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Jeepney driver’s daughter tops Ateneo class, writes essay on social injustice

Manila, Philippines–Reycel Hyacenth Bendaña’s life story is now making rounds on social media following a moving essay she wrote on life and what her university has done for her that was posted online.

Bendaña is president of Ateneo De Manila University Student Council and the valedictorian of her batch.

“I am an example of the underprivileged gaining the highest quality of education in one of the best universities in the country, and achieving their dreams,” Bendaña wrote.

She also recalled how her parents struggled to make ends meet and how her family lived in poverty.

“There was never enough food on our table, my parents were not always regular employees, and as students, my sister and I had childhoods filled with promissory notes for delayed tuition fee payments. I was seven years old when I joined my first rally. I stood with my father at the frontline of a jeepney strike that aimed to raise the minimum fare. For some, the rising price of fuel meant less profit,” Bendaña said.

The class valedictorian event went on talking about social injustice and how it has greatly affected her family.

“Generosity is the exception, not the norm in this country. Ateneo may have shown my fellow students the realities of injustice in society, but for me, it served as a refuge from my own experience of social inequality,” she said.

She also joined a number of rallies when the plan for a jeepney phaseout broke out.

“Ateneo’s influence amplifies any Atenean voice, the same way it amplified mine. When I protested for the Philippines to hear the plight of our jeepney drivers against the modernization policy, the entire nation listened. The biggest news media companies—ABS-CBN, GMA, name it—wrote headlines, and invited me to interviews and documentaries. My statements, no matter how eloquent, would not have mattered if I weren’t Atenean. After all, I am not the only ‘daughter of a jeepney driver’ in the entire Philippines. It was my Ateneo education that made me special.” Bandeñas wrote.

In a separate Facebook post she thanked her family and friends who supported her despite the hardships she’s been through.

Staff Report

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