IATSS Forum

“No retreat, no surrender! Fight the BIG Fight!” – This is my personal battle cry in accepting new and exciting challenges and opportunities that enhance my capabilities to know, to do and to become. “To know” enables me to become aware of the internal and external capacities, risks and appropriate responses or decisions to a given situation. “To do” equips me with the right skills to implement my action plan. And “To become” opens the doors for innovation and creativity towards realizing my dreams, enhancing my potentials and discovering new shores of opportunities to learn and find my passion and purpose in life. And IATSS is a BIG fight for me. This is my first time to: • be in a foreign country ALL BY MYSELF; • be away from my family for 57 days; • immerse in Japanese culture; • be with the best youth leaders from the ASEAN countries; • attend an international training program; For me, IATSS is a life-transforming program that will bring out the best in every participant, developing the core competencies of a critical thinking leader towards community and nation building. And I am truly blessed to be part of this program. I am looking forward to our Day 1!

IATSS Forum has been a prestigious international program for me. I was eyeing to be part of this network since I got involved at the Department of Science and Technology. I fully understand that the program offers an opportunity to gain and understand leadership skills, as well as to build network with fellow ASEAN delegates, Japan and Filipino Alumni Association members. Not everyone is given the chance to join IATSS Forum. I can say, I am one of the few “alternate participants” who made it through the program. Proud, Excited, Anxious, Intimidated, Nostalgic, Worried, Challenged! For me, IATSS is a life-transforming program that will bring out the best in every participant, developing the core competencies of a critical thinking leader towards community and nation building. And I am truly blessed to be part of this program. I am looking forward to our Day 1! I had mixed emotions before I travelled to Japan because this was my first time to away from son for two months in foreign country. On the positive note, I was looking forward to be with the best youth leaders from the ASEAN countries and to embark on a life-transforming event that would be engraved on my heart and mind. As I recall the first assignment of IATSS Forum is the Voice of the Participants. And when I read it today, I had a clear vision about the program vis-à-vis with what I have experienced for 57 days. Indeed it was a ONE BIG FIGHT (as Ateneans would shout in a basketball game) – because IATSS has challenged my personal characteristics, intellectual capacities, emotional intelligence and interpersonal skills. IATSS has created an opportunity for me to explore and discover myself better and deeper and an opportunity to experiment out-of-the-box methods of learning and interacting with other people of different ages, nationalities, cultures, gender and beliefs. It was a blessing that I was able to join IATSS Forum, but I would say it was a real life struggle for me. Sometimes, it was very hard to accept my weaknesses, but situations I experienced in the Forum have made me tougher to face reality – that no one is perfect and that no one can do it alone. Dealing with 17 ASEAN participants plus 4 Japanese guys plus IATSS Forum staff plus deadlines plus group study plus a lot of reports to be submitted all at the same time --- this really stretched my patience, determination, creativity, character and discipline. Yet, after all of these constraints, I experienced freedom from my limitations, from my old mindsets, from my emotional baggage, among others. I acknowledged the fact that personal development is necessary to become capable of contributing to the rest of the society. Recognizing the internal and external risks of the situation made me more aware of who I am, what I can do and what I cannot. It is about knowing and overcoming my limits and moving forward and farther to achieve greater heights in self-discovery. IATSS Forum opened up a door for innovation and creativity and embedded a high sense of responsibility to share and contribute to social change. With great opportunity, comes with great responsibility, Dato’ Zuraidah Atan once said. And I am accepting this challenge to impart my learnings and experiences to my family, community, workplace and network of friends. I was glad that IATSS Forum balanced the time for fun, serious, research, learning and sharing. I always challenge myself to think out-of-the-box that is why creative ways I always try to convince my group mates to use and explore various ways when presenting in plenary. I don’t know if I should do that or stick to the traditional reporting type. But I guess my motto is to have fun while learning – because learnings can only be absorbed well, if it was enjoyed by the participants and if everyone was able to participate in the process. This is a creative participatory approach of learning where everybody was given the chance to say his or her own ideas and eliminate the risk of monotonous reporting. It was quite challenging on my part to introduce this concept to the participants, but I am happy that some participants appreciated it. Nevertheless, I just wanted to keep a fun-filled atmosphere in any group I joined without deviating from the objectives to accomplish the tasks. Then and Now On personal level, I became more confident to express my ideas with other people – regardless of position, age, gender and race. I learned so much about the culture of ASEAN+Japan which I hope to become an instrument in deepening also my appreciation about Philippine Culture. I realized the value of time, passion to lifelong learning and to aim for excellence in everything I do. I became more appreciative of what I have and what I can do. On the academic side, I learned a lot of techniques and lessons on facilitation, leadership, research, among others. But the most important one is the SAFE environment which referred to emotional, physical and cultural safety. Indeed, it is very important for me. I would like to share with you some quotes from the previous activities which I found in my journal: o I experienced the need to sacrifice some things in order to gain something. Life is like the star wars battle. Strategy is important, but you cannot have everything. You need to lose some (like some members have to go first) in order to gain some (to make all the balls of the opponent go to our side and let the opponent reach the closest distance for better target). o In order to achieve one goal, the team members have to step forward one at a time. It may not always be a fast process or a big step forward, but the important thing is that no one is left behind. o Sometimes I don’t know if I am doing right or wrong…but the important thing is that I tried my best and I gave my full effort in it. Sometimes I regret the decisions that I have made. But that is not important at all. I must learn to take full control on my emotions and believe that I gave my best so I must not feel any regrets if I failed. The important thing is that I learned from the process. o It I not to have complicated methods in solving complicated problems, but to see the whole picture and go back to the basics in order to have simple but correct decisions. o When I am in difficult situation, I need to step back, breathe in and out, and go back to consciousness to compose myself and have fresher perspectives and ideas. o Listen to your instincts and intuition. Sometimes what the eyes cannot see, the heart feels o Great journeys begin with small steps. o Life is full of mistakes. It is not how may times you have stumbled, but how many times you get up. But if you stumbled again on the same spot, you need to change your eye glasses so you can look for smarter options. o Leadership is not measured in terms of position but is an innate character of a person, polished through time. o I learned not to push myself so hard and just enjoy life as it happens. Seize every moment! o The value of education and learning is the cornerstone of sustainable community design. o The greatest challenge is not how to know, how to do or how to live with other people; but the challenge is how to live a life that I can value and find my meaning and purpose in this world so I can always make a better decision not only for myself but in consideration of other people as well. My hopes and wishes I look forward to a productive year here at the Department of Science and Technology, as I have been elected as the Vice President of the Employee’s Association (SIKAT). IATSS Forum has influenced my outlook on leadership and my role as a young woman leader in the government service, in my community and in our church. I have never felt so confident about expressing myself in a group of people. And I have developed this attitude to always challenge myself to become think critically and creatively at all times. I hope that the legacy of IATSS Forum continues to live on in our batch and in the previous and future batches. I hope that the legacy of Mr. Soichiro Honda can plant a seed of transformation in every individual so that that seed will grow and eventually will bear fruit, and others will have a share of that fruit as well. I hope that the future batch of IATSS will discover the positive energy that will provide the lasting positive energy to bind everyone together, moving in synergy. I know and I experienced that positive energy in the 52nd Batch, together with the rest of the IATSS Forum.