Albee's father inspires NONSHS graduates

FORMER Human Settlements deputy minister Jose Conrado Benitez, father of third district Representative Albee Benitez, has inspired the 32 new graduates of the Negros Occidental National Science High School (NONSHS), being the guest speaker at their 13th commencement exercises in Victorias City on Tuesday.

The elder Benitez acted in behalf of Jose Francisco Benitez, Ph.D, president of the Philippine Women's University.

He shared his knowledge and experience in science and the future that the new graduates will have to face.

BACOLOD. Former Human Settlements deputy minister Jose Conrado Benitez, father of Rep. Albee Benitez, receives a plaque of appreciation from NONSHS principal Maritess Rivera as guest speaker in the 13th commencement exercises held Tuesday in Victorias City. (Carla Canet)

He told the 32 new graduates that “the future lies in you. Your training in Math and Science will be very helpful to you as you face the future.”

He said the graduates should apply the science that they learned in order to create the products, technology and system that would develop and help the country.

“Something that will create new products that will provide better livelihood like organic farming, developing new seeds, new variety, new processing because without the science, this country will always be completely dependent to overseas contract workers...The time has come when this must change,” he said.

Benitez’s earliest association with the NONSHC was in 1969 when he gave a test to some 10,000 applicants for the science high school after he took up his doctoral dissertation in Stanford University.

He also shared the wisdom he got from the books of Nobel Prize winner Al Gore, such as the "Inconvenient Truth" and "Future."

He said that in the book "Future," Al Gore cited some drivers of global change: the human beings as earth incorporators; climate change that will affect the people; the global mind, where a billion and 500 people are now interlinked to the world being Facebook subscribers with the aid of the internet; the Internet, which has created a new consciousness; and the globalization of the economy, where he cited his friend who develop a Nano technology that earned him billions in dollars, among others.

“The challenge is open to you. Live in a time when Math and Science training will be helpful to you in the future,” he urged the graduates.

Benitez was formerly a government official and was associated with various corporations and endeavors during his heyday.