Youth and experience

If they win the nod of the Liberal Party’s bigwigs, Bam Aquino and Ramon “Jun” Magsaysay will bookend its senatorial slate in next year’s elections.

Just 35 years old, Bam doesn’t remember personally meeting his uncle Ninoy Aquino, older brother of his father Paul. Still, this hasn’t prevented people, including this columnist, from commenting repeatedly on Bam’s uncanny resemblance to his uncle. His parents tell him that when he was a toddler, he was brought to Fort Bonifacio along with other family members to visit with Ninoy. But he was only six when Ninoy was assassinated, and even at that age, he was prepped and brought around to deliver speeches (like his cousin Kris, who campaigned for her father before Ninoy was allowed to leave the country) written by his mother. He was nine when the Edsa Revolt took place, and so there is a lot of poetic truth when Bam is described as the “first Edsa Baby and member of the Facebook generation” to seek a Senate seat.

In contrast, Jun Magsaysay, 73, has, so to speak, been there, done that. He has served in the Senate and in the House of Representatives; he has done well in the private sector, acknowledged as “the father of cable television” in the country; and continues to serve on the boards of various business, civic, educational and nongovernmental organizations. Why would he want to return to the topsy-turvy world of politics (he left in 2007)? he is asked. “Because now, under the leadership of

P-Noy, I can sense a real possibility for basic change, I can sense his sincerity and his strong political will. When Chief Justice [Renato] Corona was impeached by a vote of 20-3, I told myself that P-Noy must be God-sent,” he told the ladies and gentlemen of the “Bulong Pulungan sa Sofitel.”

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Here’s an interesting tidbit about Bam. He was given the nickname—taken from “Bambam,” the rambunctious son of cartoon characters Fred and Wilma Flintstone—by his two older brothers. He was an outstanding student leader (I first interviewed him when he was a college student grantee of an exchange program) who chose to parlay his management engineering degree from Ateneo de Manila into government service and NGO work. His stint as head of the National Youth Commission is memorable to him mainly because this is where he met his future wife, who was a volunteer. They will marry in September.

These days, the main focus of Bam’s advocacy and hard work is entrepreneurial development, with the “Hapinoy” Foundation that funds, organizes and develops a network of women  sari-sari  store owners, while working with Go Negosyo to develop young entrepreneurs. Clearly, youth and women empowerment is Bam’s particular calling. When he consulted his cousin, P-Noy, among many other political and civic figures he respects, about entering the political field, the latter warned him that “this kind of life is hard.” And he admits that while he, and his future wife, are aware of politics’ particular challenges “intellectually,” he knows they are both in for a rude awakening. But if you ask me, the fact that a young man of Bam’s promise and idealism still wants to make a difference, despite his family paying even the ultimate price all these years, is a harbinger of a bright future.

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Jun Magsaysay was just 18, an otherwise carefree college student, when his father, the great RM, perished in an airplane crash. “My father was very strict about separating official funds from his personal funds,” he said, and so after his father’s death the family found to its dismay that it had no savings to speak of, not even a home.

While family and political friends pooled money to buy a home for the Magsaysays, the La Salle Brothers lost no time granting Jun a scholarship to complete his engineering course (St. Scholastica’s College did the same for his sister, Mila). This is a debt Jun has sought to repay by serving on various boards of the La Salle system through the years. And while he was a senator, he launched the “Iskolar ni Magsaysay” program, which funded the studies of thousands of young people.

But what is most remarkable about this soft-spoken, almost shy businessman/politician is that despite his many years in the “dirty” world of national politics, he has kept his name clean. Through the years, he has earned a reputation for honesty and integrity, even if in the course of his political service, he has been embroiled in numerous controversies. This includes investigating the infamous “fertilizer scam” that involved Joc-joc Bolante, a friend of then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s husband, and, by inference, the then First Couple themselves.

So there you are. Bam Aquino and Jun Magsaysay may anchor both ends of the political age spectrum, but in terms of idealism, performance, and support for reform, they are in the same place, two men who love the country and do it proud.

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For the first time in its 40 years of existence, Alay Lakad, an annual exercise in civic spirit meant to raise funds for out-of-school youth, will this year be hosted by four outstanding civic clubs.

The 2012 Alay Lakad kicks off on Sept. 2 with the theme “Bawat Hakbang ng Mamamayan, Kapakanan ng Kabataan” (Every Step of the Citizenry, the Welfare of the Youth). The clubs hosting the event are: Rotary District 3810 headed by Gov. Ismael Mercado, Kiwanis headed by Gov. Florencio Lat, Lions 301-A1 headed by Gov. Ruth Chua, and Lions District 301-A2 headed by Gov. Proceso Pena and Jaycees headed by national president Randolf Ivan Ruste. All governors serve as chairs of the national coordinating committee.

Proceeds of the fund-raising campaign will benefit the out-of-school youth through educational assistance, skills training and livelihood programs.