Letran Student Affairs Department concludes last day of 11th Uknighted Speaker Series talking about Leadership Beyond Bias: (Re) Building Society

Thea Alodia Tugade

FRIDAY, April 1, 2022 - The Department of Student Affairs held the second part of the 11th Uknighted Series: Leadership Beyond via Zoom Meeting and Facebook Livestream.

Ms. Marinella Hernandez, the Assistant to the Directress, Department of Student Affairs, introduced the first speaker about the topic, “Leadership Beyond Bias: (Re) Building Society”. It was none other than Assoc. Jonalou S. Labor, Ph.D., a Special Assistant to the Vice President for Public Affairs, currently the Director of the Office of Research and Publication, and an Associate Professor of Communication at the Department of Communication Research, College of Mass Communication at the University of the Philippines - Diliman.

The first speaker started his discussion by introducing his topic entitled, “The Roles of Communication, Media, and Youth Leadership in (re)building Filipino Society.” He presented the discussion points; the value of communication and media to knowledge societies, the capacity of the youth in nation-building, the convergence of the roles of communication and media and the youth, and the steps that should be taken.

He then discussed the basics and looked at the definition of communication to identify media and factors in creating a functioning knowledge society. According to him, we are continuously entering into the data economy where metadata is necessary, “What we say or do becomes an insight for business… mataas ang halaga ng data sa mundong ating ginagalawan”.

Communication data has become a valuable resource in the digital economy as now that economy depends on people’s behavior or actions. Then, he shared the Metaphor of Communication: container, conduit, and control.

Next is the Functions of Media; the media is expected to fulfill various social roles. In the involvement dimension, its function is to disseminate information for the public interest, the public’s right to know, commentary background and criticism, promote societal values, promote pluralism in media, promote public trust in media, build society, and provide information valuable for citizens. The adversary dimension’s function is to seek or pursue truth, giving importance to free media for a democratic society. The media has become an enabler of everything in society.

He discussed the capacity of the youth to develop the nation through communication. The youth are the key to reducing the effects of social issues. The international organization has seen the capacity of the young in disaster preparedness, education, and volunteerism. In the role of young Filipinas and Filipinos, more than 42% of Filipinos will become new participants in Philippine democracy in 2022, yet there is a marginalization in how they participate in the public state. Also, there has been an involvement of the youth in political participation yet the road to formal governance remains weak.

It was followed by his discussion about the convergences in the roles of media and the youth. In the Philippines, youth are exposed to both the legacy and the digital media. Dr. Labor believed that we should do more than just fact-checking. These are the simple steps that should be taken; encourage to do research and calibrate ethical standards, and be involved in establishing.

He ended his discussion as he briefly summarized the things he tackled about communication, media, and knowledge society. Dr. Labor then reminded the participants what should be prioritized and what actions should be taken.

Proceeding to the second topic for today’s webinar series, “Leadership Beyond Limits: Student Leadership,” Ms. Marienella Hernandez introduced the 2nd speaker, Mr. Marlon O. Maglipas, Regional Communication Coordinator of International Student Affairs and Services and Founder and Chairman of the Transforming Advocates and Champions (TRAC).

Mr. Maglipas started his discourse by sharing his insights about his experience in joining leadership training activities. According to him, we are being called student-leaders because of what activities we are conducting, but in the process, we can’t tell people to trust us and we cannot demand people to cooperate. Student leaders advised them to take care of their health and think about their safety.

In student leadership, it teaches us to stick to one another, and the mindset should be “together and us” to come up with big plans and accomplishments. He also discussed the Circle of Safety, wherein it has a lot of components, its center is the success, and around its circle are belonging, alignment, and growth. In the circle of safety, you are inside when you feel valued by everyone by peers and superiors, convinced that the leaders and our peers will help us succeed. The great leaders of today create a Circle of Safety.

Moving on, according to Mr. Maglipas, leadership is beyond the position, activities, virtual classroom, and recognition. He also shared with the participants what happened to their families and that they encountered a miracle. “Leadership is beyond imaginable, we have different things to do every day in our personal life but every day we should do something. Whatever we do, we have to imagine and think that whatever we do there’s always an outcome.” he said as he concluded his lecture.

Furthermore, Mr. Rodrigo Emil Carreon, President of Letran Politicvs gave the synthesis of the talk. The event concluded with a photo opportunity with the participants, the posting of the evaluation forms, and the singing of the Himno del Colegio.

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