"All of them have moving and inspiring stories."
Last weekend, I attended the graduation ceremonies in The Hague, Netherlands and Paris, France of the Ateneo Overseas Filipinos Leadership, Innovation, Financial Literacy, and Social Entrepreneurship program or ALSE OF LIFE. This is the new name of what was previously the Leadership and Social Entrepreneurship (LSE) program of the Ateneo School of Government. Apparently, some people confused LSE with the more famous London School of Economics. Whatever we call it, this program which celebrated its 10th year anniversary last December has made and is making a lot of difference in the lives of our students and alumni as well as their families and communities.
ALSE OF LIFE is a unique opportunity the Ateneo School of Government offers to overseas Filipinos—not just temporary or permanent migrants but also Filipinos who have become citizens of foreign countries. ASoG implements the program via the ALSE OF LIFE Consortium which includes the Overseas Filipinos Society for the Promotion of Economic Security, the Social Enterprises Development Partnerships Inc. (SEPDI), Ugat Foundation, and National Confederation of Cooperatives Inc. (NATCCO). We work with agencies of the Philippine government, from the Department of Foreign Affairs (through our embassies and consulates), the Philippine Overseas Labor Office, and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration.
In the ceremonies in The Hague, Ambassador Jet Ledda was represented by Consul General Lolita Capco while in Paris, Ambassador Tess Lazaro was represented by Philippine Embassy First Secretary Hans Siriban. Both Ambassadors Ledda and Lazaro have been strong supporters of ALSE OF LIFE when we launched it in The Netherlands and France. In both countries, we have trained four to five batches already and have more than 100 alumni in each country, including the 12 that graduated in the Hague last Saturday and the 48 that completed the program in Paris on Sunday.
In implementing the program, we also work with local organizations such as church, civic, and migrant rights organizations that provide us venues for the training as well as support us with our logistic needs.
The anchors of LSE, however, are Filipino teachers and professionals, both in the Philippines and abroad, who volunteer their services to deliver this training program wherever needed. The business model of the Ateneo Leadership and Entrepreneurship program is that it is volunteer and alumni driven. And so in the Netherlands, Florisa Almodiel coordinates our volunteers while in France, Mimi Agbay-Duhamel leads the implementation of the program.
After 10 years, we are now reaching 90 cohorts (with programs in Bangkok and Tokyo just launched in May 2019) and now have programs in more than 20 cities in more than a dozen countries, with 2000 plus alumni all over the world.
The program is quite rigorous, requiring students to nine months. Students also have to develop a business plan for an enterprise and defend it before a panel. In Paris, the project names speak for themselves: Forefront Perceptive Solutions; Mabuhay Services, Inc.; Maison du Bonheur; TULAY (Trusted Unique Line And You); JAB’s Organic Chili-Pepper Farm and Other Herbs & Spices; Les Adventurers Bilingues School; LAGA: The Authentic Weaving; Les Parisiens House of Scholars; GABAY (Go And Be At Your Best); Novannie Trading; and Foreign Investments in the Philippines.
In my keynote speeches in both The Hague and Paris, I emphasized the four targets of change that we had in mind when we conceived and established this program—(1) we wanted to help overseas Filipinos become better in everything they do, help them recall their original courage and passion that made them leave the country, and give them leadership, financial, and enterprise skills to achieve their dreams; (2) to assist overseas Filipino families to become better in supporting each other, including in managing their money and assets; (3) to change the Philippines for the better by helping overseas Filipinos to become better citizens; (4) and finally to change the world, including the Netherlands and France, by helping our students become responsible citizens and residents in their host county.
Before the Paris graduation ceremony started, I overheard one of the graduates saying—“Kasama namin si Dean Tony sa Otso Diretso.” That gave me the opportunity to share my political perspective, correcting the student. I said I actually voted for a mixed slate in the senate and six of my candidates won. I am a believer in a united front and national unity government—that our divisive politics from Erap to GMA to PNoy and now Duterte is bad for our country and our future. I really believe that only a Team Philippines approach, as advocated by former President Fidel V. Ramos, is the way forward for us so we can defeat poverty, inequality, and social injustice. I encouraged our students to have that perspective, abandon DDS and Dilawan labels as Vico Sotto has said and to build a country that liberates the poor as Isko Moreno consistently says.
I also talked about the challenges migrants all over the world are facing. Its not easy what we are up against but we will overcome as generations of migrants everywhere have always done so. I told the graduates that we hope we have given them skills to respond to these global challenges.
In this context, I was so inspired listening to the sharing by our graduates in The Hague and Paris about their life stories and what ALSE OF LIFE meant to them. In The Hague, the graduates were represented by Maitet Ledesma, the most senior of our Ateneo LSE graduates, and Chayenne Garcia, the youngest of the cohort. Maitet is a well-known activist, thirty years already in Europe, truly to be emulated by everyone in her commitment to social change and national liberation. Chayenne is only 21 years old and has been in the Netherlands for five years.
In Paris, Maria Christina Sunglao, Teresita Lucero, Marissa Alviz, Danica Manangigit and Alfred Sheenon Fontanar, Brenda Candelario, and Vian Bioc (through a pre-taped video) shared their moving and inspiring stories.
In both The Hague and Paris graduation ceremonies, we ended with reading the message of current Ateneo School of Government Dean Ronald Mendoza. In his message, Dean Ron emphasized the challenges facing our country and people, and the rest of the world: “I would like to call upon each one of you to become change agents to actively bring about a Philippines (and world) where social justice, truth, equal opportunity for all, and respect for basic human rights prevail.”
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