PAULO BENIGNO AGUIRRE AQUINO IV
Paolo Aquino - Philippines
?쏣mpowering the youth and loving it!??br>
Paolo Benigno Aguirre Aquino IV, or simply Bam, is one of the Philippines??most dynamic youth leaders today. Born and raised in Quezon City, Philippines, Bam was initiated into Philippine politics through his uncle, Sen. Benigno ?쏯inoy??Aquino, who was assassinated in 1983 when Bam was only six years old. The killing of Sen. Aquino sparked protests against the harsh dictatorship of the former strongman Ferdinand Marcos. These led to Sen. Aquino?셲 wife, Corazon, being catapulted in 1986 into the Philippine presidency after a bloodless turnover popularly known as the EDSA Revolution. Bam himself was a figure of EDSA 2 in January 2001, fifteen years after the first peaceful overthrow, as one of the conveners of youth groups and members of civil society who marched on the streets of EDSA, this time to oust corrupt former Philippine president Joseph Estrada.
A self-described ?쐒egular guy??who admires his folks for ?쐓till trying to change the world,??Bam was the president of the student council of the Ateneo de Manila University, from where he obtained a degree in Management Engineering. In 1998, he was the volunteer head of the Quezon City National Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL) QuickCount Center, the first youth-led center at that time. He was a founding member of the National Union of Catholic Student Councils. Bam was also involved in the projects of Bantay Bata, a program involved in the rescue and rehabilitation of abused children in the Philippines, and of Bantay Kalikasan, a media advocacy group for environmental causes.
Bam is currently a Commissioner in the National Youth Commission (NYC), the main youth policy-making arm of the Philippine government, and a host of Breakfast, a youth-oriented TV program aired in the Philippines. Bam believes ?쐇t is up to young people to be an example for society.??Judging from Bam?셲 example, at age 24, there is indeed so much society can learn from the youth of today.
Paolo Benigno Aguirre Aquino IV
bambamaquino@yahoo.com
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Bambam Aquino: "PUBLIC SERVICE IN THE PUBLIC EYE"
Bambam Aquino: "PUBLIC SERVICE IN THE PUBLIC EYE"
Bambam Aquino juggles hosting and helping the youth on Studio 23's weekday waker-upper "Breakfast."
For a while, it appeared that PAOLO BENIGNO "BAMBAM" AQUINO IV was following in the footsteps of his late uncle Ninoy. Active in EDSAs 1 & 2 as well as the events in last May's controversial elections, this Ateneo de Manila University Batch 2000 Summa cum Laude and Valedictorian was also involved in the numerous projects of the ABS-CBN Foundation, and was recently appointed commissioner of the National Youth Commission (NYC). But when Bam accepted the ANC News Channel's invitation to co-host its morning newsmagazine show BREAKFAST last April, suddenly his career path seemed similar to that of his showbiz cousin Kris.
"I don't think I'm headed towards that route," he chuckles. "But I don't think that [TV broadcasting] is out of this world, either. At this point, everything I'm doing is somehow related to each other."
Those who have joined Bam for "Breakfast," first in ANC and now weekdays at 6 am on Studio 23, will agree. As an interviewer of the show's "On Air" segment, Bam fields questions to the likes of politicians, lawyers, labor leaders, and other personalities of the current events scene. "You know, the best interviews are usually with the ones who are not well-known, like members of civil society, the academe, or journalists. They just speak their minds and their hearts," he reflects. Guests on the show's "Hot Seat" have been known to do the same. "We've heard a lot of revealing things. Too revealing even for us!" laughs Bam of the much-awaited portion which kicks off with tame queries and builds to more intimate matters. "Minsan kami yung naho-"Hot Seat" sa sagot nila!"
What "Breakfast"'s early-morning audience will discover if Bam took the hot seat? A wacky sense of humor ("People are saying, We got you for the serious stuff, but you're the one who's cracking all the jokes!") and the heart for public service. "Right now, the NYC is really my priority," says Bam, who is presently on leave from law school. "And two of the projects I'm tackling at the moment are a program for the out-of-school youth, and a nationwide sectoral consultation for the youth called PUNK 2001 (that's Pambasang Ugong Ng Kabataan). After everything that's happened--EDSA 2, the so-called EDSA 3, and the elections--it's time to get people focused on education, freedom of expression, drug addiction, the effects of technology, and other really important issues that are affecting our lives."
About My Travels
Here's a log of my travels to date. If you'd like to see my pictures of any of these places, please check out my Photo pages. July-August 1994: Prince Edward Island; September 1995: Southern Utah national parks; May-June 1996: southern Germany, Austria, Switzerland; April 1997: Grand Canyon; May-June 1998: Africa and Israel; May 2000: Venice.
My E-mail
janeysmith@emailme.com
My Africa Travels
www.africathroughmyeyes.com |
