Have you ever wondered if Jose Rizal’s famous line, “The Youth is the hope of the Fatherland,” has been lived up to by the Filipino Youth of today? With the advancement and proliferation of so many technological distractions around us and the allure of easy, bite-size, quick fixes that the young can easily fall prey to in today’s digitally driven world of fast-paced social media, streaming videos of anything under the sun that can consume the waking hours of everyday life, do we still have young people imbued with the traditional Filipino values of love for family and community and the realization that nothing worthwhile comes easy in life that the older generation grew up with?

I found the answer over the weekend when the Rotary Club of Makati’s signature project for 2023-24, the Paing Hechanova Youth Leadership Award, had its culminating event concurrent with RCM’s 58th Charter Anniversary celebration. 

The PHYLA award is the brainchild of Past District Governor Sid Garcia, designed to pay homage to an exalted RCM member, Past Rotary International Director Rafael Hechanova. Hechanova was a philanthropist and an Olympian but, above all, simply a Rotarian who lived true to Rotary’s motto of Service Above Self. 

With the generous support of the Makati Rotary Club Foundation and the Hechanova Family led by Past President Raissa Hechanova Posadas and several District Governor coordinators, the program was launched in July 2023 in search of outstanding youth leaders who best exemplify Service Above Self. 

Over the past nine months, the various District Coordinators have done a yeoman’s job in encouraging the respective clubs in their Districts to seek out deserving youth leaders. About 80 of our country’s youth responded, which eventually was pruned down to fifty by their respective nominating districts. 

After a thorough screening, the list was cut back to 10 outstanding youth leader finalists until, finally, the National Board of Judges, consisting of outstanding leaders themselves in business, the academe, NGO work, and sports, had the most difficult and almost impossible task of selecting the best from the very best of the youth of our country. 

Folks, I am pleased to share the very best of today’s Filipino youth.

The top award was given to Joachim Sebastian Hidulme for his environmental conservation advocacy focused on simple, easily replicable, and sustainable methods of recycling plastic bottle trash into eco-floating products while providing livelihood opportunities to communities through trash bottle collection drives. Joachim graduated from the University of the Philippines with Behavioral Sciences and Public Administration degrees. He is from Bantay, Ilocos Sur. 

The second top awardee is Samuel Madriaga, who advocates for youth health empowerment by providing critical public health information such as vaccine education, mental health, nutrition, and sexual and reproductive wellness programs to the community, particularly the young, utilizing innovative digital technology. An occupational therapy graduate of UP, Samuel plans to become a medical doctor. He is from San Pablo, Laguna.

The third top awardee is Amina Shayne Halil, who advocates for food security by establishing a hyperlocal food garden network through youth-led, community-wide school micro farms utilizing idle spaces to produce much-needed vegetables and trade the excess output, enabling additional income for the community. Amina is a registered nursing graduate of Western Mindanao State University and is currently pursuing degrees in Medicine and a Master’s in Public Health at the Ateneo de Zamboanga University. She is from Zamboanga City.

Our fourth top awardee, Ronalyn Lagata, was frankly unanticipated by the organizers and was decided on the spot by the judges, who were thoroughly taken by her sheer grit and determination to rise above her humble circumstances as a scavenger in Payatas to become a national youth football player and to be educated on an athletic scholarship graduating Cum Laude with a degree in Fitness and Sports Management. Most impressively, she decided to pay back to her community through a sports program NGO aimed at nurturing athletic skills imbued with a mindset not to win at all costs but more to provide a safe environment that places a higher value on caring and leveling the playing field for youth coaches and players alike.

The other awardees are no less impressive, but due to space limitations, I am unfortunately unable to expound on them. Jose Rizal can still be very proud of our Filipino youth. 

Until next week… OBF!

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