VOICE OF THE YOUTH VIRTUAL MEDIA SUMMIT: BACK-TO-BACK CELEBRATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL YOUTH DAY AND VOTY 25TH ANNIVERSARY

Last August 12, the Voice of the Youth (VOTY) Network celebrated both its 25th Anniversary and the International Youth Day through the first-ever Online Youth Media Convention hosted by VOTY’s very own Kiara Reyes from St. Scholastica’s College Manila, and Liam Guevara from STI College Caloocan. The event was held via Zoom and FB Live. The livestream lasted for almost four hours, starting at 9:00 AM and ending at about 1:00 PM. With its mission to inform, inspire, involve, and empower, the event featured notable speakers from different TV channels, radio stations, and social media. VOTY was established by the one and only “VoiceMaster” of the Philippines, Mr. Pocholo De Leon Gonzales, as he wanted to help give the youth a voice, and a chance to make a change in the world.

 

The event started off with a prayer that was led by Leobert John Mazo, and was followed by the opening remarks from the highly esteemed executive director and station manager of VOTY Network, Mr. Harlem “Papalem” Jude Ferolino. He inspired the audience with a quick story of how he built his career with the help of VOTY and reflected on how VOTY managed to remain strong until today despite all of the challenges that it has faced.

The hosts, Kiara and Liam also shared some of their wonderful experiences during their stay in the Voice of the Youth network after which they slowly transitioned to introduce the Chairman of the National Youth Commission, Mr. Pocholo De Leon Gonzales, and current VOTY partner, Mr. Ryan Enriquez, for the welcoming and acknowledgement of participants.

 

A short VOTY Anniversary video was played after the segment, which of course featured “the man behind a thousand voices”, Mr. Pocholo “The VoiceMaster” de Leon Gonzales recalling the story of how VOTY came to be. Subsequently, the hosts then began to present the invited “bigatin” speakers for the event one by one. The speakers included Judie Anne Bonifacio (A.K.A Jana Banana), Andrew San Fernando (Kuya Bon Jing), Elaine Apit, Jessey Guiam (Raqi Terra), Mr. Mon Gualvez(Pambansang Goodboy), Angel Movido, Klariz Magboo (Gandang Kara), and PIA Director-General USec. Ramon Cualoping III.

All these amazing speakers were honored to be invited to attend and be a part of the celebration of such a great milestone. They all shared their special memories with the VoiceMaster and talked about how the VOTY network helped them in their career, and how it played a huge role in guiding them on their path to achieving their dreams. Speaking of huge roles, before the event came to an end, the hosts called upon the VoiceMaster on the virtual stage for some words of wisdom and gratitude. 

 Lastly, the Managing Director and the National Coordinator of Voice of the Youth Network, Mr. Bryan Dave "the ViBryant Voice" Perez led the closing remarks, followed by a short announcement teasing on the VOTY Awards to be launched later that evening of the same day. 

 

 The event finally concluded with the presentation of the new VOTY Song (Song of the New Generation).