YOUTH ACHIEVER

RAYMUND NONATO VELASCO GUMBOC

"Monmon" as he is fondly called by his friends is the youngest among the five sons of Hernan Gumboc and Vicenta Velasco. When he attended school, he was consistently on top of his class until high school and landed the highest seat of the Student Council in the prestigious La Salle University in Bacolod City. He won the position even as an independent candidate. Being the Chairman of the Student Council entails a lot of responsibility, commitment plus a lot of time, effort and maybe, not money, and that deserves an ample amount of recognition.

He was the prime mover of PAGTATAP Youth in Pandan, which hosted the Japan-Asia Friendship Society (JAFS) Youth in the work camps for the Malumpati Waterworks Friendship Project. That group was just incomparable when the time came when PAGTATAP/JAFS jointly sponsored the Boracay trip of the JAFS Youth. They refused to go if the PAGTATAP Youth would not be with them. The Youth from Japan were contented to stay in Pandan talking with their friends than go to Boracay without them. They really cried when the final day came. This camaraderie would not have been possible if there was no one to lead both the youth group from Pandan and Japan.

He is a very concerned citizen. It was December 31, 1996, the centennial celebration of "Rizal Day". Philippine television showed the celebration in almost every city celebrating Rizal Day, especially in Calamba and in Luneta Park. Monmon gathered all his friends and dragged them in Pandan's Rizal Park. He brought with him a pail, a can of white paint, a ladder and a bouquet of flowers. There was no celebration in Pandan for that year. We finished cleaning the shrine by sunset. Holding the bouquet of flowers, Monmon climbed the ladder and put the flowers in Jose Rizal's foot with the words...."What we did was never a waste of time, effort and money"...

So I salute Jose Rizal, if I remember what he said that, "the youth is the hope of our motherland". I salute Raymund Nonato Velasco Gumboc for giving us the assurance that there is hope for Pandan. - By Mimi C. Ortega, Philippines

September 01, 2000

Volume 1, Issue 2