Young Philippine leaders at Hitachi forum
MANILA, Philippines - The Hitachi Young Leaders Initiative (HYLI) was launched in 1996 by Hitachi, Ltd. with the aim of identifying and developing potential Asian leaders by bringing them together to discuss regional issues with influential government officials, business leaders, academic, and non-government organization representatives. Seven countries participated in the program, namely, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam (the latter added in 2006), with each country fielding four outstanding students from its leading universities.
In the Philippines, these students topped the very probative screenings of a panel (headed most times by Supreme Court Justice Antonio Eduardo Nachura).
The Philippine alumni are set to convene with their counterparts from the region in the upcoming 10th edition of the program, dubbed “Hitachi Young Leaders Initiative-Alumni Forum,” July 4 to 6 in Singapore. The theme, “Driving Asia to a new paradigm — What is Asia’s role in the global arena,” recognizes the emergence of the region’s new leaders who can take bold collaborative steps into the future.
The country’s honor roll, from the first (1996) to the ninth (2008), are now graduates of the Ateneo de Manila University, De La Salle University, University of the Philippines, and University of Santo Tomas (University of San Carlos was added much later as part of the program’s expansion). Most have moved on to masteral and doctoral studies. Most are also now making their mark in their selected careers – in government service, corporate world, entrepreneurship, professions, academe, NGOs.
They are Ann Margot Aaron, Marianne Aniceto, Allan Hizon, Rowena Sombrano-Africa; Nikki Briones Carsi Cruz, James Jimenez, Tiffany Liong, Rey Mocorro; Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino 1V, Enrique dela Cruz, Katrina Escay, JP dela Vega; Grant Cheng, Lianne Gervasio, Caniella Tubianosa, Vince Varilla; William Panlilio, Dominic Pascasio, Leslie Tan, Grace Vera Cruz; Eric Ebro, Camille Ng, Philip Ranada, Maida Salcedo; Philip “Boyet” Dy, Marc Gloriani, Pamela Manuel, Carl Ng; John Fajardo, Donald Ngwe, Glenn Tuazon, Wainwright Yu; Raymund Li, Adrian Mundin, Paulo Mutuc, and Nicole Villarojo.
Most visible and audible in the media from this roster are James Jimenez, COMELEC spokesperson in the recent national election; Bam Aquino, TV program host (ANC’s Breakfast, Start-Up) and social entrepreneur; Enrique dela Cruz (also a councilor in Bulacan), John Fajardo, and Glenn Tuazon, outstanding debaters in ANC’s Square Off; and Tiffany Liong, classical music deejay apart from being station manager of DZFE-FM.
“The Hitachi Young Leaders Initiative was my first international network and it instilled in me a sense of global citizenship; and while I represented the Philippines, I became mindful of my shared identity with my counterparts in Asia,” says Nikki Briones–Carsi Cruz, who represented De La Salle University when it was held in the Philippines in 1997.
Philip Dy, now an associate director of the Asian Institute of Management TeaM Energy Center for Bridging Social Divides, credits HYLI he joined in 2005 in Malaysia for being “instrumental in cementing an action-oriented mindset in me” in his AIM job as well as in the NGO he co-founded, the One Tama Movement for Good Filipino Citizenship.
Recent Bar passer John Fajardo admits that the 2007 HYLI forum he attended in Vietnam has made him “more aware and cognizant of the invaluable benefits of regionalism and its positive effects in heightening the quality of life among individual member states, particularly in Asia.”
Prominent speakers in the region will share their thoughts in a two-day public forum while some 200 alumni will interact and pursue the theme topics in the country workshops. There, the alumni will discuss what is needed for collaboration among Asian nations in terms of structuring Asia’s hardware, developing its financial landscape, improving its people’s quality of life and developing its environmental and eco plans in the new era discussed first by the speakers.
