TEAM KAGAY-ANON. Xavier Ateneo student leaders, Joshua Christian Dael and Nicole Angel Dael propose a bill on Lumad youth empowerment at the Philippine Model Congress. Supplied photo. 

Two students from Xavier University - Ateneo de Cagayan raised the banners of Cagayan de Oro City and Misamis Oriental in the recently-concluded Philippine Model Congress held at the Senate of the Republic of the Philippines. 

XU Central Student Government (CSG) vice-president and directorate convener Joshua Christian Dael (BS DevCom) and United Arts and Sciences Student Council (Unitass) vice-president Nicole Angel Dael (BS Biology) were the official representatives of the school to the largest youth-led legislative simulation of the Congress of the Philippines which aims to give Filipino youth an opportunity to share their stances and craft bills that seek to resolve pressing national issues.

The Daels proposed "Lumad Youth Empowerment Act of 2018: An Act Providing Assistance to the Lumad Youth in Mindanao in Achievement of Accessible Quality Education, Sustainable Livelihood and Agriculture, and Leadership Development” before the said model congress, held on June 2 and 3.

“Our bill is in line with Republic Act 8371 (The Indigenous Peoples' Rights Act of 1997) and aims to promote the rights of Lumad youth of Mindanao through connecting them to educational, agricultural, livelihood, and leadership development programs in the public and private sectors,” Joshua said.

“Furthermore, the bill aims to strengthen the Lumad identity,” Nicole added. “My PMC experience moved and challenged me in so many ways. … We need to understand more the needs of Mindanao and how to empower the Lumad youth to redefine their role in the society.”

Joshua found his PMC experience worth emulating locally by bringing the model congress to Region 10. 

“I believe the new frontier of student activism is on policymaking,” he said. “The plenary sessions where they convened the 400 delegates representing their districts all over the Philippines, for me, was the highlight of the [model] congress, particularly the richness of the discussion in creating a strong bill, which could be lobbied in the Congress.”

For Nicole, her PMC experience strengthened her purpose “to go to the peripheries, to go where the greater need is.”

“We hope to make legislation more student-friendly [at Xavier Ateneo] and to lead fellow student legislators to go beyond — not just creating resolutions and bills for the students but for the community beyond the university,” she said. “The challenge now is translating advocacies into legislation.”

At present, the Xavier Ateneo’s CSG is collaborating with the province of Misamis Oriental to conduct the first youth-led legislative simulation in Region 10, the “Northern Mindanao Model Congress," bearing the theme: “Lambigit: Redefining the Role of the Mindanaon Youth in Social Change.”

Applying the best practices and innovations they have learned from PMC, the student government of Xavier Ateneo plans to convene sectoral representatives and leaders and integrate them in The Xavier Parliament.∎

TEAM KAGAY-ANON. Xavier Ateneo student leaders, Joshua Christian Dael and Nicole Angel Dael, represented the City of Cagayan de Oro and XU at Philippine Model Congress. Supplied photo.