17/05/2026
What is happening now in the Senate and the House may mean that the time remaining for us is becoming shorter.
If we make the wrong decisions in this two-year window before we elect a national leader in 2028, and if we fail to become the heroes our country needs while we are still together and while the spirit of Rizal is still alive among us, we may lose this chance to build a generation—a collective—of reformers in the spirit of Rizal, the hero and the doctor.
We have to be excellent in our craft and all of you already are. But the greater challenge is to be excellent as persons.
How do we treat others? How do we regard human life? Do we truly respect the dignity that comes from being made in the image of God?
Do we have an intergenerational view of love? Do you see your family lineage as a lineage of heroes? Heroes not only fighting for independence from Spain or America, but fighting now against new forms of bondage—corruption, greed, hopelessness, and moral confusion?
We must take the long-term view. How will our people remember us? Will they still hear our voices when they themselves face moral dilemmas in the future?
MARIA LOURDES SERENO
from her speech at the 119th Philippine Medical Association-Annual Convention and Scientific Meetings, May 16, 2026
