“Gamechangers” urge youth sector to pursue dreams

CEBU, Philippines - The youth sector is encouraged to pursue their dreams, be motivated and pursue their passion for change and for a better Philippines.

In a forum dubbed as “Gamechangers,” six speakers shared their life experiences on their respective fields and encouraged everyone to make this an inspiration.

Gamechangers is a forum that aims to share creative, unconventional and innovative ideas that are revolutionizing the ways we solve our nation’s problem.

The forum also wants to spur young people into action not only to get them involved in nation-building through whatever it is that they are passionate about but also to encourage them to come up with more out-of-the-box forward thinking ideas and solutions.

“Just because it is never done before, it doesn’t mean it’s impossible,” said Senator Teofisto “TG” Guingona, who was one of the guest speakers in the forum attended by students from more than ten universities and colleges in Cebu.

Guingona, who eyes people’s participation in crafting the national budget, said that he has been receiving a lot of criticisms that this endeavor cannot be done.

“It’s never easy. It’s hard to make changes but I believed that government shouldn’t be resistant to or afraid of new ideas,” Guingona said as he shared the stumbling block that he faced as a senator for the past three years.

Movie actor Dingdong Dantes, who is the founder of Yes Pinoy Foundation also encouraged the youth to try and try despite failures and emerge as a winner or become successful later in life.

Anna Oposa, co-founder and chief mermaid of Save Philippine Seas is encouraging everyone to do something for the environment.

SPS is an independent movement that aims to protect, conserve and preserve the marine biodiversity of the Philippines by harnessing the power of social media and advocating for the strict enforcement of environmental laws.

Another speaker, Delfin Villafuerte, a valedictorian of Ateneo de Manila University shared his story on how he shared his time by teaching children in public schools under the Teach for the Philippines program.

He turned down lucrative job offers in exchange for his passion to teach and make the lives of young children a better one.

Film writer, producer and director, Pepe Diokno also shared his passion for films by making world-class Filipino films such as “Engkwentro” which gained worldwide honor.

Musician Noel Cabangon sang his passion for music and composing nationalistic songs. (FREEMAN)