it has now, flames were thrown, blood splashed on the ground, and rocks flew side-to-side — from narrow streets to the broad mountains.

In the end, there is more to “Iskolar ng Bayan” than just a mere decoration for pride and aesthetics. It is a vow to always be for the masses.

UPCAT may seem like the starting point that gives you access to fulfill this service, but it is nothing but a mere manifestation of the systemic blockade in the students’ rights to quality education. In actuality, the passion to serve the people transcends beyond one’s mastery of basic integers, molecules, and abstract or one’s choice of university.

Wherever fate takes you, may you always carry the essence of being an isko. At the end of the day, a clarion call awaits — to stand against any ounce of injustice and unite against the systemic social ills plaguing the country for the longest time.