Two Aklanon youth leaders among TAYO national winners
Two of this year’s Ten Accomplished Youth Organizations (TAYO) are led by Aklanons.
Joeby Barrientos, president of the Aklan Catholic College Junior Philippine Institute of Accountants (ACC JPIA), and Phillip Yerro Kimpo Jr., president of the national organization of poets Linangan sa Imahen, Retorika, at Anyo (LIRA) received their respective organizations’ honors from President Benigno Simeon Aquino III during the awarding ceremony held last October 27, 2011 at the Heroes Hall in Malacañang Palace.
Assisting the President during the ceremony were Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan, TAYO Awards Foundation President Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino IV, National Youth Commission Chairman and CEO Leon Flores III, Coca-Cola Export Corporation President and General Manager Guillermo Aponte, Lenovo ASEAN General Manager and Executive Director Koh Kong Meng, and Secretary Hermino “Sonny” Coloma of the Presidential Communications Operations Office.
The other eight TAYO awardees are the Industrial Engineering Council of Cebu Institute of Technology University, Youth Solidarity for Peace - Peace Advocates Zamboanga, Association of Locally-Empowered Youth in Northern Mindanao, Alyansa ng mga Kristiyanong Mag-aaral - Responsable nga Balikatan han mga Kabataan (AKMA-RESBAK), Indak Kabataan Youth Organization; University of the Cordilleras - Hapiyoh’ Mi Cultural Group, Young Mindanawans Peace Builders, and the Aquinas University of Legazpi’s STAGE (Sama-samang Tinig ng mga Aktor na Gumagalaw sa Entablado).
The winners were chosen based on the organization’s capability to harness the spirit of volunteerism and citizenship, the impact of their projects on their respective target communities, the project’s level of creativity, innovation, and sustainability, as well as its effective use of resources.
The ACC JPIA and LIRA each received a specially sculpted trophy by artist Toym de Leon Imao, a P50,000 cash grant from Coca-Cola Foundation Philippines, a Lenovo IdeaPad laptop, and P2,500 worth of Jollibee gift cheques.
Prior to the awarding, Barrientos and Kimpo joined the representatives of the eighteen other TAYO National Finalists in presenting their organizations’ projects before a panel of judges which included Sen. Kiko Pangilinan, Mr. Bam Aquino, Usec. Leon Flores III, Akbayan spokesperson Risa Hontiveros, and Usec. Jose Mari Oquiñena of the Presidential Communications Operations Office.
202 youth organizations joined the TAYO search this year. Six stages of intensive screening, validation, and judging whittled this number down to the twenty TAYO National Finalists.
Barrientos and ACC’s future accountants
Joeby Taglay Barrientos is a 4th year accountancy student at the Aklan Catholic College, where she is the president and CEO of the ACC JPIA. She was a scholar at the Regional Science High School for Region VI and currently resides in the town of Tangalan.
Founded in 2004, the ACC JPIA is an accredited student organization of the Aklan Catholic College. Their project “A CPA: Assisting Cooperatives’ Proficiency in Accounting” helped four selected cooperatives in the province by teaching them basic mathematics up to the fundamentals of accounting.
One of the beneficiary groups was the Boracay Ati Multi-purpose Cooperative and its underprivileged Aeta members. In addition to making an impact on the finances and well-being of the cooperatives, the student volunteers honed their own accounting and teaching skills while building camaraderie within the organization.
Kimpo and LIRA’s “poet-volunteers”
Though born and raised in Quezon City, Phillip Yerro Kimpo Jr. is a full-blooded Aklanon: his father hails from Kalibo and his mother from Malinao. He returns to his home province every year, and last May he brought his organization to the provincial capital to teach literature for free to Aklanon teachers. He is also the publisher and co-editor of the upcoming “Madyaas: Journal of Aklanon Literature.”
A computer science graduate of UP Diliman, Kimpo splits his time between writing military history books for the Philippine Veterans Affairs Office and fulfilling his duties as president of LIRA, the oldest organization of poets in Filipino.
LIRA’s “National Literary Education” program teaches native literature to teachers, students, and aspiring writers as a means of contributing to the national identity, as well as planting seeds among the youth to help them become involved citizens and effective communicators, be it as journalists, bloggers, novelists, or poets.
Founded in 1985 by National Artist for Literature Virgilio S. Almario, LIRA’s “training clinic” in UP Diliman has taught hundreds of beginning writers, many of whom have gone on to win recognition for their literary output. Since 2008, LIRA’s young poet-volunteers have also taught for free to 1000 teachers and students from more than 200 schools in 20 towns of Luzon and Visayas. They also run the “Tulaan sa Facebook” contest and have distributed hundreds of free poetry chapbooks.
Parties interested in lending assistance to or getting to know more about the two TAYO awardees can contact ACC JPIA through accjpia@yahoo.com and LIRA through pamunuan@liraonline.org.