The University of the Philippines Diliman (UPD) will confer academic degrees on 3,789 candidates for graduation in its first virtual commencement exercises on Sunday.

In a media release Wednesday, UP Diliman said leading Class 2020 are 28 summa cum laude, an academic distinction for graduates who earned a weighted average grade (WAG) of 1.20 or better.

Joshua Raphael N. Ambrosio, BS Economics, leads the top honors with a WAG of 1.049, followed by Martin Alexander F. Cruz, BS Business Administration and Accountancy, 1.086, and Jose Antonio C. Buencamino, Bachelor of Music (Composition), 1.098.

Dr. Michael L. Tan, UPD immediate past chancellor, is this year’s commencement speaker.

The university, however, is limiting attendance to the ceremony strictly to key participants due to the pandemic.

Forming the backdrop for this year’s ceremony is “Dalunduyan,” a triptych of arches depicting portals.

Created by artist and UPD faculty Toym Imao, the work is a portmanteau of three vernacular terms namely “daluyan,” meaning a channel or portal; “lunduyan” or center; and “duyan” or cradle.

The artist uses the cradle to symbolize the graduates as vessels of compassion or “malasakit.”

Dalunduyan will remain at the Quezon Hall until December, marking the duration of the university’s lockdown because of the pandemic. (PNA)