Growing up in the Philippines, my grandparents were my heroes. My grandfather was a doctor who was well-known in our community, and applauded for his work. Although I didn’t have a passion for medicine, I aspired to be a community leader like him. From my grandmother, I learnt to value education and time, and these will be my guiding principles throughout my life. 



Coming from a colourful country with multifarious cultures, dialects, and ethnicities, I decided to become a public servant when my degree studies in diplomatic affairs opened my mind to the problems and issues of our times. At the time, most of my lecturers were active in the field of diplomacy and international relations, and I was fortunate to learn from them.


However, it was only when I attended my first Model United Nations conference as an undergraduate that I realised foreign relations isn’t grounded on broad political relations, but on personal or people-to-people relations. Model United Nations simulates an actual UN conference, where participants represent different countries to try and solve real-world issues, bearing in mind the perspectives and policies of their assigned country. Through this exercise, I witnessed that when you are connected to someone—for instance, if someone becomes your friend—certain difficult tasks can be negotiated. 


After college, I participated in Model United Nations at Oxford University in Fall 2006 and Harvard University in Winter 2007. I also attended conferences at the UN Office of Vienna, the UN Office in Geneva, and the UN Headquarters in New York. Through discussing global contentions and drafting resolutions, I began to ask myself—how can I be an agent for change? And my answer was to create an advocacy platform for peace.


Peace is for Everyone


To kickstart my peace mission, I launched the International Peace Diplomacy Corps, Inc (IPDCI), where people can dialogue to generate peace awareness. I am currently serving as chairman of the IPDCI, and one of my responsibilities is to bring together stakeholders from the government, business, civil society, and international communities. We commemorate International Peace Day every September 21, in line with the UN observance of this occasion. 


We’re also focusing on diplomacy training, and hope to offer interesting lectures, exciting discussions, short tailored programmes, and opportunities to debate pressing issues of international concern. Currently, our priority is to promote diplomacy training through our distance-learning certificate courses and professional diploma programmes, which are relevant to individuals and organisations that are curious about global politics. In time, we hope to create training opportunities for other specialised groups, such as media professionals. 

Apart from our education efforts, we run a Policy Center, where we focus on research and working papers relating to the challenges of peace development in the Philippines and around the world.


Taking the Lead to Learn

As an NGO leader, learning is a continuous process, and I knew that I would benefit from having formal education in public administration. I had heard that the LKY School is a premium policy school in Asia, and the proximity to the Philippines was also a big draw. 


A story that I always share with others is that it took several tries before I successfully enrolled at the LKY School. I first attended a forum to find out more about the course, but didn’t proceed to the application stage in that year. When I eventually decided to apply, I made a mistake in my application and was rejected. In my third attempt, I enhanced my application by sending an updated essay and CV—this time, I was not only accepted, but also received a full scholarship from the Li Ka Shing Foundation. 


I’m very grateful to the foundation as well as to the LKY School’s admissions team, because they made my dreams a reality. As an applicant who wasn’t technologically savvy, there were so many things that I didn’t know, and the admissions team were like teachers, guiding me through the entire application process. 


Once I was enrolled, it was the academic affairs team that supported me. They were very consistent in reaching out to the students to find out our needs. Due to Covid quarantine restrictions, I could only join the school in the fifth week of the term, and there were other administrative requirements as I was a scholarship recipient. If the academic affairs team hadn’t been there for me, things would’ve been chaotic.