The Lowdown from U.P.’s Legal Literati

“I prefer to focus on finding, in this University, a common ground, a clearing — a safe, free, and congenial space within which its constituents can teach, study, and work productively to their full potential. U.P. must be that special place within which it should still be possible — despite all divisions and distractions — to work together with the University’s and the nation’s strategic interests in mind.” — University of the Philippines President Danilo L. Concepcion

From his heady days as an academic achiever, President DaniCon has since embraced a culture of excellence throughout his life. He graduated with a degree in Agricultural Engineering, Summa Cum laude, from the De La Salle Araneta University in 1979. He obtained his LL.B. from the UP College of Law in 1983 with Cum Laude honors and his LL.M. from the University of London in 1986 as a Chevening Scholar. A student leader, he was elected member of the Batasang Pambansa in 1978 and served until 1984 as a representative of the youth sector. He also served in various capacities for the government including his appointment as Associate Commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission (1996-2000), and Chief-of-Staff of the Office of the Presidential Legal Counsel (1996), among others. He was later appointed as President of the De La Salle Araneta University from 2000-2002 before returning to University of the Philippines Diliman to teach at the College of Law.

Delighted to finally meet the accomplished agriculture ace-turned-legendary legal luminary-turned-adroit academician; none other than the multi-hypenate Danilo L. Concepcion, better known by his moniker, “DaniCon,” at the Rotary Club of Manila’s General Membership Meeting where he was the guest-of-honor and speaker. To the man with whom the mantle of leadership of the University of the Philippines (U.P.) was passed on as its 21st president, assuming the national university’s highest post is likely to be the highlight of his life’s work.

Following an illustrious career as a lawyer, a youth leader and an academic, President DaniCon realizes that this singular honor of leading the country’s premier state university carries with it not only the challenge to showcase the best of the Filipino people, but also the obligation to work for the betterment of the Filipino nation; indeed, being U.P. President is the capstone of a lifetime of aspiration to serve his country and people.

With a vision to lead U.P. in fulfilling service that is true to its slogan, “honor and excellence,” but more importantly with compassion, President DaniCon commenced his term with a determined effort to include “malasakit” as his administration’s core virtue. Just two years into his presidency, he managed to raise the bar of academic excellence with prudent management of public resources and raising funds from generous donor-alumni. To date, U.P. is now the fourth best university in Southeast Asia, surging past six higher education institutions in the region in the latest Asian university rankings released by London-based Times Higher Education for 2018. Moreover, from 156th last year, the University jumped 61 places in the latest rankings of over 400 universities in Asia, entering the top 100 for the first time at 95th place. Under President DaniCon’s leadership, U.P. currently ranks among the top 150 universities in the world for English language and literature and in the top 250 faculties around the world for social sciences and management.

Of course, heading a university that had come to represent the greatest intellectual activity of the nation and to where the best young Filipinos have annually flocked to avail of quality professional training offered nowhere else in the country was not without its share of controversies: his promulgation involving the recent cases of intellectual dishonesty among two graduating students; the U.P. Board of Regents’ alleged eschewing of “due process” involving the most current appointment of deans in two colleges; and the “LonsiLeaks” scandal where a series of utterly deplorable misogynistic chat messages involving members of his fraternity were leaked on-line, among others.

Yet, it has been said that the acts of great leaders loom larger in retrospect; in President DaniCon’s case, despite having manifested great leadership throughout his yet-to-be-completed tenure, his most defining moments — which should command our respect and admiration — are yet to come. At the end of the day, his hopes and fears, mundane and otherwise, will always have some undefinable resonance in the consciousness of anyone who has some feeling for U.P. through his capacity to inspire, motivate and persuade. And whether he will have succeeded in breaking new ground — introducing reform in differing fashion that brooked no dissent; breaking with tradition in pursuit of his goals; attempting to comb out the complexity of existing procedures of half-way measures; or mobilizing democratic energies and faith against higher authority or odds of crushing complexity — it will no longer matter.

For simply having the courage to translate his vision for the University, President DaniCon has already written himself in its history as a public hero who had an instinct for the future of U.P. and the national purpose. Since his days as a member of the UP Diliman College of Law faculty where he served as Dean (2011-2017), as Associate Dean (2002-2006), as Head of the UP Law Center (2002-2006), as the Vice President for Legal Affairs and the UP BGC Campus’ Executive Director, he has already demonstrated steadfastness, creativity and resourcefulness, fetching humanity, humility and forbearance, but also indomitable courage and integrity, never pandering to his myriad of critics or to the opposition. And for all his accomplishments, President DaniCon has kept his self-effacing countenance and light-hearted sense of humor largely intact.

Chided by a Rotarian-Atenean during a Question-and-Answer portion of his talk about the UP Fighting Maroons’ most gleaming exclusion from the final round of this year’s UAAP Basketball Tournament, he deadpanned with a hilarious quip: “I am not bothered by U.P.’s exclusion from this year’s finals; after all, as with all bright students, they are normally exempted from the finals.” And, for a fellow U.P. alumnus like me, this is what makes President DaniCon especially endearing.