KALIPI Holds Youth Activism Forum in YLDA Secretariat
2005-05-19

YLDA Program Officer Anne Elica?o welcomes KALIPI

The Young Liberals and Democrats of Asia (YLDA) secretariat in Makati City was once again teeming with young liberals on May 18, 2005 during the Kabataang Liberal ng Pilipinas (KALIPI) forum ?Activism Among the Youth: Is it Still Active??. Forty KALIPI members actively participated in the YLDA and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation (FNF) sponsored forum.

The activity kicked off with former KALIPI President Noel Medina posing an unusual question - how old are you - to the participants. In his comprehensive discourse on the history of youth activism in the Philippines, he related that most of the country?s national heroes were, like the participants, in their late teens and twenties.

Commissioner Araceli Aves of the National Youth Commission (NYC) used this as a context to her talk on the present trends and challenges of activism. She outlined the predominant concerns of Filipino youth at the present, which included unemployment, access to education, drug and substance abuse, and violation of rights. A major point in the strategy to address such concerns included mobilizing the youth sector and including them in policy-making procedures.

Garda Bangsa Garda Bangsa was formed in 1998 following the successful political reform spearheaded by students and other campus activists to depose the tyrannical regime of President Suharto. The organization was founded by Abdurram Wahid, a former adviser of President Suharto who resigned following an escalation in government corruption and political management by the administration. He championed "Responsible Openness" within the government system and proposed the establishment of a Reform Committee in order to mitigate poor governance within the administration. His calls were left unheeded and so he eventually withdrew support for the government and joined the efforts advocating for reform in the government. Read more...