The TINGOG Carolinian Party (Part 1)

If there is one driving force, a singular influence that has altered the course of my own life, and changed many others, while in the University of San Carlos—the country’s oldest school—credit goes to the TINGOG Carolinian Party.

Perhaps no other Party can provide the opportunities for growth TINGOG has to offer; and such growth is fostered largely by the ability of the party as an institution to push its members to its limits, all done while trying their very best, individually and collectively, to make college life for every student more meaningful and essentially better.

Rooted on the principles of Active Non-Violence and Authentic Humanism, TINGOG members created a movement that best exemplifies the values and principles common among its full-fledged members: I AM A HOPE WARRIOR. The Hope Warrior is someone who is the hope and change we all wish to see in our country and our world—and that we can all be hope warriors, if only we choose to live decent, honorable, and responsible lives.  The movement, mounted even before Obama’s “Yes we can” campaign, was the first of its kind in USC’s campus politics. Through a nationwide caravan, TINGOG’s Hope Warrior movement has since been brought to other schools in Manila and the Visayas and Mindanao.

Always trailblazing

From statement shirts, pins, banners, to Facebook fan pages, TINGOG always does it first—proof of how ingenuity, creativity, and quality characterize TINGOG’s unwavering brand of leadership. And this same brand, known for producing notable leaders in business, government, non-government and UN organizations, continues to inspire and impress even non-Carolinians, spreading even further what has become indubitably, the mark of genuine Carolinian leadership.

Celebrity honorary members like Boy Abunda, Bianca Gonzalez, Raki Vega, and Piolo Pascual have all traveled to USC in the past to proudly accept their appointments as honorary TINGOG members, believing in its cause of youth empowerment and development, and committing to lending their sway to the party’s worthy advocacies. Many of our country’s leaders have also come to acknowledge TINGOG’s influence and track record as the breeding ground for future movers and shakers, talented leaders to look out for.

The strength of a brand

 And so, while other parties criticize TINGOG for its projects, programs, or campaign strategies, we find comfort in the amusing fact that while they make the extra effort to malign our initiatives, it’ll only be a matter of time before they imitate the very same strategies and programs they used to attack.

 I remember there was a time when STAND campaigned against us solely on the basis of our having celebrity honorary members, that it’s supposedly shallow and superficial—yet now they proudly claim that a certain actress is their honorary member (since she hasn’t come to USC to officially accept her nomination/appointment, I’m not certain if it’s validated information). It’s okay if you believe its superficial, we respect that, but be sure you stick to your guns and don’t cave in.

 The presence, and persistence, of these attacks and the subsequent duplication of our ideas is a testament to the strength of the TINGOG brand—that as we consistently blaze the trial, we define ourselves and our brand of leadership even more, tempting others to cast the first stone before they themselves realize that the only best recourse is to follow suit.

 (to be continued next Saturday)

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 Tonight on The Bottomline with Boy Abunda: MMDA Chair Francis Tolentino bares his plans for Metro Manila, how he intends to solve problems in traffic, erring bus-drivers and enforcers, garbage collection and illegal vendors, and other obstacles he faces as the ‘unelected governor’ of Metro Manila.

 Watch it after Banana Split on ABS-CBN. Encore telecast on the ABS-CBN News Channel (ANC), Sunday, 1:00 pm.

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