10 young Fil-Am leaders here to reconnect, explore ties

MANILA, Philippines—Ten young Filipino-American leaders from across the United States are in town for a weeklong “immersion” hosted by the Department of Foreign Affairs, under a program that seeks to reconnect them to their roots while exploring partnerships with local professionals or organizations.

The visitors were selected by the Philippine Embassy in Washington under the Filipino-American Youth Leadership Program (FYLPro). They included Bernadette Contreras, 30, from Brooklyn, New York.

“I can see some advancement. But you can still see squatters and it makes me sad,” said Contreras, a creative director at Saatchi & Saatchi in New York City.

Contreras was in her third grade at De La Salle Santiago Zobel School when she and her family left the Philippines for Chicago.

“I signed up for FYLPro mainly for one great reason and that was to connect to like-minded people, a community of accomplished Filipino-Americans. It was a rare opportunity so I said ‘Why not apply, why not go back home and see how I can help,’” she said.

She said she would look for creative talents or artisans in the Philippines whom she can connect to markets in New York.

Another New Yorker, Ryan Letada, the 28-year-old chief executive officer and cofounder of NextDayBetter Inc., a media platform that features inspiring Filipinos, said the immersion could be the beginning of fruitful collaborations especially in the creative industry.

The other FYLPro delegates are Edward Aparis, consultant at the Strands Group from California; Ryyn Chua, founder and CEO of Double Y Entertainment from California; Rommel Clemente, supervising senior associate for the Connor Group from California; Michael Dahilig, director of the department of planning at the Country of Kauai in Hawaii; Rafael Diokno, project lead at SGT Inc. from Washington D.C., Abbey Eusebio, constituent advocate at the Office of US Rep. Jan Schakowsky from Illinois; Jan Paul Ferrer, associate vice president at Morgan Stanley from Illinois; and Jason Tengco, senior advisor at the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Niña P. Calleja