THE NOBILITY OF THE ALPHA PHI OMEGA OBLATION RUN

Nasaan ang kabataang

mag-aalay ng kanilang

kasibulang buhay

Ng kanilang adhikain at sigasig

sa kabutihan ng bansa

Nasaan ang siyang puspusang

Magbubuhos ng dugo

Upang hugasang lahat

Ang ating kahihiyan, ang ating mga kalapastanganan

Ang atingKabalintuan

Gawaing pantao, pag-ibig sa bayan

At paglilingkod sa sambayanan

At sangkatauhan . . .

These words of Dr. Jose P. Rizal in his eternal El Filibusterismo is the inspiration of author and creator of the UP Oblation.These very same words must have served as the unwavering foundation on where Dean Jorge Bocobo, the then President of the University of the Philippinesand all those who made up the intellectual depot of the University based their option to adopt and install the UP Oblation in the most prominent place in the University.

OBLATION in other terms means sacrifice, offering, to deny oneself, to do without.The UP Oblation depicts these very words.The naked man whose arms are raised to the sky with the head looking up symbolizes the youth depicted in the purity of its being, offering itself in sacrifice so that the fatherland and the whole of mankind may be redeemed from shame and ignominy.The UP Oblation is a constant reminder to the youth of the nobility of denying oneself of mundane materiality and unneeded luxury and opulence.

Conceivably, neither the creator nor any of the intellectuals involved in adopting the Oblation as the representation of what Dr. Jose Rizal wanted from the youth had no malice, much less, prurience in their minds.

Nasaan ang kabataang mag-aalay ng kanilang kasibulang buhay, ng kanilang adhikain at sigasig sa kabutihan ngbansa. . .

The inspiration of this epistle of the UP Oblation is the encouragement and foundation of the Alpha Phi Omega Eta Chapter in adoptingthe UP Alpha Phi Omega Oblation Run.It is the sincere belief of the fraternity that the best way of giving honor and acceptance to the words of Dr. Jose P. Rizal is to live the example of the Oblation.

Alpha Phi Omega believes in the nobility of purpose in living, even for a few minutes in a year, the inspiration of the UP Oblation.

Alpha Phi Omega strongly believes that the more profound mind will know the difference between nobility and obscenity.That t is not in the display of the naked bodies of those who participate in the Oblation Run where prurience might exist.

The display of their naked bodies is a sacrifice embraced by those who run in the interest of the propagation of what the UP Oblation stands for.Invariably, those who participate in the run get jeered, ridiculed and even insulted.But this will not cause the fraternity to relent in its mission of living what the Oblation stands for-lest it is thrown to obscurity and stand as a cold stone devoid of meaning and purpose, bereft of nobility and honor.

Rather, with the support and understanding of the more academically qualified, Alpha Phi Omega is even more resolute and resolved to pursue the Oblation Run as a tool of the University in inculcating the words and wisdom of Dr. Jose P. Rizal in the minds, the hearts, and the spirit of the UP studentry.The fraternity, will do no less.

The fraternity believes that it is in the minds of those who watch the Oblation Run, and not in the sacrifice itself where prurience may be experienced.Prurience is subjective and individual.A mind empty of the inspiration and the epistles of the UP Oblation may really fall prey to the worldly implications of the naked human body.

But the UP studentry is not of this disposition.We, members of the Alpha Phi Omega believe that the UP student is akin to the mind and intellect of Dr. Jose P. Rizal.We believe that the life story and the philosophies and wisdom of Dr. Jose P. Rizal reside and take abode in the minds and the hearts of the UP student.And it is for this very reason that we shall continue to celebrate such wisdom in our Oblation Run.

And in the continuance of the Oblation Run, it is the objective of the Alpha Phi Omega that the message of Dr. Jose P. Rizal will cross the boundaries and perimeters of the UP academic influence and reach the farthest of distances among the contrasting intellects and disciplines in our society.