Filipino delivers Harvard Law graduation speech

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Filipino delivers Harvard Law graduation speech

By Volt Contreras
Inquirer
Last updated 05:42am (Mla time) 06/08/2007

MANILA, Philippines -- This year’s elite, multiracial class of Harvard law graduates may have found their best speaker in a young Filipino lawyer of Chinese descent, one obviously honed for the global stage but who hopes to pay back “the nameless farmers and fishermen” who partly paid for his studies.

Oscar Franklin Tan, 27, earned the rare honor of delivering the commencement address in behalf of some 700 American and foreign graduates of the Harvard Law School.

Adel Tamano, spokesperson of the Genuine Opposition ticket in the recent senatorial elections, served as commencement speaker at Harvard Law in 2005.

The 2005 law alumnus of the University of the Philippines pursued a master’s degree at the exalted academy in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Tan was to deliver the commencement address on June 7.

Tan is an associate at the Angara, Abello, Concepcion, Regala and Cruz law office. His father, Edmundo L. Tan, is a managing partner at the Tan Acut & Lopez law firm, while his mother, Dr. Jesusa Barcelona Tan, is a dermatologist.

His name was added to the growing list of Filipino legal luminaries who attended Harvard, some of whom went on to shape the country’s history. They include former Senators Jovito Salonga and Rene Saguisag; Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, Representatives Teodoro “Teddy Boy” Locsin Jr. of Makati and Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara of Aurora, former Press Secretary Ricardo Puno, former Solicitor General Estelito Mendoza, former Environment Secretary Fulgencio Factoran, Ateneo Law Dean Cesar Villanueva,

and Philippine Daily Inquirer columnist and former UP Law Dean Raul Pangalangan, and the latter’s wife Elizabeth Aguiling-Pangalangan.

Crossing cultural barriers

Tan said he apparently earned the distinction not by academic prowess alone. “I feel that I was selected to speak because I am able to touch base with all my classmates and cross all cultural barriers,” Tan said Thursday, in reply to e-mailed questions from the Philippine Daily Inquirer, parent company of INQUIRER.net.

“This does not just come naturally when one is in an international community. For example, some Europeans can be more aggressive and direct culturally, while some Asians can be less direct and be uncomfortable with their English capability.”

“I made it my priority to get to know each and every one of my interesting classmates, and let them know I was open to whatever they had to say. In this way, I was perceived as being able to best represent the class,” he said.

“For excellence alone is never enough,” he explained, a mind-set imprinted on him at Harvard where, unlike in Philippine law schools, the obsession over good grades and bar exam results are considered “juvenile” pursuits.

He recalled that awards were recently handed out to American law students at Harvard --not for academic achievements but for public service, like participation in legal aid programs.

Respect for leadership

“Students here respect not grades,” he said, but “leadership,” particularly in shaping the school journal, the Harvard Law Review.

US presidential contender Barack Obama, for instance, caught the attention of the national media way back when he became the first African-American president of the HLR.

Legal writing is one area where Tan left his biggest mark as a UP law student. He racked up 17 writing prizes, mainly for term papers and analyses of Supreme Court decisions.

He went on to chair the prestigious Philippine Law Journal.

‘Wine in the River’

In the draft of his speech sent to the Inquirer, Tan delved no more into stiff legal discourse but rather reveled in the cultural cornucopia that made up his Harvard batch, where up to 60 nationalities were represented. The speech partly read: “A Saudi Arabian reminded me that you can fry eggs on a sidewalk in Riyadh. An Italian gave me tips on women because Italian men are the world’s greatest lovers, with the disclaimer that their style does not work on American women. A Malaysian was asked to explain the religious significance of the color of her hijab or headscarf. She would answer: It had to match her blouse.

“On New Year’s Eve, a Belarusian handed me a glass of vodka, but scolded me when I began to sip it. Sipping, he emphasized, was not the Slavic way. I shared a Frenchman’s champagne, a Peruvian’s pisco sour, a Costa Rican’s piñacolada, a Brazilian’s caipirinha, a Mexican’s tequila and a Japanese’s sake.

“And apologies to the Germans, but I learned how even weak American beer enlivens an evening when you drink it with the Irish.”

‘Citizens of the world’

In a piece he titled “Like Wine in the River, Like Citizens of the World,” he asked rhetorically: “How do a mere 700 change the world, even with overpriced Harvard diplomas?”

He called on his classmates, the “future leaders” of their respective countries, “to transcend our individual nationalities and affirm that we are citizens of the world.”

For regardless of race, color or creed, he said, “our peers in faraway lands face the same frustrations, the same nation-building ordeals, the same sorrows and, ultimately, the same shared joys and triumphs.”

Describing himself as a witness to two Philippine people power revolts, Tan acknowledged among his classmates an Afghan lawyer chased out of his country by the Taliban and a Bhutanese princess who “wants to help shape her country’s constitution after her father-king voluntarily gave up absolute power.”

He also noted how his Chinese classmates have “come to grips” with the Tiananmen Square crackdown, and how an Iranian, upon meeting the speechwriter of US President George W. Bush, introduced himself by saying: “Hi! I’m from an Axis of Evil country.”

Securities Law

After Harvard, he hopes to build a career in Securities Law and Constitutional Law (the specializations he took up there), Tan said in the e-mailed interview, adding: “I hope to be in a position to influence our economic institutions’ development, and I learned so much here about how American companies are policed and how investor rights are protected. So many people agitate for political change, but I feel that we also need highly technical people able to act as midwives for the legal institutions that underpin our economy.”

Filipinos have “a beautiful Constitution,” he said, which unfortunately remains barely appreciated or understood by the common citizen.

“For example, when the Jose Pidal scandal broke out, so-called legal experts questioned whether a ‘right to privacy’ existed in the media, even though this is taught to UP Law freshmen during their first week of class,” he said.

But underlying all these lofty plans -- now all within his reach, thanks to his “overprized Harvard diploma” -- is a rather humble mission for someone who got his headstart in law at a state university like UP.

“Our studies were paid for by nameless poor farmers and fishermen, and I hope to one day pay my dues,” Tan said.

from Inquirer.net

AND NOW THE SPEECH!

Like Wine in the River, Like Citizens of the World
Harvard Law School 2007 Student Commencement Address
Oscar Franklin Barcelona Tan ( Philippines )

Dean Kagan, Vice-Dean Alford, professors, classmates, families, and friends. Let me first thank our tireless graduate program staff. They were the first friendly faces who greeted me, told me which functions offered free food, and what to do if you faint during your final exams. Assistant Dean Jeanne Tai, Nancy Pinn, Heather Wallick, Curtis Morrow, Jane Bestor, Chris Nepple, April Stockfleet: This year would not have been possible without you.

But this goes to everyone: Thank you all for truly making us feel part of this community. We LLMs became your fellow students after your Salsa Party, Chinese and Korean New Year, African Night, and our International Party. To honor you, we took Europe by storm, winning in the inaugural Negotiation Challenge, in the European Law Moot Court, and in the Willem Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot Court. Of course, you truly become part of Harvard Law School when you're featured in the Parody.

Not so long ago, Cambridge seemed a strange, unfriendly place especially when I first saw Gropius. I went to John Harvard's with the British, who began chittering in an alien language. I later discovered it was actually English -- the real English. I complained I was not used to cold, but a Saudi Arabian reminded me that you can fry eggs on a sidewalk in Riyadh . An Italian gave me tips on women because Italian men are the world's greatest lovers, with the disclaimer that their style does not work on American women. A Malaysian was asked to explain the religious significance of the color of her hijab, or headscarf. She would answer: It had to match her blouse.

Soon, we found that great substance that keeps any law school together: alcohol. On New Year's Eve, a Belarusian handed me a glass of vodka, but scolded me when I began to sip it. Sipping, he emphasized, was not the Slavic way. I shared a Frenchman's champagne, a Peruvian's pisco sour, a Costa Rican's pina colada, a Brazilian's caipirinha, a Mexican's tequila, and a Japanese's sake. And apologies to the Germans, but I learned how even weak American beer enlivens an evening when you drink it with the Irish.

We found greater common ground: The Swiss complained about American chocolate, the New Zealanders complained about American cheese, the Sri Lankans complained about American tea, the Indians complained about the lack of vegetarian food, and everyone complained that American food makes you fat. An Austrian made homemade apfelstrudel. A Nigerian made homemade fried plantains. The Pakistanis made a non-spicy version of keema, and I only needed eight glasses of water during the meal. All the Americans had was Three Aces pizza.

As for me, I come from the Philippines , a former American colony best known for Imelda Marcos's shoe collection. I remember being a six-year old watching my parents walk out of our house to join the crowds gathering to depose the dictator Ferdinand Marcos and form human walls against tanks. I remember being a twenty-year old in a different crowd deposing a different but equally corrupt president.

It was liberating to hear how a Chilean danced with crowds in the streets when Pinochet was arrested. How the Chinese come to grips with Tiananmen Square, while convinced that one cannot transplant American-style government wholesale to Beijing . How life changed in the former Soviet Union ; how it was like growing up in a fledgling Eastern European country. How a Pakistani discussed Musharraf's assault on judicial independence with a South African worried about Mugabe's own acts in Zimbabwe .

It was even more liberating to hear from a Korean prosecutor how his country sent two former presidents to jail. How the Swiss have preserved their tradition of independence and referendum. How Ghana threw off its colonial fetters and inspired a conscious African solidarity. How a Bhutanese wants to help shape her constitution after her king voluntarily gave up absolute power.

I cannot deny that our generation's issues will be complex, but I can guarantee that they will never be abstract, not after having a classmate who was an Israeli army drill sergeant, not after having a Chinese classmate with a Taiwanese girlfriend, nor after having a classmate chased by gunmen out of Afghanistan . In fact, when George W. Bush's speechwriter visited, my Iranian classmate introduced himself, "Hi, I'm from an Axis of Evil country."

Friends, my most uplifting thought this year has been that the more we learn about each other, the more we realize that we are all alike, and the more we inspire each other to realize our most heartfelt yearnings. My single most memorable moment here came when I met South African Justice Albie Sachs, left with only one arm after an assassination attempt during apartheid. My classmate stood up and said: " South Africa is the world's second most unequal country. I come from Brazil , the world's most unequal country, and I admire how the South African Constitutional Court has inspired the progress of human rights throughout the world."

And this is how Harvard has changed us. We recall struggling with English to keep pace with the world's most brilliant professors, especially with Elizabeth Warren's Socratic blitzkriegs, and we thank Harvard for raising our thinking to a higher, broader level. But even the most powerful ideas demand passion to set them aflame. The passion we ignite today is fueled by a collage of vignettes that will remind us in this crucible of life that our peers in faraway lands face the same frustrations, the same nation building ordeals, the same sorrows, and ultimately, the same shared joys and triumphs.

How do a mere 700 change the world, even with overpriced Harvard diplomas? Before a great battle in China 's Spring and Autumn Period, the legendary King Gou Jian of Yue was presented with fine wine. He ordered his troops to stand beside a river, and poured the wine into it. He ordered them to drink from the river and share his gift. A bottle of wine cannot flavor a river, but the gesture so emboldened his army that they won a great victory. We of the Class of 2007 shall flavor this earth, whether we be vodka, wine, champagne, pisco sour, pina colada, caipirinha, tequila, sake, jagermeister, raki, Irish stout, Ugandan Warabi, or Philippine lambanog.

Thus, my friends --and this includes our American classmates who will soon lead the world's lone superpower -- let us transcend our individual nationalities and affirm that we are citizens of the world. Maraming salamat po, at mabuhay kayong lahat. *Thank you and long live you all.*