Two Aklanon youth leaders among TAYO national winners

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. 

LIRA’s poet-volunteers win TAYO award

LIRA’s poet-volunteers win TAYO award

LIRA president Phillip Yerro Kimpo Jr. (back row, second from left) joins President Benigno Aquino III, Senator Francis Pangilinan, and the nine other TAYO awardees in Malacañang. (Photo from the Office of Sen. Pangilinan.)

The Linangan sa Imahen, Retorika, at Anyo (LIRA) was declared as one of the Ten Accomplished Youth Organizations (TAYO) for 2011 during the awarding ceremony held last October 27 at the Heroes Hall in Malacañang Palace.

LIRA, the oldest group of poets in Filipino, became the first literary organization to win in TAYO’s 9-year history.

LIRA president Phillip Yerro Kimpo Jr. received the award from President Benigno Simeon Aquino III, who was assisted by 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.

Joining LIRA as 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, Aklan Catholic College Junior Philippine Institute of Accountants, 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.

LIRA president Kimpo is congratulated by Dr. Ruby G. Alcantara of UP Diliman and National Artist for Literature Virgilio S. Almario while Akbayan spokesperson Risa Hontiveros applauds. (Photo by David Garmsen, www.davidgarmsen.com.)

LIRA 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, Kimpo joined the representatives of the nineteen other TAYO National Finalists in presenting their organizations’ projects before a panel of judges that 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. 

“Poet-volunteers” for the nation

LIRA’s project entry for the TAYO search was its “National Literary Education” program, which 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.

The program is run entirely by a core of twenty poets, all of whom are 20 to 35 years old, and is led by the current LIRA officers: Kimpo, president; Mariane A.R.T. Abuan, vice-president; Giancarlo Lauro C. Abrahan V, secretary; Deborah Rosalind D. Nieto, treasurer; and Louie Jon A. Sanchez, public relations officer. 

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 publish their own books and win recognition for their literary output. 

Since 2008, LIRA has also taught for free to 1000 teachers and students from more than 200 schools in 20 towns of Luzon and Visayas under the program “Sining ng Tugma at Sukat,” which was funded by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts for two years. It also runs the “Tulaan sa Facebook” contest and has distributed hundreds of free poetry chapbooks.

Some of LIRA’s beneficiaries: (Clockwise, L to R) In Sta. Cruz, Zambales; Baguio City, Benguet; and Kalibo, Aklan.

During LIRA’s silver anniversary year in 2010, Kimpo and the LIRA leadership formalized the concept of the “poet-volunteer” as the organization’s identity for its coming 25 years.

The young LIRA poets face a weekly challenge in splitting their time among work or undergraduate studies, family, art, and their services rendered in various projects held all over the country, thereby exhibiting the spirit of volunteerism recognized and valued by the TAYO panel of judges. More often than not, their weekends find them in Diliman guiding the next batch of LIRA trainees, or in the provinces teaching literature, or in the LIRA-organized commemorative events for national heroes such as Emilio Jacinto and Francisco Balagtas.

A particular story that elicited hearty applause from the TAYO panel was that of Renato Santillan. “Rey,” as he is called by his org-mates, is a public school teacher, a fisherman’s son, and a resident of a small island in Pangasinan. He enrolled in the LIRA training clinic not particularly to hone his writing, but to gain knowledge with the intent of passing it onto his students.

Every weekend for six months, Rey had to rent a motorized banca in the wee hours of Saturday to get to Dagupan, ride the bus to Manila for four hours, arrive at UP Diliman at 8:00 AM, sleep over at a LIRA member’s residence after a whole day of studying poetry, spend the entire Sunday in a similar manner, and ride the bus back to Dagupan come evening. 

In the end, Rey became a full-fledged LIRA member, and has helped organize three seminar-workshops in Pangasinan and Quezon. He also went on to win a fellowship to a national writers’ workshop and have his poems published in several chapbooks.

LIRA’s poet-volunteers in action: (Clockwise, L to R) Providing additional knowledge to teachers in San Fabian, Pangasinan; commemorating Balagtas Day with the City Government of Manila; lending a helping hand to beginning writers in UP Diliman.

This ability to handle the dual weight of attending to one’s art and reaching out to communities is precisely what the LIRA leadership wants to instill in the next batches of LIRA trainees.

This year, LIRA poets won the Makata ng Taon (Poet of the Year) Award from the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino; the Maningning Miclat Award; and the first, second, and third prizes for Filipino poetry, as well as second prize in children’s poetry, in the Palanca Awards. This train of individual recognitions has now been capped off by the TAYO Award for the organization’s volunteerism facet.

Aside from putting pen to paper and putting boots on the ground, LIRA’s poet-volunteers have also had to obtain sizeable amounts of sponsorships, an effort appreciated by the TAYO panel.

For the past two years, the young LIRA leadership has raised almost P400,000 in financial and in-kind assistance for their provincial seminar-workshops alone, and has forged partnerships with various local government units (provincial and municipal), universities, and the private sector.

LIRA plans to expand its program by partnering with various institutions connected with the TAYO Awards such as the National Youth Commission, as well as the network of TAYO national and regional finalists from the different aspects of the youth-volunteer movement—social welfare, science and technology, education, culture, healthcare, environmental preservation, and peace and security. LIRA also aims to teach in more cities in Visayas and Mindanao, as well as to delve into poetry for children’s development and poetry as therapy.

Parties interested in lending assistance to or getting to know more about LIRA’s projects can contact the organization through pamunuan@liraonline.org.