A Message from the UPERDFI President, Angelito “Lito” Bermudo delivered during the Annual Membership Meeting and Donor Appreciation
We gather today not merely to satisfy a governance requirement, but to reflect on the future of an institution entrusted to us by generations of engineers, educators, and nation-builders.
UPERDFI was founded on a simple but powerful belief: that engineering excellence must serve society.
Our founders built more than a foundation. They built a tradition of competence, integrity, and service.
That legacy is now in our hands.
The question before us is no longer whether UPERDFI will continue.
The real question is whether UPERDFI will lead.
The Philippines stands at the center of profound transitions.
Energy security and decarbonization.
Climate resilience.
Infrastructure modernization. Digital transformation.
Educational reform.
Innovation and entrepreneurship.
At the same time, our universities face the challenge of sustaining excellence while caring for the well-being of faculty and students.
Institutions that remain static during periods of rapid change risk becoming irrelevant.
UPERDFI must not become irrelevant.
We must evolve from a respected legacy institution into an indispensable strategic partner of the University and the nation.
In response to these challenges and opportunities, your Board and management team have organized our work around four strategic pillars.
These pillars provide a clear framework for understanding where the Foundation stands today, what we have accomplished, and where we intend to go.
First, Institutional Stability—because transformation must rest on a foundation of trust, financial strength, sound governance, and active membership.
Second, Strategic Transformation—because UPERDFI must evolve from a respected philanthropic institution into a dynamic platform for research, innovation, and national impact.
Third, Human Sustainability—because academic excellence cannot be sustained unless we invest in the well-being of faculty and students.
And fourth, Future Growth and Legacy—because preserving the Foundation is not enough; we must expand its influence and prepare the next generation to lead.
Taken together, these four pillars represent our commitment to build on the legacy we inherited while ensuring that UPERDFI remains relevant, resilient, and indispensable in the years ahead.
We also successfully completed our transition from PFRS for SMEs to full Philippine Financial Reporting Standards, reflecting the increasing scale and sophistication of the Foundation.
Let me now discuss each of these pillars in turn.
Institutional stability begins with people.
The most important asset of UPERDFI is not found on the balance sheet. It is the community of alumni, faculty, donors, and volunteers who believe in this institution and continue to invest their time, resources, and reputation in its success.
UPERDFI now has 314 members.
Of these, 205 members have participated as donors, volunteers, or event attendees.
At the same time, 109 members remain inactive.
We are also supported by 10 alumni chapters and affiliated organizations, giving the Foundation an extensive network across disciplines, generations, and sectors.
These figures tell an important story.
They tell us that UPERDFI continues to command trust.
They tell us that our network remains broad and influential.
And they tell us that our greatest opportunity lies not only in recruiting new supporters, but in reactivating the talent, experience, and goodwill already within our community.
A foundation does not weaken first through finances.
It weakens when participation narrows, when leadership is concentrated in too few hands, and when institutional memory is not transferred to the next generation.
This is why membership engagement is not simply an administrative concern.
It is a strategic priority.
A larger and more active membership base means stronger governance, broader expertise, deeper fundraising capacity, and greater resilience.
Institutional stability, therefore, is not merely about maintaining what we have.
It is about ensuring that the Foundation remains rooted in a living, engaged, and expanding community of leaders.
Institutional stability also requires disciplined stewardship of resources.
I am pleased to report that UPERDFI closed 2025 on very strong financial footing.
Total assets reached ₱423.3 million.
Total fund balances increased to ₱400.3 million.
We ended the year with ₱38.0 million in cash and cash equivalents and ₱384.2 million in investments.
Together, these resources provide both liquidity and long-term financial capacity.
In 2025, donations rose to ₱86.9 million, a substantial increase from ₱60.5 million in 2024.
This significant growth reflects the continued confidence of our donors, alumni, and partners in the Foundation’s mission and management.
Even as we expanded our support to the University, the Foundation generated an excess of revenue over expenses of ₱37.7 million and total comprehensive income of ₱38.4 million.
Our investment portfolio remained a critical source of sustainability, contributing:
₱11.4 million in interest income,
₱5.2 million in dividend income,
₱10.5 million in realized gains from the sale of investments, and
₱0.8 million in fair value gains.
These results underscore the importance of prudent investment management and disciplined oversight.
Equally important, our external auditors issued an unqualified opinion, confirming that the financial statements fairly present the Foundation’s financial position and results of operations.
The Foundation remains tax-exempt under Section 30(E) of the National Internal Revenue Code, with no pending tax assessments or cases.
These accomplishments demonstrate more than sound accounting.
They demonstrate institutional credibility.
They demonstrate operational discipline.
And they demonstrate our ability to convert financial strength into lasting impact.
These results give us something more valuable than financial security.
They give us strategic freedom.
The freedom to invest.
The freedom to innovate.
The freedom to pursue larger and more consequential goals.
Financial stability is not our destination.
It is our platform for leadership.
Stability, however, is only the beginning.
The true purpose of institutional strength is to create greater impact.
UPERDFI has long been recognized for its generosity and steadfast support of the University.
For decades, we have provided scholarships, professorial chairs, faculty awards, infrastructure support, and research funding that have helped sustain academic excellence.
These contributions are significant, and they remain central to our mission.
But the environment around us is changing.
The challenges facing the country—and the University—are becoming more complex and more interconnected.
They require institutions that can do more than provide financial assistance.
They require institutions that can generate ideas, build partnerships, convene expertise, and help shape solutions.
This is the essence of our second pillar: Strategic Transformation.
We are committed to evolving from a respected philanthropic institution into a more dynamic and strategically engaged organization.
One that not only supports excellence, but helps define the agenda for engineering, innovation, and national development.
One that not only responds to needs, but anticipates opportunities.
One that not only funds projects, but catalyzes change.
In short, we must become a producer of solutions, not merely a distributor of assistance.
Our accomplishments in 2025 demonstrate both the breadth and depth of this commitment.
We assisted 138 student beneficiaries, including 33 scholarship recipients.
We supported 137 faculty grants and research projects and provided 127 research support activities.
Our audited financial statements reflect the scale of this commitment:
₱16.8 million for professorial chair awards,
₱8.8 million for scholarships and student awards,
₱7.3 million for teaching and research awards,
₱17.9 million for College of Engineering modernization, and
₱16.0 million for research and startup projects.
These allocations directly strengthen faculty excellence, student development, infrastructure improvement, entrepreneurship, and innovation.
These are not simply expenditures.
They are strategic investments in the University’s capacity to educate, discover, and lead.
Each peso deployed is intended to generate value far beyond the immediate recipient.
It helps develop talent, create knowledge, and expand the University’s contribution to society.
We are also strengthening UPERDFI as a platform for collaboration and innovation.
This year, we maintained six important institutional partnerships with UPSCALE Innovation Hub, FUPFA, UP College of Music, National Engineering Center, University of the Philippines Alumni Engineers, and UP Industrial Engineering Alumni Association.
In industry, we have research and solutions partnerships with Ayala Corporation, Semirara Mining, Maynilad, and several others.
These partnerships reflect an important shift.
UPERDFI is becoming more than a funding institution.
It is becoming a convening and solutions-creating institution.
A place where alumni, faculty, industry leaders, and researchers come together to exchange ideas, mobilize resources, and develop solutions to real-world challenges.
This is where our greatest opportunity lies.
The Philippines faces pressing issues in energy, climate resilience, infrastructure, digital transformation, and innovation.
The University possesses extraordinary talent and expertise.
UPERDFI is uniquely positioned to connect that expertise with the resources, networks, and partnerships needed to generate meaningful and lasting impact.
That is the direction in which we intend to move—with increasing clarity, confidence, and ambition.
Institutions do not succeed solely because of assets and programs.
They succeed because the people who carry the mission remain healthy, engaged, and inspired.
Engineering excellence is ultimately a human endeavor.
It depends on faculty who can teach, mentor, and conduct research at the highest level.
It depends on students who can learn and innovate under conditions that support both performance and well-being.
And it depends on a university community that recognizes that sustained excellence requires sustained care.
One of our emerging priorities is the development of a comprehensive mental health and well-being initiative for faculty and students.
While formal metrics are still being developed, the principle is clear.
Academic excellence cannot be sustained if human well-being is neglected.
Faculty welfare is not a peripheral concern.
It is a strategic concern.
Student mental health is not a temporary issue.
It is central to educational success.
In recent years, universities around the world have come to recognize that burnout, emotional strain, and inadequate support can erode institutional performance just as surely as financial weakness.
If we wish to protect excellence, we must also protect the people who make excellence possible.
By investing in human sustainability, we strengthen the resilience, creativity, and long-term vitality of the UP engineering community.
Our final pillar is growth.
Preserving the Foundation is important.
Expanding its influence is essential.
The scale of the challenges facing the University and the country requires institutions with greater resources, stronger networks, and broader ambitions.
We therefore intend to build UPERDFI into one of the most influential university foundations in the Philippines.
Our long-term aspiration is to create an institution with the scale, credibility, and intellectual capital to shape national conversations in engineering, technology, innovation, sustainability, and education.
We have previously articulated an ambitious goal: to grow UPERDFI into a foundation of substantially greater scale and strategic reach.
This is not about size for its own sake.
It is about increasing our ability to support faculty, develop students, fund research, and convene partnerships that matter.
Growth is about expanding our capacity to serve.
Growth is about increasing our relevance.
Growth is about ensuring that UPERDFI remains a force for positive change for decades to come.
Our future depends on engagement.
Reactivating even a portion of our 109 inactive members would significantly strengthen our leadership base and deepen our collective capabilities.
Together with our 10 alumni organizations, we have a powerful platform for renewal and succession.
The future cannot depend indefinitely on the same dedicated individuals who have carried this institution for many years.
It requires renewal.
It requires succession.
It requires ownership.
And it requires a shared commitment to pass this institution on stronger than we found it.
Over the next twelve months, we will focus on eight priorities:
1. Strengthen project delivery systems
2. Improve stakeholder communications
3. Expand research and innovation initiatives
4. Advance the mental health and faculty support agenda
5. Grow member engagement
6. Accelerate fundraising and endowment development
7. Formalize succession planning
8. Launch flagship initiatives with national impact
These priorities are practical, measurable, and aligned with our mission.
Together, they represent a disciplined roadmap for translating our aspirations into concrete results.
To our founders and senior members, we offer our deepest gratitude.
You built an institution of enduring value.
You established a tradition of excellence and service that continues to inspire us.
To our younger members, the opportunity before you is extraordinary.
This is your time to lead.
This is your opportunity to shape an institution that can influence the future of engineering education and national development.
And to all our members and partners, I offer this reflection.
Foundations do not grow from funding alone.
They grow from conviction.
They grow when people decide that an institution matters enough to support, strengthen, and sustain.
We inherited a proud institution.
Our responsibility is not merely to preserve it.
Our responsibility is to make it indispensable.
Let us choose leadership.
Let us choose relevance.
Let us choose legacy.
Thank you.
