Wazzup Pilipinas!
"Can I follow you home? Because my parents always told me to follow my dreams."That was the pick-up line shared by Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago during the
International Youth Leaders Conference (IYLC), a one-day event that gathered hundreds of college-level,
undergraduate youth leaders from colleges and universities all over the
Philippines and the rest of the world. Since her audience are mostly the youth, she knows that these future leaders may also have love-life and teen romance competing with leadership-related goals and tasks.
As the keynote speaker, she shared to the youth leaders her wisdom towards leadership. The senator calls on to the youth to help end the cycle of corruption in our government. She did mention, though can be interpreted as less serious, that she plans to offer her recommendations to add a provision to the Constitution to require all individuals running for President and other high positions in the government to have a college degree as a basic prerequisite before they will be allowed to even file for candidacy.
Her speech focused on the qualities of a world-class youth leader and the Crimea crisis touching on the history of Kosovo but knowing the senator who cannot let a gathering pass without sharing a few of his poker-faced jokes, witty pick-up lines, and a few "parinig" pertaining to her "idiot" colleagues in the Senate that are involved in the Pork Barrel or PDAF scam, she got everyone's interest and admiration for her courage to go against the likes of "tanda", "pogi", or "sexy."
IYLC, hosted by
AIESEC Philippines, advocates youth leadership by being an avenue for today's youth leaders
to not only collaborate with other passionate and like-minded
individuals, but to celebrate these youth leaders' triumphs and trials,
the achievements of youth leadership in creating social impact.