Are children better leaders? Can they make a change at the Dagupan City Hall?
With all the oldies taking care of the government affairs, the city hall’s decision to hand over the affairs of the city to children is quite a novelty. Of course, the young officials cannot really do anything official. Their week-long stint at the city hall will merely be a leadership training for them.
We only hope that they the oldies’ bad habits won’t rub on them. Follow only the good habits, children, and you won’t go wrong.
Below is my story which I also submitted to the Pangasinan Star.
 
 High school students comprising the Ogagaw ya Malingkor 2007 (Children Who Serve), took over the city hall today as elective officials and heads of the different departments.
The 34 high school students led by “Mayor” Frances Riel Elinzano, 14, a third year high school student of the Mother Goodse Special School Systems, Inc., took their oath before Vice Mayor Alvin Fernandez today (Tuesday) during the 109^th Independence Day celebration at the city plaza.
They will hold office starting in the afternoon until June 20 when the city celebrates its 60^th founding anniversary.
Elinzano, regal in a terno in her “inaugural address,” outlined the program of government that her “administration” will implement. First is the purchase of a housing unit at the Bahay Kalinga project in Bonuan village for an “indigent family living in the street or under the bridge.”
She also said her co-officials will launch the Operation Old Books, or will ask the private schools to donate at least 100 old books to the public schools. Another is sports development and anti-illegal drug program among the students.
“I’m excited, but a little bit nervous. But since I am happy about what I will be doing, I think it will be easy to do it,” she told the Inquirer. “I’m sure I will learn many valuable lessons.”
The young officials are students from both the private and public schools in the city who elected from among themselves, through secret balloting, who will be mayor, vice mayor and members of the Sanguniang Panglunsod.

The children-leaders will hold office either in the morning or in the afternoon only as they will also be attending their classes.
Before their elections, they underwent a crash course on the city operations from Mayor Benjamin Lim, who advised them that in implementing laws, “we should be strict, but let us not forget to put some human touch on it. It is a way of obtaining the respect and loyalty of the constituents.”
Metro Dagupan culture and arts council president Honorata Siapno said the Ogogaw a Malingkor aims to hone the Dagupeño youth to be good leaders in the future.
“This program also enables Filipino youth to gain inspirations from their experiences in developing their skills and capabilties which they can later share with their peers,” she said.
The child city vice mayor is Noel Lamsen of the Dagupan City National High School while the city councilors are Michelle Angelica Soriano, Care de Guzman, Louise Mae Bangsal, Rochmond Batulan, Charleen Myre Mejia, Katrina Joyce Alarte, Bounteous Servito, Jeriel Ruth Lim, Rustan Maynard Tandoc, Keshma Shennedy Gascon, Donn Aficial and Danmar Kevin Brao.

BEIJING, China - A young Filipino-American businesswoman who is an advocate for juvenile and child rights’ protection in London, California and the Philippines is eyeing a partnership with Expedia for the establishment of the Juventus Noster Foundation here to widen the coverage of her program for the protection of the young.

“Serious efforts must be made to push for the adoption of Chinese children by childless couples in the United States and other European countries,” said Juventus Noster chairperson Jo Victoria Edralin Yupangco even as she noted the substantial number of European couples who have adopted Chinese children while she was staying at the Beijing Marriot West Hotel.

She has been shuttling from London, San Francisco, Beijing and Manila for the last couple of months to finalize the acquisition of 5-star hotels in Beijing, Dalian and Guillin.

JV Edralin Yupangco is a cum laude graduate from the London School of Economics with a Masters degree in Media and Communications and a summa cum laude from Kings College London with a BA in English Language and Communication.

Early this year, J.V. Edralin Yupangco lauded the passage of the Comprehensive Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006 in the Philippines whose core goal is to redirect children who commit petty crimes, such as stealing morsels of food or violating curfew hours, out of the criminal justice system, and hence, out of adult jails.

In a column article last April 18 in the Manila Standard, J.V. Edralin Yupangco said her family’s trepidation started in the summer of 2005 as a result of a CNN report on how juvenile offenders in the Philippines are detained in the same jail facilities as hardened adult criminals.

“While my mother Josephine Edralin and my sister Joana Bautista were watching television, sitting in our comfortable vineyard estate in the Napa Valley, we were confronted with profoundly poignant images of young children behind bars. Even more devastating was that the report recounted the number of minors who fall victims to pedophiles while in these prisons. It was whilst watching this shocking reality unfold on our television screen that we made a decision in both mind and heart that we had do to something to help address this deplorable situation.  We felt it our duty as native-born Filipinas,” wrote Edralin Yupangco.

“The noble intentions of the Juventus Noster (Latin words meaning Our Youth) should at the very least deserve the support of well-meaning individuals and institutions if only to push for the protection of the juvenile and child rights in the Philippines and China, ” she said.
 
For her part, Juventus Noster president Joana Edralin Bautista expressed elation that various groups like Expedia, Inc. through its Emerging Market Global Communications Director Laura Pinones have inquired about the foundation’s activities whose goals include building facilities where children can be truly rehabilitated and kept out of adult prisons in the Philippines. “In China, it will provide young children a brighter future as adopted children of caring and willing parents from the United States and Europe,” she said. 
 

            It has been a month since we said goodbye to Pluto as the ninth planet in our Solar System. For 76 years, Pluto was the youngest (bunso) in the Sun Family – the farthest and the coldest planet.
            But it was not actually a goodbye that happened when the International Astronomical Union decided to demote Pluto from a major to a dwarf planet. The erstwhile planet never actually left for another solar system, or another galaxy. It’s just there, still orbiting around our beloved god sun Ra, albeit encroaching into the orbit of Neptune .

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Despite the 20 national laws safeguarding the children in the country and the “excellent response” of the government officials to children issues, the work to protect them is nowhere near done, according to Unicef Representative Nicholas K. Alipui.
            During the North Luzon Legislative Summit for Children, Alipui also acknowledged that the Filipino society is nurturing and caring and concerned about the welfare of the children.
            But despite the nurturing environment and the laws on protecting children, “an increasing number of children are falling through the cracks because of the deepening poverty and widening deprivation and disparities,” Alipui said. Read more