Despite a red rainfall warning and waist-high flood in parts of Metro Manila, the University of the Philippines Manila pushed through with its 116th Commencement Exercises on Tuesday, 22 July, at the World Trade Center in Pasay City.

Among the sea of graduates was Jason Mago, a multimedia reporter for DAILY TRIBUNE, who marched with pride — barong damp, sablay slightly wet, but spirit undeterred.

It was a long-overdue moment for Mago, who missed last year’s graduation to finish his thesis. This year, however, even Metro Manila’s torrential downpour couldn’t stop him.

At 8 AM, the state weather bureau Pagasa issued a red rainfall warning, forecasting over 30 millimeters of rain in the next three hours. Public transport slowed to a crawl. By 10:30 AM, still unable to book a ride, Mago made a snap decision: tricycle from Taft Avenue to Gil Puyat, transfer tricycle to the venue — rain and flood be damned.

By 11 AM, just as the program was starting, Mago arrived — soaked but smiling.

“Today felt like a reflection of everything I went through in UP,” he shared.

“I pushed through the rain and flood to get here — just like I pushed through every high and low in my years at UP.”

For Mago and many other graduates, it wasn’t just the rain they had to endure. It was the systemic issues that made their journey more difficult.

“Beautiful barongs and Filipinianas, some soaked in flood — but what can we do? We’re UP students. We endure challenges. We face the system,” he said.

As the ceremony continued under stormy skies, the resilience of the graduates — literally weathering adversity — stood as a quiet protest and proud declaration: they made it.

And if it took that much effort for one student already based in Metro Manila, what more for other UP graduates who had to travel from the provinces, brave inter-island trips, or navigate flooded highways just to reach this long-awaited moment? For many, graduation wasn’t just a milestone — it was a testament to surviving a system that often seemed built to test them.