Rolando C. Villamero Jr. is 68th Honors Day Convocation speaker
Rolando “Junjun” C. Villamero Jr. is set to speak at the 68th Annual Honors Day Convocation on February 27, 2026 at the Silliman University Gymnasium, where 1,387 students will be recognized for their outstanding academic performance in School Year 2025–2026.
Hailing from Brgy. Castellano, Calatrava, Negros Occidental, he graduated as class valedictorian in both elementary and high school, and earned his Bachelor of Secondary Education major in English, magna cum laude, from Silliman University in 2008.
Junjun’s passion for teaching led him to the field of inclusive education, where he taught children with disabilities in Dumaguete City shortly after graduating from Silliman University. He has since become one of the strongest voices for inclusive education in the city, the province, and the Philippines, advocating for the right of children with disabilities to access quality education alongside their peers without prejudice or discrimination.
This advocacy served as his springboard to becoming a global expert in inclusive education. Through the Erasmus Mundus scholarship program, he completed his master’s degree in inclusive education in Europe. In 2016, he joined the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Kenya as an Inclusive Education Specialist, where he worked to ensure access to education for the most marginalized children, including those with disabilities, refugees, and internally displaced learners.
In 2021, Junjun moved to the Middle East to serve as Regional Inclusive Education Advisor of Humanity & Inclusion (HI, formerly Handicap International) for four consecutive years. Based across Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Palestine (East Jerusalem, including Gaza), Jordan, and Egypt, he worked to ensure the continuity of education and learning for marginalized children amid armed conflict and humanitarian crises.
To spend more time with his family and to give back to his homeland, Junjun returned to the Philippines in 2025 as Education Specialist of UNICEF Philippines–Mindanao Field Office. Based in Cotabato City, he manages UNICEF’s education portfolio in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), with particular focus on early learning, literacy and numeracy, alternative education, and education in emergencies for the most marginalized children in Tawi-Tawi, Sulu, Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Marawi City, Cotabato City, and the province of Maguindanao.
Junjun describes himself an avid traveler. At 37, he has visited 92 countries and has climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, reaching an elevation of 6,000 meters above sea level. Having grown up in poverty—often unable to eat two to three meals a day and working while studying—he dared to dream big and harnessed the power of education to reach for the stars.
