by: Joel Marcaida

On June 5, 2009 the participants of  OEWF Bayanihan Youth Camp in Calamba, Laguna met again for the second time after the camp. The first meeting was held on May 29, 2009 during which the youth leaders planned to conduct a number of BSV workshops in their respective spheres of influence. The output of the workshop are the following:

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by K. Ben Quinones

I occasionally visit the Forum section of the OEWF website to see what our youth leaders are talking about. An encouraging recent development is the interest shown by the BSV BYC (Building Shared Vision – Bayanihan Youth Camp) Team in honing their thinking and writing skills. This is clearly the result of the youth leaders putting into practice what they have learned at the BSV BYC.  When the youth begin to share with each other their dreams for a better society, one day soon they will find a way to take a collective action and bold step to make their dreams come true.

For the first time today, I joined their forum and wrote this message:

“You are doing a good job! Keep writing and sharing your thoughts. The more you put down into writing your thoughts, the more organized is your way of presenting your ideas, and the more enhanced is your thinking skills. People who have a well ordered and righteous mind become good models of a servant leader.

“Dear Alfred,

“You are an articulate writer.  Keep on writing. One day you can write a book, but you cannot reach that goal unless you keep on writing. This forum is a good opportunity for you to hone your writing skills. Don’t be contented with the present state of your writing skills. Seek technical help from people who can teach you how to write well. You have a bright future as a leader and a writer. 

“Dear Jessa Luz,

“Congratulations !! You have shown what a good documentor should be doing. In the same manner that a good follower becomes a good leader, by striving diligently to become a good documentor, you are cultivating your potentials for becoming a good facilitator as well as a good inquiirer and advocate.

“Blessings to all of you”.

Why don’t you visit the Forum section and like our youth leaders, spend some time exercising your thinking and writing skills.

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Mary Rose Rontal is working as an Assisting Professional in a USAID-funded project that focus on implementing strategic actions for environmental management while observing the principles of transparency, accountability and participatory decision-making in the local government units…

Feeding the piggy bank is what I and my husband taught Amyrrh, our one-year old son. We save every ten-peso coin we collect during the day from buying something or paying a fare.  We save it in my baby’s piggy bank ever since he was still in my tummy. Now, he’s already enjoying the feeding time of his “piggy”.

However, I can personally say that my or my family’s saving habit is poor because we only save every time we got a ten-peso coin, otherwise, no savings happened.

As an economist, I know that savings should come first before spending your money. Yet, I am not practicing it. The idea to save comes across my mind every time I can think of something I want to have in the future like house and lot, car, clothes and Amyr’s education. Bad thing is, the moment I received my salary, no thought of saving. All I can think of are the payments for my debts, my baby’s milk, the showing on the cinema, the food I craved to eat prior to my payday, groceries for the week, transportation expenses, board and lodging expenses, latest gadgets, everything except the thing called Savings.

I tend to ask how, when and where to save my money. How to start? When to start? And where is the most secured place to save? I already heard several financial institutions that did not succeed, got the money of their investors and become thief of the night, or they just simply bankrupted because of bad management. The uncertainty of financial institutions makes me anxious to save and invest in any particular financial institution.

It was then during the BSV workshop that I appreciated more the importance of Saving. I was enlightened with the idea of saving not just for myself but for the economy, more importantly for the small and medium enterprises, which I know is the “backbone” of the Philippine economy.

As an individual, I am not quite aware of the specific things I can do to help achieve a better state of nation, but thanks to my dear friend Jerick who invited me to join the BSV Workshop. It is very interesting to know that I am sharing the same vision with my groupmates and with other groups. As a Christian, as an economist and as an environmentalist, I was delighted to know that all of us hope for a “God-fearing” nation, a stable economy and a sustainable environment. These three aspects are underscored and for me, these characterized a perfect country. Though we are different individuals, yet we found out that we have common hopes for our country and that we are not just driven by our selfish desires but of what is good for the Filipinos a whole. That was indeed a “shared vision”.

I was also awakened on the topic “Learning Organization”, which made me realize my learning disabilities that I am not quite aware of for a long time. No wonder we hardly reach our goals in life. Now, I’m excited to share it with my colleagues.

As a whole, the one-day workshop on “Building Shared Vision” was indeed very informative. In fact, I would like to know more about the technical side of the cooperative, its management and operation, how to become a member, what are the logistical requirements to become an official member of the cooperative and the sustainable mechanisms of the organization. I think this should be discussed more during the Pre-Membership Education Seminar (PMES) which I believe is one of the requirements prior to being a member of any cooperative.

Further, I am glad that this concept was introduced to Filipinos. Though savings, credit and investments are not new to me but combining the three, with emphasis to “savings” in order to achieve a “Solidarity Economy” is relatively a new and fascinating concept. It is a good news that I find it very interesting to share with my networks of family, friends and colleagues. Indeed, I myself even want to conduct the same workshop to groups of people I know. Aside from that, I also want to see myself as part of the “think tank” of the CSRSMEAsia and be able to contribute in the development of concepts and designs that are worth implementing for the development of our community.

Overcoming Learning Disabilities

Kaycee and Kevin Quiñones presenting their vision for the Philippines

Karl discusses why he wants to be globally competitve

VisionQ with their uncle and mentor, Mr. Ben Quiñones

Boiled Frogs No More

Introducing the VisionQ Team

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“Big things come from small beginnings.”

By Alfred P. Mercene, 17 years old, Youth Coordinator, Pinoy Family Foundation Inc.

The BAYANIHAN YOUTH CAMP  has been one of the events that I’m certain will fulfill the Lord’s glory in the land of the Philippines. This result oriented event was held in the city of Calamba, Laguna around the green haven of The Lord’s Garden (Looc, Calamba Laguna).  Otherwise called the “Building shared vision (BSV)” youth camp, the event supports the brilliant and eloquent minds of the youth, molding them to become more responsible, socially aware citizens of the country.  The event organizers (On Eagle’s Wings Foundation, OEWF and CSRSME Asia) are called to equip more and more young leaders that will revolutionize and emphasize the growth of solidarity economy in our beloved homeland, the Philippines. There is no doubt that behind this fruitfull event, CHANGE will come and the hand of the Almighty God will amazingly boost the emergence of more  servant leaders in the land of Juan. Through intensive and realistic approach of the BSV facilitators, these young brains and purpose driven minds will surely develop their gifts, talents and prowess to the benefit of the community. The Bayanihan Youth Camp exposes participants to the opportunities and privileges of becoming young servant leaders of our respective communities, and maybe in the near future, the world.

Personally, given the privilege to be a delegate in this building shared vision event, I couldn’t help but be struck by the broad and more vast world of society that I have been living in but never been socially aware of nor associated with. I never thought for even just a second that there is really a need of solidarity in the economy at this present state of JUAN. Different ideas, different battle cries,  and elusive goals bombarded our eyes, but the question is ,  What do we really fight for? Do we have a vision? And do we have what it takes to achieve this vision, make it happen? These mind boggling questions really occupied my mind the minute I arrived at the first session of this BSV camp. It is really disturbing to see, feel and admit that this land is still drowned asnd polluted by corruption. Corruption that takes away not only our riches, but our own identity. The true Filipino blood that once delivered us from the clutches of colonialism by foreign invaders and now we are penalizing our country by our own actions! – by not commiting ourselves to what really is JUST.  I learned in this event to revitalize my vision, to make it more profitable not only to myself but my beloved fellows. I stand for strengthening the unity of shared vision, to make it happen, promote and get it concretized for our beloved country. Together we the participants of the OEWF-CSRSME Asia Bayanihan Youth Camp strongly believe in our vision that this country, our Philippines will be a God Centered country when a character revolution will occur as a result of collective implementation of shared visions. We believe that we can surpass this ever changing times through the guidance of the Almighty God and with the strength of solidarity among ourselves!

by Jezza Luz Sioson, University of Caloocan City

April 3, 2009, the day when I first met the different participants of the workshop entitled “Building Shared Vision” (BSV) conducted at the Institute of Small Scale Industries, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon city.

I learned why vision is very important, not only in our business, not only for ourselves, but also for our society.  If you have no vision in life, you don’t know where you will be going to.

I also learned that in developing your vision, don’t only plan for yourself. Plan for the benefits of others also.  God is always with us. If we praise Him, if we believe in Him, all will be possible.

by Ma. Karen V. Gomez, University of Caloocan City

I have learned so many things from the Bayanihan Youth Camp, with its theme “Building Shared Vision” (BSV).  I learned to praise and worship God with all my heart.  Every morning before we start the activities of our workshop, we sing praise songs to Father God,  we worship Him,  and we put Him above all the work and activities for the day.

This camp taught me a lot – how to be a participative member of a team, become benevolent, cooperate with other team members, and how to share my feelings.

On the business side, this camp taught me how to set up a business even though I may not have huge amount of money. All that I need to do is just save. This is the best thing that every man should do… save, save,save…….. and continue saving!!!

The camp facilitators opened my mind.   They taught me that people perish for lack of “VISION”.  Everyone who exists in this world for a purpose has a vision.

I now have a vision not only for my own self but also for the benefit of others and the nation as a whole!!!

With the VisionQ's uncle and mentor, Mr. Ben Quiñones

Mr. Ben Quiñones conducted the Build Shared Vision (BSV) Workshop in Davao for  his nieces and nephews who are aspiring to be national leaders for a better Philippines. The two-day workshop was held in Royal Valley, Bangkal Davao City. Mr. Ben Quiñones taught the team the importance of developing a learning organization, discussed the different types of learning disabilities and helped them overcome these by providing solutions.

Meet the VisionQ team

In building their shared vision, Mr. Ben Quiñones introduced the functions of a storyteller, inquirer, facilitator and documentor. He then asked the team what is their vision for the Philippines. From that thought-provoking question, each member was able to come up with positive hopes for the country. Later the team considered possible steps to achieve their goal of a progressive, globally competitive nation having good governance with citizens living in unity, who have environmental awareness and are God-fearing .

Kaycee Quiñones commented that the workshop was just like an ice-breaker that she could easily share to friends. Everyone in the group agreed that it is doable. The cousins decided to call their team as VisionQ (Vision Quiñones. VisionQ can also be ” Vision Ko” or My Vision in Filipino, replacing “ko” by the letter Q). The team agreed to meet at least once a week to plan for the first BSVworkshop in Davao City on May 23-24, 2009.

Our national hero once said the youth is the hope of the motherland. The VisionQ team is committed to do something to contribute change.

Thus, there is hope for the country.

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by Paul Casuga

On March 5, 2009, the CSRSME Asia staff headed by Chairman Mr. Benjamin R. Quiñones, Jr. visited the Pinoy Pamilya Foundation’s (PPFI) financial centers in Calamba City, Laguna. During their visit, Mr. Quiñones talked about Building Shared Vision (BSV) with some 65 representatives from different PPFI financial centers in Calamba City and Los Baños, Laguna. Pastora Lenie Evangelista of PPFI, together with her volunteer workers and financial center representatives were also encouraged individually to share their own vision for a better Philippines.

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