Stories like that did happen among the XDS alumni of the Experimental Democratization Scholarship Program. It was truly an empowerment program that helped poor students realize their potentials and better their lives. It was conceptualized thirty years ago in a faculty conference that would change the lives of about 450 poor teenagers. It was in the 1976 Faculty Conference that the democratization of admissions policy was first lengthily discussed, according to a 1987 paper written by Prof. Oscar L. Evangelista, the former Dean of Students, entitled “The Experimental Democratization Students (XDS) Revisited: Some Implications to the University’s Admissions and Tuition Fee Policies” . In the same paper, Prof. Evangelista recalled that “the basic assumption behind the democratization of admissions is that, as a state-supported university, the socio-economic status of its student population should approximate that of the population distribution of the country.”

He further related that majority of UP students then came from the upper income brackets and from urban areas, as indicated by statistics in Concept Paper No. 76-I, entitled “Admissions and Enrollment: Towards a More Equitable Distribution of UP Educational Benefits”, written by Dr. Romeo Manlapaz. It was pointed out in Dr. Manlapaz’s paper that students from higher income brackets and whose parents had higher educational attainment had bigger chances of admission into UP, and that the “ratio of students accepted to those who applied from each income bracket generally increases with annual family income”. To offset the imbalance, more students from the lower socio-economic classes and under-represented regions were to be admitted. In a broader perspective, this move could be considered as part of the University’s response to the call for social justice that was predominant in the intellectual circles in the 1970s. It was specifically stated in Jo Florendo B. Lontoc’s paper entitled “Excellence and Equity: UP’s Great Balancing Act” that during this period the “University constituents began calling for more democracy in the admission of students to allow for greater representation of the poor. They had become increasingly dissatisfied with what they perceived to be the gentrification of the University” Thus, the XDS Program was born and UP admitted the first batch of XDS grantees in Diliman in 1977. In 1981, the experimental Program had its first graduates, and that was also the final year that UP admitted students under the Program.

According to Prof. Evangelista’s paper, the XDS grantees were selected based on family income, region of origin, and UPCAT scores. They had to meet certain minimum family income and UPCAT requirements, while qualifying as a representative or one of the representatives from each province nationwide. But the more challenging part of the Program was to ensure that the grantees are well taken care of to make it in UP. As Dr. O.D. Corpuz, the UP President during that time, would say thirty years later, “we may have the best system, but if you don’t take care of those you put into the system, you wouldn’t have what you want out of it”, or words to that effect. And, take care of these students, the University did.

To help the XDS grantees adjust and live up to the standard of UP education and rigors of university life, they were given financial assistance to cover tuition, board and lodging at the university dormitories in UP Diliman, books, transportation, and learning assistance materials. Further, they also received psycho-social assistance, aside from being assigned to perhaps the best professors in English and Mathematics during their freshman year. It can be said that the University bet on these XDS grantees – that given the intellectual capacity and the proper support, they can perform well in Diliman and even better than those students from higher socioeconomic class. “Treat people as if they were what they ought to be and you help them to become what they are capable of being.” – a saying by Goethe that perhaps inspired the XDS mentors to believe in what the “poor but intelligent” students can do and achieve given such a rare opportunity.

With the all-out support provided by the University through the brains and movers of the UP XDS Program, these XDS grantees had to work extra hard to prove their worth as pioneering “Iskolar ng Bayan” who were often labeled as “promdis”. There were challenges along the way, but which were regarded as part of the learning process that would strengthen their resolve even more in pursuing their degrees. Finally, the XDS grantees did what was expected of them. The University won its bet. Overall, all five XDS batches (1977-1981) did well with some of the grantees even achieving a Dean’s List status and graduating with honors, not to mention that there were those who ended up as topnotchers in their respective professional licensure exams, or pursued graduate studies here and abroad. For the assessment of the Program in a report made by the Program Development Staff formed under the UP President at that time, it was learned, for one, that "the academic performance of a student from a lower socioeconomic class can be better than that of a student from a higher socioeconomic class " provided certain admission requirements are met and support or assistance is provided.

What became of the XDS grantees after almost thirty years now may be noteworthy. At least, the mentors would want to know. Perhaps, other contemporary alumni are curious as well, and definitely, the XDS alumni, would also like to know.

Thanks to the magic of the Internet, the e-Group started by one XDS alumnus allowed each one to reconnect with each other and with some of their former mentors. From about 450 XDS grantees across five batches, over a hundred have joined the e-Group in less than a year. With the e-Group as venue, the XDS alumni are able to update each other on what had happened in their lives since leaving UP Diliman.

Since only a fifth of all the XDS grantees had reconnected, there is no compiled set of statistics which will show how many among the XDS alumni are lawyers, doctors or engineers, MBA’s or PhD’s, managers or vice presidents. But, there is information, at least in the XDS e-Group, that there are those who have reached upper echelons and middle executive positions in the government and private sector in the Philippines and other parts of the world. There are bankers, entrepreneurs, consultants, deans, professors and officials in other universities.

Many have shared, or are currently sharing, their expertise in other lands as bankers, engineers, medical and IT professionals, consultants and economists. Most of them are in North America, while some are based in Europe, Middle East and other countries in Asia Pacific and Africa. One thing quite sure is that they had shared their talents in the Philippines, holding responsible positions in the banking, construction, health services sectors and other fields of endeavor before settling in other lands.

This is just a small sampling of many stories in the XDS e-Group:

A Middle East-based XDS veterinary medicine alumnus, for example, had written three books on avian medicine for international circulation. Another DVM graduate is now a city veterinarian in Metro Manila, while still another works as a vet in Singapore. A civil engineering (CE) alumnus is an IT professional with an investment bank in Boston, while there are CE and Architecture graduates who are now managers in their respective companies in Oregon, Washington DC, Singapore, South Korea, some parts of Europe and the Middle East. Some XDS engineers founded their own engineering firms in the Philippines, while one has put up a review center.

Other colleagues who are AB Philippine Studies and BS Statistics graduates obtained Doctors of Education (Ed.D) degrees, and both became respective Deans for Graduate Studies of Universities in Metro Manila and the Visayas. An engineering alumnus is now the Director for Admissions at the University of the East. A lady lawyer is an assistant vice president of the Development Bank of the Philippines while another lawyer is a city prosecutor, and still another, a city register of deeds in Metro Manila. An XDS alumnus is now serving the people of Antipolo as a priest, while another is a colonel in the Armed Forces of the Philippines and three others are in the United States Armed Forces.

An accountancy graduate is now the SVP of the Finance Department of Nestle in the Philippines. At least one has been a bureau director in the Philippine government while an Economics alumna is now the director for economic affairs at the Australian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Canberra. An Industrial Engineering (IE) alumna is now a manager of Pfizer in New York, while another IE alumnus is now employed in the UN System as coordinator on the back of his investment banking experience in the Philippines and overseas. USAID also has an XDS alumnus who recently joined that organization after years of management experience in the pharmaceuticals industry, the industry where another alumna is currently a marketing manager. The Asian Development Bank also has an XDS alumnus in its roster.

A female engineering graduate is in the management of San Miguel Corp., while her XDS colleague had left San Miguel to become an assistant vice president of another company. A geodetic engineering alumnus opted for early retirement from the government as an assistant bureau director and is now consulting with a Japanese firm.

There are also entrepreneurs among the XDS alumni like an exporter based in Cebu and a bus company owner. Two are in the food business with one having recently opened a bar in Quezon City’s entertainment district. An architecture board topnotcher has multi-storey projects while moonlighting as a university professor in Manila. There are creative people who dabbled in publishing story books, and one has been an editor of a leading broadsheet, while another XDS alumnus is in a leading TV network. One has been a comics editor, and writer, publishing pocketbooks and writing a novel which became a Gretchen Barrero movie starrer in the 1990s. Even those who did not eventually graduate from Diliman for one reason or another are leading lives more comfortable than before they entered UP.

It may not be expected that all the 450 or so grantees have inspirational stories to tell. However, based on the stories in the e-Group, it appears that the University, had not only won its bet, but had indeed initiated and contributed something great to nation-building thru the XDS’ professional endeavors, taxes and remittances, and instrumental roles in improving family circles and community development. The experimental program benefited not just 450 individuals. Truly, the benefits had multiplier effects in that many of these XDS grantees sent siblings and other relatives to college. Instead of raising families under the poverty line, the XDS grantees, and their siblings, are now raising families that have better chances in the future.

It may be said that XDS grantees have generally come a long way since their poverty-stricken youth. Many thanks to the brains and movers of the XDS Program, among them are two former UP Presidents (Drs. Onofre D. Corpuz and Emmanuel V. Soriano), professors and other university officials who lent guidance throughout the students’ stay in UP Diliman. It was their idea, their guidance and their patience, that made these students’ dreams come true and changed their lives. The XDS grantees profess that they cannot thank their mentors enough, but to at least manifest their gratitude, the XDS family is tendering a tribute in honor of these mentors on December 17, 2006 at the Bahay ng Alumni in UP Diliman.

The XDS grantees know that their expressions of gratitude amount to nothing if, like a caterpillar-turned- butterfly, they just flap their wings and fly. Somehow, they must let live that “Hope for the Flowers” and bring about more meaningful and fruitful lives just as they were given. Having this innate impetus to help the poor, the XDS alumni are not stopping at just simply giving tribute to the brains and movers of the experimental Program. Recently, the XDS e-Group had formed two alumni associations, one in the Philippines (UP XDS Association, Inc.), and another in North America (UP XDS International Association Incorporated), which will serve as the group vehicles, not only in giving back to the University and to the society, but more importantly in helping make today’s poor-but-intelligent students’ dreams come true.

The XDS family therefore takes this opportunity to call on their other colleagues (XDS grantees) out there to join the e-Group (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/UPXDS/) through Prof. Victor Isidro at Tel. No. (632) 6471957, Cellular: +639189261737 or Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ; Ms. Aida Aragon-Borlaza at Tel. No. (632) 6381461, Cellular +639189910018 or Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ; Mr. Clifford_Espinosa at Cellular: +639169001745; or Ms. Madelene Bangalan-Marcon at Tel. No. (632) 9137289, Cellular: +639156974923 or Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

This would be a perfect time for the UP mentors to join the XDS alumni as they hold a “Gabi ng Parangal at Pasasalamat” to the UP XDS mentors on the 17th of December 2006, 6-10 pm at the Bahay ng Alumni. The XDS alumni hope that the mentors can grace the Parangal which shall also serve as a special occasion to reconnect with each one and see the “fruits” of the Program. Most especially the XDS e-Group would love to see a big number of their colleagues gathered to thank the mentors.

“ Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom”. – Marcel Proust * * * * * * * * * *