A group of students, some of them KKP volunteers and Asian Development Bank (ADB) scholars, with a faculty member participated in the 1st Philippine Good Governance Summit organized by the National College of Public Administration and Governance of the University of the Philippines in Diliman and sponsored by ADB from Jan 31 - Feb 3.

The summit aimed to develop youth capacity building, and maximize youth contributions through the passing of resolutions particularly in the fields of health, education, livelihood, environment and human rights; to establish youth networks that will enable the formulation and implementation of more responsive programs and projects for the community; and to deepen youth appreciation and participation in the advancement of good governance in the Philippines.

Within the four days, the youth representatives coming from all over the country were taught how turn their good ideas into concrete proposals and were given a chance to present these proposals to an audience at the Asian Development Bank. The participants came up with two proposals: one on the 5 sectors given and one from the collective ideas of the entire summit, which ADB assisted and led. UP Visayas’ proposal “BAKUNA MUNA” was chosen as the sector proposal, while the collective proposal pushed for the empowerment of the youth to engage and work toward a Philippines that is free from corruption and poverty with a transparent and accountable government.

The theme of the summit was “Advancing Good Governance through Youth-Capacity Building.” Among the speakers were Sen Miriam Santiago, Rep Leni Robredo, Department of Budget and Management representative Patrick Lim, Filipino Liberal Youth President Jyleazar dela Rosa, and Gawad Kalinga’s Tony Meloto, among many others.

XU’s Karl Owen Sayson brought home the 1st prize for the extemporaneous speech contest also held during the summit.