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In honoring TOYM awardees, PNoy cites his 'checkpoints'


UPDATED 6:00 p.m. - CNN Hero of the Year for 2009 Efren Peñaflorida Jr., Rock Ed founder Gang Badoy, and fashion designer Bea Valdes are only three of the 10 recipients this year of The Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) of the Philippines. President Benigno Simeon "Noynoy" Aquino III himself conferred the awards in Malacañang on Monday. Former TOYM awardees include Aquino's father, the late senator Benigno Simeon "Ninoy" Aquino Jr., and boxing champ Manny Pacquiao. Despite the inclusion of women among the awardees since 1984, the TOYM has retained its name to "preserve the sanctity of the awards, as the word 'men' does not intend to distinguish the difference in gender," according to the TOYM Philippines blog.
President Benigno Aquino III shares the stage with The Outstanding Young Men of the Philippines (TOYM) winners for 2010 after the awarding ceremony in Malacañang's Rizal Ceremonial Hall on Monday. PNoy's Facebook page
This year's TOYM awardees:
  • Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo "Sonny" Angara (government service), a three-term lawmaker, and son of Sen. Edgardo Angara, who has co-authored several laws including the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006 and the Magna Carta for Women;
  • Paolo Benigno "Bam" Aquino IV (social enterprise and community development), former chairman of the National Youth Commission and founder of Microventures Incorporated which services micro-financing institutions and their borrowers; he is also Aquino's first cousin;
  • Therese "Gang" Badoy (alternative education and youth leadership), founder and executive director of Rock Ed which espouses alternative education; she also put up the Dear Noynoy website where netizens can send their messages to the president; Badoy was also the host of the GMANews.TV election web show E-GIG;
  • Senator Alan Peter Cayetano (government and public service), incumbent Senate minority leader and former Blue Ribbon committee chairman;
  • Maria Rachelle Gerodias (arts and music), award-winning soprano recognized both locally and abroad;
  • Harvey Keh (public education and good governance), founder of several organizations aimed at promoting education such as the Pathways to Higher Education-Philippines and Acts of Hope for the Nation (AHON) Foundation; he is also the lead convenor of the Kaya Natin! movement;
  • Efren Peñaflorida Jr. (grassroots education and community service), who was the CNN Hero of the Year in 2009 for bringing education to poor young people through his Pushcart Revolution;
  • Edsel Maurice Salvaña (medicine and social activism), an acclaimed physician whose advocacy of battling HIV has led to the widespread recognition of the HIV and AIDS in the country;
  • Beatrice "Bea" Valdes (fashion design and entrepreneurship), celebrated and multi-awarded accessories designer who promotes Filipino craftsmanship in her works;
  • Jun Yupitun (entrepreneurship in pioneer industries), who created innovative call center solutions used locally and abroad. 'Checkpoints' Gang Badoy, who spoke on behalf of the awardees, said she wanted to address the President as if in a Dear-Noynoy letter, a reference to a web site she started to channel feedback from hopeful citizens to their new president. "Certainly we all agree na gusto lang natin mas maayos na bansa. Bansa na mas konti ang gutom, may batang nakapag-aral, may choices ang Filipinos na actually pwedeng mamili anong gusto nilang gawin, san sila magaling, at kaya nilang maghanap ng venue or milieu na gawin yun," Badoy said, speaking extemporaeously. (Certainly we all agree that all we want is a better country. A country where there's less hunger, where children can study, where there are choices that Filipinos can choose from and they can actually choose what they want to do, what they're good at, and they can find a venue or milieu to do those things.) Turning to President Aquino, Badoy said that in the long journey of the nation to a "daang matuwid," impatient citizens need "checkpoints" to remind them that the country was on the right track. She then cited the ten Filipinos under 40 who were being recognized as one such checkpoint. She interrupted her speech by asking her friend and PNoy's inauguration troubadour Noel Cabangon to sing the Juan dela Cruz Band classic, Himig Natin. Speaking last, President Aquino did away with his prepared speech, calling it generic, and decided to speak off the cuff as well, while acknowledging the presence of his uncle Paul Aquino, the father of awardee Bam Aquino and younger brother of the late Ninoy Aquino. The President said that like the TOYM awardees, his administration is determined to make a difference in Filipinos' lives, and described what he said were checkpoints of his young administration. He cited the improvement in the educational system with his proposed additional years to basic education. He also reiterated that his government is pushing for the passage of the proposed P21-billion budget for conditional cash transfers (CCT). Under the CCT program, millions of indigent families will be given a monthly allowances in exchange for certain conditions such as sending their children to school. "May your examples continue to inspire all of us," President Aquino told the awardees. Villar ally Cayetano one of awardees Aquino shared a few moments on stage with awardee Cayetano, who campaigned for Aquino's rival in the last elections, Senator Manny Villar. The two were seen whispering briefly as Cayetano received his TOYM trophy. Aquino said, "Di naman yan first meeting namin ni Alan. I did report to the Senate in my last days of office there and he was the first person after the elections that I saw when session resumed." Asked if there was animosity between the two of them, Aquino answered, "Kung hindi mo kami pag-aawayin wala siguro (If you won't make us fight, then probably not)." – VVP/HS, GMANews.TV
  • Tags: malacañang, toym
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