The Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM) honored the City of Manila’s first female mayor, Dr. Maria Shielah “Honey” Lacuna-Pangan, through the conferment of a degree in Doctor of Public Administration, honoris causa.
Mayor Lacuna also served as the guest speaker for the Class of 2022’s graduation rites on Friday, August 5, 2022. The honorary degree was officially bestowed upon her during the morning ceremony.
The PLM Board of Regents approved the citation and resolution conferring the honorary degree upon Mayor Lacuna in their July 30 meeting.
“Maraming-maraming salamat sa pagkilalang ipinagkaloob niyo sa akin sa umagang ito. Salamat po sa pagpapahalaga ninyo sa 28 taon ko sa serbisyo publiko,” Mayor Lacuna responded, saying it’s an added “inspiration” to sustain and improve the city’s services further.
“Tulong-tulong po tayo na itaguyod ang mas maganda at higit na maunlad na Maynila,” she added.
PLM President Emmanuel Leyco also commended the honorable mayor during the ceremony for her dedication and service to the people of the city.
“We honor today a woman who made several firsts in the history of the capital city of the Philippines,” President Leyco said of the city’s first-ever female local chief executive.
Vice Mayor John Marvin “Yul Servo” Nieto was likewise in attendance.
Mayor Lacuna-Pangan is a medical doctor by profession. Her lifelong commitment to public service began in 1992 when she became a resident physician of the Ospital ng Maynila. She later served at the Manila Health Department from 1995 until 2004, where she led medical and dental missions of the local government targeting depressed communities of the City of Manila.
She later on ventured into the field of public governance. In 2004, she was elected as a city councilor of the Fourth District of Manila and served three consecutive terms until 2013. After that, she then led Manila’s Department of Social Welfare from 2013 to 2015.
Come 2016, she was elected as the first female Vice Mayor of the City of Manila and remained for two terms until 2022. Most recently, the people of the City of Manila elected her as Mayor of the City of Manila, assuming office on June 30, 2022.
“The track record of our honorary guest speaks volumes about her untiring and unrelenting commitment to public health, public welfare, and public service,” the official citation of the PLM Board of Regents states, as read out by Board and University Secretary Atty. Carlo Florendo Castro. “This is most worthy of emulation by graduates of public institutions of higher education, such as the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila.”
In her keynote address, Mayor Lacuna also encouraged graduates to be grateful for their education.
“Tunay nga na ang edukasyon ang pinakamalakas na sandata natin sa buhay... Sana po pagkatapos ng ating grad ceremony, malapitan man lamang ninyo ang inyong mga magulang, mayakap ng mahigpit at makapagpasalamat,” the mayor said.
To adhere to minimum health protocols, PLM mounted two graduation ceremonies for 2,239 graduates from its undergraduate and postgraduate programs on Friday, August 5, 2022 at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) in Pasay City.
There are 888 graduates from the PLM Business School, 158 from the School of Government, 5 from the College of Architecture and Urban Planning, 123 from the College of Education, 272 from the College of Engineering and Technology, 120 from the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, 5 from the College of Nursing, 119 from the College of Physical Therapy, and 397 from the College of Science.
There are also 28 graduates from the College of Law, 3 from the Graduate School of Law, and 121 from the College of Medicine.
