13/08/2026
๐๐๐ฌ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐๐ ๐๐ฉ๐๐๐ค๐๐ซ ๐๐๐ฆ๐๐ฎ๐ฅ ๐. ๐๐ฎ๐๐ฌ๐, ๐๐๐, ๐๐ ๐๐ก๐๐ซ๐ ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฆ๐ ๐จ๐ ๐๐ข๐ฌ ๐๐ฑ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ง๐๐ ๐ข๐ง ๐๐ข๐๐ ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ฏ๐ข๐๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ญ๐ฎ๐๐๐ง๐ญ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ซ๐ฌ
Yesterday, August 12, 2026, at Southern Leyte State University Bontoc Campus, Multi-Purpose Covered Court, Jemuel T. Guasa, RMT, MD was invited to be a Resource Speaker to give some valuable insights in the afternoon event called Organizational Fair Chat.
His Inspirational Speech:
Good Morning Everyone!
Ug sa dili pako magsugod, gusto sa nako ipaabot ang akoang pagpasalamat sa Southern Leyte State University - Bontoc Campus, pinaagi ni Dr. Dadios ug ni Dr. Baclayon sa ilang imbitasyon para mo hatag og mensahe karong hapon.
So, it feels surreal that I am here as a guest speaker, when decades ago, I had visited this campus simply as a child of Mrs. Evelyn T. Guasa, your former Guidance Counselor and Scholarship Coordinator. She has accompanied me today, thankfully, so I don't feel so out of place.
So today, in my capacity, I hope to instill some inspiration in your young minds. For a short while, I had been unsure of what to talk about in today's Organizational Fair chat, but having a clear theme made the preparations much easier. The theme is: "Lead with Purpose, Serve with Passion, and Excel with Integrity."
So, our theme again was: ๐๐๐๐ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐๐ฎ๐ซ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฌ๐, ๐๐๐ซ๐ฏ๐ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐๐๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง, ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐ฑ๐๐๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐๐ง๐ญ๐๐ ๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ.
So, I looked for a way to somehow encapsulate our theme, and the best that I could find or look into was a lighthouse.
So as we go along, I hope this symbol makes more sense.
Let's begin with our first sub-theme from the theme, which is Purpose-Driven Leadership.
Empathetic, accountable, humble, resilient, decisiveโthese are some of the qualities that we associate with good leaders. But I believe that the most important element of leadership is actually purpose.
It is the pillar that gives all these other qualities direction. Purpose tells you where to go.
Think of the light that's beaming from a lighthouse na iyang suga, no? During storms and rough seas, the steadfast light guides sailors towards safety. In the same way, your purpose gives meaning and direction to your leadership. A leader with purpose can unite different individuals, such as yourselves, and motivate them to work towards shared goals. Like a focused beam of light, purpose helps ensure that everyone is headed in the right direction.
But I often hear people say that we are either leaders or followers. But I would like to think that leadership is fluid. In real-life situations, there may not always be a clear-cut definition or label. People shift in and out of their roles depending on the context or the situation.
So, in your organizations, for example, you have your leaders, but those same leaders operate under the guidance of the campus administration, and in turn, the administration follows the greater university system. So this fluidity actually removes some of the pressure that we place on the idea of leadership.
And the traits that we attach to leaders are also not exclusive to them. So even members can have good leadership qualities. So, capable, high-performing members of your organizations are equally as important. Independent, critical thinking, and collaboration are encouraged rather than blind followership. As the saying goes, "Two heads are better than one."
Instead of thinking about what is expected of you as a leader or as a member, you can start asking a more important question: "What can I do for others in this situation?"
A leader may defer judgment to another member who is better suited for a particular role, and a member may step up when the situation calls for it.
I experienced this during my training as a student doctor. There have been moments when I encountered patients who were not breathing or who did not have pulses, so essentially they were clinically dead. In those moments, saving their lives becomes the primary purpose, and I was put in a position to lead that effort.
So, I stand at the foot of the bed with the patient. I can see the patient, their family, of course. I have to maintain a bird's-eye view of the situation. I then assign roles: I ask someone to begin CPR or chest compressions, someone else provides ventilation, another takes blood samples, others contact our seniors, the nursing staff, and other appropriate departments.
But when my senior physician arrives, the lead role shifts. Maabot akoang resident, mabalhin sa iyaha ang lead role. So all of us follow the senior physician's judgmentโjudgment backed by years of training and experience.
So that, to me, is an example of fluid leadership. It's not always about being the one in front. Sometimes leadership means knowing when to step forward, and more importantly, when to step back.
The second sub-theme is Passionate Service.
In the context of your organizations, service is the means by which your purpose is given actual form. So, your purpose is the why, while your service is the how.
And as we mentioned earlier, if the purpose is the light beam that comes from the lighthouse, then your passion is the energy that keeps that light shining. The more energy you provide, the farther that light reaches.
Passion is not a strict requirement for rendering service. Dili sya kinahanglan jud. You can be good at what you do and still help others without necessarily feeling passionate about it. But what transforms a simple transaction into a genuine connection is passion.
Perhaps you might think, "Hala, passion ra man siguro ang kailangan nako." But it can be a double-edged sword. It can save you from burning out, yes, but passion can also push you towards it.
Like the tide, passion ebb and flows. It's not a constant fire, but rather one that burns hot at the start, burns down into soft embers, but with enough fuel, maintenance, and rest, can burn brightly once again.
This energy, this vigor, pushes you to be resilient and to go the extra mile. So this then fosters trust within the people that you serve. It allows you to approach problems creatively, and the energy of passionate people has a way of lifting the morale or the energy of those around them.
But we also have to remember that passion must go hand-in-hand with competence. Passion without competence can be ineffective; competence without passion can be cold, uninspiring, or robotic. What we should strive for is the middle ground between a caring attitude and flawless ex*****on.
Competence is nurtured by dedicated educators in an environment that encourages growth, much like this school. In time, you students will earn your autonomy and self-confidence, which you will then put into practice.
In med school, we had what we called our OSCEs, or Objective Structured Clinical Examinations. We would rotate through different stations where acting patients simulate actual clinical scenarios, while our mentors graded us based on our medical knowledge, our communication, and our decision-making skills.
At the time, when I think back, those exams were very stressful. But looking back, they were incredibly valuable. Those exams showed me or us, my fellow students which aspects of our care needed changing or improvement, and gave us opportunities to improve before those skills were tested on real living patients.
That is what training is supposed to do. It gives us a safe place to practice, to be corrected, and, of course, to become better.
And that brings me to the third sub-theme, which is Excellence with Integrity.
Integrity means doing the right thing even when no one is watching. It means refusing to compromise your principles simply for personal gain or convenience. It also allows you to hold yourself to a high standard, never settling for mediocrity.
If purpose is the light of the lighthouse, and passion is the energy that keeps it shining, then integrity is the solid foundation that keeps the entire structureโthe entire lighthouseโstanding. It keeps you grounded.
Integrity also means having the self-awareness to own up to your mistakes. Because if you cannot acknowledge where you went wrong, you cannot improve. And that is where integrity and excellence meet.
Excellence is not simply about being talented or achieving great results; it is about consistently striving to do better while remaining true to the principles that guide you.
As a physician, my integrity was tested many times in dealing with patients in the hospital. I often had to consider what was best for them and their families, even when those times pushed me away from my comfort zone.
In truth, I entered medicine expecting the glamour that comes with the profession, but actually being there in front of the patients reminded me of how difficult the journey really is, and how heavy the lives of our fellow human beings can be.
To provide the quality of care that my patients deserve, I have to continue to learn and gain experience. But at the same time, I have to remain grounded in the ethics and principles that I hope to embody as a physician.
And I believe that same principle applies to all of you.
In the same way that I received my training in medical school, being a part of student organizations is training for your future. Your time at school is a simulation for life. Now is the perfect time to practice, to lead, to learn, and even to fail, without the consequences being as heavy as they might be later on.
Now is the time to be involved and to engage. Here in school, you learn how to manage and work together with teams made up of essentially unpaid volunteers, held together only by common interests and shared goals. You practice negotiation, you practice communication, you practice crisis management, and along the way, you learn how to work with finite or limited resources and with people who think differently from you.
And these are the same skills that you will carry with you into your professional lives. And if things don't go as planned, no one gets fired.
So instead, you get something much more valuable: the opportunity to reflect, understand what went wrong, and to try again. That is how resilience is built.
So today, I challenge each of you to be a beacon.
Like a lighthouse:
Let your values be your foundation,
Let your passion keep your light shining, and
Let your purpose guide those around you.
Lead with purpose, serve with passion, and excel with integrity.
Do not just put your organizations on your resumes. Engrave the skills that you have honed here into your character. Because long after the positions and your titles are forgotten, it is the person that you have become that will continue to make a difference.
Daghan kaayong salamat.
๐ผ: Simpao, J | The Fishponder Creatives
