Bam Aquino: TAYO Awards to continue sans NYC ties

Senator Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino IV. PHOTO FROM OFFICE OF SEN. BAM AQUINO

The Ten Accomplished Youth Organizations (TAYO) Awards will continue despite the recent decision of the current administration of the National Youth Commission (NYC) to cut its ties with the award-giving foundation, Sen. Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino IV has assured.

“It’s the choice of the NYC who they want to partner with. As far as TAYO Awards is concerned, we will continue the awards without the NYC,” Aquino said on Sunday, at the sidelines of the baptism of his daughter Coco in Makati City.

On Thursday, NYC officer in charge Ronald Gian Caderma, who also leads the Duterte Youth group, told in a Palace briefing last week that the agency decided to use the P1.7 million budget for TAYO Awards to fund another award named after President Duterte.

READ: National Youth Commission cuts ties with TAYO Awards Foundation

TAYO Awards is organized by nonprofit TAYO Foundation Inc., in partnership with the office of Aquino. NYC has been a partner of TAYO Awards since its kickoff in 2002.

Aquino was the NYC chair from 2003 to 2006, and was the president of TAYO from 2006 to 2013, before he was elected senator.

Asked if the current NYC’s administration decision is related to his association to the Aquinos and the opposition Liberal Party, Aquino said: “It might be, it might be not.”

In a statement, LP president Sen. Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan called the NYC’s decision “divisive.”

“Instead of banding together to provide for better opportunities and recognize the efforts of young Filipinos, the decision is divisive,” Pangilinan lamented. “One even has to wonder how the NYC arrived at this decision — if there was some politics involved.”

Aquino noted that the NYC up to the time of its chair Ice Seguerra, who resigned in March, “had a really good partnership” with TAYO. The 15th TAYO Awards was concluded in February.

The senator said they had still not received a formal statement coming from the NYC about its decision to stop its partnership and only found about it on social media. “But what is important is the awards will continue, and we will continue to support the best youth orgs in the country.”

The TAYO Awards recognizes youth groups that helped their communities through their innovative projects. The awards were based on five categories: education and technology; health-well-being and human development; environment, disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation; livelihood and entrepreneurship; and culture, arts and heritage. /je