Youth leader, top debater

MANILA, Philippines - Mark Joseph Solis excelled in academics and debating and has received recognition as a youth leader.

His brief speech accepting his prize in the Calidad Humana photo contest impressed the judges and guests at the awarding ceremonies held on Wednesday last week at the Cultural Center of the Philippines, coinciding with the celebration of the 203rd Independence Day of Chile.

A resumé Solis furnished The STARduring the event stated that he was adjudged the 2013 World Bank Youth Leader for Knowledge and Development. He was also among the Top 10 Most Outstanding Jose Rizal Model Students of the Philippines.

Solis, 22, was also awarded several university scholarship grants in recognition of exemplary academic performance and leadership involvement.

These included the Megaworld Foundation Scholarship for Leadership Excellence (2007-2009), Eduardo Coseteng Memorial Scholarship (2009-2010), Bigay Pagmamahal Foundation Scholarship (2007-2010), Diwa ng Magdalo Foundation Scholarship (2012), and Wilfredo Keng Foundation Scholarship (2012).

His political science thesis titled “Accountability Deficit and Electoral Violence: The Case of Civilian Volunteer Organizations in Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao” received a mark of 1.25 – reportedly the highest in his class.

The thesis earned him an international travel grant from Southeast Asia Human Rights Studies Network; the work was presented in Jakarta, Indonesia in 2012.

He won the SaliksiKAPP 2010 prize for Most Outstanding Research in Political Science. It was titled “Patient Over Patent: Advocacy Groups in the Enactment of the Universally Cheaper and Accessible Medicine Act of 2008.”

Solis was chosen as a student ambassador of goodwill to Japan by the Japan Ministry of Foreign Affairs under the Japan East Asia Network of Exchange for Students and Youths Program in 2010. His resumé said he served as head of the 190-person delegation to Tokyo and Tsukuba cities.

In 2008, Solis was nominated by the university to receive a leadership fellowship at the University of New South Wales in Australia.

As a debater, Solis was grand finalist and 7th Overall Best Speaker at the 2012 Binus International Debating Championship in Jakarta. He broke into the finals of the 2011 Malaysia Debate Open and was a grand finalist at the 2010 Ateneo Intervarsity.

He was the 2nd Best Speaker at the 2010 IDEA Thailand Debating Championship, and back-to-back grand champion of the 2007 Makati Regional Cup and Parliamentary Procedure Competition.

Solis says he has a graduate diploma from Kyushu University in Fukuoka, Japan where he obtained “excellent” marks. He was the only Filipino recipient of the JASSO full scholarship for short-term study in Kyushu University from fall/winter 2010 to spring/summer 2011.

He is a graduate of the Makati Science High School where he was on full scholarship.

In April 2010, Solis worked at the social media desk of ABS-CBNNews and Current Affairs.

From October 2012 until last March, he led the research arm of the Philippine Society for Public Administration.

He then joined the legislative staff of Sen. Pia Cayetano until June.

Solis edits “A Different View,” which he describes as an official commentary site of the International Association for Political Science Students in Nijimengen, Slovenia.

He says he has written half a dozen conference papers and publications for local and international conferences.

Solis is currently a teaching assistant of Alex Brillantes at the UP National College of Public Administration and Governance.