Outside the orbit of the 1.2 million-plus members of the Rotary International around the world, particularly those unfamiliar with the motto “Service Above Self” of Rotary International, PHYLA is surely an unfamiliar acronym. The word stands for Paing Hechanova Youth Leadership Award, a biennial award given by the Rotary Club of Makati to outstanding Filipino youths who best exemplify Rotary’s Areas of Focus and to recognize the service contributions of Rotary Philippines icon, the late Paing Hechanova.

The winner of the very first award in Rotary Year 2023–24 was Joachim Sebastian Ridulme, an outstanding UP Public Administration graduate whose future path will surely be paved with more honors. I believe he has what it takes to be a leader representing the youth on the national stage in the near future.

Judge for yourself as Ridulme shares his PHYLA experience and plans for the future in the article below.

“Winning the 1st Paing Hechanova Youth Leadership Award in 2024 was a defining moment for me. Like many young leaders, I remember the rush that came after hearing my name called, the congratulations, the photos, and the quiet sense that years of community development work had finally been acknowledged. But after the applause faded, a more difficult and lasting question arose: What does responsibility look like after recognition? For me, the award was never the end goal. It was just a reminder.

I received the award for my work with Project Blue PH, a youth-led organization that transforms plastic bottle waste into functional solutions for water-based communities. Our work began with a simple idea of upcycling plastic bottles. Over time, it evolved into community-driven innovation that responded directly to the needs of fisherfolk and coastal villages.

The PHYLA grant allowed us to finally do what youth organizations often struggle to sustain. We invested in research and development. With the grant, we improved three of our flagship eco-products. The Sustainaboat, a plastic bottle boat, was redesigned to be more stable and durable for daily livelihood use. The Ahon Lifesaver, our plastic bottle-based life vest, became safer and more cost-efficient to produce by our seamstresses, who are part of our livelihood interventions. We also enhanced the Aquacage, a floating fish cage that enables income generation.

These were not conceptual improvements. They were the result of field testing and consultation with communities that would actually depend on these solutions. Today, we are preparing to distribute these products to underserved water-based communities and are actively scaling our work to parts of the Visayas and Mindanao. For me, this is what it means to honor an award. You turn recognition into reach.

The same year I received the award, Project Blue PH reached another milestone. I led the organization to become a national finalist at the Ten Accomplished Youth Organizations (TAYO) Awards, the country’s most prestigious recognition for youth-led organizations. Out of more than 750 applicants nationwide, only ten organizations were recognized. That experience was affirming, as it demanded a higher level of governance, accountability, and leadership. It also forced me to mature quickly as a leader, managing teams, grants, and expectations on a national scale.

Life after PHYLA also pulled me into larger policy spaces beyond my immediate communities. I was selected as one of four Philippine representatives to the Hitachi Young Leaders Initiative (HYLI), a highly competitive regional leadership program convening some of Asia’s most promising young leaders from ASEAN and Japan. In those rooms, I worked alongside emerging leaders from government, the private sector, and academia, collectively tackling issues such as sustainable cities, innovation, and social development. It reinforced the reality that local challenges like plastic pollution and youth exclusion are deeply connected to regional policy conversations.

Perhaps the most humbling of these experiences was my participation in the 2nd World Summit for Social Development. This was not a typical international conference. It was a United Nations General Assembly-level convening that brought together heads of state and government, UN agencies, global institutions, and civil society leaders to redefine international commitments on poverty eradication, decent work, and social inclusion.

As a youth delegate, I found myself in spaces where global declarations are shaped and where the language of policy carries real consequences for millions of lives. Representing youth and civil society in such a setting meant carrying grounded, sometimes uncomfortable truths into rooms accustomed to diplomacy. I spoke from the perspective of communities and the youth who live with the long-term effects of policy decisions made far from them. That experience reaffirmed my belief that youth voices must not only be present in global forums, but must be prepared, substantive, and rooted in lived realities.

At the same time, my work began shifting toward institutional change. I co-founded Tayo Ang Taya, a youth organization and national coalition advancing civic participation, good governance, and youth-led policy engagement. I made a deliberate decision to move beyond advocacy alone and into the realm of policy processes.

Through Tayo Ang Taya, we convened more than 180 youth organizations, Sangguniang Kabataan officials, and student councils from across the country. These dialogues resulted in a five-point Youth Manifesto that articulated shared priorities on 1) good governance, 2) education, 3) digital literacy, 4) mental health, and 5) transportation. What made this effort meaningful was that the manifesto was formally submitted to the House of Representatives as a youth policy agenda. For me, that moment symbolized a shift from advocacy toward engaging with institutions.

People often ask what I plan to do next. The honest answer is that I am still figuring it out.

I plan to pursue formal training in public policy and am eager to take up a Master of Public Policy abroad to strengthen my technical grounding and credibility as a youth governance practitioner. I am also considering law school, especially as I work more closely with legislative processes and institutional change. These are not career checklists but tools I hope to use in service of better governance.

For now, my focus remains on my work in Project Blue PH and Tayo Ang Taya. I see myself as a youth development practitioner, building systems, strengthening coalitions, and translating community needs. But I am also open to where public service may lead me. Perhaps one day, that will mean taking on a role at the local or national level. If that happens, I want it to be grounded in years of work, not ambition.

Loking back, PHYLA did not change who I was. It clarified what I need to do. Awards are flattering, but the real work begins after recognition, when no one is watching, and when young leaders must choose whether to grow comfortable or remain accountable. The real measure of youth leadership is not found on a stage, but in what follows after recognition fades and the work continues quietly.

That, for me, is where leadership truly begins.”

Until next week… OBF!