COMMEMORATIVE TGP PRELIMS 06062018
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Message from<br />
the Founding Father<br />
Rod Confesor<br />
Founding Father<br />
It was the second semester of 1970. I was in a class<br />
for an elective subject when a seatmate, staring at an<br />
ink drawing of the frat seal displayed on the front cover<br />
of my notebook, curiously inquired, “Is that a new frat?”<br />
I answered in the affirmative. My seatmate smiled and<br />
said, “Good luck. I hope your frat survives.” He seemed<br />
to have read my mind. It was a wish that stayed with me<br />
for years in anticipation of the many challenges that will<br />
come to confront us.<br />
Today, that same seatmate would have been<br />
astonished to note that the Tau Gamma Phi indeed<br />
survived and now stands as the biggest nationally<br />
established fraternity in the country. With strong<br />
presence in countless schools and colleges stretching<br />
across the archipelago, we have proven to all that<br />
not only are we united and strong, we are also, by all<br />
counts, resilient and determined to grow and survive.<br />
And yet, we are all aware that survival alone is<br />
not enough. Along with growth, the fraternity, to<br />
be meaningful, must continue to evolve into an<br />
organization that is relevant both to its members and to<br />
the society that it serves. It must, above all else, faithfully<br />
pursue its mission to contribute to the development<br />
of our youth, particularly in terms of value formation<br />
and character building. From a larger perspective,<br />
Tau Gamma Phi should be a responsible participant in<br />
efforts to improve the lives of others.<br />
This organizational evolution is nowhere more<br />
pronounced than in its mother unit—the University of<br />
the Philippines. For most Triskelions nationwide, UP<br />
remains to be the center of gravity. It sets the pace<br />
in almost all levels of development as a fraternal<br />
viii<br />
<strong>COMMEMORATIVE</strong> <strong>TGP</strong> BOOK.indd 8<br />
6/6/2018 3:42:01 PM