COMMEMORATIVE TGP PRELIMS 06062018

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