The 2011 National Youth Congress at Central Mindanao University at Maramag, Bukidnon was participated by different chapters all over the Philippines. With the general theme “I ACT: Assert, Care, Transform”, the congress was spiced up with various activities that are meant to augment the participants’ governance and leadership skills, volunteerism and humanitarianism, and environmental awareness.

The first day of the congress was scheduled for the Registration, Orientation and Opening Program. The latter was where Mr. Richard Gordon, the Chairman of the Philippine Red Cross, was the keynote speaker.

The Camarines Sur Chapter participants failed to attend the first day activities as they arrived past midnight already. Despite the lack of sleep and rest, the group attended the plenary sessions for the second day. The morning half of October 22, 2011 was divided into four plenary sessions with the following topics:

1. National Youth Congress Reports: Accomplishments and Updates
2. I ASSERT:  “Youth Involvement on Philippine Red Cross Governance”
3. I CARE: “Unique Role of the Youth in Climate Change Adaptation”
4. I TRANSFORM: “Red Cross Youth: From a Follower to a Leader”

The sessions were held at the farmer’s training center. The first topic, which was “National Youth Congress Reports: Accomplishments and Updates”, was done through a PowerPoint presentation of the achievements of the National Youth Council for the past two years. It wasn’t explained well and wasn’t comprehensive either. There had been motions about the financial aspects and how come it wasn’t included in the report.

For some reason, the Fourth Plenary Session was done next instead of the second session. In this session, the “I TRANSFORM” part of the theme was discussed by Mr. Mabini F. Pablo, a member of Philippine Red Cross Board of Governors. He had regarded leadership as humility to be of service to others.  He discussed about servant leadership, saying that it’s the way of leadership that best applies to Red Cross Volunteers. He enumerated 10 Characteristics of a servant leader by Larry Sphere namely: Listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, stewardship, commitment to the group of people, building community and lastly, foresight.

The speaker said that a Servant Leader should know how to listen to himself and to others. He must understand that people needs to know and understand their characteristics and where they are coming from.  The next characteristic was healing. A Servant Leader must use his own power, knowledge and skills to change and build the community in order to achieve a better status. A Servant Leader should also have awareness. He should strengthen the majority of people. Moreover, he should know himself too in order to help others have self awareness. He should also have the gift of persuasion. A servant leader, despite his humility, should know how to lead the crowd and make the crowd obey him to the right path. He should have conceptualization or wide perception. He must be able to handle many things in one go and can handle difficult situations even if under stress. He should act as a steward; meaning he should be trustworthy and act as a guide. He should have commitment to the group and build the community by introducing unity and cooperation with its members. Lastly, he should have foresight. He must be able to understand the lessons of the past mistakes and use them in the future and present situation.

The next Plenary Session tackled about “I ASSERT” with Governor Lorna Kapunan as the resource speaker. She is, indeed, a strong-minded, well-respected and honorable woman who stands by her principles in life. She tackled about the involvement of the youth in Philippine Red Cross Governance. She even proposed to make a Resolution for the assembly to tackle about resources for she believed that money is the blood of an organization. She asked for the Head of Delegates to come over the microphone, introduce themselves, the chapters they represent, their companions and the source of their budget for the congress. Notably, more than half of the chapters shouldered some of the expenses if not all. She said that the expenses for trainings and conventions should come from the chapters as mandated by the law. She encouraged the participants to seek financial assistance from the National Headquarters if they need resources. She further encouraged the participants to report any violation of the laws to the National Headquarters.

As part of governance, she discussed the important points that are commonly subject to misconception. One of which is the eradication of the word “National” in the name of the organization. It is for the reason that the Philippine Red Cross is an independent organization following the principle of Humanity (We Serve People but Not Systems). Another thing that she gave extreme emphasis on is the concept that the Philippine Red Cross is the only one with legal identity. The example she cited was that the Chapters cannot receive donations for themselves. It should be directed to the Philippine Red Cross itself. Donations should be in the name of Philippine Red Cross. Chapters cannot be sued because they don’t have legal identity/personality. The capacity to sue and to be sued is reserved only to the Philippine Red Cross National Headquarters.

She also managed to differentiate the terms governance and management. She said that governance is the way an organization sets direction by making decisions about people, priorities, programs and services. Governance also means policies. On the other hand, management is the implementation of these policies.

She said that all policies can only come from the National Headquarters and the Chapters are the ones who do the implementation of these policies. Therefore, it’s the National Headquarters that do the governance whilst the Chapters do the management.

After her talk, she asked for the participants to pronounce the value or virtue they are going to bring home to their chapters/councils with regards to the session.

The last but not the least topic discussed before the lunch break was under “I CARE”. It was tackled by Gov. Juan Miguel Zubiri. He talked about the Role of the Red Cross Youth in the Climate Change. He is an advocate for the preservation of the environment and managed to encourage the youths to tend to the environment.

The group was able to register (finally and thankfully) before they had their lunch. The Adviser and the Head of Delegation were able to register the Area 3 participants and distribute the seminar kits and IDs. The registration fee was shouldered by the college (Camarines Sur Polytechnic College) Administration as privilege and benefit of the Camarines Sur Polytechnic Colleges – Red Cross Youth Council (CSPC-RCYC) for being the only level 3 accredited organization in the college.

The morning half of the day ended and the participants proceeded to the school canteen to take their lunch. There were also foods served at the farmer’s training center. The participants were asked to fall in line for the distribution of gift packs from Talk and Text. The group had their lunch done first before they lined-up for the give-away. Since they were about fifth to seventh from the last person on the line, they weren’t able to get the give-away because, apparently, there weren’t enough stocks for everybody.

The afternoon half was for the Commission Sessions. There were six Commission Sessions for the youth participants and three for the advisers. The youths were asked to choose only one topic to attend to for the Commission Session.  The advisers, on the other hand, were given the chance to attend all their three sessions.

The Commission Session topics for the youth were as follows:

1. Red Cross 143 Youth Pledge 25
2. Council Management and Development
3. Leadership Development Program for Red Cross Youth 143
4. Peer Education on HIV AIDS and Substance Abuse
5. Red Cross Youth 143 Awards and Recognition
6. Red Cross Youth 143 in Schools and Communities

The list of the Commission Sessions was already enumerated in the general guidelines which were disseminated to Chapters Nationwide about a month before the Congress. However, there had been some changes with the topics. Council Program Development was changed to Red Cross Youth 143 in Schools and Communities. The Council Program Development was one of the chosen topics of the Camarines Sur Chapter participants. However, due to the sudden changes, adjustment must be done so they chose Red Cross Youth 143 in Schools and Communities instead.

Therefore, the three youth participants chose the topics Council Management and Development, Peer Education on HIV AIDS and Substance Abuse, and Red Cross Youth 143 in Schools and Communities.

The topics for the Commission Sessions for advisers were:

1. Awards and Recognition
2. 143 Volunteerism and Management
3. Fund Raising in Red Cross Youth Councils

The University is immensely vast and thickly forested. The youth participants still have to take the bus and multicab to reach the area designated for the Commission Sessions. The advisers, on the other hand, went back to RR Resort for their own sessions.

When the commission session was finished, the youth participants were taken back by the bus and multicab to Farmer’s Training Center. Some of the participants weren’t accommodated so they have to walk their way back to the Training Center.

Dinner was already served when they were back. After taking their dinner, the participants were already asked to change their clothes to Cowboy attire – the theme meant for the next activity, which is the Youth Night.

The Youth Night was an acquaintance activity. For this reason, youths from all over the nine areas of Philippine Red Cross roamed all over the hall (Farmer’s Training Center) to get the information of the other participants.  They offer the Youth Directory attached on their Identification Cards for fill-up. It contains space for name, chapter, and contact information.

The program started with a speech from Governor Alex Calingasan. The emcee, who is the National Youth Council Assistant Secretary, Mr. Nonisto Molina, facilitated the other activities for the night. One of which is a presentation. The presenters were divided into three: Group 1 was composed of Areas 1, 2 and 3; Group 2 was composed of Areas 4, 5 and 6; and Group3 was composed of Areas 7, 8, and 9.

Area three wasn’t able to participate in the presentation because they have no idea that a presentation has to be made.

Group 1’s presentation was a small mimic of the TV program Showtime. There were Anne Curtis, Vice Ganda, Kuya Kim, and all the other casts. The casts were complete, in fact. Group 2’s presentation was a dance. They presented an animation of the Red Cross Youth theme song “Youth Power”. Last to present was Group 3. Group 3’s presentation was TV program-like too and they were awarded with the best presentation award.

The next event was a game. The emcee requested eight participants each area to fall in line (one chapter per column), facing the array of chairs with variety of foods. There was lemon, packed juice without straw, boiled and non-boiled eggs, pipino soda placed on a milk bottle, and others.

The goal of the game is for the participants to finish all the foods – one food per person. The first group to finish it all up will be declared as the winner. In the end, group 1 was the first to finish so they were declared as the winner. Tokens were given as prizes.

The next event was the search for the guy and girl with the best cowboy attire. Each area was requested to send one guy and one girl representative to step in front. Apparently, there is only one girl participant out of three from Area three, so she is, by default, the entry. Ms. Princess Mae L. Follosco, along with Mr. Karl Chester E. Intia proceeded to go in front not knowing that a mini-search is about to happen. Contrary to the expectation, they were asked to make a fashion walk before the crowd. Ms. Follosco got the shock of her life, apparently. There’s no turning back now and it’s not like she had any other choice.

After the ramp, Mr. Cowboy came from Area 1 and Ms. Cowgirl came from Area 9. The emcee emphasized that the Search is for the persons with the best Cowboy Attire.

After the small pageant and a couple of pause, the emcee announced that the youth participants have to remain to finish their Resolutions subject for submission before the night ends.

The youth participants grouped themselves according to the Commission Session they were in to talk about the Resolution they need to pass. The sleepy feeling stole the concentration of most but they were still able to work out a Resolution title. The titles from each Sessions were passed to the National Youth Council. The Commission still has to defend their Resolutions before the body the following day.

After poring over the Resolutions, the youth participants proceeded to their respective rooms to take some rest.

The next day, October 23, 2011, the participants did the usual routine. They took breakfast, changed to their formal/smart casual attire (though there had been quite a few participants who aren’t following the dress code protocol) and went to Farmer’s training center for another Session.

Their advisers weren’t with them by the time because they also have a Session of their own.

Plenary Session Number 5 was for Passing of Resolutions and Presentation of Candidates for National Youth Council Election. Simultaneous to this activity was the General Assembly of National Red Cross Youth Advisers’ League.

The approval of the Resolutions was done through the application of Robert’s Rule of Order in Parliamentary Procedure to exercise the proper role and right of the majority. There had been debates with some of the Resolutions but majority of them, however, were passed smoothly.

The next activity in line was the Election of Area Coordinators. The aspirants were called to go in front for proper identification and recognition. Mr. Karl Chester E. Intia, the head of delegation of Area 3 ran for the position as Area 3 Coordinator.

After the presentation of the candidates, the decision on who to vote as their Area Coordinator was left to the participants. The election followed shortly after the presentation of the candidates for election. The election was done through the use of ballot.

After the election, the participants headed back to the school canteen to take their lunch.

The youth participants had their tour to an Ecopark. They arrived at the venue by three o’clock, explored the wide vicinity of the area and took pictures for thirty minutes and went out again. There were road reconstructions so they had a hard time from all the dusty roads on their way back to the University.

The next activity for the day was the Closing Ceremony and Oath Taking of the newly-elected RCY National Youth Council and National Red Cross Youth Advisers’ League (NRCYAL) Officers. The theme of the next activity was the Native Regional Costume of every participant.

After they had their dinner done, changed clothes for the occasion, they proceeded to the Farmer’s Training Center to witness the closing ceremony.

There had been speeches from Governor Chester Villanueva and Governor Nonito Llanos, the President of National Youth Council and National Red Cross Youth Advisers’ League of Red Cross Youth Department respectively. They had pronounced their acknowledgements to everyone who played an important role for the success of their terms and early congratulatory address to the yet-to-be declared new sets of Officers who will continue the legacy of the organization.

Shortly after their speech, tokens and plaques were given to the officers of National Youth Council and National Red Cross Youth Advisers’ League.  It was followed by the announcement and induction of the newly-elected officers for the National Youth Council and National Red Cross Youth Advisers’ League.

Mr. Karl Chester E. Intia was declared as the Area 3 coordinator and the National Youth Council Auditor. Mr. Alvin Franco A. Agtarap was also declared and inducted as the Area 3 coordinator and the Vice President of NRCYAL.

After they pronounced their pledge and taken their oath of commitment, an acceptance speech by the newly elected National Youth Council President followed.

After the speech, the formal closing of the congress was done by Governor Chester Villanueva, the outgoing National Youth Council President.

After the night ran its course, the youth participants from Area 3 had their breakfast and checked-out for departure. They left the vicinity of the University at around twelve-thirty in the afternoon.