
Yamsuan: Compassion should be at the core of delivering service to the people
COMPASSION should be at the heart of every profession aimed at serving the people, alongside embracing excellence and becoming beacons of hope in the face of challenges, according to Representative Brian Raymund Yamsuan.
As a legislator, Yamsuan said he cultivates compassion by going around communities, actively listening, and striving to understand the plight of the people to enable him to craft laws that truly represent their needs and respond to their realities.
“In the profession of serving people, compassion—or “malasakit”—must be at the core of everything you do. It drives us to approach others with empathy, kindness, and a genuine desire to help. Without it, service loses the human connection that makes it meaningful,” Yamsuan told the graduating class of 2024 of the Far Eastern University-Dr. Nicanor Reyes Medical Foundation (FEU-NRMF).
As one of FEU’s distinguished alumni, Yamsuan was invited to be the guest speaker at the university’s 125th Commencement and Investiture Ceremonies held recently at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC).
Yamsuan said compassion should go alongside excellence in providing public service. This means doing one’s best and adhering to the highest standards—which all translate to his long-held advocacy of exercising good governance.
Hope, on the other hand, is an essential human value that provides comfort, strength and the determination to surmount what seem to be impossible challenges, Yamsuan said.
Yamsuan said hope and his deep trust in God, himself, and the people who believed in his potentials, helped him overcome the hardships he faced in putting himself through college. While in school, he worked as a taxi driver and as a crew member of fastfood chains to help his father and mother supplement their meager family income.
“Like many of you, I understand what it means to push through difficulties in pursuit of a dream,” he told the graduating class.
“Isang dating working student sa fastfood chain, isang dating taxi driver, na naging legislative staff, at ngayon, mambabatas sa ika-labingsiyam na Kongreso—-sana ay magsilbi itong patunay na kaya tayong dalhin ng pag-asa sa mga lugar na minsan akala natin ay imposible (A former working student in a fastfood chain and a former taxi driver who became a legislative staff member, and now a legislator of the 19th Congress—I hope that this would serve as proof that hope can bring us to places that we sometimes think are impossible),” Yamsuan said.
Yamsuan said excellence, compassion and hope are the same values that should guide the FEU-NRMF graduating class, especially the doctors of medicine whose prescribed treatments could have life-changing effects on patients.
“Excellence ensures that you honor your patients’ trust with the highest standards of care, and I am confident that your FEU education has well-prepared you to meet this measure,” Yamsuan said.
While excellence among medical professionals is important, Yamsuan said this cannot stand alone, and should be accompanied by compassion and hope.
Yamsuan reminded the graduates that their patients are not mere cases to be diagnosed but are individuals with their stories of fears and hopes. “Often, the simple act of giving them your time can be profoundly healing. A simple, “kumusta”? or even just a smile will go a long way. In a time when we are constantly glued to our screens and everything is fast and impersonal, it is compassion that transforms a good doctor into a great one,” Yamsuan said.
Yamsuan said being a source of hope means not only having the knowledge and skills to treat the sick, but also believing in one’s abilities and potentials.
“There will be times when you face cases that would challenge everything you have learned, and moments when the weight of responsibility would feel overwhelming. It is in these moments that hope becomes essential— hindi lamang para sa inyong mga pasyente, kundi para rin sa inyong sarili (not only for your patients, but also for yourselves),” Yamsuan said.