Youth power

Before I left for South Korea, I was the plenary speaker at the International Assembly of Youth for UNESCO 2025. I’m running my speech here, with several portions cut to fit this space:

You are holding this convention at a time of great turmoil in our country.

These days I see a lot of hand-wringing. I hear people of my generation sighing in frustration: where did we go wrong? What kind of country are we leaving to our children, and their children’s children?

I like to think that we have tried our best to effect meaningful change, but we still need to do more. With the involvement of the younger generations, perhaps we can do a better job.

I was born at a time when our country was second only to Japan in this region in terms of economic development and other human development indicators. Singapore at the time was a backward pirate haven. South Korea was still recovering from a bloody civil war. China was struggling to make communism work; its hybrid capitalism that would make it the world’s second largest economy was decades away.

The environment in our country was still healthy enough for me to enjoy fireflies even in the poor neighborhoods of Tondo where I spent much of my childhood. There were so many fireflies we could catch them and put them in bottles briefly, enjoying the natural lamp, before releasing them back into their habitat. We caught dragonflies with varying colors and sizes in the kangkungan ponds.…

In those days, people in neighboring countries came to the Philippines to study in our schools, to learn everything from rice farming to the sciences and English proficiency.

My generation put a high premium on education. We believed in the power of a good education to level the playing field, to lift people from poverty and advance in life.

Today, this is no longer the case. Our top public officials even brag about being school dropouts, of being underperformers in school.

The quality of Philippine education has deteriorated so much. Free, universal education has not translated into quality education.

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This has been aggravated by poverty and undernourishment, which starts in the wombs of malnourished mothers. Studies have shown that as of 2023, 23.6 percent of our children below age five were stunted. This in turn affects their learning capabilities.

Our 15-year-old students have consistently ranked at the bottom among their peers from about 70 countries in terms of math and science competencies, and in reading comprehension. …

Studies conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority show that as of May this year, 18.9 million Filipinos aged 10 to 64 are functionally illiterate, while an estimated 5.8 million Filipinos suffer from basic illiteracy. …

Instead of going on emergency mode to address the education crisis, we’re seeing our public officials focusing on ways to enrich themselves with money stolen from us.

This year, for the first time, education did not get the biggest allocation in the national budget, as mandated in the Constitution. Instead, the entire education sector came second to just one department – what else but public works… .

Meanwhile, the existential threat posed to our country by climate change is being compounded by indiscriminate land conversion, reclamation activities, continuing destruction of forests and coral reefs.

Mountain slopes are stripped bare and watersheds destroyed to make way for the private resorts and property developments of the tiny fraction of our population that controls power and wealth. We have seen the catastrophic results, most recently in Cebu when Typhoon Tino struck.

The fortunes of many of these people are anchored on keeping the masses undereducated, poor and dependent for life on government dole-outs, handed over by politicians who claim credit for tax-funded programs and aid.

Our country has become Asia’s basket case – a laggard in competitiveness, economic progress and most aspects of human development.

So it’s good to see our youth getting mad over the state of the nation, and demanding action for change.

I find the theme of your convention highly relevant: to harness the collective power of the youth to lead with a heart, purpose and integrity.

In other countries, as many of you must be aware, GenZs led the protest actions against corruption that triggered leadership upheavals and other dramatic changes.

Of course I’m not asking you to go out in the streets and burn the Batasang Pambansa, like they did to a regional parliament in Indonesia. But the youths in our country have also been at the forefront of ongoing protests, in the streets and online, against the massive corruption in our government.

The hundreds of people who have died or remain missing from the extreme flash floods spawned by Typhoons Tino and Uwan alone, have shown starkly that corruption kills.

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Everyone – except of course those who benefit from it – want to put an end to corruption. The task is so monumental that we don’t know where to start.

In this, the youth can play a meaningful role. Through your expressions of outrage on multimedia. Through pressure on your elders. Through the power of the vote. And by calling out wrongdoing and saying no to it.

Your generation should need no reminder about the importance of loving or caring for your own country and your fellow Filipinos. You should need no reminder about being united in purpose, in working for national interest and the common good instead of narrow, personal interests, because what is good for the many redounds to the benefit of the individual.

Your generation can always bear in mind the importance of integrity, in government and in everything we do.

Change can start with small things – in tossing candy wrappers into garbage bins. In arriving on time, and not jumping the line. In obeying traffic rules and using pedestrian lanes.

Amid public frustration over the state of the nation, millions of Filipinos have voted with their feet and left the country. Instead of voting with your feet, it’s better to vote, and to vote wisely.

You have seen the disaster that has been caused by making the wrong choices during elections. In 2028, the majority of voters will be Millennials and GenZs. Your vote will matter. You can make a difference.

The hopes of a despairing nation are on you. The youth have the power to change the world and save the planet.

Despite all the depressing news, we cannot afford to give in to despair.  Instead of wringing our hands over seemingly intractable problems, we can be part of the solution.

Regardless of our age, regardless of the generation we belong to, we all have a role to play.

Some say that the Filipino dream is to leave the Philippines. I hope your dream is to stay, and to help make the Philippines a better place.

I hope one day you will be able to see fireflies and dragonflies in your garden.