On 3 July I had the privilege of attending a dinner with Senator Bam
Aquino, the youngest Senator of the 16th Congress of the Republic of the
Philippines. Senator Aquino is a remarkable young man, at 37 years old he has
already established a reputation of being a world renowned social entrepreneur.
He currently chairs the Philippines Senate Committee on Trade, Commerce and
Entrepreneurship and the Senate Committee on Youth. In 2003 Senator Aquino became
the youngest head of a government agency, when at 25 years he was appointed as
the Chairperson of the National Youth Commission, the primary national policy-making
body for Filipino youth.
Senator Aquino has dedicated his entire career to empowering the youth
and the poor, helping thousands of Filipinos to improve their lives through
access to opportunities and crucial support systems. Because of his work he was
named a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum in 2006, one of Ten
Outstanding Young Men of the Philippines in 2010, one of the Asian Social Entrepreneurs
of the Year in 2011, and one of the Ten Outstanding Young Persons of the World
in 2012. He is certainly a remarkable man and the Aquino family have had an
extraordinary strong influence in Filipino politics since the overthrow of
Marcos in 1986.
Senator Aquino was extremely interested in the management of post-earthquake
Christchurch. The Filipinos have had more than their fair share of natural
disasters and there are lessons that we can all share. He also showed great
compassion for the Filipino workforce that are here assisting with the rebuild
in Christchurch. Earlier in the day, before the dinner, he had met with members
of the Filipino workforce and was very interested in how they are being
assimilated into our community. We now have thousands of Filipinos in
Christchurch and Canterbury helping us to rebuild our city and providing valued
and skilled input into construction support services, including nursing and the
dairy industry. We talked about the importance of this workforce and all of the
positive feedback that I receive from people who have employed Filipinos in our
community (feedback about their high skill level, their attitude to work, and
their friendly and inclusive social demeanour).
Senator Aquino is likely to be a future
President of the Republic of the Philippines and it was a real delight to share
an evening with him listening to his view on the future of the Philippines, his
interest in our country, and his determination that we continue to grow more
closely together.
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| Peter Wait (Hon Consul of the Philippines), Virginia Benavidez, Mrs Aquino, Senator Bam Aquino, Peter Townsend, Phillip Gibson (MFAT), Kate Swan (MFAT) |
