EYES WIDE OPEN

The sunflowers are out again in UP Diliman – tall, proud and blooming – and students dressed to the nines, wearing their heels or leather shoes, and donning their trademark maroon sablays, are posing by the flower-lined avenue for posterity.

- IRIS GONZALES

It is graduation season once again and every year, ahead of the marching songs, the flowers appear in full bloom, signaling the start of this milestone.

Rain or shine, the students will march to get their diplomas and after the festivities, walk toward the rest of their lives.

But what's in store for our graduates after the ceremony?

Each year, over half a million young Filipinos graduate from college, hearts brimming with hope. Unfortunately, it's hard to land a job in the Philippines, especially for fresh graduates and it's getting more difficult every year. It doesn't matter whether you graduated with honors or just winged it through college.

Backer

And yet it's not just that. Here in the Philippines, the stark inequality hits graduates as soon as they start looking for jobs.

In many cases, dream jobs are reserved for those with a "backer" – a padrino to endorse their résumés. Those with the right contacts, or whose parents know the right people, can skip ahead in the long queue.

A young boy's story

Let me tell you the story of a young boy whose childhood dream is to serve his country by joining the police force.