Jaycees president in town for gab

The youth of today, in 10 to 20 years, could be the leaders of tomorrow with the proper training in leadership, Jaycees International (JCI) world president Bruce Rector said after he arrived from Kentucky, USA on board Japan Airlines at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport yesterday.

Rector is in town to speak at the 53rd JCI Asia Pacific conference in Cebu on Aug. 28 to 30.

The four-day event will bring together young and vibrant professionals and entrepreneurs from 21 countries, including Australia, Bangladesh, Fiji, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Pacific, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Macau, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Taiwan and Uzbekistan.

Rector said that the young people today only seem uninterested in community and leadership roles but statistics show that is not true.

"They are just interested as ever. We just need to speak with them and communicate with them in a different way. So this year I’ve been traveling the world talking to business, government and community leaders and urging them to reach out to communicate and to touch these young people today in a way that inspires them to be learning about leadership. So that in 10 to 20 years, from all our countries, we will have the best and brightest young people in the country, willing and able to step forward with leadership we need," said Rector.

Rector was met by Lilia Diaz, Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) assistant general manager Crispin Dy, past world president of JCI, and Michael Allan Ranillo, national president of Jaycees Philippines.

Rector said that with organizations in 110 countries worldwide, they have always had one of the strongest national organizations in the world right here in the Philippines.

Rector said he will be meeting with government and business leaders, but also members and leaders of the JCs organization in the Philippines to talk about the future of young leaders and entrepreneurs, not only around the world, but also in the Philippines.

He said that he wanted to impress upon the Philippine government, business and community leaders the importance of the organization.

"Some cases around the world, they maybe had forgotten the relevance of organizations that train and develop young leaders for the future, but we believe that our organization is more important than ever," he said. – Sandy Araneta