Handpicked student volunteers to welcome ADB delegates

MANILA, Philippines—When the Asian Development Bank (ADB) holds its 45th

Annual Governors Meeting at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) in Manila starting May 2, a corps of young student volunteers from various universities will be among the first to welcome visiting delegates.

Nearly 300 volunteers from the best schools in Metro will be helping the government showcase the nation’s youthful labor force. Among the many schools whose students will be participating are the University of the Philippines, Ateneo de Manila University, De La Salle University, University of Santo Tomas, University of Asia and the Pacific (UAP), Far Eastern University and Colegio de San Juan de Letran. In the region, the Philippines has the youngest population at this time, with an average age of 22.2 years.

Joana Jacinto, a volunteer from UAP and a recent graduate of industrial economics, said representatives from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and the Department of Finance (DoF) coordinated with her school’s student affairs office to invite volunteers, particularly from specific courses, like management, political economics and economics.

The applicants went through a rigorous screening, first by school officials, followed by representatives of the BSP, DoF and, finally, the ADB.

Major challenge

Donne Maniago, who took up mass communication at Far Eastern University, said being a volunteer in the event would be a major challenge but he also expected “some fun” to come out of it.

“Through this volunteer work, I hope to know more about how media and public relations services work. The tasks assigned to me are mostly about documentation, public relations and the writing of press releases,” he said.

Reeza Belo from Letran College said she hoped the event would inform the world about the true state of peace and order and development in the Philippines.

“I think that with the help of this event, when somebody mentions the Philippines, it will not just be about corruption or something negative about the economy. I believe the event will improve the perception of the world about the country,” she added.

Evert Tagle, also from Letran, said he hoped to impart to participants the fact that the Philippines is a very resilient nation.

“We already withstood crises, tragedies and nearly all types of natural disasters. But despite all this, Filipinos managed to stay strong and our country stable,” he said.