cover story magazine The Sunday Times


September 19, 2010


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leadership. The role that the youth play in society now can be absolutely funda- mental to leadership in the future,” Stephens had said. “It’s like attending Ramon Magsaysay Awardees’ lectures for one year,” Matthew Chua, an architecture graduate, commented. Former Gov. Grace Padaca of Isabela, a Ramon Magsaysay Awardee for Government Service, was the guest speaker for the event, encouraging the participants to harness their power for the good of the country. “[I call] on you to continue your efforts to study and understand what is happening in our country . . . I ask you, therefore, to care more, to get more involved especially in the task of enlightening our fellow Filipinos in your own spheres of influence and even beyond,” Padaca appealed to the youth in her speech. Padaca was the first speaker to address the participants, albeit in a more formal manner. “We will invite more Filipino leaders to share their expertise and offer advice to our participants,” Senajon says. “Discussions will be more intimate where participants can really interact with the speakers.”


Flores shares his expectations. “[I look forward to] Competent and credible resource speakers, one glorious epiphany after another.”


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The dialogues will also be an opportu- nity for older leaders to learn from the idealism and innovation of the youth. The sessions will be less of a forum or seminar type than a conversation among present and future leaders. Caranto adds, “I expect to meet a lot of wiser, more influential, and inspiring leaders to whom we can share our own ideas of good governance. I hope this will give us youth leaders a chance to convey useful ideas to veteran leaders who can help turn them into reality.”


Excitement and expectations Elise Veloso, a member of the De La


Salle University Student Council


AT THE HEART OF GOOD GOVERNANCE IS GOOD LEADERSHIP. THE ROLE THAT THE YOUTH PLAY IN SOCIETY NOW CAN BE ABSOLUTELY FUNDAMENTAL TO LEADERSHIP IN THE FUTURE. - MATTHEW STEPHENS, WORLD BANK


applied for the program after learning about it through her school. “I ex- pected it to be very serious and academic in nature, but after the first meeting, my expectations has shifted,” she says. “I now expect that YLKD could be a good venue for exchanging ideas with a very diversified group and opening opportunities for us in a relaxed and conducive environment.” “I expect realistic and practical approaches on how we can deal with the pressing problems and issues of the Philippines,” Gonzales shares. “I wish the program will teach us to take small steps yet can create significant changes and impact our own respective communities.” The program aims to build further awareness among the youth about national and local issues. “How can they help share knowledge and ideas on develop- ment if they don’t know what the problems are?” Keh says.


Indeed, many of YLKD’s participants believe that the program will teach them the various issues of our country’s society, economy and more, as well as the ways that the youth can take part in the solution. “I’m looking forward to be inspired more, to be more aware of the different problems of our society, to learn effective ways on how to deal with those problems, and to create a network with my fellow young leaders in order for us to do a project that is much wider in terms of scale and the difference that it can contribute to the society,” Chua says.


Today’s youth


Asked what they thought are the issues that Filipino youth are concerned with the most, the participants gave varied responses, a reflection of their diversity and their personal advocacies. Flores believes that family still plays a huge role in the lives of Filipino youth. “We have to bridge the understanding or gap that the public sphere within which they evolve in impacts them and their families directly,” he says. For Veloso, governance is only one among several issues that the youth today care for. “I can see that youth leaders today are learning to become more critical thinkers,” she believes.


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Among the top issues given by the participants were education and employ- ment, underscoring the root problem of poverty in the country. Because of the widespread poverty incidence in the country, education and employment remains two of the biggest national issues that the government needs to address. And the Filipino youth are starting to feel the effects, leading to either apathy or a passion to change things. “Basically the Filipino youth care most about themselves and the achieve- ments [in] education, career and ambition that they can get for them- selves,” Chua states. “We cannot blame them for having this kind of mentality because it’s just a product of what they’ve learned from the environment that surrounds them and the traditional


■ Students and


young professionals who inspired by former Gov. Grace


Padaca’s story and message to the youth.


mindset being ‘programmed’ in them.” He thinks that a lack of opportunities contributes to this kind of mindset of many young people. “It’s a sad thing because not all youth are given the chance to be exposed to the deeper kind of awareness for them to be actively involved in nation-building activities.” Given the right exposure and opportu- nity, the youth can be a force to reckon with when it comes to rebuilding our nation’s foundation. Flores adds, “They said we are a generation wallowing in apathy and indifference. Through the power of text, we removed a corrupt president in EDSA 2. By being connected online, we connected with our unfortunate brothers and sisters displaced by [typhoons] Ondoy and Pepeng through [volunteer] relief operations. Heck, we came in droves!” he enumerates. “We


have it innate in us to make a differ- ence and be heroes in our own little ways and when the circumstance so warrants. We just have to demonstrate EDSA 2 bravery and Ondoy heroism on a day-to-day basis.” With young leaders like the YLKD’s youth participants, we are sure to have something to look forward to in the near future. They may be young and inexperi- enced in the ways of the world, but the experience that they do have already allows them the right to engage older and wiser leaders and work with them to build a better nation. “You can see the passion clearly burning in them,” Abrigo says. “Hearing them talk and speak out their opinion and enthusiasm on things especially on development issues makes me think and realize that there really is hope for our country and that the future is now.”


■ Young leaders swapping stories with former Gov. Grace Padaca (left photo). Lawyer Antonio La Viña, dean of the Ateneo School of Gov’t gives a message to the participants


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